Richie Kohler: The "Deep Sea Detective" speaks about the Britannic, the Titanic, U869 and his Hollywood movie

Richie Kohler is a familiar figure to millions of people worldwide, through his TV Show "Deep Sea Detectives", hosted together with John Chatterton on History Channel.

Richie Kohler's lifelong passion has been exploring the famous shipwrecks around the world, including the SS Andrea Doria and the RMS Titanic. 

Richie's work identifying a World War II German submarine, U-869, off the coast of New Jersey has been the subject of several television documentaries and a best selling book by Robert Kurson, titled "Shadow Divers". 

The New York Times bestseller is currently being developed as a motion picture by Universal Studios.

Richie has a special bond with Greece, as the Titanic's sister ship the Britannic, first discovered in the 1970s by Jacques-Yves Cousteau, sunk close to Kea Island and resting nearly intact on the seabed, at a depth of approximately 120 metres.

His brand new book, on the Britannic, "Mystery of the Last Olympian"  is out now!

Here's what Richie said to

pierrekosmidis.blogspot.com 

and 

WW2 Wrecks in Greece 

about his past and present explorations, his plans about the future and... everything else in between: 

A movie about U869 is on the cards; at which stage is the production and what is your involvement with it?

Originally the film rights for Shadow Divers project was picked up by 20th Century Fox, who worked for nearly ten years to get the right screenplay and the right actors to align at the same time, and although they had some incredibly talented people, they couldn't make all the pieces fit. 

So two years ago, the rights to our story were once again available and Universal Studios grabbed it up! We now have the incredibly talented John Lee Hancock (The Blind Side, The Rookie, Midnight in the Garden of Good & Evil etc.) not only writing the screen play but directing as well. 

The producer is Gil Netter (Life of Pi,  The Blind Side, Flicka, Water for Elephants etc) who really loves to turn books into films and incredibly enthusiastic about our project. 

Both John Chatterton and myself are advisers on the film, and look forward to being behind the scenes as they say. We are hoping to see it in theaters within the next 18 months!

Stepping back in time, which specific dive would you consider as the one that really stands out, out of the thousands of dives you've done so far?

When asked this question, I always answer the NEXT dive! 

The truth is no matter how cool the dives are that I made, something always comes along that is even more incredible. 

My two dives on Titanic was breath taking and certainly one of my favorites  and who would have thought that nearly a decade later I would be working with no other than the man who discovered Titanic, Dr Bob Ballard. 

While exploring shipwrecks in the Gulf Of Mexico, our  work resulted in yet another historical correction and a World War Two hero finally getting the recognition he deserved. 

As I stood at the award ceremony in the Pentagon and shook the hand of the Secretary of the Navy and the son of the Heroic Captain Claudius, I realized how we as divers can make a real difference in peoples lives. 

As I have done with the U-869, The USS Murphy, The USS Lagarto, and now with the PC-566, the human connection and making a difference is the best thing I can accomplish diving. 

As the years go by  the "favorite" wreck has changed, as diving has changed, and I have changed. In recent years, I have been obsessed with the HMHS Britannic, and it has become my favorite wreck dive. 

As the sister ship to Titanic, she has an incredible linage and the expeditions to explore her are challenging and worth the labor to achieve this beautiful dive,  a unique frozen moment in time.

What are your feelings when you dive a wreck for the first time?

I am still as excited about diving as I was forty one years ago when I was first certified as a diver. 

There is a special feeling in my gut when diving an unknown site, a virgin wreck. Its an addicting hobby and its not often in life we are gifted with that first. 

To swim about seeing that which has been lost to the world and KNOWING your the first, makes my hear beat faster. It prompts one to travel further and deeper, to keep looking and searching for yet another lost ship. 

To be honest though, I also get pretty excited to go scallop lobster or bottle diving, but shipwrecks will always be my first love.

