Continued from KTB # 136.

Remember, we keep the black border around this title in memory of VIC HAWKINS who passed away in the midst of writing this article. He died only a short time after he lost his beloved wife, Capt. PATTIE ROBINSON (1497-+-1990).

The Free French however, felt that annexation of the islands would publicize the Free French movement and would show that it was not merely a creation of the British but was a spontaneous movement which operated in complete independence from the British and which was just beginning to develop.

General deGaulle thought of himself as the modern Joan of Are, saviour of France, and his word was law. On 27th September the first Vichy French convoy passed through the Straits of Gibraltar since Operation 'Menace', the attack on Dakar. It consisted of three merchant ships accompanied by the sloop laGRACIEUSE. They passed through without incident. Then on the 29th September, the Italian submarine SCIRE, commanded by CDR Borghese, sailed to make a human torpedo attack on Gibraltar but is ordered back because the British Fleet had put to sea.

In the meantime, the Italian submarine GONDAR had set out to make a 'Maiali' human torpedo attack on Alexandria but is sunk on 30th September west of Alexandria by the Australian destroyer HMAS STUART and an RAF SUNDERLAND flying boat from the 230th Squadron.

The Royal Navy submarine HMS REGENT commanded by LCdr Browne patrolling off Durazzo on the 4th October attacks two small merchant vessels, sinking them both for a total tonnage of 6,088 tons. A few days later on the 11th, the Vichy French submarine VENGUER sails from Toulon to Oran and from there proceeds with the submarines MONGE, PEGASE and LESPOIR to Casablanca on the l6th, and then on to Dakar, arriving there on the 26th October.

At the same time, Italian destroyers are laying mine barrages off Malta and at the entrance to the Grand Harbour.

Toti vs. Rainbow

The ENRICO TOTI has the distinction of being the only Italian submarine to sink one of His Majesty's submarines on 23 September 1940. HMS RAINBOW under the command of LCdr Lewis P. Moore sailed from Alexandria for a patrol off Calabn'a. The battle that took place when RAINBOW encountered the

This photo of TOTI was taken in 1942 at Pola, Yugoslavia where TOTI was used as a training boat and ferried supplies to North Africa.

ENRICO TOTI was a memorable one. It was a little after midnight on October 15th and HMS RAINBOW was proceeding on the surface with the conning tower hatch open and vents ready to blow for a rapid dive.

The sea was calm and there was no wind. Dark low clouds hide the horizon as if a thick curtain of fog had been cleverly spread around it, and the moon diffuses a gloomy light across the clouds which hide it. Suddenly the officer on watch on the bridge of RAINBOW sights something dead ahead which has a shape resembling a submarine low in the water. A few moments later, LCdr Moore, who was on the bridge confirmed the sighting. It was an Italian BALILLA Class submarine, a type not very modern. It was the ENRICO TOTI commanded by CDR Bandino Bandini. The TOTI must have sighted RAINBOW at the same time because she altered her course to face her bows on. Now the two submarines raced towards each other, bow to bow, with the distance between them reducing rapidly.

On sighting the Italian boat, LCdr Moore had called his gun crew to action stations, and they opened fire but their shells passed over the top of the Italian boat. ENRICO TOTI responds with hellish fire from their machine guns and from rifles, which keeps the gun crew on RAINBOW pinned. down and unable to continue fining their four-inch deck gun.

The Italian boat advances at full speed towards RAINBOW and, taking advantage of a moment of silence from, the machine guns on ENRICO TOTI, LCdr Moore takes full advantage of the circumstances to execute the manouvere 'in his mind, and crosses the stern of ENRICO TOTI at a distance of about twelve feet. At the same time his gun crew opens fire at point blank range from high to low, but only causing only slight damage to the Italian boat's conning tower and upper casing. Immediately after this, ENRICO TOTI slackens speed, alters course to port and moves into a position giving them the advantage and fires a torpedo at RAINBOW The torpedo runs directly at RAINBOW but does not explode at hitting. The distance between the two boats was not long enough to give the RPMs necessary to release the striker.

Under the menace of guns and torpedoes of ENRICO TOTI, LCdr Moore gives the order to dive - but before RAINBOW can dive completely, the 120mm/45 deck gun of TOTT opens fire hitting RAINBOW's conning tower, causing fatal damage. Multi- coloured rockets burst from the black cloud which envelopes RAINBOWs conning tower. The rockets were identification signals for aircraft which were stowed in the coming tower.

The Italian boat's gun crew keeps firing as RAINBOW sinks - then in a desperate effort to escape, RAINBOW tries to surface stern first. Meanwhile, the 120mm/45 deck gun of ENRICO TOTI continues to fire, hitting RAINBOW with every shot. Soon RAINBOW disappears forever under the surface of the sea. The duel was over; the entire crew of RAINBOW would never see light again, shut in a coffin of steel lying at the bottom of the sea.

On 15th October, the British Admiralty announced the sinking of RAINBOW. She was the 20th British submarine to be lost in the war and the sixth in the Mediterranean.

HMS Triad

After serving through the Norwegian Campaign, HMS TRIAD was ordered to the Mediterranean. How she came to be sunk is not known for certain. Newly arrived at Malta and under the command of LCdr George S. Salt, TRIAD sailed from Malta on 9th October with orders to patrol the Libyan coast whilst en route to join the 1st Submarine Flotilla.

TRIAD was due to arrive at Alexandria on the 20th, but she failed to make an appearance or to send any signals. The most likely cause of the loss of TRIAD was mining. On 20th October, the British Admiralty announced that TRIAD was overdue and presumed lost. TRIAD was the twenty-second British submarine to be lost in the war and the seventh in the Mediterranean. LCdr George Salt left a widow, a young daughter and a son. His son later became Captain George Salt, the Commanding Officer of the destroyer HMS SHEFFIELD which was sunk by an EXOCET missile in the 1982 Falkland Islands War.

This excellent narrative of the British submarine war will continue next month in KTB #138 as we read of the plan of Mussolini to conquer Greece - but Il Duce' forgot to tell his German allies - forgot to tell the Italian Navy as well.