It is not well studied by academics & historians the assault on Allied airports in North Africa by the Arditi Destroyers of the Royal Italian Air Force (Arditi Distruttori della Regia Aeronautica or ADRA).
Indeed, following the Allied Torch operation, which led to the conquest of North Africa, the Anglo-Americans obtained at the occupied Italian airports a base for air raids on southern Italy. The Regia Aeronautica, being no longer possible to counter Allied bombing with ordinary instruments, due to the predominant aerial supremacy of the Anglo-Americans, decided that the solution could be nothing other than sabotage and raids on occupied airports by paratroopers and sappers.
On the night of June 13, 1943, the first attack began. The operation was entrusted to the Air Division General of the Regia Aeronautica Umberto Cappa in collaboration with the tenent colonel Klinger: at the Rimini airport 12 SM.82 "Marsupials" were ready with 122 paratroopers on board, belonging to 10 patrols of the "Arditi Destroyers of the Royal Air Force" and four patrols of the 10th Arditi Regiment of the Royal Army.
The trimotors departed from Rimini to reach the different airports located along the Mediterranean coast from which they will then leave for the occupied airports in North Africa. More precisely they departed from the bases of Decimomannu in Sardinia, Gerbini in Sicily, Iraklion in Crete and from the base of Salon en Provence, in Italian occupied France.
The goal was to destroy most of the aircraft (fighters / bombers) still on the ground in the North African airports occupied by the Allies, an extremely risky operation and most likely without return. However in case of success, the balance of powers in the Mediterranean would lean in favor of the Axis, or at least would cause considerable damage to the enemy. The targets of the operation were the airports in Libya and in Algeria of Benina, Castel Benito, La Senia, Tarafui, Bilda, Oran, Biskra and El Djem.
The operation did not enjoy good luck from the beginning, because two SM.82 were destroyed before the departure by an Allied bombing. Launches were carried out without escort, at night, on desert airfields beyond enemy bases. Unfortunately, many of these launches failed due to adverse weather conditions, resulting in injury to many paratroopers and loss of material.
As if that were not enough, most of the paratroopers were taken prisoner before completing the operation, captured by British patrols or more often by Arab Bedouins (there was a 100,000 francs on the heads of Italian pilots and spies, when captured in North African territory). The whole operation seemed a failure, however it was not simply a matter of bad luck, as the British intelligence services were aware in advance of the mission plans, thanks to the details provided by the “Ultra ”Of MI-5.
The failure, however, did not result to be complete, because two Arditi escaped capture and decided to complete the mission, despite the adversities, hiding in the Libyan desert for almost a week (between minefields and British patrols patrolling the area, surviving even feeding thanks to a camel, torn down due to the exhaustion of supplies).
These were the airmen Franco Cargnel and Vito Procida, a Venetian and a Sicilian, who managed to reach Benina airport on the night between 18 and 19 June.
Here, they were able to evade surveillance and crawling in the dark of the night they managed to place the charges of explosive to nearly twenty B-24 "Liberator" bombers, two C-47 Douglas transports and one P-38 "Lightining" fighter.
According to other sources, it seems that only two ADRAs succeeded to enter Benina North during the night between 18th and 19th: they were captured on June, 20th, after a short clash where one of them was wounded. They claimed to have mined 20-25 airplanes. According to reports from AFHRA archives (Maxwell AFB) two B24 of 98th BG were destroyed (one of them was "Arkansas Traveller") and two US airmen were killed in action. The interesting fact -also partly mentioned in the book of Prof. Crociani (https://books.google.fr/books?id=zee6CwAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&hl=fr&source=gbs_book_other_versions_r&cad=4#v=onepage&q&f=false) is that 8 Wellington on Berca (an airport 19 km from Benina North) were destroyed during the same night. Allied propaganda against Italy reported "minimal" damage, but -as can be read in the following translation of the essay written by F. Gatti- the mined airplanes and hangars resulted in a loss and/or repair of at least a dozen Allied airplanes. Some of these bombers were ready to attack on the following August 1943 the Romanian oil fields of Ploesti with the "Operation Tidal Wave" (indeed, given the large and unbalanced loss of aircraft -a few also related to this Arditi attack- and the limited damage to the targets, Operation Tidal Wave is considered a strategic failure of the American side).