With the TV series you were hosting with John you introduced millions of viewers across the Globe to scuba diving; how important do you think this is and what your message would be to anyone who would like to take up scuba diving?

Working for television has granted us incredible access to not only fanatstic dive sites, but incredably talented people, experts in everything from oceanography, hyper-baric medicine, submersible technology, historians and explorers. 

I feel honored to work with such people and have a sense of obligation to the people who would watch to do my best to a positive influence for diving and our stewardship of the oceans. 

To anyone who may want to become a diver this is exciting time to become an underwater explorer as the technology and training have grown to make diving safer than ever before. 

With the right training and equipment the worlds oceans, it billions of wonderful  and strange denizens is only the beginning. 

There are shipwrecks and caves, even under polar ice are mysteries just waiting to be explored.

You've been to Greece and dived at some of the wrecks, among them the Britannic. Tell us a bit more about your experience and impressions from these dives.

I have been to Greece three times, 2006, 2009 and 2015. 

The reason was always to visit one of my favorite wreck, the Britannic but in 2015 I did get a chance to visit another shipwreck lost off Kea, the SS Burdigala, which was also sunk during World War 1 by the mines laid by U-73. 

The thing about both shipwrecks is how intact they are. All of the artifacts are still in place just like the day the ships sank. 

Both the depth of water and government protection has made sure these historic sites have been undisturbed. The water here is so incredibly clear, it is not uncommon to have over 150ft/46 meters of visibility in the water and the wrecks have a colorful protective coating of corals, oysters and marine fauna. 

Huge schools of bait fish swirl around both wrecks and indeed these huge ships have become a diverse home to a wide variety of sea life. The same coating of thick growth protects these two wrecks and the are incredibly intact. 

To be able to peer inside the either one is a to see backward in time, with everything stopped in a moment of violence. Now all is peaceful and quiet. I love diving here.

Any other specific memories from Greece?

Like all dive trips, we plan, dream and travel more than we ever spend time in the water, and with all the time I have got to spend on Kea I have grown to love the island and the people. 

On days that the weather is to rough for diving we would rent mopeds and travel around seeing much of this quiet little island. 

In 2009 I was fortunate to even fly a helicopter around the island and from the air, it looks lke a jewel set in the deep blue sea, white waves crashing all around the rocky edges. 

Of course when on the mainland I spent a little time in Athens and also seeing the historic ruins of Poseidon's temple and other wonderful sights, but the islands are for me the real Greece, the Greece I love.

Identifying wrecks is a thrilling and exhausting process. What were your reactions when you said "yes! it's the U869"?

It took us almost six years to finally find the answer and solve the 60 year old mystery, but it was a bittersweet process. Yes, we were happy, but also exhausted and sad. 

Three people died trying to figure out the answer and that is never easy to accept. For me the work on the wreck ended that day, but a new project was ahead of me, to find and talk to the families of the fallen sailors on the U-boat, so that not only was the deaths of our three friends not in vain, but to tell the families with respect what had happened to the sailors during the war. 

It was the first time I would become personally involved in fixing broken history, and then seeking out and talking with families of lost sailors. No one should ever be unknown, lost to the sea in an unmarked grave, and given families closure is an honor I hold dear.

How was it working with Dr. Ballard on U166?

Dr Ballard, likes to be called Bob. To be honest I was more than a little nervous to meet and work with him but once we shook hands he was a very down to earth person. 

Serious and passionate about his work, he accepts nothing less than excellence of his staff and crew, this is most certainly from his military career, but he is kind and leads by example. 

When we sat side by side in the control room, and watched on the monitors as the ROV's Argus and Hercules filmed and explored the wreckage of both the German submarine U-166 and her final victim the SS Robert E Lee, my job was to detail for Dr Ballard not only the specifications about a type IX German U-boat but also about the battle between them and how they both were sunk. 

I must say it was surreal for me to telling Dr Bob Ballard about shipwrecks, but I do know the subject well and he agreed with all of my insight and findings. When I mentioned to Bob that due to the fog of war, the Captain that sank the U-166 was not awarded a medal, but rather punished as the Navy thought the sub had gotten away! 

