Category: War

Urgent Fury 1983: WWII weapons encountered from wwiiafterwwii

Post author By Grumpy
Post date October 26, 2026
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In October 1983, the USA invaded the small island nation of Grenada, which at the time was being supported and reinforced by Cuba. Most of the weapons the American troops encountered were of post-WWII, Cold War vintage; namely a staggering quantity of AK-47s, but there were some WWII weapons discovered as well.

(Top: An A-7 Corsair II strike jet off USS Independence (CV-62) over Point Salines Airport, one of the focal points of the 1983 operation. Bottom: A WWII-vintage Enfield No.4 Mk.I rifle as used by the Grenadian military during the brief fighting.)

Background

Grenada is an island at the southern end of the Grenadines chain in the Caribbean Sea, just northeast of Venezuela. The whole country is only 133 miles² and at the time of the invasion had a total population under 99,000.

Long a British colony, Grenada had zero strategic value and WWII passed the island by. The country became independent on 7 February 1974. The first leader was Eric Gairy, an erratic and ineffective premier who was unpopular with Grenadians.

At independence, Grenada had no enemies and faced no military threats, so the country’s tiny army was equipped with WWII-era equipment, mainly ex-British Enfield rifles and Bren machine guns, plus some American-made M3 Grease Gun submachine guns.

Gairy was overthrown by a coup in March 1979, led by a marxist group called the New Jewel Movement under Maurice Bishop. Bishop established ties with the USSR, North Korea, Vietnam, Cuba, and East Germany; and thus incurred the wrath of the USA. All political parties except New Jewel were abolished, and promised elections were never held.

At the same time, Bishop signed military pacts with the USSR, Cuba, and North Korea, bringing in a massive influx of small arms and anti-aircraft guns, plus a gargantuan quantity of ammunition. A contingent of Cuban troops was based in Grenada.

(A Soviet-made history book captured by American troops in 1983. Grenada was a curious case regarding military and political literature, as it was an extremely rare instance of an English-speaking communist country and it was out of the ordinary to see Soviet publications like this in English as the original language.)

Using Soviet funds, a new “international airport”, Port Salines IAP, was built by British and Canadian companies with Cuban assistance. With a wide, hardened 10,000′ runway; the new airport was claimed by the Grenadians to allow Boeing 747 jumbo airliners to fly tourists direct to the island. The runway was certainly long enough for a 747 but it was also capable of handling Soviet Tu-16 bombers and fully-loaded Il-76 heavy transports, and the incoming administration of Ronald Reagan was concerned that it would be used by the USSR for meddling in Central America.

(An American reconnaissance photo of the airfield, which was under construction at the time. POL means petroleum, oil, & lubricants.) (official US Defense Department image)

By 1982, Bishop changed his outlook somewhat and sought a course similar to Yugoslavia, a socialist/capitalist hybrid which would be aligned with the Soviets but none the less amicable to the west. Companies from Europe were invited to invest in Grenada. Bishop’s plans did not work out, as the USA was still relatively cold towards him and meanwhile, other leaders in the New Jewel party wanted to make Grenada a full-blown communist nation. On 19 October 1983, a coup by New Jewel hardline communists placed Bishop under house arrest. The country’s small military and police force was of divided loyalty and that afternoon, he was allowed to return to his office. The hardliners simply murdered him later that day, dissolved the government, put the military in charge, and declared martial law. A nationwide curfew was announced and it was warned that anybody, Grenadian or foreigner, would be shot on sight.

A number of American medical students were studying in the country and their safety was a concern, moreover Reagan feared development of a hostage situation like the one in Iran three years before. Finally, he wanted to simply end communism in the country before the nearly-complete airfield opened. Six days later, on 25 October 1983, the United States invaded the country, in Operation “Urgent Fury”.

WWII equipment

Machine guns

All of the machine guns provided by the Soviets were of postwar design, however the Grenadians still had some Brens in service.

(A pair of WWII-veteran Bren Mk.III machine guns captured by American troops in 1983.)

The Bren light machine gun was the standard British weapon of it’s class during WWII. It weighed 25 lbs with a full magazine, and was full-auto with a 500rpm rate of fire. It used the .303 British cartridge from a 30-round top-mounted box magazine, and had a range of about 1,800 yards maximum. It was normally fired prone from it’s folding bipod.

(An American soldier in Grenada with a captured WWII Bren. The bazooka-type weapon is a post-WWII RPG-2, the forerunner of the famous RPG-7.)

Grenada used both the Bren Mk.I and later-production Bren Mk.III. Neither was in notable use any longer by 1983, but none the less some were encountered in battle, and/or captured intact.

Rifles

The Enfield family was the main weapon of the small Grenadian army at the time of independence, and Enfields remained in use after the switch to communism. Grenada’s Enfields were a mix of submodels, but the most common was the Enfield No.4 Mk.I and the SMLE Mk.III.

(WWII-veteran SMLE Mk.III as used by Grenada in 1983.)

All of the Enfields were bolt-action rifles, firing the .303 Mk.VII cartridge with a muzzle velocity of 2,441fps and an accurate range between 505-1,000 yards depending on the model. All had an internal ten-round magazine which was loaded by five-round stripper clips.

(The focus of this spread of captured Grenadian/Cuban weapons is the Cold War-era PKM machine gun, but the third rifle from the right in the background is a WWII-era SMLE, alongside a WWII Mosin-Nagant to it’s left.)

Like the Bren, the aging Enfields were no longer standard issue to the Grenadians, having been replaced by the AK-47 as the main battle rifle. None the less, they were encountered.

The other WWII-era rifle used by the Grenadians was the Mosin-Nagant. Both the Mosin-Nagant 91/30 and Mosin-Nagant M1944 versions were captured by the Americans in 1983, but the M1944 (the short carbine version) was much more common.

(Part of the Soviet-Grenadian Military Cooperation Pact treaty – the original English-language signed copy of which was captured by American troops – detailing 2,000 Mosin-Nagant M1944s to be delivered from Soviet storage in two batches, alongside an equal number of AK-47s.)

(The Mosin-Nagant M1944.)

(US Marines pose with captured posters of Ho Chi Minh and Lenin during the 1983 invasion. At their feet in the pile of equipment is a Mosin-Nagant M1944 along with an old police shotgun.)