At 3.30 am the two airmen leaved the camp and, two hours later, placed in an elevated area they witnessed the explosions, which caused serious damage and many victims (nearly forty deaths & injured), in addition to the destruction of airplanes.
The following day, Cargnel and Procida, as they head to the collection point, the secret Aisilian trail, in the Cyrenaic desert, were captured by an Arab, who delivered them to the Allied authorities.
The Italian Royal Air Force organized two rescue missions, on 23 and 26 June, sending two SM.75s on the Aisilian and El Carruba tracks, the pre-arranged meeting points, but no Ardito was present at the collection point.
Vito Procida and Franco Cargnel received the Italian Silver Medal for Military Valor, in name of all the paratroopers for the Arditi group. Both were repatriated to Italy following the Armistice.
The following is the translation of a detailed research done by Fabrizio Gatti
OPERAZIONE "CAMPI AFRICANI" (African Fields operation)
A document ("World War II. A cronology. June 1943) of the Dissemination Unit, Military Intelligence Division, War Dept. (N-6220.09) drawn up before June 18th 1945 (date on which it is classified as "restricted") records the mission of the Italian "Arditi" and gives a concise and effective summary:
"North African Coast (June 13, 1943): A group of 40 enemy paratroops dropped near Benghazi is rounded up; 21 dropped at Oran and groups of 10 each at Ain Beida, Bou Saada, and Affreville are also captured. Those dropped at Biskra are still not found"
In the area of Benghazi airports, one of the main objectives of the action, the facts, according to what reported by Italian sources, happened as summarized briefly below:
1)The patrols destined to operate against Benina airport left Iraklion between 7.30pm and 8.00pm
2)June 13, 1943 and were parachuted between 11:15 pm on the 13th and 00:10 am on the 14th.
3)The launch was rather imprecise: the Baccaro and Di Tommaso patrols landed about 40 km from the targets and 15 paratroopers were captured. The Balmas and Comis patrols were more fortunate, as they took land near the targets. However, due to a series of difficulties (loss of contents with the drinking water, lost backpacks with explosive charges, etc.) the commanders of the two patrols decided to divide their units in small groups of two or three paratroopers, in order to try to slip through the control of the Allied surveillance. However, all groups were captured between June 15 and 20.
The two Arditi went away undisturbed from the airport , while the pandemonium was unleashed and at least forty airmen were killed and/or hurt by the explosions.
According to a recent reconstruction, based on documentation of the "Historical Office of the Italian Air Force" about twenty aircraft were destroyed or damaged, including two Liberators from 331st Service Squadron USAF, two Wellington bombers of the 162nd Squadron RAF, two Bisley twin-engine aircraft and a RAF Hurricane fighter.
The attack on Benina is also mentioned in the memoirs of a US officer (sergeant W. Kennedy) of the 981st MP Company, stationed in the area, who reported 120 Italian paratroopers launched in the area of Benghazi airports in the night on June 14, 1943 (in reality there were only forty. One hundred and twenty were, strangely, all those engaged in all the "African Fields" operation in all North Africa).
According to this testimony, three American planes were destroyed in the night between 17 and 18 June, after being mined. In reality, the bombs had been put on ten aircraft, but seven had been identified and removed before they exploded. The report showed that wo paratroopers (certainly Procida and Cargnel) were caught on the 19th.….The memoirs of sergeant Kennedy continued with the description of the finding, at dawn on June 20, still in Benina, of the bodies of two American airmen guarding airplanes, killed by raiders in commando action. The two unfortunate airmen were Sgt. Ernest D. McCann and Cpl. Robert H. Wortman, of 344th BS / 98th BG, who resulted KIA (Killed In Action = fallen in action) during an attack of Italian paratroopers occurred while on duty guard on 20 June 1943.
Indeed, following the Allied Torch operation, which led to the conquest of North Africa, the Anglo-Americans obtained at the occupied Italian airports a base for air raids on southern Italy. The Regia Aeronautica, being no longer possible to counter Allied bombing with ordinary instruments, due to the predominant aerial supremacy of the Anglo-Americans, decided that the solution could be nothing other than sabotage and raids on occupied airports by paratroopers and sappers.
 |
| An ARDITI unit, before their June 1943 attack, with their SM82 "Marsupial" in the back. |
On the night of June 13, 1943, the first attack began. The operation was entrusted to the Air Division General of the Regia Aeronautica Umberto Cappa in collaboration with the tenent colonel Klinger: at the Rimini airport 12 SM.82 "Marsupials" were ready with 122 paratroopers on board, belonging to 10 patrols of the "Arditi Destroyers of the Royal Air Force" and four patrols of the 10th Arditi Regiment of the Royal Army.