Well Bob wanted to set the record straight and reached out to friends at the highest ranks of the US Navy and soon I was invited to the award ceremony at the Pentagon in Washington DC as the late Captain Claudius was posthumously awarded the legion of merit for valor in combat, nearly seventy years later. 

I was very proud that day to stand there and shake captain Claudius'  sons hand and the hand of the Secretary of the Navy, Ray Mabus. 

The things we as divers can do that affect other peoples lives is amazing!

Diving at the Titanic with the MIR submersible: Images, impressions and feelings?

It was for me the penultimate moment in my career. 

I had been working for television on Deep Sea Detectives at that point for almost 3 years and so understood that this was a big TV project, but it was much more than that to me personally. 

First the History Channel didn't want to risk the $300,000 dollars it would cost for the expedition so initially they said no. But John Chatterton, Kirk Wolfinger and I all chipped in 100,000 each to charter the Russian research ship Keyldish and the two MIR submersibles. 

As wreck divers, how could we let the chance to dive the Titanic go by? We could not. When I first started to climb the ladder to get into the submersible I realized that for me, this was just like going into outer space. 

Just like and astronaut I was in a uniform with the flag on my shoulder, mission patches on my chest. All around me were dozens of engineers, scientists, electricians and mechanics who all worked very hard to make sure we would be safe and stay alive in our tiny submarine as we descended two and a half miles/4024 meters down to the seafloor. 

My sub buddy was the famous cameraman Ralph White and our Pilot was Genya. Every single moment of the launch and descent stays with me, but the moment we could see the sea floor out of the tiny ports I was amazed. 

It was just featureless mud at first but to me it was like the ground of the moon. To see the wreck for th first time was even more amazing, I think I said oh my god oh my god and was not very professional as the emotion just took over me. 

I was so excited and happy for the first two hours, but then when we got to the stern, the fact that 1500 people died in this wreck really struck home. Shoes on the sea floor was the only marker for a persons grave, so many people. It was an over whelming experience both emotionally and physically.

It was my first time to really let the reality sink in. From Titanic, I found my way to explore her lesser known, and to me, more beautiful sister Britannic.

READ MORE HERE AND HERE

Greek soldiers firing with a Hotschkiss Light Machine Gun

Greek soldiers firing with a Hotschkiss Light Machine Gun during a pre-war military exercise

The Modified Hotchkiss machine gun was a Greek improvement of the French Hotchkiss M1926, in turn an evolution of the Hotchkiss M1914 machine gun. 

Existing stock of French-built weapons was modernized before World War II in the Greek State Military Material Facility (EYP) of Athens. 

The main improvement involved the gun's weakest spot, its firing rate which in practice was only 220 rounds/min, about half that of contemporary machine guns. 

Apart from accomplishing increase to 420 rounds/min and improved stability, the same facilities undertook the production of a large number of auxiliary parts, with minor improvements. 

The gun was extensively used by the Greek Army during World War II.

Greek soldiers firing with a St. Etienne Light Machine Gun on the Albanian mountains

Gradisca: The "Odyssey" of the Italian hospital ship in Greece during WW2

The Hospital Ship "Gradisca" at the Port of Patras, Greece

GRADISCA and AQUILEA: Two large hospital ships operating on the Mediterranean under Italian and German flag from 1939-45

In 1935, Italy bought two pre-World-War-I steamships built in England and the Netherlands and originally used as passenger ships – the GRADISCA (13,879 G.R.T.) and the AQUILEA (9,448 G.R.T.). Following their requisition and re-equipment in 1940, they were put into operation as Italian hospital ships. 

Gradisca at the Port of Barcelona, Spain

Along with altogether seventeen other Italian hospital ships they ran their beneficial service on the Mediterranean during the initial phase of World War II. 