The Mosin-Nagant 91/30 was the main Soviet rifle throughout WWII, with the M1944 version being introduced later in the war. Both versions of this bolt-action rifle weighed about 9 lbs and fired the 7.62x54mm(R) cartridge from a stripper-loaded five-round magazine. Muzzle velocity was 2,700fps depending on the specific cartridge model and rifle version, and the weapon was accurate out to 550 yards. In other armies, much longer ranges were accurately possible however the time between the first delivery of Mosin-Nagants and the American invasion was only about 2 ½ years so proficiency was poor with the Grenadians. The Cubans did not use these rifles, being fully equipped with either SKSs or AK-47s.

(American soldiers push a cart of captured Cuban and Grenadian rifles and machine guns. Most are Cold War-era weapons, but the buttstock of at least one Mosin-Nagant is visible.)

(A shipping crate of Mosin-Nagant M1944 carbines and AK-47 assault rifles captured by American troops. Grenada was literally an island of firearms in 1983, with many more warehoused guns than trained soldiers to shoot them.)

Both the Enfields and Mosin-Nagants were hopelessly obsolete by the 1980s and from a different time compared to the more common AK-47s or the M16s which the Americans used.

Submachine guns

Cuba shipped 180 ex-Soviet WWII-veteran PPS-43 submachine guns to Grenada between 1980-1982.

This full-auto submachine gun fired the 7.62mm Tokarev cartridge from a 35-round magazine. Designed for cheap and fast manufacture during WWII, the PPS-43s which were sent to Grenada in the 1980s were probably well-worn and their role was already filled by more modern AK-47s. They were not frequently encountered during the American invasion.

Amazingly, a few of the Sten submachine guns used by the British garrison on the island during WWII, and then inherited by the new Grenadian army at independence, were still in service.

The variant found was the Sten Mk.II, which was the most common of all Sten versions. Of WWII manufacture, this basic submachine gun fired the 9mm Parabellum cartridge from a 32-round horizontal magazine. It was accurate only to about 100 yards and definitely was a close-quarters combat weapon. Grenada was in an unusual situation regarding this gun; one of the few times in history that the 9mm Parabellum round was not common; as neither the other WWII British nor WWII Soviet weapons could use it; likewise it was incompatible with the post-WWII communist-bloc firearms and the few old American-made weapons.

One of the most surprising captures was a tiny quantity of M3A1 “Grease Gun” submachine guns, of American WWII fame.

(A WWII-vintage M3A1 submachine gun, with the conical flash suppressor, is at the upper left of the tarp. Other WWII weapons include a Mosin-Nagant M1944 underneath the RPG-2, and a Bren Mk.I machine gun, second from the right inbetween two postwar guns, a FN-MAG and one of several PKMs. The other “old-looking” gun inbetween the Mosin-Nagant and M3 magazines is a Czechoslovak-made vz.52 rifle, which despite it’s appearance was a post-WWII weapon.) (official US Defense Department image)

The Grease Gun was 2’6″ long and weighed 8 lbs without a magazine. It fired the .45 ACP cartridge from a 30-round box magazine (three of which can be seen below the gun in the above photo). The M3A1 was the WWII American contemporary of the Soviet PPS-43 and British Sten (both of which Grenada used), in that they were cheap, easy-to-build, close quarters battle weapons. As Grenada became independent long after the M3 was generally gone from American use, the origins of the weapons captured there in 1983 are uncertain. It’s possible they were Lend-Lease leftovers from the British during WWII, or (more likely) that they came from Cuba. Still another possibility is that Grenada itself purchased some on the world arms black market using it’s own tiny military budget.

Handguns

Few WWII-era handguns were encountered or captured, as both the Grenadians and Cubans had standardized on the Makarov.

(Some weapons captured in Grenada being inventoried back in the United States later in 1983. There are folding- and fixed-stock AK variants and a 9mm Makarov; all Cold War-era weapons, along with a WWII German P08. How the P08 ended up in Grenada is a mystery. It may have been from a shipment of ex-Wehrmacht weapons the Soviets delivered to Castro in the early 1960s, or, may have been privately purchased by a Grenadian officer as a personal sidearm.)

Hand Grenades

Some WWII-vintage Soviet F1 grenades were captured by American troops.

(Captured by American troops in Grenada were these three WWII-era F1 grenades with the red safety plugs in, along with their UZRGM fuzes on the ammo can. The ammo can indicates it holds 440 rounds of T-46 series tracer 7.62x54mm(R) rifle ammunition. The two cyrillic letters after 46 indicate the rounds are what the Soviets called “gliding metal”, a partial jacket over steelcore bullets. Next to the “C” (actually s in Russian) is the powder date, unfortunately it’s hard to tell if it says 60 or 80 (1960 or 1980). The paint strip was often added by the Soviets for the benefit of allies which didn’t use the cyrillic alphabet, green in this instance indicating tracer. The T-46 tracers do not activate until about 100-200 yards out, to prevent the enemy from “following back” the rounds.)

The Soviet F1 hand grenade of WWII weighed 1.3 lbs and had a 3 ½ second delay. A contemporary of the USA’s WWII Mk2 pineapple grenade, the F1 still remained an effective weapon in the 1980s. Initially it was thought that Grenada received all of it’s F1 grenades via Cuba, however some may have come from North Korea.

Mortars

Most of the mortars used by the Cubans and Grenadians were of Cold War-vintage, however some 82-PM-41 mortars of WWII vintage were encountered as well.

(This mortar, captured in Grenada by American troops in 1983, is actually the slightly improved Mod43 version of the 82-PM-41.)

The 82-PM-41 was a muzzle-drop 82mm mortar of the Soviet army during WWII. During that war, it was issued at the battalion level. The Soviet army used it until the 1960s, then passing off much of it’s stockpile abroad, including Cuba. The Cubans and Grenadians probably had no set issuance doctrine. The 82-PM-41 weighed 126 lbs and had a range of about 3,000 yards.

Artillery

Cuba donated four WWII-veteran ZiS-3 towed anti-tank guns to the Grenadian army shortly before the American invasion. These four guns were, in fact, the only artillery pieces Grenada has ever used.

The Soviet ZiS-3 was a 76mm gun that weighed 1 ¼ tons. It fired BR-350 (armor-piercing) or OF-350 (HE) 76.2x385mm(R) shells. In the direct-fire role, range against tanks was about 2 miles. In the indirect bombardment role, 12 miles was theoretically possible but 8 ¼ miles more realistic. These four old WWII guns had no impact on the fighting in 1983. The USA had complete air superiority, plus the benefit of offshore US Navy ships for gunfire support, and it was impossible for the Grenadians to reposition towed artillery.

The AA weapons encountered were all Cold War-vintage, namely ZU-23-2 and ZPU-series towed guns. However there was one very interesting type captured by American troops, the Czechoslovak M-53.

