Foreign MilitariaItaly

350 Highly Important Baton of Command of Prince Junio Valerio Scipione Borghese, Commander of the Xª Flottiglia MAS.

The baton made of precious wood with pommel in the shape of a diving helmet. The emblem "Xa" of the Xª Flottiglia MAS inlaid in the shaft.

 Dedication engraving above:

"I MARINAI REPUBLICANI / DELLA SCUOLA PALOMBARI / DELLA / "DECIMA FLOTTIGLIA MAS" / AL LORO COMANDANTE / CAP. DI FREG. / JUNIO VALERIO BORGHESE / PORTOFINO 12 - 6 - 44"

The baton can be disassembled into two parts by means of a screw thread.

Exceptionally important museum object on one of the most important soldiers of Italian fascism and his legendary Xª Flottiglia MAS.

Length: 91,5 cm.


Prince Junio Valerio Scipione Borghese (* 6 June 1906 in Rome; † 26 August 1974 in Cadiz, Spain) was an Italian naval officer and Fascist politician. His origins in the higher nobility and membership of the Fascist Party, whose colour was black, earned him the nickname the Black Prince (Italian: Il principe nero).

Junio Valerio Borghese came from one of the most prestigious Roman noble families, the Borghese. As his father was a diplomat, he spent much of his childhood and youth abroad, including China, Egypt, Spain, France and Britain. In 1922 he was accepted at the Naval Academy in Livorno and left in 1928 as a second lieutenant at sea. In the years that followed he served on various warships of the Regia Marina (Royal Navy), then from 1932 on submarines.

At the outbreak of the war, Borghese was in command of the submarine R.Smg. Vettor Pisani, with which he took part in the naval battle of Punta Stilo and in operations against Gibraltar. In 1941, as a corvette captain (Capitano di Corvetta), he took over the submarine Scirè, with which he was assigned to the Xª Flottiglia MAS, a special unit of the Italian Navy.

With this boat, he supported a famous operation of Italian combat swimmers (among them Luigi Durand de la Penne) with manned torpedoes against the British naval base in Alexandria harbour, sinking the British battleships HMS Valiant and HMS Queen Elizabeth. However, both ships could be raised after a short time and subsequently repaired. From May 1943, he commanded the entire Special Forces unit, which underwent a traumatic split over the armistice of 8 September 1943 (Cassibile Armistice). Borghese continued to fight on the side of the Germans after an agreement with German naval authorities in Liguria within the framework of the fascist Repubblica Sociale Italiana (Italian Social Republic). The unit, which - although now exclusively deployed on land - continued to operate as the Xª Flottiglia MAS, was subsequently considerably expanded and (apart from short missions against Allied troops, such as to repel the American-British landing at Anzio-Nettuno) was mainly used in the context of the fight against partisans (cf. Resistenza), where it was conspicuous for its extremely ruthless action, which followed the practice of the fascist squadrismo of the early 1920s. Borghese thus secured the recognition and protection of the German authorities, who allowed his unit to operate almost autonomously and protected him from repeated interventions by the Italian authorities - in January 1944 Mussolini even had Borghese arrested, but had to release him again under German pressure. He also received German decorations for his missions, including the Iron Cross 2nd and 1st class. The Xª Flottiglia MAS was disbanded in Milan on 26 April 1945.

The Decima Flottiglia MAS (at first officially 10ª Flottiglia MAS, later Xª Flottiglia MAS, abbreviated 10ª MAS or Xª MAS) was a special unit of the Italian Navy during the Second World War.

In the navy, the abbreviation MAS usually stood for Motoscafo Armato Silurante, a type of motorboat equipped with torpedoes, which was used in various MAS flotillas. In the case of 10ª Flottiglia MAS, however, it was an alias, as the unit was primarily equipped with blasting boats and manned torpedoes. In this case, MAS also stood for mezzi d'assalto or small arms.

In the first months of the war, the Decima MAS suffered losses in various unsuccessful engagements in the Mediterranean. Later, until September 1943, it succeeded in putting five warships and 20 other ships out of action. The attack on Alexandria on the night of 18-19 December 1941 was particularly significant, resulting in the loss of two British battleships, among others. Further successes were achieved in the Black Sea by a smaller special unit formed from the Decima MAS. After the armistice of Cassibile and the subsequent occupation of Italy by German troops, the flotilla underwent a traumatic split in September 1943. In the Italian Social Republic under German protection, a large unit known as the Xª Flottiglia MAS under Junio Valerio Borghese continued to fight alongside the Wehrmacht until the end of the war. The special forces of the Marina Militare, formed after the Second World War, succeeded the Decima MAS, which was active until September 1943.


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15.000,00