On several perilous trips, occasionally hindered by mines and aerial attacks, they transported wounded and sick soldiers to Italy, primarily from the Albanian ports of Durëss and Vlorë, the Greek city of Thessaloniki and the Libyan cities of Benghazi and Tripoli. 

The GRADISCA also rescued a large number of persons shipwrecked during the naval battle off Cape Matapan in March 1941. 

Whereas the AQUILEA later distinguished herself by bringing home wounded members of the German Africa Corps within the framework of the evacuation of Tunisia in May 1943, the GRADISCA undertook several expeditions to Turkish Smyrna at the instigation of the International Red Cross for the purpose of exchanging wounded prisoners and medical personnel.

Following the surrender of the Italian forces in September 1943, both ships passed into German hands under circumstances still not completely clarified, and were later put into service as German military hospital ships. 

Under German flag the AQUILEA carried out only one more exchange of wounded soldiers on the western Mediterranean before burning out in Marseilles in December 1943, after which she never again operated. 

The GRADISCA was likewise employed for a major exchange undertaking in the spring of 1944, but served the navy primarily in the transport of the wounded and sick from the Aegean region. During the first half of 1944 she travelled the Adriatic Sea frequently between Venice and Porto d'Ascoli in Central Italy, transporting soldiers wounded at the Cassino front.

In the period that followed, the GRADISCA's missions were often affected by the lack of clarity in the status of a hospital ship with regard to international law. 

In as early as December 1943 British units captured her on the Adriatic Sea and forced her to enter the Allied-occupied port of Brindisi, where they liberated the wounded English and Italians as well as interned medical personnel who had been on board. 

Within the context of the evacuation of Thessaloniki in October 1944 the GRADISCA was once again stopped by British warships and escorted to Alexandria. 

There a British control commission searched the entire ship, inspected the German medical personnel and the nearly 2,000 wounded persons on board, approximately half of whom were subsequently taken prisoner of war. 

Upon leaving Alexandria the GRADISCA was ordered to head for Algiers, where the remainder of the wounded were taken from board and placed in British military hospitals, despite strong protest on the part of the ship's commanders and attempted intervention by the International Red Cross. 

On her final trip in January of 1945, she was captured by British naval forces in the Dodecanese, taken to Alexandria and searched. Before her release, numerous wounded and sick Germans were forced to leave the ship and go to British prisoner-of-war hospitals in Egypt.

The GRADISCA spent the majority of the final weeks of the war laid up in Trieste or Venice. 

Fuel had become so scarce that the coal supply on board hardly sufficed even for port operation, and a further undertaking to the Aegean islands still occupied by German troops was out of the question. 

When the last of the 328-man medical crew had gone from board, the hospital ship GRADISCA was officially decommissioned and retransferred to Lloyd Trestino. 

Between October 1943 and March 1945 – i.e. during her period of operation under German flag – the ship is estimated to have transported altogether approximately 12,700 wounded and sick soldiers to medial facilities behind the lines.

SOURCE AND MORE

Άγνωστες πτυχές του Ελληνοϊταλικού Πολέμου 1940-41, μέσα από τα μάτια των κατοίκων της Κλεισούρας - Β' Μέρος

Έλληνες στρατιώτες στο αλβανικό Μέτωπο, Χειμώνας 1940-41
(Επιχρωματισμός φωτογραφίας: Μάρκος Δανέζης)

Ο Ελληνοϊταλικός Πόλεμος του 1940-41 στα βουνά της Αλβανίας έχει αποτυπωθεί σε πληθώρα βιβλίων, είτε από την ελληνική, είτε από την ιταλική πλευρά.

Ελάχιστες ωστόσο είναι οι μαρτυρίες που καταγράφουν τον τρόπο με τον οποίο βίωσαν τον πόλεμο οι κάτοικοι των περιοχών, στις οποίες οι δύο στρατοί έδωσαν σκληρές μάχες, αφήνοντας τα σημάδια τόσο στο τοπίο, όσο και στις μνήμες των Αλβανών.

