After hearing that teams of Italian frogmen had sunk the only two British battleships left in the Mediterranean in December of 1941, British Admiral Sir Andrew Cunningham stated, “We are having shock after shock out here. The damage to the battleships at this time is a disaster. One cannot but admire the cold-blooded bravery and enterprise of these Italians.”

The sinking of those battleships altered the strategic scenario in the Mediterranean theater for the next year of the war, but you will read about this example of Italian courage and ingenuity or others like it in precious few American history books on the Second World War. Instead, in these books, you will no doubt see the inevitable photo of Italian soldiers surrendering en masse.