(An American solder inspects a cart of captured Grenadian weapons (including one WWII Bren); behind is a captured M-53 towed AA gun. The red airfield service truck in the background is an East German-made IFA W50 military truck. East German vehicles were certainly never common in the Caribbean, and were a surprise to the Americans. Nobody knew it at the time of the invasion of course, but East Germany itself only had six more years to exist.)

The M-53 is hard to classify as either a WWII or post-WWII weapon. They were designed and physically manufactured in Czechoslovakia at the start of the 1950s, but their actual firing components were the Soviet WWII-era Degtyarov DK drum-fed 12.7mm machine gun. The M-53 was never really common during the Cold War, as it filled the same niche as the USSR’s ZPU-4 which dominated the export market in the communist world. The origin of the weapons in Grenada was no mystery. They had been provided to Cuba at the start of the 1960s, this is for certain as American reconnaissance planes during the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis were engaged by M-53s over Cuba. Apparently Castro had donated some of these old weapons to his Grenadian allies. It is thought (but not known for certain) that a M-53 was responsible or partially responsible for shooting down a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter on 25 October 1983; the first UH-60 ever shot down in combat.

On the American side

None of the vehicles, aircraft, artillery, or warships used during Operation “Urgent Fury” were of WWII-vintage. On the other hand, the operation saw the combat debut of some new systems: the UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter, Spruance class destroyer, and Pegasus class hydrofoil (the first and last combat use of that type). To American civilians, the most notable debut was the PASGT helmet.

(A soldier of the 82nd Airborne Division unlocks the door of a Mercedes-Benz luxury automobile operated by the USSR’s ambassador to Grenada. He is wearing the then-new PASGT helmet which replaced the WWII-designed M1 steel pot.)

During the Gerald Ford administration, the US Army began studies on replacing the M1 steel pot helmet, a design which had been in constant service since WWII. The Army instructed would-be designers to make a new helmet with optimal performance characteristics, irrespective of it’s appearance. The winning design was nearly identical in shape to the WWII German M42 stahlhelm and the Army quietly requested some minor cosmetic changes, but the kevlar PASGT still shared a resemblance to the steel German helmet. During the Grenada invasion, some – but not all – of the American troops had new PASGTs, and it was the first time many startled American civilians had ever seen American troops in anything but M1 pots. The PASGT was briefly nicknamed “the Fritz” before the similarity was forgotten and the nickname faded.

(A US Army Ranger in Grenada wearing a mix of gear; the WWII-design M1 helmet, Vietnam War-era fatigues, and a modern M16 assault rifle. A US Air Force C-141 Starlifter is landing reinforcements in the background.)

(The soldier on the far right has a PASGT kevlar helmet but the others have M1 steel pots. The 1983 Grenada invasion was the last time American troops wore M1s into combat. By 1985 most of the military had converted to kevlar; the last units in Alaska switching in 1988. The soldier on the far left has a M1911 .45 sidearm. Grenada was the last conflict where the legendary M1911 was the exclusive American pistol; during the Panama (1989) and Desert Storm (1991) conflicts the M1911 served alongside the 9mm Beretta M9, and thereafter was replaced by it. The AA gun is a captured Cuban Soviet-made ZU-23-2 of the Cold War era.)

To give at least a token nod to multilateral diplomacy, Reagan included very tiny contingents from other small Caribbean nations. Only 350 men strong, this force did not participate in the initial attack and with the possible exception of the Jamaican troops, American commanders considered them useless. Some of the Caribbean troops themselves had WWII equipment.

(A team of MPs from Barbados arrives in Grenada, armed with WWII-vintage Enfield No.4 Mk.I rifles.)

Fate of captured weapons and postscript

Intelligence gathering

President Reagan was always adamant about gathering captured documents and Grenada was no exception.

(The intelligence captured in Grenada during the 1983 operation was downgraded by President Clinton in 1999 and released by President Bush in 2001.)

The original copy of the Soviet-Grenadian treaty, which outlined the first two tranches of military aid, was captured intact. The quantities of weapons were in excess of the treaty, apparently showing that the USSR shipped more as a matter of logistical convenience, or, that there was an unwritten understanding that additional guns and ammunition would be provided.

(An excerpt from the Soviet treaty, outlining the delivery of 1.8 million rounds of 7.62mm rifle ammunition.)

For certain, none of the WWII-vintage systems had any intelligence value by the 1980s and most of the postwar-design systems were also obsolete.

(Not a WWII vehicle but still interesting, this Soviet-made 1960s-vintage BRDM-2 armored car was captured in combat by US Marines and pressed into service during the fighting. The Marines had a negative opinion of the BRDM-2.)

(Of greater value was this BTR-60PB armored personnel carrier, shown here being loaded onto the cargo ship Dolly Turman about a month after the invasion. This design was in frontline Warsaw Pact use during the 1980s. Three BTR-60PBs were captured, this one in perfect condition and with manuals. It was examined and tested in the USA.)

One of the more surprising finds was an arms agreement between Grenada and North Korea. North Korean involvement in the Caribbean had previously thought to have been minor. Twenty-four North Koreans were captured in Grenada, they claimed to be diplomatic advisers and Reagan released them to go home without further comment.

(This machine gun is a North Korean-manufactured clone of the Soviet PKT. It is a solenoid-fired gun that has to be hardmounted in a vehicle or aircraft, and was apparently intended to be a replacement for the worn-out PKTs on Grenada’s BRDM-2s.)

The vast bulk of the small arms, and staggering quantities of ammunition found, came from Cuba. The Castro regime went to great lengths to hide it’s all-but-obvious involvement in Grenada.

(This crate was marked as ingots of ammonite rock from the Maprinter export concern in Cuba, but contained ammunition.)

(Marked as “Cuban Economic Office”, this crate contained small arms ammunition.)

Disposition of captured weapons in late 1983

The US military divided captured items into two categories, “contemporary” and “legacy”, with 1973 being the cut-off with the exception of AK-variant rifles as it was too time-consuming to date them on the spot. For the legacy weapons, no differentiation was made between WWII and post-1945 weapons.

Captured WWII weapons inventoried by the United States included: ♦the four ZiS-3 artillery pieces ♦ten 82-PM-41 mortars ♦all 180 of the PPS-43 submachine guns ♦three Bren machine guns ♦one P08 handgun ♦a total 2,432 Mosin-Nagants of all versions ♦a total 61 Enfields of all versions ♦seventeen Sten submachine guns ♦a total 32 M3 Grease Gun submachine guns of all versions.(Grenades were lumped into one grand 1,800 round total so the exact number of F1s is unknown.)