Χάρτης του 1917 (Συλλογή Γεωργίου Κρικέλα)

Ο αναγνώστης του ιστολογίου pierrekosmidis.blogspot.com  Αριάν Μουράι, μοιράζεται τις αναμνήσεις των παππούδων του, οι οποίοι ήταν μικρά παιδιά το 1940, αλλά και του ίδιου, ο οποίος τη δεκαετία πλέον του 1980 και στις αρχές της δεκαετίας του 1990, μετά την κατάρρευση του κομμουνιστικού καθεστώτος του Εμβέρ Χότζα, έπαιζε με τους φίλους του με τα απομεινάρια των μαχών.

Η αξία της μαρτυρίας αυτής έγκειται όχι μόνο στο γεγονός ότι βοηθάει να αποκτήσουμε μια πληρέστερη εικόνα του Ελληνοϊταλικού Πολέμου, συμπληρώνοντας τα στοιχεία που έχουμε από ελληνικής και ιταλικής πλευράς, αλλά παράλληλα φωτίζει άγνωστες πτυχές του, μέσα από τα μάτια του άμαχου πληθυσμού που βρέθηκε ανάμεσα σε διασταυρούμενα πυρά.

Ο Αριάν Μουράι, σε φωτογραφία της δεκαετίας του 1990, στα μέρη που περιγράφει

Παρατίθεται το δεύτερο μέρος της πολύ ενδιαφέρουσας μαρτυρίας του Arian Muraj και σύντομα θα ακολουθήσουν και τα επόμενα κεφάλαια.

(ΔΙΑΒΑΣΤΕ ΤΟ ΠΡΩΤΟ ΜΕΡΟΣ ΕΔΩ) 

"Λοιπόν, η περιέργεια, η επιθυμία να μάθω, με σημάδεψε για πάντα.

Δεν είχα κάποια εύκολη ζωή στην Αλβανία. Μόνο κάπου το 1996 έως 1998 δούλεψα ως δημοσιογράφος που δεν ήταν η θέλησή μου, αλλά και νάζια δεν μπορούσα να κάνω! 

Η Κλεισούρα σε επιστολικό δελτάριο των αρχών του 20ου αιώνα

Η ειδικότητά μου, ήταν οι συνεντεύξεις, ενώ παράλληλα, έπαιξα και ποδόσφαιρο. 

Το 1996, περνάω στην ομάδα του Κέντρου Νεολαίας "Don Bosko" των Τιράνων. Ήταν κάτι για τους απελπισμένους νέους για να μη μένουν στους δρόμους αλλά να περνάνε οργανωμένα το ελεύθερο χρόνο τους με σπορ, θέατρο και μαθαίνοντας και κάποια τέχνη. 

Θρησκευτικό κέντρο που τραβάει με το τρόπο της τους νέους στο δρόμο του Θεού (καθολική θρησκεία). 

Τότε, το Σεπτέμβρη είχα πάει με την γυναίκα μου στο χωριό. Η Βάνα, η γυναίκα μου, είναι από το ίδιο χωριό με την μάνα μου, βλέπεις, η αγάπη για το χωριό, παρά το ότι είμαι πρωτευουσιάνος!

Τον παππού της, τον ήξερα από μικρό παιδί, όπως άλλωστε όλους τους γερόντους απλά, λόγω του ότι η οικογένειά μας ήταν όλο το σόι κομμουνιστές, δεν μου επιτρέπανε και πολύ να του μιλάω όταν ήμουν μικρός, διότι ήταν πολιτικός κυνηγημένος, είχε κάνει και φυλακή για 13 χρόνια! 

Στην δημοκρατία πλέον (σ.σ. μετά την κατάρρευση της κομμουνιστικής δικτατορίας του Εμβέρ Χότζα), μπορούσα να περάσω με αυτόν τον άνθρωπο νύχτες χειμωνιάτικες κοντά στο τζάκι.

