08.1944: Auflösung italienischer Dienststellen in Genua und westlich davon

[Darius]

Hallo zusammen,

gibt es weitere Hintergründe zu der Gesamtsituation in Genua, welche im Lagebericht des Wehrmachtsführungssabes (NARA T1022-3902) vom 20.08.1944 angegeben wird?:

IV.[...]
Italien:
[...] Italienische Dienststellen (Mariser, ital. Hafendienststellen) in Genua und westlich davon bis zur Grenze aufgelöst, Personal entwaffnet und verhaftet, Leiter, Freg.Kpt. Löwenberg (Italiener), erschossen, da Auflösungserscheinungen und Verrat festgestellt.

 

Darius

[LColombo]

The executed officers were two: Commander Carlo Unger di Löwenberg, head of the naval services of the Marina Nazionale Repubblicana in Genova (de facto RSI naval commander in Genoa), and his deputy, Lieutenant Commander Silvio Fellner. Both Italians, despite the coincidence of the German-sounding surnames. In 1940-1941 Unger di Löwenberg had commanded the destroyers Freccia and Saetta and the torpedo boat Circe, escorting convoys to North Africa, sinking HMS Union and earning several awards; from 1941 to 1943 he had been executive officer of the cruiser Montecuccoli and at the time of the armistice he was in charge of the fitting out of the aircraft carrier Aquila. He took up the role of head of naval services in Genoa in September 1943 at the request of Admiral Emilio Ferreri, commissioner for the Navy in Rome, and kept that role even after the establishment of the Italian Social Republic and Ferreri's resignation later that month, even though he never took a formal oath of loyalty to the RSI.

Unger di Löwenberg's relationship with the German commands in Genoa were always strained, and in fact both he and Fellner were secretly cooperating with the Resistance (especially with former Navy Lieutenant Antonio Zolesio, who had become a senior member of the "Justice and Freedom" Brigades in Liguria), which they secretly provided with weapons. It is not clear whether, and how much, were the Germans aware of this cooperation, but on 16 August 1944, following the Allied landings in southern France, Unger di Löwenberg ordered the port offices of western Liguria (Imperia and San Remo) to withdraw towards Genoa with their personnel (it was feared another Allied landing was imminent in the area and the personnel of those offices was not equipped for defense), without consulting the German commands. The latter learned this two days later and considered the order an act of treason; on 18 August Unger di Löwenberg and Fellner were arrested by the SS, as were the head of the Port Captaincy of Genoa, Colonel Silvio Fontanella, his deputy Merani and Ensign Cavallo. After being briefly imprisoned in the Marassi prison the five officers were transferred to the German command in Forte San Giorgio, where they were subjected to a drumhead court-martial entirely composed of German officers (RSI authorities were entirely sidelined, which later caused protests both by Mussolini and Borghese) and headed by Captain Max Berninghaus, German naval commander in Genoa. Fontanella, Merani and Cavallo were acquitted, but Unger di Löwenberg and Fellner were sentenced to death and immediately executed by firing squad, at one A.M. on 19 August. The Italian naval personnel under their command was arrested and sent to camps in Germany.

According to Sergio Nesi, following protests by Mussolini and Borghese (through his deputy Mario Arillo, who had taken command of what was left of the RSI naval personnel in Liguria, that is X MAS personnel), and the mediation of Enzo Grossi and Admiral Giuseppe Sparzani, the arrested naval personnel was soon released and repatriated, and the execution of Unger di Löwenberg and Fellner was officially deemed "a tragic mistake", their bodies exhumed and reburied with solemn funerals, and their families received compensation from the RSI. After the war, Unger di Löwenberg and Fellner were recognized by the Italian Navy as having fallen for the liberation of Italy.