The trimotors departed from Rimini to reach the different airports located along the Mediterranean coast from which they will then leave for the occupied airports in North Africa. More precisely they departed from the bases of Decimomannu in Sardinia, Gerbini in Sicily, Iraklion in Crete and from the base of Salon en Provence, in Italian occupied France.
The goal was to destroy most of the aircraft (fighters / bombers) still on the ground in the North African airports occupied by the Allies, an extremely risky operation and most likely without return. However in case of success, the balance of powers in the Mediterranean would lean in favor of the Axis, or at least would cause considerable damage to the enemy. The targets of the operation were the airports in Libya and in Algeria of Benina, Castel Benito, La Senia, Tarafui, Bilda, Oran, Biskra and El Djem.
The operation did not enjoy good luck from the beginning, because two SM.82 were destroyed before the departure by an Allied bombing. Launches were carried out without escort, at night, on desert airfields beyond enemy bases. Unfortunately, many of these launches failed due to adverse weather conditions, resulting in injury to many paratroopers and loss of material.
As if that were not enough, most of the paratroopers were taken prisoner before completing the operation, captured by British patrols or more often by Arab Bedouins (there was a 100,000 francs on the heads of Italian pilots and spies, when captured in North African territory). The whole operation seemed a failure, however it was not simply a matter of bad luck, as the British intelligence services were aware in advance of the mission plans, thanks to the details provided by the “Ultra ”Of MI-5.
The failure, however, did not result to be complete, because two Arditi escaped capture and decided to complete the mission, despite the adversities, hiding in the Libyan desert for almost a week (between minefields and British patrols patrolling the area, surviving even feeding thanks to a camel, torn down due to the exhaustion of supplies).
These were the airmen Franco Cargnel and Vito Procida, a Venetian and a Sicilian, who managed to reach Benina airport on the night between 18 and 19 June.
Here, they were able to evade surveillance and crawling in the dark of the night they managed to place the charges of explosive to nearly twenty B-24 "Liberator" bombers, two C-47 Douglas transports and one P-38 "Lightining" fighter.
According to other sources, it seems that only two ADRAs succeeded to enter Benina North during the night between 18th and 19th: they were captured on June, 20th, after a short clash where one of them was wounded. They claimed to have mined 20-25 airplanes. According to reports from AFHRA archives (Maxwell AFB) two B24 of 98th BG were destroyed (one of them was "Arkansas Traveller") and two US airmen were killed in action. The interesting fact -also partly mentioned in the book of Prof. Crociani (https://books.google.fr/books?id=zee6CwAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&hl=fr&source=gbs_book_other_versions_r&cad=4#v=onepage&q&f=false) is that 8 Wellington on Berca (an airport 19 km from Benina North) were destroyed during the same night. Allied propaganda against Italy reported "minimal" damage, but -as can be read in the following translation of the essay written by F. Gatti- the mined airplanes and hangars resulted in a loss and/or repair of at least a dozen Allied airplanes. Some of these bombers were ready to attack on the following August 1943 the Romanian oil fields of Ploesti with the "Operation Tidal Wave" (indeed, given the large and unbalanced loss of aircraft -a few also related to this Arditi attack- and the limited damage to the targets, Operation Tidal Wave is considered a strategic failure of the American side).
At 3.30 am the two airmen leaved the camp and, two hours later, placed in an elevated area they witnessed the explosions, which caused serious damage and many victims (nearly forty deaths & injured), in addition to the destruction of airplanes.
The following day, Cargnel and Procida, as they head to the collection point, the secret Aisilian trail, in the Cyrenaic desert, were captured by an Arab, who delivered them to the Allied authorities.
The Italian Royal Air Force organized two rescue missions, on 23 and 26 June, sending two SM.75s on the Aisilian and El Carruba tracks, the pre-arranged meeting points, but no Ardito was present at the collection point.
