Page 574 - Le Operazioni Interforze e Multinazionali nella Storia Militare - ACTA Tomo II

1214 XXXIX Congresso della CommIssIone InternazIonale dI storIa mIlItare • CIHm

The Turco-Italian war and the Italian military establishment
In its early stages, the Turco-Italian war took the form of a traditional ‘military prom-
enade’. Both the Army and the Navy entered the conflict determined to show off their
best qualities. According to the observers, the Italian Navy was, at that time, “the most
2
modern and the most effective among the Italian tools of war” . Between late September
and early October, its attitude in the southern Adriatic Sea was openly aggressive, forc-
ing Giolitti to step in to avoid a diplomatic crisis with Austria. Soon after the outbreak
of the hostilities, Vienna’s protests coupled with the manoeuvres of its First naval divi-
sion near Kotor raised deep concerns in the Cabinet. On 6 October, following lengthy
consultations with King Vittorio Emanuele III and with the Minister of Foreign Affairs,
Antonino di San Giuliano, Giolitti wired to Admiral Pasquale Leonardi Cattolica, Min-
ister of the Navy, “to formally officially order Biscarretti [sic] to abstain from any op-
eration”, otherwise “to recall him immediately in Rome”. On the same day, after having
received “further details” on Biscaretti’s activities, the Prime Minister ordered Leonardi
Cattolica “to have him [Biscaretti] removed immediately from any command”, call-
ing his demeanour “a shameful action against formal orders” . In a following telegram
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to di San Giuliano, Giolitti added: “[Biscaretti’s] disobedience received orders borders
on treason. If Navy Minister unable put stop operations against European ports, I’ll be
forced to propose His Majesty to take care [of the problem]” .
4
In any case, the military effort was noteworthy. The Navy deployed two squadrons
(under Admirals Augusto Aubry and Luigi Faravelli); a ‘School Ships’ division under
Rear-Adm. Raffaele Borea Ricci (then first Governor of Tripolitania); and the units of
the ‘Ispettorato siluranti’ of Read-Adm. the Duke Luigi di Savoia. The force included
nine pre-dreadnought battleships of different classes: Vittorio Emanuele, Regina Elena,
Napoli, and Roma (‘Regina Elena’ class); Benedetto Brin (‘Regina Margherita’ class);
Emanuele Filiberto and Saint Bon (‘Emanuele Filiberto’ class); Re Umberto and Sarde-
gna (‘Re Umberto’ class). It also included ten cruisers (Pisa, Amalfi, Garibaldi, San
Marco, Varese, Ferruccio, Marco Polo, Carlo Alberto, Vettor Pisani, and Lombardia);
eight auxiliary cruisers (Città di Messina, Città di Catania, Città di Siracusa, Città di
Palermo, Duca di Genova, Duca degli Abruzzi, Bosnia, and Solunto); four scout cruisers
(‘esploratori’) (Agordat, Partenope, Coatit, and Minerva); and sixty-two units between
destroyers and torpedo boats. Finally, the Navy provided the landing troops (between
1,600 and 1,700 men according to contemporary sources, under Capt. Umberto Cagni)
that occupied Tripoli on 5 October and held the oasis until the arrival of the main expe-
ditionary force, between 11 and 12 October.
The effort of the Army was equally relevant. The expeditionary force included two

2 c. lapworth, Tripoli and Young Italy, London, 1912, pp. 5-6.
3 a. del Boca, Gli italiani in Libia, vol. I, Tripoli bel suol d’amore 1860-1922, Milan, 1993 (first ed., Rome -
Bari, 1986), p. 97. See also La Marina nella guerra italo-turca, Rome, 1912, and g. roncagli - c. manfroni,
Guerra italo-turca (1911-1912). Cronistoria delle operazioni navali, 2 vols, Milan - Rome, 1918-1926.
4 c. pavone (ed), Dalle carte di Giovanni Giolitti. Quarant’anni di politica italiana, vol. III, Dai prodromi del-
la grande guerra al fascismo, 1910-1928, Milan, 1962, pp. 65-66. Cdr. Guido Biscaretti was CO of the Fourth
torpedo boats flottilla (IV flottiglia siluranti). A more balanced evaluation on his action is in m. gaBriele, La
Marina nella guerra italo-turca. Il potere marittimo strumento militare e politico, 1911-12, Rome, 1998.