On December 1, 1941, I was part of the crew on board the Italian oil tanker Mantovani that was being escorted by the Italian destroyer Alvise Da Mosto in the Mediterranean bound for Tripoli. During the voyage we came under a surprise aerial attack from British Mosquitos that damaged the Mantovani.

Later that day a convoy of three British warships, one of which was HMS Aurora under the command of Capt. W. G. Agnew, engaged us. Both the Mantovani and the Alvise Da Mosto were destroyed with only a few survivors, myself among them.

The British picked us up as prisoners of war and on December 2, we reached Valletta where we were greeted by the local press.

The next day we were shown a copy of the local paper that contained a news item of the battle with an aerial photograph of the Mantovani shortly before its destruction.

Unfortunately, I do not remember the name of the paper we saw but I would very much like to trace any news items reporting on the battle.

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