I remember how the air attack, alleged or truthful, was described by the commander of the MOLOTOV, who with his belated and questionable statements, expressed many years after the episode in an interview, raised a series of controversies, all against the official Italian version, which until then was fully shared by the Germans.
At 01.19 a first torpedo bomber was seen approaching the cross beam of the cruiser, on the left side. The Romanov captain ordered to turn right, and one of the two torpedoes launched from the aircraft passed along the starboard side of the MOLOTOV. After five minutes, at 01.26, a simultaneous attack by two other torpedo bombers followed. One of the He 111s headed for the right flank of the cruiser, the other on the left flank with 110 ° azimuth. Due to the unfavorable moonlight the second plane was sighted late. At a distance of 3,600 meters, the 180 mm heavy guns of the MOLOTOV opened fire with an accelerated rhythm and the cruiser began to maneuver to the left, facing on the right the attack of the first torpedo bomber, which with a heading angle of 150 ° launched two torpedoes, seen passing aft of the MOLOTOV.
The other plane, the one that had been spotted late, launched its two torpedoes, of which, again according to the Soviet version, one passed on the left side of the cruiser, while the other, at 01.27, hit it in stern on the right side [sic].
If you accept the version of the commander of the MOLOTOV, or of those who transcribed it after many years in the interview with Captain Romanov, we would really like to know how the pilot of the German aircraft attacking from the bow to the left could have done cruiser aft of the opposite flank.
It must be considered that the torpedoes must have been logically released from the He.111 aircraft, which could not waste time being under fire, one after the other, and there was very little room for maneuver for the cruiser on the left side. It would take the Molotov a few minutes to complete a wide full circle, in order to present the stern of the right flank.

Francesco Mattesini

Invia commenti
Cronologia
Salvate