Page 482 - Conflitti Militari e Popolazioni Civili - Tomo I
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482                                XXXIV Congresso della CommIssIone InternazIonale dI storIa mIlItare • CIHm

           Israel in order to present the subject to the Navy HQ. AT 14 June 1948 Ilin flayed to Israel
           where he met with Navy Commander Gershon Zak and his COF Paul Shulman. For the two
           it was a new and revolutionary weapon that they never hear about, after a long presentation
           they decide to send Ilin back to Italy and send Commander Arie (Lova) Eliav to check Ilins
           report. Eliav was in Italy to deal with all Sea-wolf purchasing and at the middle of June he
           arrived in Milan to visit CABI-CATTANEO where he had the opportunity to test the E-
           Boat on the lake at night. Commander Eliav was impressed deeply by the speed and other
           boat’s performances. He suggested warmly to Tel Aviv to by.  Now it was in Ilin’s hends.
                                                               19
           It took him some time to find a way to design a frame-contract enabling Guido to produce
           the MTMs for Israel and deliver them. Receiving the Israeli order of 30 “assault Boats” at a
           cost of 100,000$ was a salvation robe for Cattaneo. That sum assists the company to recover
           from bankruptcy. All the operation of production the boats and delivering them to Israel
           were by clandestine nature due to the circumstances. The delivery was done by camouflage
           the E-Boats as civilian motor-boats to Egypt and 6 boats arrive in Israel at middle of August
           1948.  Now arise another problem, to find some professional X-Flotilla veteran to train the
                20
           Israeli sailors and assisting to build a new naval force. Fiorenzo Capriotti, a staff-sergeant
           from the X Flotilla who was in British captivity since the failure of the attack on Malta in July
           1941, was founded by Ada Sireni’s assistant in Italy, Calusio, and was recommended as the
           man for the job. At that time he was un-employed after his release from the prison, without
           profession and occupation. He passed some interviews with Ilin and Eliav who were posi-
           tively impressed by his warrior-spirit and his skilful and approved him. He received a new
           name Katz and was sanded to Israel as a new Jewish emigrant where he landed at 5 August.
              At 15 August the new Israeli Naval unit was created under the command of Captain Yohai
           Ben-Noon and Capriotti as chief-instructor. Those boats and that operation (bringing them to
           Israel) in a critical period, save the campaign at sea during that war.

           sinking Of the egyPtian flagshiP
              During the Israel War of Independence - 1948, the Israel Navy undertook a number of ac-
           tions and campaigns which led to Israel’s command of the sea, despite the clear superiority of
           the enemy naval forces. The most impressive Israeli naval operation during the war was the
           sinking of the Emir Farouk — the flagship of the Egyptian fleet — and the sever damaging
           of an Egyptian minesweeper which had been escorting troops and equipment to be landed in
           the combat areas.
              In late October 1948, the Israeli Navy performed another feat of daring and resource-
           fulness to mark a new chapter in the history of Cattaneo E-Boats. For some days a flotilla
           of Egyptian vessels had been coming very close to the Israel coastline. This included the
           flagship of the Egyptian Navy, the Emir Farouk. For a number of days the Israeli and Egyp-
           tian Navies had been acting in a threatening manner which was liable to escalate at any
           time. This mini-escalation took place amidst the largest IDF offensive of the war - Operation
           Yoav, which was a major Israeli advance into the Negev, all the way down to Beer-Sheba


           19   aria eliav, Testimony to the author, June 2007.
           20   ilin, Ibid, ibid.
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