Αυτός δεν ήταν ο απλός χωριάτης που νόμιζες, κάθε άλλο!

Νέος, ήταν φοιτητής στην Ιταλία σε στρατιωτική ακαδημία για βαρύ πυροβολικό. Δεν είχε τελειώσει το σχολείο του διότι τότε, η πλειοψηφία των Αλβανών φοιτητών, μετά την εισβολή της Ιταλίας στην Αλβανία, δεν πήραν όρκο απάνω στην φασιστική σημαία και έτσι, εκδιώχτηκαν από το σχολείο!

Στον πόλεμο, ο πάππους μου και όλοι οι άλλοι, μετά τις μάχες που παρεμπιπτόντως διεξάγονταν σχεδόν σε καθημερινή βάση, πήγαιναν πάνω στο βουνό, λίγο πάνω από τα τελευταία σπίτια, και θάβανε τους νεκρούς, φροντίζοντας όμως πρώτα να προμηθευτούν  διάφορα, όπως σκοινιά, παπούτσια, ξυριστικές μηχανές, παλτά μεταλλικά κουτιά, όπλα και άλλα.

Ο παππούς της γυναίκας μου, ήταν ένας τυχοδιώκτης στα νιάτα του και στα γεράματα δεν βαριόταν και ούτε ντρεπόταν να λέει ιστορίες από την ζωή του. 

Ήταν μονόχειρας, διότι το άλλο χέρι το είχε χάσει... συναρμολογώντας χειροβομβίδα!

Μπορούσε όμως να φτιάξει τα πάντα με το ένα χέρι από το να μπαλώσει τα παντελόνια του μέχρι να φτιάξει όπλο! 

Ναι, όπλο! Και από όπλα, αυτός θα μπορούσε να έχει όσα ήθελε, διότι ήξερε καλά που είχαν γίνει οι μάχες! 

Μου ξεκίνησε την ιστορία, λέγοντάς μου ότι υπάρχουν ακόμα πτώματα στο έδαφος εκεί πάνω στην "Μεγάλη Γούρνα". 

Ιταλούς κυρίως, αλλά και Έλληνες. Εγώ τότε, έδωσα αμέσως σημασία στους Ιταλούς διότι βρισκόμουν σε αυτό το κέντρο νεολαίας. 

Αργότερα όμως, των ρωτάω - Και Έλληνες; Είσαι σίγουρος;

Διότι πλέον, βρισκόμασταν στο 1996 και υπήρχαν τουλάχιστον πέντε χρόνια δημοκρατίας και η Ελλάδα τότε, ήταν πολύ κοντά μας και λόγω της μεγάλης μετανάστευσης. 

Και τι μου απαντάει; 

Μου εξηγεί στην αρχή, ότι αυτές οι μάχες δεν βγάζανε νικητές παρά τις μάχες σώμα με σώμα με ξιφολόγχες.  

Μάλιστα, μια βραδιά ερχόταν στο σπίτι ο Αντόνιο, ένας Ιταλός λοχίας με τα ζυμαρικά του και τρώγανε και τα πίνανε και την άλλη μέρα ερχόταν το βράδυ ο Γιάννης ο Έλληνας λοχίας, με κάνα κόκορα και χυλόπιτα και βούτυρο! 

Ο παππούς είχε μόνο το τσίπουρο να βάλει στο τραπέζι. Και με τους δυο, μιλούσε κανονικά στρατιωτικά, για θέσεις και τέτοια.

Στη μνήμη μου παραμένει λέγοντας για πλάκα πολλές λέξεις ελληνικά και άπταιστα ιταλικά!

Λοιπόν, πως δόθηκε η λύση? - με ρωτάει -Με τον πιό μακάβριο τρόπο - απαντάει ο ίδιος.