Some effort was made to trace the arms. Some Mosin-Nagants had Hungarian proof stampings, but it’s not thought that Hungary directly supplied Grenada; rather that these guns had been shipped to Castro in Cuba decades earlier.

The most astonishing find was the huge stockpile of ammunition – 5.5 million rounds of 7.62mm rifle ammunition, smaller quantities of British and Parabellum rounds, and 8,900 mortar and artillery rounds. A US Army officer estimated that the captured quantity would suffice an entire NATO division for a month of high-intensity combat, and could seemingly equip the little Grenadian army until the end of time.

(A warehouse of captured ammunition in Grenada after the 1983 operation.)

The vast stockpile of ammunition, crated for quick shipment, might lend credence to the theory that the USSR’s interest in the Point Salines airfield was not to benefit Grenada’s tourism industry.

Battle trophies

Grenada was the last time American servicemen were allowed to bring back battlefield capture weapons. The US Marine Corps organized a lottery of suitable captured weapons. Excluded were grenades, rockets, machine guns, and full-auto firearms. The most prized Grenada trophy wasn’t any of the WWII weapons, but rather the Czechoslovak-made vz.52 rifles. Nobody thought that the Cold War would be over at the end of the decade, and these were viewed as an ultra-rare opportunity for an American to own a rifle from behind the Iron Curtain. Political pressure afterwards ended the military’s war trophy program, and Grenada was the end of an American military tradition that stretched back to George Washington’s army.

Legacy

Grenada returned to being a quiet and forgotten-about Caribbean island. The airstrip which served as the focal point of the invasion eventually opened for tourist flights. It remains a point of debate today, regarding it’s intentions in 1983.

Operation “Urgent Fury” was massively popular with the American public, and enjoyed heavy congressional support from both Republicans and Democrats. Conversely it was almost universally condemned elsewhere, including American allies Great Britain and Canada (which had been helping build the airstrip). Obviously it was strongly condemned in the communist world. For the American military, the completely successful operation ended a bad streak which had started with the humiliating 1975 evacuation of the Saigon embassy, through the bungled Iran hostage rescue attempt, and the Beirut barracks bombing earlier in 1983.

The biggest loser was Cuba. During the late 1970s and early 1980s, Castro had dispatched thousands of Cuban troops from Angola to Libya, and was trying to portray himself as a major player. The complete inability of the Cuban military to reinforce the Grenada garrison during the fighting exposed it as a house of cards built on Soviet funding and support.

Amazingly, some WWII weapons are still in use in Grenada today in 2015. Some of the captured Enfields were released back to the country after it’s government was reformed following the invasion.

(Wardens of Grenada’s national prison service march with Enfield rifles in 2015.)

G.I. INGENUITY: M1 CARBINE BATTLEFIELD MODIFICATIONS By TOM LAEMLEIN

Post author By Grumpy
Post date October 26, 2026
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When the M1 Carbine (officially the United States Carbine, Caliber .30, M1) began to reach American combat units in late 1942, the handy little rifle quickly gained a reputation as the “soldier’s pet”.

And why not? The little M1 Carbine weighed just 5.8 pounds (loaded with a 15-round magazine) and was only 35.6” long. By 1942 standards, it was a semi-automatic sweetheart.

This field-made bayonet for the M1 Carbine was created by Marines on Bougainville during the Solomon Islands campaign in November 1943. Image: NARA

Consequently, as the Carbine quickly made its way from its intended role as a weapon for officers and specialist troops (like artillerymen, tankers, and paratroops) into the hands of the long-suffering infantrymen, the G.I.’s penchant for customization created some interesting field modifications for their new favorite rifle.

They had plenty of opportunities — there were 6.1 million carbines made during World War II, and they were issued in every combat theatre.

Bayonets

M1 Carbines equipped with a bayonet lug did not appear until the final weeks of the war, but that doesn’t mean that American troops weren’t creating their own bayonets for the Carbine in the field.

A wooden mock-up of the “new light carbine” is shown, complete with a taped-on bayonet. The photo was taken at Fort Benning on January 22, 1942. Image: NARA

Ultimately, the M3 fighting knife was transformed into the M4 bayonet for use on the M1 Carbine. The official design appears to follow along with improvised bayonets created in the field.

Flash Hiders

During the war, the T23 (later designated M3) flash hider was developed for use with the M3 Carbine and its infrared sniperscope. Only a handful of the M3 Carbines saw service by the war’s end, and consequently few of the M3 flash hiders were in use until the Korean War.

A field-made flash hider-compensator fitted to an M1 Carbine in the Philippines during early 1945. Image: NARA

Even so, I managed to find a pair of photos of a field-made flash hider from an Army unit in the Philippines. Different units experimented with flash hider/compensator combinations for their carbines, the flash hider for use in close-quarters night fighting, and the compensator for Carbines field-modified for fully automatic fire.

The Clip Carrier

By late 1944, the twin-magazine “stock pouch” was fitted to many carbines — giving troops quick access to three 15-round magazines without using an ammunition belt. In the spring of 1945, a semi-official “clip carrier” was introduced in small numbers in Germany.

The carbine “Clip Carrier” is seen here with a member of the 278th Field Artillery Battalion in Germany. Image: NARA

The unusual ammunition clip carrier allowed three additional 15-round magazines to be carried forward of the normal 15-round magazine in the mag-well (60 rounds total).

A close-up of the “clip carrier” attached to a M1 Carbine. The carrier held three 15-round magazines. Image: NARA

he U.S. War Department’s “Combat Lessons No. 8” describes the device:

This ammunition clip carrier was designed by T/4 Pierce S. Priest, for use with the .30 caliber carbine M1. When the carrier is fully loaded, the exhausted clip is removed in the usual manner and a fresh clip placed in position for insertion by pressure exerted with fingers of the left hand at the front of the carrier. When the carrier is partially loaded, operation is the same except that the fingers of the left hand are inserted at the side of the carrier.

Cut-Down Carbine

Units with access to tools often experimented with converting an M1 Carbine to full-auto fire. Likewise, the already small carbine was sometimes cut down even further to create an oversized pistol, or machine-pistol.

The M1 Carbine was occasionally cut down to “pistol-size”. This example has the barrel cut down with enough left over to retain space for the front sight. Image: NARA

During the 1960s, both Iver Johnson and Universal created commercial variants of the M1 Carbine cut down to pistol length for sale in the USA. It seems likely that the G.I. field modifications were popular enough for postwar manufacturers to “productize” them.