Vito Procida and Franco Cargnel received the Italian Silver Medal for Military Valor, in name of all the paratroopers for the Arditi group. Both were repatriated to Italy following the Armistice.
 |
| One of the B24 destroyed by the ADRAs at Benina airport in June 1943 |
The following is the translation of a detailed research done by Fabrizio Gatti
The "African Fields" operation was undoubtedly the most ambitious and complex Italian attempt made by the specialist units of the Air Force and the Army to deal a heavy blow to the Allied air forces, in their own bases.
The bulk of the special forces consisted of the men of the ADRA battalion (Arditi Destroyers Regia Aeronautica), as well as some patrols of the X Arditi Regiment of the Italian Army, in particular of the Arditi Parachutists 101 ^ and 111 ^ patrols.
The ADRA had been established towards the end of the previous year (December 1942) and had been, at least nominally, framed in the Assault Regiment Duca d'Aosta, together with the Paratroopers Battalion and the Battalion Loreto; these last ones constituted a homogeneous whole, being destined the first to the occupation of enemy airport areas, the second to their defense and subsequent management (the Loreto is sometimes indicated, in the bibliography, as "Battalion Riattatori", a denomination that is not found in any of the official documents consulted).
The Paratroopers of the 1st and 2nd company Loreto had been employed in Tunisia until the surrender of the Italian First Army, while the 3rd and 4th Company Loreto had carried out airport defense functions, anti-parachute fighting activities and airport runways maintenance in Sicily and (from May 1943) in Sardinia, where the Armistice surprised them.
As it is known, in the operation participated ten "pattuglie" (units/patrols) of the ADRA battalion and four of the X Regiment Arditi, with the use of eleven S82 transport trimotors, intended to operate against nine different airports scattered between Libya, Algeria and Tunisia.
In particular (the names in brackets are those of the commanders of the teams):
The bulk of the special forces consisted of the men of the ADRA battalion (Arditi Destroyers Regia Aeronautica), as well as some patrols of the X Arditi Regiment of the Italian Army, in particular of the Arditi Parachutists 101 ^ and 111 ^ patrols.
The ADRA had been established towards the end of the previous year (December 1942) and had been, at least nominally, framed in the Assault Regiment Duca d'Aosta, together with the Paratroopers Battalion and the Battalion Loreto; these last ones constituted a homogeneous whole, being destined the first to the occupation of enemy airport areas, the second to their defense and subsequent management (the Loreto is sometimes indicated, in the bibliography, as "Battalion Riattatori", a denomination that is not found in any of the official documents consulted).
The Paratroopers of the 1st and 2nd company Loreto had been employed in Tunisia until the surrender of the Italian First Army, while the 3rd and 4th Company Loreto had carried out airport defense functions, anti-parachute fighting activities and airport runways maintenance in Sicily and (from May 1943) in Sardinia, where the Armistice surprised them.
As it is known, in the operation participated ten "pattuglie" (units/patrols) of the ADRA battalion and four of the X Regiment Arditi, with the use of eleven S82 transport trimotors, intended to operate against nine different airports scattered between Libya, Algeria and Tunisia.
In particular (the names in brackets are those of the commanders of the teams):
1)Benina 1 and 2 (Benghazi, Libya): three ADRA patrols (Baccaro, Balmas, Comis) and one of the X Arditi (Di Tommaso), with 2 S82 departing from Iraklion (Crete)
2)Tafarui (Algeria): one ADRA patrol (Marvulli), one S82 departing from Salon-en-Provence (France)
3)Blida (Algeria): one ADRA patrol (Confetto), one S82 departing from Salon-en-Provence (France)
4)Oulmene (Algeria): one patrol of the X Arditi (Rizzo), one S82 departing from Decimomannu (Sardinia)
5)Castelbenito (Tripoli): two ADRA patrols (Degli Effetti, Carraretto
and one of the X Arditi (Pizzianico), mission interrupted
6)Biskra (Algeria): two patrols of the ADRA (Pennacchiotti,
Stramaccioni), two S82 departing from Decimomannu (Sardinia)
7)El Djem (Tunisia): one ADRA patrol (Di Giusto), one S82 departing from Gerbini (Sicily)
8)La Senia (Oran): one patrol of the X Arditi (Giuliattini), one S82 departing from Salon-en-Provence (France)
Each patrol consisted of ten "Arditi", including the officer or non-commissioned officer in charge. All the patrols were launched, with the exception of the three that were to operate in Castelbenito, because an Allied airplane bombing on Gerbini led to the destruction or damage of two S82s.