Οι Έλληνες, μαζέψαν η μάλλον δημιούργησαν ένα τάγμα με γύρω στους 400 Εβραίους και τους βάλανε μπροστά και όταν ήρθε η ώρα να πιάνονται σε μάχες με τις ξιφολόγχες με τους Ιταλούς, βομβαρδίσανε τους πάντες από πίσω με σράπνελ, παρά την απαγόρευση αυτού του είδους!

Αυτό μου έχει μείνει για πάντα! 

Ειλικρινά δεν ξέρω τι να πω! 

Διότι ο γέρος, δεν ήταν ούτε θύμα κάποιας προπαγάνδας και ούτε υποχρεωμένος ήταν να μου το πει!

Απλά, καπνίζαμε και τσιμπούσαμε και κάνα κομμάτι παστουρμά και πίναμε και κάνα τσίπουρο τα βράδια!

Όταν γύρισα στα Τίρανα, το είπα στον διευθυντή του κέντρου, έναν Ιταλό για την πιθανότητα ύπαρξης νεκρών ακόμα και σήμερα εκεί αλλά...δυστυχώς δεν έδωσε σημασία! Ντροπή!

Προσωπικά δεν ξέρω αν ήταν αλήθεια αυτά που μου είπε ο γέρος διότι όσο νά'χει... γεράματα είναι και όλοι μας, σε τέτοιες περιπτώσεις λέμε μέσα μας "έλα μωρέ, τα έχει χαμένα" αλλά... μόνο χαμένα δεν έδειχνε να τα έχει τότε ο παππούς! 

Αυτό, βάσει της καθημερινότητας που περνούσαμε με αυτόν. 

Why did Mussolini select October 28 1940, to start the offensive against Greece?

The Greek dictator Ioannis Metaxas responded "alors c'est la guerre" ("So this means war", which lived in the annals of History as "NO") to the ultimatum of the Italian ambassador Emmanuele Grazzi at 3:00 in the morning of October 28, 1940 in one of the most brilliant pages of modern Greek history. 

 
Even before the ultimatum expired, the Italian fascist dictator's Mussolini army began its offensive against Greece. 

October 28, 1940 has remained in history as the beginning of the Greek-Italian War but few however know why the Italian pagliaccio selected the specific date for the attack against Greece. 
  

In October 1922, when the Greek Army was crushed in Asia Minor by the forces of Kemal Ataturk, Italian dictator Benito Mussolini began the "March to Rome" (Marcia su Roma ).

Leading 30,000 fascists, Mussolini conducted the March to Rome and on October 28, 1922, the king of the country Vittorio Emmanuele III handed over the reins of the country to the pagliaccio.

For the fascist regime of Italy October 28th had a deep symbolic meaning.

So when the war preparations of the country, which had begun much earlier, with the occupation of Albania and a number of other actions, reached its climax, Mussolini ordered the military puppets of his fascist regime to set the starting date of the attack against Greece on October 28.

Despite the adverse weather conditions that burdened both sides, but especially the attacking Italians, the reservations of the Italian generals who expressed objections as to the success of the offensive and the explicit disagreement of the nazis, who did not wish to open up another front, while preparing for their attack against the Soviet Union, 18 years after the March to Rome, on 28 October 1940, the Italians started their offensive, which led to an epic struggle that humiliated the Italian dictator and his cronies and resulted in a victory for the Greeks. 

* The commemorative postcards, dated 1945, which immortalize the achievements of the Greeks at the Albanian front, come from my personal collection and are available free of smudges and watermarks to everyone interested in high resolution.

READ THE STORY IN GREEK

FOUND! WW2 Pacific Treasures tell their secrets

"In my opinion, aircraft -if salvaged and restored- should be in museums for all to see, and not in some rich person's private collection." Rod Pearce, scuba diver and explorer, Papua new Guinea.

FULL STORY OUT SOON! 