Bandolier-Sling

As a photo researcher, I can tell you that I often find interesting images of firearms modifications or adaptations that ask more questions than they answer. Back in 2006, I published a photo study of the M1 Carbine in action. In that book, I included a couple of photos that showed Marines on Okinawa with a unique sling that doubled as a bandolier for their Carbines. I didn’t say much about it in the captions, as I had no reference to describe specifically what it was.

A paratrooper of the 11th Airborne Division has a bandolier-sling on his M1 Carbine during the Battle of Leyte in December 1944. Image: NARA

In the summer of that year, I sat down with renowned gun researcher Dolf Goldsmith. Dolf looked at those images, and quickly asked that a box of .30 Carbine cartridges along with the web ammunition belt for a Browning M1917 .30 caliber machine gun be brought to him. With both of those in hand and an M1 Carbine on the table, Dolf broke down the “mystery sling”.

The Marines had used a web ammo belt (for the .30 cal M1917 machine gun), and the .30 Carbine rounds held in there perfectly. The newly made sling did the same job as the standard type, while providing the user with about 30 rounds of loose ammunition. All of the materials were readily available, and the conversion was relatively simple to complete.

A Marine ordnance man displays the bandolier-style sling modification on Okinawa in 1945. Image: NARA

The next expert I talked to took in all the available information, and then shot back some questions that I could not answer. I reviewed the bandolier-sling photos with the leading M1 Carbine expert, the late Larry Ruth. After a little thought, Larry had this to say: “I think you and Dolf have figured out what it is and how it was made. That makes perfect sense. But I wonder why it exists at all?”

Solving the Mystery

Apparently, the bandolier-sling concept intersected with some research that Larry was conducting on M1 Carbine magazines. Then he hit me with another question: “In all your photo research and collecting, have you found any images that show empty carbine magazines laying discarded on the battlefield?” I thought about it a bit and concluded that I had not.

U.S. Marines posing with a captured Arisaka rifle (left) and an M1 Carbine equipped with a bandolier sling. The photo was taken on Okinawa in 1945. Image: NARA

Larry went on to explain that although there were millions of spare magazines made for the Carbine during the war — enough that individual magazines should have been expendable. Even today, you can find examples of 15-round magazines that are still unopened in their factory wraps. Larry went on to say that he had not seen images that showed discarded carbines mags, and furthermore, he had no anecdotal evidence of empty Carbine magazines treated as disposable by Marines, or G.I.s, or anyone. I asked several WWII combat veterans that used the M1 Carbine, and all that any of them could remember was that when a carbine magazine was empty, they put it in their pocket to eventually reload and use it again.

It was the mathematics of production and distribution of M1 Carbine magazines that wasn’t adding up for Larry. The fact that U.S. combat troops went to the time and trouble to create a sling that doubled as an ammunition bandolier (particularly late in the war when production was at its peak) appeared to be a symptom of a U.S. Ordnance problem with distribution.

A Marine with a Victrola record player that was captured from the Japanese on Okinawa. His M1 Carbine has both a bandolier-sling and a two-magazine stock pouch. Image: NARA

The concept of a bandolier-sling would never have come up if American combat troops had enough Carbine magazines that they could confidently discard the empties in a firefight. It seems like a minor point, but it was next-level thinking on Larry’s part, and it also showed that American troops could invent tactical-level solutions for strategic-level problems. Also — spoiler alert — we won the war, so it is unlikely that anyone bothered to investigate it after August of 1945.

In the years after, I have found more images of the carbine bandolier-sling, and while all of them are shown on rifles in the Pacific Theater of the war, not all of them were taken by Marines. Army units used the same modification. This modification may have been used in the ETO or MTO, but I have no photographs to prove it.

Conclusion

So there you have it, a round-up of some of the more interesting adaptations applied to the M1 Carbine by troops in the field. Necessity is truly the mother of invention, and Americans have always acquitted themselves well when it comes to creativity in times of need.

All About Guns War

Soviet-Russian Small arms Of The Great Patriotic War Overview

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Post date October 26, 2026
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Allies Art War

Amelia sings “Gunga Din” A Song Inspired by Rudyard Kipling

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Allies Art War

Gunga Din (A Scottish Regimental Ballad)

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Post date October 26, 2026
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Stepping Stone To Victory: The Guns Of Sicily 1943 by TOM LAEMLEIN

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Post date October 26, 2026
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Landing on Sicily in a Higgins Boat, these Coastguardsmen are armed with M1903 Springfield rifles.

Image courtesy of National Archives.

During 1940, the war in North Africa began as a Mediterranean side show. By the time that Rommel’s forces threatened Egypt and the Suez Canal in July 1942, the desert war had become a crisis. The British victory at El Alamein, and the Anglo-American landings in Algeria a few months later, put an ever-tightening squeeze on the Afrika Korps.

In the North African dust, this member of the 82nd Airborne Division, shown above with the M1 Garand rifle, is ready for the paratroop assault on Sicily. Image courtesy of National Archives.

When Axis forces in North Africa were forced to surrender during May 1943, the path to an Allied invasion of occupied Europe was clear—Italy was the target. The western Allies could fulfill their promise to Stalin and the Soviets that a true invasion of Axis Europe was in the making. Winston Churchill is noted to have initially described Italy as “the soft underbelly of Europe.” U.S. 5th Army commander General Mark Clark later described Italy as a “tough old gut.” Whatever the description, the stepping stone to Italy was Sicily. Strangely, the Germans didn’t quite believe it.

A Serving Of Mincemeat
Even though Sicily was clearly the most accessible landmass for the Allies to invade, British intelligence successfully convinced the Germans, including Hitler himself, that any attack on Sicily was merely a feint. “Operation Mincemeat” cleverly misled the Germans into believing that Greece and Sardinia were the focus of the upcoming Allied attacks—and reinforcements were sent anywhere in the Mediterranean area but Sicily. “Mincemeat” was also one of the reasons why Hitler cut short the massive Kursk offensive on the Russian front, in order to make troops available to counter an Allied invasion in the Balkans. Meanwhile, there was significant distrust growing between Germany and Italy, and Hitler was loath to rely on Italian troops, even in the defense of their own home territory.

The first parachute assault of the 82nd Airborne Division came on July 9, 1943, over Sicily. The standing paratrooper carries an early M1A1 carbine with a folding stock. Image courtesy of National Archives.

Even with many factors in their favor, particularly momentum, Allied troops would be attempting a combination of sophisticated operations to assault enemy territory in Sicily by sea and air. Coordinated beach landings and paratroop assaults would test American and British combined skills like never before.

