This is very strange for me. Luigi Ferraro, Teseo Tesei and De la Penne are considered heroes here.
Of course, until September 1943, Italy and England were enemies, and they did fight each other.
But the operation of Gamma Men were considered very highly also by the English command, and these frogmen were considered war heroes by both nations. There are a couple of facts which must be explained.
Two Italian frogmen were captured by the English crew of the Vailant just after placing their torpedo under the ship. The highest in grade was Luigi Durand de La Penne:
Luigi Durand de la Penne - Wikipedia
A few minutes before the detonation, De la Penne informed Captain Morgan of the imminent explosion, in order to allow him to evacuate the ship, but continued to refuse to disclose where the mine had been placed.
The two frogmen were immediately sent back to their confinement place. A few minutes later, the mine exploded. Although hurt by the explosion, the frogmen reached the deck of Valiant just in time to see the other mines explode under Queen Elizabeth, Sagona and Jervis.
They were considered heroes by the English crew, as their timely advice avoided English casualties and admired the courage of the two Italian frogmen, who preferred being held back inside the exploding ship instead of revealing the position of the mines.
After the armistice of 8th September, several Italian frogmen voluntarily sided on the English part, cooperating with anti-German operations.
De la Penne was offered the opportunity to be released from prison and fight for the Allies.
On 22 June 1944, he participated in a joint Italian/British operation against the Germans. A team formed of British and Italian divers was transported by the Italian destroyer Grecale in an attack on La Spezia harbour, at the time in German hands. They sank the cruisers Gorizia and Bolzano before they could be used to block the harbour entrance.
After WW2 finished, de La Penne had a very good career, becoming admiral in the new Italian Navy and he was even elected as Deputy of the Parliament of Italy for as an independent candidate for a dozen of years.
Hence the initial activities of Italian frogmen were truly acts of heroism, not of mischief...
