Mussolini’s Flight to Libya, June 29, 1942

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Patton42
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Mussolini’s Flight to Libya, June 29, 1942

#1

Post by Patton42 » 15 Jan 2013, 15:35

Good morning, Can anyone share any details on Mussolini’s June 29th trip to North Africa. As you recall, he had flown to Libya and stayed at Berta under the belief that Rommel‘s Panzer Army was only days away from breaking through, and Mussolini thus planned to ride triumphantly through the streets of Cairo on a white charger. It was not to be. But what about the trip there? I believe there were 12 planes involved. What types? Where did they depart from? How was this knowledge kept from Allies, i.e. enigma encryption decoding? Never heard if Allies caught a whiff that the Duce would be crossing the Mediterranean. Any info appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

nmao
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Re: Mussolini’s Flight to Libya, June 29, 1942

#2

Post by nmao » 17 Jan 2013, 00:34

Hello!
I'm afraid i don't have any real adicional info, but a quick search showed these:
http://africanhistory.about.com/od/june/a/td0629.htm
1942, 29 June - World War II: North Africa
Il Duce, Benito Mussolini, arrives in Tripoli, Libya. A second aircraft has been used to deliver his white Arab charger on which it is planned he will make a triumphal entrance into Cairo.
http://books.stonebooks.com/record/1001623/
29 June 1942
Italy
Mussolini flies to Libya in anticipation of victory parade in Cairo
http://worldwar2daybyday.blogspot.pt/20 ... -1942.html
Mussolini flies to Libya, piloting his own aircraft carrying his white horse, in preparation for a triumphant parade into the Egyptian capital, Cairo.
http://books.google.pt/books?id=ZVtPPNc ... ya&f=false
On 29 June 1942 Mussolini flew to Libya with a numerous retinue ofjournal—
ists and Party leaders, settled down at Berta, west of Darnah, and got ready
to enter Cairo in triumph.
http://ww2total.com/WW2/History/Chronol ... uly-05.htm
Air War: Mussolini flies to Derna (Libya), in aircraft marked with Red Crosses to lead expected Axis 'victory parade' through Cairo.
http://books.google.pt/booksid=VMbkZa4C ... bya&f=true
Sensing victory and dreaming of a march of conquerors down the boule-
vards of Cairo, Mussolini departed for Libya on 29 June. Two hundred drums of
black shoe polish were brought along to burnish the boots of the Italian soldiery
for the occasion [180]. Mussolini’s entourage took up twelve planeloads that in-
cluded his clerical staff and cook. His barber was unfortunately killed in a plane
crash [190]

189. John Bierman and Colin Smith, War without Hate: The Desert Campaign of 1940 1943 (New York: Penguin
Books, 2004, p. 200.
190. Paolo Monelli, Mussolini an intimate Life (London: Thomas and Hudson, 1953), pp. 9—10.
http://cronologia.leonardo.it/storia/bi ... ommel3.htm
Tour scrive a Rommel, in data 28 giugno.
"Il signor Mussolini, all'alba parte da Roma per la Libia, dall'aeroporto di Guidonia con un seguito di 4 dozzine di persone. Egli è a bordo di un bombardiere armato, pilotato dal Colonnello Angelo Tondi. Il seguito prende posto su 4 S.81 disarmati. Alle ore 12 il convoglio aereo giunge all'aeroporto di Castel Benito, ove è il Comando degli Junkers.
Al seguito del duce sono il segretario di Stato per l'Aeronautica e un gruppo di giornalisti. Il Duce è in divisa coloniale (sahariana caki) con i gradi di (Primo) Maresciallo dell'Impero.
Il signor Mussolini si porta a Tripoli. La visita ha forma privata. Colazione alla residenza del Governatore della Libia, a Villa delle Rose, ove giunge il fonogramma di Rommel sulla caduta di Marsa Matruh. Sull'imbrunire il Duce raggiunge in volo l'aeroporto di El Fetejah, dove sono i caccia tedeschi. Attendono il Primo Ministro Italiano il Generale von Rintelen, il Generale Cavallero ed il Generale Bastico, con i rispettivi Stati Maggiori. Il secondo velivolo del seguito di Mussolini, durante l'atterraggio. si scontra, a causa dell'oscurità con un bombardiere italiano che rientra da un volo di guerra. I due apparecchi si fracassano al suolo: tre poliziotti del seguito del Duce rimangono uccisi, nonchè il "barbiere personale" di Mussolini.
Il Duce si ferma alla casa cantoniera di Ain Mara dopo Derna, ove è la sezione staccata del Comando italiano, per i compiti speciali in vista di una occupazione dell'Egitto e con funzioni di collegamento fra l'A. Korps ed il Comando Supremo italiano. Il capo della Sezione, Generale Curio Barbasetti di Prum, un ottimo e colto ufficiale, illustra agli ospiti la situazione militare sulle carte. Quindi il corteo si porta in macchina sul Gebel, al villaggio colonico Berta, ove è la residenza del Duce, in una villetta privata che era stata la sede del Generale inglese Claude Auchinlek con il suo Q.G."