Maturing American Forces
Before the invasion, dubbed “Operation Husky,” Allied air forces pounded Axis airfields across Sicily, destroying more than 300 German and Italian planes, and leaving just two airstrips operational by the time of the landings. Ammunition dumps and logistic centers were repeatedly bombed, while the coastal defenses were left untouched to leave the enemy guessing about landing beaches. Even with the extensive preparatory bombardment, the Axis troops were still in position—and the Italians would be fighting for their home territory.

A rare appearance of the .30-cal. M1917 “Enfield” rifle in combat during World War II. This U.S. artilleryman (shown above) takes aim on the streets of a Sicilian town. Image courtesy of National Archives.

America’s paratroopers were ready for their first major battle, and airborne landings began after dark on July 9th. Powerful winds conspired to widely scatter the 82nd Airborne Division between Gela and Syracuse. Even so, the All-Americans rallied and attacked enemy strongpoints and cut communications. The paratroopers showed grit and initiative, and the airborne concept quickly showed promise. Specialized firearms for the airborne infantry, including the relatively new M1 carbine, offered a competitive advantage.

The old and the new: The G.I.s carry a wide range of small arms on Sicily, including an M1 Thompson SMG, an M1903 Springfield rifle, and an M1 Garand rifle. The semi-automatic M1 was still being integrated into combat units in the Mediterranean theater of operations until well into 1944. Image courtesy of National Archives.

The seaborne landings featured extensive use of the Landing Craft, Vehicle, Personnel (LCVP or Higgins Boat) and the new DUKW amphibious truck. Both provided stellar performance delivering men and supplies from ship to shore throughout the campaign, and Operation H

usky was a powerful learning experience and building block for later amphibious operations in the MTO and ETO.

Enjoying the sun and surf on a Sicilian beach, these GIs carry a mix of M1 Garand and M1903 Springfield rifles. Image courtesy of author.

But even the best plans don’t survive contact with the enemy, and Operation Husky was no different. Despite hopes to the contrary, several Italian coastal defense units fought well. Italian tanks and infantry attacked the Gela beachhead on July 10th, and again on the 12th. U.S. naval gunfire helped save the day on those occasions, breaking up the Italian assaults with 5″ and 6″ artillery fire support.

At the port of Licata, the U.S. 3rd Infantry Division took the town and then held it against a strong Italian counterattack. Casualties were high, with nearly 100 men killed, but the fresh American troops improvised, adapted and carried on to victory.

New Guns Earn Their Stripes While Some Legends Fade
As U.S. troops took on larger combat roles, American-made arms began to make their presence felt. By the summer of 1943, more American infantrymen in the MTO were carrying the M1 Garand rifle. Photos of the action on Sicily show more of the semi-automatic M1 rifles than they do the older (but still deadly) bolt-action M1903 Springfield rifle. American infantry firepower was steadily growing, as more Browning Automatic Rifles were reaching the troops, along with lighter, air-cooled .30-cal. Browning M1919A4 machine guns.

Glad to be out of the war, this mixed bag of Italian POWs is guarded by a U.S. Coastguardsman armed with an M1A1 Thompson SMG. Image courtesy of National Archives.

The invasion of Sicily also saw the first significant use of the M1 carbine (.30 Carbine), mostly in the hands of the 82nd Airborne Division paratroops. Among the Carbines were M1A1 folding stock variants, a firearm specifically designed for paratroops. Also, a small number of the improved Bazooka, the M1A1 (and its more reliable M6A1 rocket) were issued in the Sicilian campaign—giving the G.I.s a measure of infantry anti-tank defense. The M1A1 bazooka was credited with destroying four Panzer IV medium tanks and was even reported to have knocked out one of the vaunted German Tiger I tanks on the streets of Biscari.

Even so, the Bazooka had not yet won over all the troops—an after-action report from Sicily reads: “Most of the officers prefer the rifle grenade to the Bazooka as a close-range antitank weapon.”

Sicilian civilians welcoming U.S. troops during late July 1943. The dusty G.I. carries a classic M1903 Springfield rifle. Image courtesy of National Archives.

American troops were growing more experienced with every action, and the telling effect of U.S. infantry firepower was described in Army’s “Report of Operations” on the Sicilian Campaign:

“The German will invariably counterattack immediately after dawn and is very adept in supporting this with artillery and mortar fire. The infantry starts to attack between 800-1000 yards and comes forward at a continuous fast walk using marching fire or firing from the halt, or from the kneel.

In no case where our infantry utilized the full power of their rifle did the German counterattack get home. In fact, our troops looked forward to the German counterattack as the surest and most effective way of killing Germans.

If the observers from the batteries are in contact, it frequently is possible to stop the counterattack by a combination of percussion and air bursts. Only one case is known where the German, stopped by artillery fire, resumed his attack. Normally, he moves forward until human nature can stand no more and then quits. While going forward he shoots a great deal and makes all the noise he can. However, his small arms fire is of little value.”

No longer a threat: U.S. troops examine the wreck of Junkers Ju 87 “Stuka” dive bomber, destroyed on Sicily. This aircraft was in Italian service, where the Stuka was called “Picchiatello.” Image courtesy of National Archives.

As the Allies advanced across Sicily, the spirit of the war was changing. For example, one of the German icons of the Blitzkrieg era was no longer relevant on the battlefield, as a US intelligence report noted:

“The German Ju 87 or “Stuka” dive bomber has served its usefulness, lost its terror, and will probably not be seen in future operations.” G.I.s noticed that the sunny skies above contained fewer Axis planes, and when they appeared, American fighters and AA guns usually drove them off.

U.S. infantrymen on the north coast of Sicily during August 1943, guarding against a potential counterattack. Image courtesy of author.

American morale grew stronger, and General Patton famously raced with British Field Marshal Montgomery to be the first to reach Messina. Along the way, U.S. G-2 provided this assessment of Axis morale on Sicily:

“Morale of the German prisoners interrogated indicates it is low and of a defeatist nature. Morale of the Italian prisoners is apparently higher, while the native population has invariable welcomed the advance of American troops.”

Preparing for a German counterattack during Patton’s drive to Messina, this machine gunner of the 30th Infantry Regiment scrapes out a hasty firing position for his Browning .30-cal. M1917 water-cooled MG. Image courtesy of National Archives.

Growing Distrust
As the Allies advanced in Sicily, the Italian government began to lose confidence in Mussolini. On July 24, 1943, the Duce was summoned before the Fascist National Council, where he suffered through a vote of no-confidence. The next day, Mussolini met with King Victor Emmanuel and was dismissed from his position as prime minister. As he left the meeting, Il Duce was arrested, and taken to the first in a series of secret locations. When news of his downfall was broadcast to the Italian people, many celebrated, anticipating the end of the war for Italy. Meanwhile, the Italian army remained intact in the field, loyal to their king.