Within a week or so (the last "Arditi" were captured on June 20) everything was finished
2)Tafarui (Algeria): one ADRA patrol (Marvulli), one S82 departing from Salon-en-Provence (France)
3)Blida (Algeria): one ADRA patrol (Confetto), one S82 departing from Salon-en-Provence (France)
4)Oulmene (Algeria): one patrol of the X Arditi (Rizzo), one S82 departing from Decimomannu (Sardinia)
5)Castelbenito (Tripoli): two ADRA patrols (Degli Effetti, Carraretto
and one of the X Arditi (Pizzianico), mission interrupted
6)Biskra (Algeria): two patrols of the ADRA (Pennacchiotti,
Stramaccioni), two S82 departing from Decimomannu (Sardinia)
7)El Djem (Tunisia): one ADRA patrol (Di Giusto), one S82 departing from Gerbini (Sicily)
8)La Senia (Oran): one patrol of the X Arditi (Giuliattini), one S82 departing from Salon-en-Provence (France)
Each patrol consisted of ten "Arditi", including the officer or non-commissioned officer in charge. All the patrols were launched, with the exception of the three that were to operate in Castelbenito, because an Allied airplane bombing on Gerbini led to the destruction or damage of two S82s.
Within a week or so (the last "Arditi" were captured on June 20) everything was finished
“
In the area of Benghazi airports, one of the main objectives of the action, the facts, according to what reported by Italian sources, happened as summarized briefly below:
1)The patrols destined to operate against Benina airport left Iraklion between 7.30pm and 8.00pm
2)June 13, 1943 and were parachuted between 11:15 pm on the 13th and 00:10 am on the 14th.
3)The launch was rather imprecise: the Baccaro and Di Tommaso patrols landed about 40 km from the targets and 15 paratroopers were captured. The Balmas and Comis patrols were more fortunate, as they took land near the targets. However, due to a series of difficulties (loss of contents with the drinking water, lost backpacks with explosive charges, etc.) the commanders of the two patrols decided to divide their units in small groups of two or three paratroopers, in order to try to slip through the control of the Allied surveillance. However, all groups were captured between June 15 and 20.
“
The two Arditi went away undisturbed from the airport , while the pandemonium was unleashed and at least forty airmen were killed and/or hurt by the explosions.
According to a recent reconstruction, based on documentation of the "Historical Office of the Italian Air Force" about twenty aircraft were destroyed or damaged, including two Liberators from 331st Service Squadron USAF, two Wellington bombers of the 162nd Squadron RAF, two Bisley twin-engine aircraft and a RAF Hurricane fighter.
The attack on Benina is also mentioned in the memoirs of a US officer (sergeant W. Kennedy) of the 981st MP Company, stationed in the area, who reported 120 Italian paratroopers launched in the area of Benghazi airports in the night on June 14, 1943 (in reality there were only forty. One hundred and twenty were, strangely, all those engaged in all the "African Fields" operation in all North Africa).
According to this testimony, three American planes were destroyed in the night between 17 and 18 June, after being mined. In reality, the bombs had been put on ten aircraft, but seven had been identified and removed before they exploded. The report showed that wo paratroopers (certainly Procida and Cargnel) were caught on the 19th.….The memoirs of sergeant Kennedy continued with the description of the finding, at dawn on June 20, still in Benina, of the bodies of two American airmen guarding airplanes, killed by raiders in commando action. The two unfortunate airmen were Sgt. Ernest D. McCann and Cpl. Robert H. Wortman, of 344th BS / 98th BG, who resulted KIA (Killed In Action = fallen in action) during an attack of Italian paratroopers occurred while on duty guard on 20 June 1943.
In conclusion, about twenty aircraft were surely mined (ten Americans, six English plus those in the hangar) and the most reliable estimates on damages showed the destruction of at least two B24s, two Wellington's and two Hurricanes. At least two Allied airmen were killed for sure, while the number of injured should have been in the range of some dozen.The attack, even if successful only in a small part with respect to the efforts made, nevertheless brought a considerable disruption in the Allied security system in the entire North African theater.
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