The Black Prince and the Sea Devils: The Story of Valerio Borghese and the Elite Units of the Decima MAS

A one-man embodiment of the collusion between royalty and fascism during WWII, Italian prince Junio Valerio Borgese (1906-1974) founded the Decima MAS (or Motobarca Armata Svan), a then-innovative small unit that was a progenitor of today's U.S. Special Forces. The X Mas, as it was also called, included everything from frogmen who walked underwater to their targets, to torpedoes""driven"" by operators, to tiny submarines and small, fast, light surface craft. Greene (Ironclads at War) and Italian author Massignani (who co-wrote Rommel's North Atlantic Campaign with Greene) claim to be bringing Borghese's whole story""before the English-language audience for the first time in a full-length work,"" drawing on archival material (which provides fodder for an 8-page b&w photo insert), interviews and secondary sources. From outlining his origins within the gentry and young adulthood under Mussolini to discussing his wartime exploits, adventures with Italy's anti-communist far right during the Cold War, and mysterious death, the authors try to stay within the realm of the known, keeping speculation--and sensationalism--to a minimum.