A U.S. Coastguardsman proudly displays his war trophy, an Italian Carcano M91 carbine (6.5×52 mm). Image courtesy of National Archives.

From Hitler on down to the lowest ranks of the German military, there was little faith or trust in their Italian allies. On the Italian side, the Germans seemed increasingly like prison guards than they were partners. More and more Italians began to consider Allied troops, particularly Americans, as more friend than foe.

Excerpts from orders captured from the Herman Goering Division in early August 1943, provide some insight into the growing Axis rift, and the declining tactical situation:

Instructions for further fighting in Sicily:

-No roadblocks or demolitions will be manned by Italians.

-No Italians will be allowed to disturb troop movements, either civilians or soldiers. Every Italian and all Italian equipment is to be cleared from the streets (except those Italians who have been fighting and who will still fight).

-Destroy all materials which cannot be carried. Burning material is forbidden on account of hostile aircraft. The best procedure is to blow up the material.

The final command on the list is the most telling, as well as the most sinister:

The strictest discipline must govern. Shoot all who fail to obey.

America’s Fighting Men Coming Of Age
Taking advantage of an extremely heavy concentration of anti-aircraft guns on the narrow strait of Messina, Axis forces began a general evacuation from Sicily, beginning on August 11th. By August 18th, the Italians had removed more than 60,000 men to the mainland, while the Germans evacuated more than 50,000, along with 47 tanks. But while the Germans could briefly celebrate saving valuable men and equipment, they still suffered more than 4,000 dead, and about 10,000 captured. Worse still, they were soon to lose Italy as an ally.

The massive German Pzkw VI Tiger I, knocked out on the streets of Biscari, Sicily. Sixteen of these 60-ton tanks were lost during the campaign on Sicily. Image courtesy of National Archives.

With Mussolini imprisoned, and more than 116,000 of their soldiers captured on Sicily, Italy was on the brink of collapse. Sicily fell on August 17th, and the Italian surrender soon followed. Fascist Italy came to an end on Sept. 3, 1943, with the signing of the Armistice of Cassibile. In early 1944, the Italian co-belligerent army was formed, fighting alongside the Allies until the end of the war.

U.S. forces suffered nearly 10,000 casualties during the campaign in Sicily. It was a steep price to pay for the hard-knocks education of a new global fighting force. But Sicily was taken, and Italy was knocked out. The door to the initial invasion of Europe was open. The U.S. 7th Army report on the battle of Messina concluded:

“The fall of Messina was the fall of Sicily itself. Thirty-eight days after the landings, the campaign had ended. The first United States field army to fight as a unit in this war had accomplished its mission with complete success. Long hard months of training and of battle experience, the vast productive power of America, and the courage and vision of its leaders had combined to demonstrate to the world that the unprepared nation of two years before had arrived on the scene of battle as a full-fledged fighting power.”

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The Real Red October Heist You Never Heard Of by Will Dabbs

Post author By Grumpy
Post date October 26, 2026
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A young Italian officer stole a brand new submarine to drag his nation into war, then helped shape the frogmen who inspired modern special ops. It sounds like Clancy, but this actually happened.

The Real-Life Spark Behind Red October

As is the case with all proper gun scribes, Tom Clancy is my hero. He pioneered the genre of the techno thriller and was a lyrically successful writer. However, Clancy actually got his start as an insurance salesman. He never wore a military uniform because his vision was so bad. Clancy liked to play a board game called Harpoon about Cold War Naval combat and was also a rapacious reader.

Tom Clancy portrait, bestselling techno-thriller novelist, IMDB photo — Tom Clancy was a wildly successful novelist. That man had a gift. IMDB photo.

Over the course of four months, while still selling insurance, Clancy penned The Hunt for Red October. Trust me, writing a compelling novel is the easy part. The tough bit is getting it published.

As is so often the case, nobody in the mainstream publishing industry would give this nearsighted insurance agent the time of day. Clancy eventually got his book launched via the Naval Institute Press in Annapolis, a small publishing house that typically produced Naval technical journals. That first run sold 45,000 copies, some 40,000 more than Clancy anticipated.

Tom Clancy died of heart disease at age 66. When the dust settled on his career as a writer, Clancy had sold more than 100 million books and was part-owner of the Baltimore Orioles.

His first wife once gave him a fully operational Sherman tank as a Christmas present. Clancy was one of three authors ever to sell two million copies of a book in its first printing, in the company of John Grisham and JK Rowling. Tom Clancy is the guy that guys like me want to grow up to become. All that started with The Hunt for Red October.

Inside The Hunt for Red October Plot and Myth

The Hunt for Red October book and film, Cold War submarine thriller cover art — The Hunt for Red October was a compelling read. It also made an exceptional movie.

The Hunt for Red October orbits around a rather fantastic tale of Soviet submarine commander Marko Ramius. Ramius suffers a horrible family tragedy and finds himself disillusioned with the Soviet state.

He therefore quietly begins planning to steal the Red October, the latest Russian nuclear ballistic missile submarine. He rightfully feels that Red October, with its revolutionary stealthy caterpillar drive, is a first-strike weapon that will disrupt the international balance of power and create unacceptable nuclear instability.

Spoiler alert, he pulls it off after some truly gripping action, turning the sub over to the American military while convincing the Russians it had been sunk. It really is a great story.

If you aren’t so much into reading, the movie was pretty epic as well. Sean Connery plays Ramius, and Alec Baldwin debuts the character of Jack Ryan. This was obviously before Baldwin started shooting people for real on his movie sets.

While the plot was truly extraordinary, it was also far-fetched. There’s no way that, given the complex nature of a combat submarine and its crew, a single rogue sub Captain could commandeer an operational boat and use it for his own nefarious purposes. Or could he?

Could One Captain Really Steal a Submarine?

The Tactical Situation

Italian submarine F-43 at Muggiano shipyards near La Spezia, 1914, archival photo — Italian submarine F-43 was not a terribly large vessel by modern standards. Wikimedia photo.

On 3 October 1914, the Italian submarine F-43 lay at anchor in the Muggiano shipyards near La Spezia, Italy. The sub had originally been built for the Russians and christened the Svyatoi Georgjy. However, the Russians had bigger problems with the opening salvoes of WW1 and an imminent violent revolution. They just never bothered to pick it up.

Submarine technology was in its infancy in 1914. However, these were still radically advanced war machines. The capacity to move undetected underneath the surface of the ocean was a war-winning thing. With the entire world set to conflagrate, possession of these revolutionary warships carried the potential to change the course of human events.

