Post by Dave Homewood on Jul 2, 2012 22:46:58 GMT 12
I ma staying at a mate's place where I have access to Sky TV and earlier this evening I watched a History Channel doco on mini submarines. It was fascinating, particularly where it detailed a small Italian force of mini subs that planted mines on two British battleships in the Port of Alexandria, Egypt, which in effect rendered the Meditteranean Fleet of the Royal Navy useless. It said they then targetted the port at Gibraltar and set up a secret leair to operate from in an interned Italian ship on the Spanish coast four miles away.
Anyway that was fascinating enough, but later tonight whilst looking at something completely differet on Youtube I saw a link to an old 1958 movie called The Silent Enemy. Curious, I looked it up on IMDb and was amazed to discover it is a dramatisation of that very Italian mini-sun unit, and the British unit set up to stop their work.
I just watched the film and found it to be excellent - very interesting and entertaining. It seems the stoy has been embellished slightly for the film but it is based on the true story and real people involved.
The very thought that in WWII the Italians were operating from a secret lair in a ship's hull from neutral Spain without the British or Spanish knowing, and having underwater fighter between frogmen and mini-subs - it all sounds so much like a James Bond movie, and this movie has really good onderwater scenes all filmed on location in Gibraltan waters too. The fact it is (basicaly) true makes it better than Bond. I wonder if Ian Fleming was aware of these wartime operations from his own navy intelligence days, or if he'd seen the film and been inspired when writing Bond?
Here's the film anyway, I recommend it!
Oh and there's also aviation content - A Halifax and lots of Shackletons, including one posing as a crashed Liberator.
Lastly, I had never heard of the attack on the fleet at Alexandria till now. It happened on the 19th of December 1941, just days after Pearl Harbor was attacked. think arguably at the time the loss of the British Med fleet's battleships would have been a more important loss to the Allies than the loss of the US battleships. The RN's ships were in the thick of it in a very dicey fight that was on a pinmcale and their loss gave Italy a huge advantage. Whereas the US ships were not doing much at all when they were attacked apart from defending Hawaii's neutral beaches. I wonder why I have never heard of the Alexandria attack and losses before?
Anyway that was fascinating enough, but later tonight whilst looking at something completely differet on Youtube I saw a link to an old 1958 movie called The Silent Enemy. Curious, I looked it up on IMDb and was amazed to discover it is a dramatisation of that very Italian mini-sun unit, and the British unit set up to stop their work.
I just watched the film and found it to be excellent - very interesting and entertaining. It seems the stoy has been embellished slightly for the film but it is based on the true story and real people involved.
The very thought that in WWII the Italians were operating from a secret lair in a ship's hull from neutral Spain without the British or Spanish knowing, and having underwater fighter between frogmen and mini-subs - it all sounds so much like a James Bond movie, and this movie has really good onderwater scenes all filmed on location in Gibraltan waters too. The fact it is (basicaly) true makes it better than Bond. I wonder if Ian Fleming was aware of these wartime operations from his own navy intelligence days, or if he'd seen the film and been inspired when writing Bond?
Here's the film anyway, I recommend it!
Oh and there's also aviation content - A Halifax and lots of Shackletons, including one posing as a crashed Liberator.
Lastly, I had never heard of the attack on the fleet at Alexandria till now. It happened on the 19th of December 1941, just days after Pearl Harbor was attacked. think arguably at the time the loss of the British Med fleet's battleships would have been a more important loss to the Allies than the loss of the US battleships. The RN's ships were in the thick of it in a very dicey fight that was on a pinmcale and their loss gave Italy a huge advantage. Whereas the US ships were not doing much at all when they were attacked apart from defending Hawaii's neutral beaches. I wonder why I have never heard of the Alexandria attack and losses before?
