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WW2 Italian Frogmen


Mortaydc60
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Had seen and read about the Italian Frogmen during WW2. They had been depicted in movies and books for their exploits in sinking ships in the Med by guiding torpedos to the target. Believe they have a badge and that it was the 10th Flottila Would like to see information on the badge and how rare and if faked. thanks in advance.

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Checked the internet to find reference as to detecting fakes but was in Italian;I love the cuisine but do not speak. Know they are faked but how to tell?

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  • 2 weeks later...
Guest tomcatter

Hi Mortaydc60,
firstly be VERY careful: this badge is HIGHLY faked.

A little historical note: the MAS attack units ("MAS" was an acronym for "Motobarca Armato Silurante", or "Torpedo Speedboat" in English) were born during WWI as a maritime surface high speed attack force, similar to German "Schnellboots". Their best achievement was the sinking (using torpedoes launched fom speedboats) of the Austro-Hungarian Battleship SMS "Saint Stephen" in 1918.

After the war, in the late 1930's the MAS units were converted to frogmen units (something similar to modern Navy Seals). They kept the old name of "MAS".
The 1st Flottiglia MAS (renamed 10th Flottiglia in 1941, during WWII) was born in 1939. During the WWII, under the command of Major Teseo Tesei (a very ingenious man who invented the submarine scooter called "SLC" or "maiale" and a lot of new items and procedures connected to diving suits, still used today) they made several highly risked missions inside (well, I should say below the water of) many British harbors in the Mediterranean Sea like Suda, Alexandria and Malta, sinking many British ships like the Batleships HMS "Valiant" and HMS "Queen Elizabeth".

Of course, 10th Flottiglia MAS unit was not the only of it's kind: during the war Regia Marina had also others similar units, like 4th Flottiglia MAS or 12th Squadriglia MAS.

After the Italian Armistice of September 8, 1943 the MAS units were disbanded.
After the Armistice Italy was divided in North (who fought alongside Germans) and South (who fought alongside Allies), and began a dramatic civil war which ended in 1945.
In this context, RSI (the new political entity created in the North Italy, allied to Germany) had the idea to recreate MAS units as ground light infantry units, but in fact they had almost nothing in common with previous MAS frogmen units (name and insignia apart). They took part in many dramatic battles against Allied forces, like Anzio.

 

That said, I think it's almost impossible to find a badge of the 1939-1943 period, as very few were produced (the entire 10th MAS was composed by about ten men), but it's possible to find many badges from 1943-45 period, as post-1943 10th MAS was much more numerous (almost 10'000 men), but of course it's still highly faked anyway. I would not be able to recognize a real one from a perfect fake, as it's not like a high quality jewelry piece and it's quite easy to reproduce.

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  • 8 months later...

This is currently up for bid on eBay and in my opinion a copy based on the shape of the skull which is one of the identifiers. This piece looks very convincing.

 

 

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post-185261-0-52957600-1572540773_thumb.jpg

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