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BETASOM
EntityQ3631797· pop 11· linked from 57 articles

BETASOM (an Italian language acronym of Bordeaux Sommergibile or Sommergibili) was a submarine base established at Bordeaux, France by the Regia Marina during the Second World War. From this base, Italian submarines participated in the Battle of the Atlantic from 1940 to 1943 as part of the Axis anti-shipping campaign against the Allies.

Key facts

Military installation.name
BETASOM
Military installation.native_name
Bordeaux Sommergibili
Military installation.location
Bordeaux, France
Military installation.image
Basesousmarine.JPG
Military installation.map_type
France
Military installation.map_caption
France
Military installation.type
Submarine base
Military installation.used
August 1940 – September 1943
Military installation.garrison
1,600
Military installation.past_commanders
Angelo Parona (August 1940 – September 1941)Romolo Polacchini (September 1941 – December 1942)Enzo Grossi (December 1942 – September 1943)
Military installation.occupants
''''
Military installation.battles
Battle of the Atlantic

via Wikipedia infobox

~15 min read

Encyclopedic overview

12 sections
Contents
  • Establishment
  • Operational detail
  • German U-boat activities
  • End of operations
  • BETASOM submarines
  • Ex-Red Sea submarines
  • {{lang|it|Ammiraglio Cagni}}
  • Post-World War II
  • Notes
  • Footnotes
  • References
  • External links

BETASOM (an Italian language acronym of Bordeaux Sommergibile or Sommergibili) was a submarine base established at Bordeaux, France by the Regia Marina during the Second World War. From this base, Italian submarines participated in the Battle of the Atlantic from 1940 to 1943 as part of the Axis anti-shipping campaign against the Allies.

==Establishment== Axis naval co-operation started after the signing of the Pact of Steel in June 1939 with meetings in Friedrichshafen, Germany, and an agreement to exchange technical information. After the Italian entry into the war and the Fall of France, the Italian Royal Navy established a submarine base at Bordeaux, which was within the German occupation zone. The Italians were allocated a sector of the Atlantic south of Lisbon to patrol. The base was opened in August 1940 and in 1941 the captured French passenger ship was used as a depot ship before being returned to the Vichy Government in June 1942.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “BETASOM” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.

Gallery (3)

On the map

2 mapped locations