A post that went viral in a few hours, the accusations against the government “fascist” and to the Head of State Mattarella and the clarification that comes from military sources and from the users of the network themselves who explain to the person directly concerned, Michela Murgia, that it was a misunderstanding, starting from the “X flotilla Mas” called in question by the writer confused with the Goi (the raiding operations group of the Comsubin), the Assault Department of the Navy.
“Yesterday at the military parade on June 2, under the impassive eyes of the President Mattarella, this also happened. All normal – writes Murgia who also posts the video in question on Instagram – because the normalization process has been going on for years. If the meaning of the video is not clear, look for “X flotilla MAS” on Wikipedia. It will immediately be clear to you why La Russa smiles so much and makes the victory sign. (But what else is needed to understand what is happening?)”.
Open up heaven. In a few hours, hundreds of comments, media relaunching the news and rampant indignation. Then military sources deny the writer’s interpretation: there was no fascist salute nor an apology for the flotilla of commander Junio Valerio Borghese which with D’Annunzio’s motto ‘Memento audere semper’ (remember to always dare) is one of the references of the extreme right.
And the Minister of Defense Guido Crosetto initially did not reply but retweeted a post that defines the allegations as “absurd”. Then he later comments: “Those who argue over the alleged ‘fascist’ greetings at the June 2nd parade ignore what a normal ‘beware of sin’ is (to greet the authorities at each parade, like last year). Who muddies the Comsubin with absurd comparisons with the CSR (Royal Italian Navy, ed) despises the value and work of the Special Forces”.
Murgia publishes a short film with the superimposed writing “Enter the parade with the Roman salute” where you can see the passage, during the military parade, of the commandos of the Comsubin of the Navy: the specialists – green overalls and cap, faces distorted by a beige handkerchief – they shout ‘Decima’ when they parade under the stage of the authorities. The reference is to the Decima Mas, assault unit of the Regia Marina, author of famous exploits during the First World War.
The video shows the president of the Senate Ignazio La Russa smiling, applauding and making the victory sign with his fingers as the company parades. The lead soldier raises his arm high before bringing it to his forehead for the salute. Military sources, consulted by ANSA, debunk Michela Murgia’s version. The raised arm of the soldier in the position, it is underlined, is for ‘l’attenti a sinist’, which is the salute to the authority rostrum that all the parading departments make. And the cry ‘Decima’ is then the motto of the Goi (Comsubin’s commando operative group) and “it has nothing to do with the ‘X Mas’ of the Social Republic but it is the Decima of the Navy of the Kingdom which operated until 1943 and which is the forerunner of the Navy raiders”.
Con the armistice of 8 September 1943, the X Flottiglia Mas suffered a split: the elements remaining in the South renamed the unit “Mariassault”, based in Taranto, and resumed fighting under Allied orders. The bulk of the Decima adhered to the command of Junio Valerio Borghese (future president of the MSI) and was reorganized into autonomous corps, becoming part of the Republican National Navy and fighting alongside the Third Reich.