"HERO" DEBUNKED
EXPOSED BY 8.8.C.
SANK TWO "BATTLESHIPS " LONDON Enzo Grossi, commander of the Italian submarine Barbarigo, was given a hero's welcome when h£ berth at "an Atlantic base"—for having sunk a British freighter and missed a British corvette. Grossi had claimed that the Barbarigo 1 sank two United States battleships—the Maryland, off South America, and the Mississippi off the West African coast. Hence the welcome—reported by the Rome radio. Italian flags waved as Admiral Doenitz, commander of the German submarine fleet, handed Grossi, in Hitler's name, the insigni of Knight of the Iron Cross. He had already been awarded the Italian Military Medal for his "exploits" by Mussolini. But the real nature of the battleships he claimed to have sunk was revealed in London. The Maryland was only a British freighter, while the Mississippi was a corvette that four of his torpedoes missed. The 8.8.C. passed on the facts to Germany and Nazi U-boat commanders. The 8.8.C. broadcast ended: "We have a question to put to the German U-boat commanders. Will they in futuce *vhen they meet this famous chap; Cfrossi, still allow him to .wear the decorations conferred on him by Hitler?"
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/AS19430212.2.21
Bibliographic details
Auckland Star, Volume LXXIV, Issue 36, 12 February 1943, Page 2
Word Count
194"HERO" DEBUNKED Auckland Star, Volume LXXIV, Issue 36, 12 February 1943, Page 2
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