In effetti Mussolini parte per la Cirenaica pilotando personalmente il suo aereo: si dice porti con sé un cavallo bianco che il Duce vorrebbe montare in occasione del suo ingresso al Cairo che egli ritiene questione di giorni se non addirittura di ore (Dichiara: “Entro 15 giorni vi installerò un Alto Commissario Italiano”).
A riceverlo è Rommel, che annota ogni giorno sul Diario....
Several other details on this site:
20 LUGLIO 1942 - DIARIO - (scrive l' aiutante) [...]
All'alba il signor Mussolini è partito in volo dal campo di el Fetejah per Atene. Dicono che intende recarsi a Roma e tornare in Libia fra tre settimane per assistere alla conquista di Alessandria. Se continua così, nel migliore dei casi saremo sempre qui, invece fra la sabbia, se il nemico non ci avrà buttati a mare!"
http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarl ... AF-c4.html
‘ROMMEL will be in Cairo within a few days,’ boasted the German radio on 30 June 1942. And the Italian dictator Mussolini was already at Derna preparing for the triumphal entry, having brought with him, so it is said, a white horse on which he proposed to lead the procession.
http://usswashington.com/worldwar2plus55/dl19jl42.htm
July 20th, 1942...Glum, ailing, and bored in Libya's Derna, Benito Mussolini cancels plans to lead a grand victory parade in Cairo, and flies back (with his white charger) to Rome. The future does not look very bright, he says. "He looked desperately ill and tired," writes one of his ministers. "It was announced that the exhaustion caused by his strenuous duties had brought on an attack of amoebic dysentery." A rumor flies around Rome that Il Duce is dying. "Perhaps he is dying," says another minister, "But not of dysentery. It's a less commonplace disease. It's called humiliation."
There must be more info somewhere...

Regards,

-Nuno


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Patton42
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Re: Mussolini’s Flight to Libya, June 29, 1942

#3

Post by Patton42 » 17 Jan 2013, 15:09

Thanks, I have seen most of these. Just can not find any real details on escorts, efforts if secrecy, etc.. Kind of weird that I have read nothing of Allied decryption of flight, either post fact or not. Hopefully someone can fill in some blanks.

Thanks again.

bonzen
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Re: Mussolini’s Flight to Libya, June 29, 1942

#4

Post by bonzen » 17 Jan 2013, 22:09

Nothing new to add except I spoke with a Luftwaffe pilot who had part of his foot shot off when he was downed over Smolensk. He became staff and as I recall he claimed he saw Mussolini "riding a large white horse". But as I remember it he witnessed it in Benghazi.

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Patton42
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Re: Mussolini’s Flight to Libya, June 29, 1942

#5

Post by Patton42 » 17 Jan 2013, 23:36

Thank you, but i am not interested in what Mussolini did in Libya, but how he got there, and the other questions listed above.

Thanks again.

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Patton42
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Re: Mussolini’s Flight to Libya, June 29, 1942

#6

Post by Patton42 » 30 Jan 2013, 01:06

Nothing? :cry:

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