Stay tuned!

 pierrekosmidis.blogspot.com 

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WW2 Pacific Treasures 

Inside a submarine wreck: Aldo Ferrucci's stunning photos from a WW2 Wreck

Located around Cap Camarat, between Cavalaire and Saint Tropez, the wreck of the Rubis is a 'must dive' in the Mediterranean Sea. 

It is a mine launcher submarine that left Toulon in 1931. 

PHOTOS BY ALDO FERRUCCI

Measuring 66m long over 7m wide and 8m high, it could have set 32 mines in one mission... It served in Norway and then headed down to Scotland and the Med' as reinforcement during WWII.

In 1945, it sailed back to Oran, Algeria, where it was stripped of its weapons and served as a training sub until 1950; eventually was set up as an underwater base. On the 31st of January 1958, Commander Riffaud sunk it 3km off Cap Camarat...

The wreck sits perfectly horizontal 40 meters deep on the sand, as if it was going to leave any second! It is unsafe to venture inside the sub but you can still see its guts through a few opened lock chambers and the collapsed upper deck... Most of the gear, instruments and torpedoe launchers are still there!

The fauna is fairly abundant with big groupers or sneaky conger eels and morays that will tag alongside during your visit! 

Strong currents are common, but the visibility is just stunning. If you're lucky enough an eagle ray or a sunfish could be paying a visit...

As you enter the sea and dive she appears, a brown area that contrasts with the white sea bed on which she stands upright. The vessel is relatively well preserved, intact, although without any navigation instruments.

The flat deck in front of the turret is more than ten meters long. The plating has disappeared in many places and air tanks, pipes and valves can be seen ...

The turret structure is quite intact, but has lost the periscope, navigation instruments and weapons, only the compass holder remains. The hatch and airlock are still open, but be careful it's very narrow. 

The opening at the back through which you could dive into the vessel is now blocked. It is a very rewarding and exciting dive because the wreck is well preserved. This dive is worth a little extra money because of its remote location.

After belonging to the 7th and 5th Toulon submarine divisions, the Rubis was assigned in 1937 to the squadron of Cherbourg submarines.

During the campaign in Norway in May 1940, the Rubis laid its mines along the Norwegian coast. These hit four Norwegian ships in May and June, and three merchant ships in July. On Armistice Day, 22 June 1940, the Rubis was based in the port of Dundee in Scotland. Under the orders of its captain, Navy Lieutenant Georges Cabanier, the vessel joined the Free French Naval Forces with almost all her crew.

During minelaying off Norway on May 21, 1941, the Rubis torpedoed Finnish commercial vessel Hogland. 

Damaged by the explosion of the torpedo and unable to dive, the Rubis returned to Dundee sailing on the surface, protected by the aircraft of the Royal Air Force. 

Later in the war, the Rubis laid mines in the Bay of Biscay. 

They sank three German minesweepers, an armed trawler and a French tugboat in 1942, and a fourth German minesweeper in 1943. 

While operating off Stavanger in September 1944, the Rubis would sink two anti-submarine ships and two commercial vessels. 

In October and November, the Rubis continued laying mines in Norwegian waters, damaging two ships. 

On 21 December 1944, its mines sank three anti-submarine ships, a German merchant vessel and a minesweeper.

During World War II, the Rubis completed 22 operational patrols, laying 683 mines and sinking ships with an approximate tonnage of 21,000 tons. 

She sank a total of 22 enemy vessels, including 16 vessels of the Axis (of which 14 were German vessels, 12 of them warships). 

The Rubis had the longest track record of the Free French Naval Forces. She was made a companion of the French order of Liberation.

From 1946 to 1948, the Rubis was used as a submarine training school in Toulon.

The Rubis was laid up on October 4, 1949 and deliberately sunk on July 31, 1958 to avoid being handed over to the blowtorches of scrap merchants. 

The wreck of the Rubis now stands upright on the seabed between Cavalaire and Saint-Tropez at a depth of 41 metres. It was first used as a sonar target by the Navy and has become a renowned diving site in the Mediterranean sea.