Lieutenant Angelo Belloni portrait, WW1-era Italian naval officer and diver — This fun-loving guy is Lieutenant Angelo Belloni. This unkillable dude was the cockroach of WW1-era Italian Naval officers. He was one steely-eyed survivor. US Naval Institute.

1914 The Rogue Mission of F 43

During World War 2, the Italians went all-in with the Axis. In 1914, however, things were a bit murkier. Italy teetered regarding which tribe it might join. An Italian Naval officer named Angelo Belloni harbored strong feelings on the subject. He felt that the Italians should launch a preemptive attack against the forces of Austria-Hungary. By contrast, Italian politicians preferred restraint. Eventually, LT Belloni felt that he had to act.

Belloni’s Cover Story Goes Off the Rails

The Cover Story

Belloni approached fifteen hand-picked sailors and explained that they had been chosen for a top-secret mission. Fifteen was the minimum number of crew required to sail and fight submarine F-43. Believing themselves to be on some kind of righteous crusade, these rogue Italian submariners stole the brand-new boat and sailed it to Corsica.

Austro-Hungarian dreadnoughts at Pula, 1914 naval power in the Adriatic — The Austro-Hungarian Navy was quite formidable in 1914. Public domain.

What his crew did not appreciate was that LT Belloni intended to take F-43 and use it to attack Austro-Hungarian warships operating in the Adriatic Sea.

By doing so under the Italian flag, Belloni felt that he could drag his country into the war on the side of the French and the British and against the Central Powers. It was indeed a power move.

F-43 was seaworthy, but she was not yet fully armed. To pull this off, Belloni needed both torpedoes and the blessing of the French government. As this theft was taking place, British and French emissaries were working tirelessly to convince Italy to join their cause.

Near Misses, French Cannons, and Cold Feet

Period German U-boat similar silhouette to F-43, misidentification risk at Corsica — French gunners nearly engaged the F-43 after mistaking it for a period German U-boat like the one shown here. Public domain.

It didn’t take long for officers at the shipyard to notice that one of their new submarines was missing. The Italian Navy subsequently sent out patrols to search for the wayward boat. Italian destroyers saturated the area, but F-43 successfully avoided detection. However, along the way, Belloni’s crew began to grow suspicious that this so-called top-secret mission was not everything it was made out to be.

Corsica was held by the French. Upon their arrival, French shore batteries mistook F-43 for a German U-boat and very narrowly avoided engaging her.

Belloni made contact with French Naval authorities and explained his audacious plan. After carefully pondering Belloni’s request for ordnance, they told him he had lost his mind and suggested he go back from whence he came. The entire world was a tinderbox, and supporting this blatant act of piracy seemed ill-advised.

Belloni’s crew had had about enough by this point. Despite LT Belloni threatening to haul them up on charges of mutiny, these hapless Italian sailors surrendered themselves and their stolen boat to the French. The French then notified the Italian Navy that they had located their wayward submarine.

Arrest, Acquittal, and the War’s Turn

Military tribunal era image, WW1 courts martial context for Belloni — It was borderline miraculous that the authorities did not convict LT Belloni and execute him. Bundesarchiv.

The French dispatched F-43 back to Italy without its piratical captain. Lt. Belloni stayed behind in Corsica under arrest to face trial for stealing the submarine and plotting to instigate global war, among other things.

Under normal circumstances, Belloni would have been convicted and shot. However, in May of 1915, Italy did indeed enter the war on the side of France and England. The military magistrates tasked with Belloni’s prosecution acquitted him, and he returned home. All was forgiven.

With Italy now fully involved in the war, the Italians formally requisitioned F-43 and renamed it Argonauta. Argonauta served the Italian Navy throughout the rest of the war. LT Belloni went on to become an influential figure in the post-war Italian Navy.

From Argonauta to Frogmen

Lieutenant Angelo Belloni later career, pioneer of military diving and special operations — LT Angelo Belloni not only survived his bit of submarine larceny, but he also went on to radically expand the field of military diving.

Angelo Belloni eventually became a pioneer in the nascent field of military diving. He parlayed his propensity for audacious covert operations into a very effective underwater capability. Belloni helped establish the elite Decima Flottiglia MAS. These slippery Italian frogmen paved the way for what would eventually become the US Navy SEALs.

Italian frogmen, inspired and trained by Belloni, eventually caused the Allies no end of headaches during World War 2. Operating human torpedoes called Maiale or “Pigs,” these audacious early special operators infiltrated Allied ports under cover of darkness to attack warships at anchor. These Maiale vehicles sported a pair of seats, a steering apparatus, and a high-explosive warhead.

Alexandria 1941 The Punch Heard Across the Med

Italian Decima MAS frogmen in early drysuits with Maiale manned torpedoes, WW2 — It took some serious stones to go to war dressed like this.

On 19 December 1941, six Italian frogmen operating three of these vehicles infiltrated Alexandria harbor in Egypt. Their primary objectives were the two British battleships HMS Valiant and HMS Queen Elizabeth. By following in the wake of British destroyers and avoiding depth charges, these bold Italian sailors successfully made their approach.

The Italian divers secured their torpedoes underneath the Valiant, the Queen Elizabeth, and the tanker Sedonia, which was refueling the British destroyer HMS Jarvis at the time. All six Italian operators were ultimately captured, but both battleships, as well as the Sedonia, were sunk. Jarvis was badly damaged. Half a dozen highly-trained Italian frogmen had shifted the balance of Naval power in the Med at the cost of three consumable torpedoes.

Legacy From Italian Frogmen to SEALs

Modern US Navy SEALs training evolution traced to early Italian combat swimmers — We’ve come a long way since LT Belloni ran off with that former-Russian submarine at the beginning of WW1. Public domain.

Nowadays, Naval Special Warfare is obviously a highly refined art form. US Navy SEALs can operate most anywhere on Planet Earth, conducting bold direct action missions the likes of which might only have been dreamt of a generation before. The specialized equipment and training required to do those remarkable things were decades in the making.

Curiously, all of that really did get its start with a young Italian pirate who took it upon himself to personally shape the geopolitics of the world. That same fearless spirit and willingness to act against long odds eventually suffused its way into the Navy SEALs, hands-down the most effective maritime special operations force in the world.

The Italians get a pretty bad rap when it comes to military operations in the 20th century. It sometimes seems that perhaps their well of military awesomeness ran dry with the passing of the Caesars. However, LT Angelo Belloni was one seriously steely-eyed frogman.

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