Italy
Tenente Niso Provinciali
Italy
Tenente Niso Provinciali
| Year Gazetted | Decoration | Note |
| 1952 | Medaglia d’argento al valor militare (Posthumous) | 1940-43 |
Niso Provinciali was born on 9 July 1915 in Castel Del Rio.
In October 1940, Tenente Provinciali served in the 412a Squadriglia Autonoma Caccia in the Italian East Africa (Africa Orientale Italiana - AOI).
In response to the transfer of 1 SAAF Squadron, 237 Squadron, 430 Flight and a Flight from 47 Squadron to Khartoum, five CR.42s were detached to Góndar on 3 October with Tenente Fiorindo Rosmino, Sottotenente Mario Proserpio, Sergente Maggiore Ottavio Bracci, Tenente Provinciali (probably already detached with the 413a Squadriglia in the nearby Bahàr Dar and later transferred to the 412a Squadriglia) and, possibly, Capitano Antonio Raffi himself.
On the same day, Tenente Provinciali stalled during take-off, damaging the CR.42 MM4403, which was deemed "presumably repairable at the company", while the pilot himself was unharmed.
On 4 October, three Gladiators from 1 SAAF Squadron piloted by Captain Brian Boyle (N5852) led Lieutenants Servaas de Kock Viljoen and Andrew Duncan took off from ‘Azaza to carry out a surveillance cruise on the Gallabàt front.
Shortly after, at 06:55, three CR.42s from the 412a Squadriglia) took off on alert, piloted by Tenente Provinciali, Sottotente Mario Proserpio and Sergente Maggiore Ottavio Bracci, who, at 07:20, spotted the Gladiators approaching and prepared to attack them on the right wing. The South Africans, however, also noticed the CR.42s on their right, 150m higher, and quickly climbed to try to get behind them. Sergente Maggiore Bracci’s testimony is reported in the newspapers of the time by Leone Concato:
“I was right wingman; [we were on] twelve hundred meters. I see three Glosters passing us on the left, slightly higher, in wing formation. I notice that the flight leader has not seen them; I flap my wings to warn him. He sees them too and heads for them, but the three Brits slip into a cloud. And the patrol leader also in the cloud....”During the chase through the clouds, Bracci spotted a Gladiator and fired long bursts (about 800 rounds) at it until his guns jammed. He then tried to disengage them but, in doing so, his fighter fell into a dive. While trying to regain control of the aircraft, he was surprised from behind by a Gladiator, which fired several volleys at him and cut the cables to the flight controls. The plane became uncontrollable and Bracci was forced to parachute, but in the process of jumping, he hit the tail-planes with his left shoulder, dislocating it. Unconscious from the blow, he landed heavily, injuring his leg, and remained immobilized for nine hours in the bush, covered in insects, until he was rescued by a team of Ascari, who had left Metémma in search of him, and took him to Father Zani's Catholic Mission, where he received initial treatment.
Early in the morning on 4 November, three Gladiators from 1 SAAF Squadron flown by Captain Brian Boyle (Gladiator N5852), Lieutenant Leonard le Clues Theron and Lieutenant Andrew Duncan were in the air for an interdiction and surveillance cruise around Metémma, just as a formation of four CR.42s was patrolling the same area.
On the 6 November, the British forces in Sudan launched an offensive to capture the Italian fort at Gallabat as well as occupy Metémma, which was just across the frontier. All that the RAF could provide in way of support was six Wellesleys, two Vincents, six Gauntlets, ten Gladiators (drawn from ‘K’ Flight and 1 SAAF Squadron) and four Hawker Hardys (from the Rhodesian Air Force). The Wellesleys were first into action bombing Gallabat, with the Gladiators requested to over fly the area in large formations. Three Gladiators of ‘K’ Flight arrived over the advancing troops at low level at 07:10, 8km east of Metémma. They were patrolling to the east of Metémma when a formation of an estimated six CR.42s from the 412a Squadriglia led by the unit commander Capitano Antonio Raffi attacked them from out of the sun. The Gladiator pilots were taken by surprise; 24-year-old Flight Lieutenant Kenneth Howard Savage (RAF no. 37483) (L7614) was shot down and killed while Pilot Officer H. B. Kirk (K7969) was forced to take to his parachute; neither pilot saw their attacker. Pilot Officer Kirk was wounded in the leg and became a PoW. Pilot Officer Jack Hamlyn evaded the initial onslaught but his aircraft (L7612) was badly damaged and he force-landed at 07:45, near the railway line at Ek Hawata, 97km south-west of Gedáref, less than four kilometres from his destination. The Gladiator broke apart on impact, but the pilot was unharmed and was able to return to 'Azaza first on foot and then by car. The action was so lightning fast that the official 203 Group report stated:
On 23 November, six CR.42s from the 412a Squadriglia (among them Capitano Antonio Raffi, Tenente Mario Visintini, Sottotenente Giovanni Levi and Sergente Maggiore Lugi Baron) returned to Gura, leaving at Gondar a section of another six fighters, commanded by Tenente Provinciali.
On 27 December, a formation of six CR.42s, led by Tenente Provinciali and composed, among others, of Sottotenente Fiorindo Rosmino, Sottotenente Filippo Sola and Sergente Maggiore Enzo Omiccioli (the last two detached from the 413a Squadriglia), took off at dawn from Góndar to carry out a raid on Gedáref. The Italian fighters were spotted promptly, and at 06:20 Gladiators scrambled from 'Azaza with Captain Gerald Le Mesurier, Lieutenants Leonard le Clues Theron, Thomas Condon, E. A. Jarvis and H. P. Smith.
Three Blenheim Mk.IV of 14 Squadron flown by Squadron Leader Stapleton (T1857), Pilot Officer Illsley (T1877) and Flight Sergeant Patey (R3899) took off at 11:00 on 9 January 1941 for a photo-surveillance mission over Cássala. During the return flight, Blenheim R3899 was attacked by two CR.42s that had departed from Barentu. The gunner on board thought he had hit an enemy fighter.
At the time of his death, Provinciali was credited with 1 biplane victory.
Claims:
Sources:
At 07:30, the Italians sighted the Gladiators and attacked them from higher altitude. A manoeuvred battle ensued, at the end of which the Italians claimed a Gladiator shot down as a shared between Sottotenente Mario Proserpio and Tenente Provinciali.
Allied documents do not confirm this victory and all Gladiators, in fact, return to base, although it appears that Lieutenant Theron did not participate in operations on the following days.
The South Africans, in their turn, claimed two CR.42s shot down. One was claimed by Lieutenant Theron, who reported seeing the enemy pilot descend by parachute, while the second was claimed by Captain Boyle. Lieutenant Duncan claimed a third CR.42 but this was unconfirmed.
Italian sources also state that all other CR.42s were damaged, but still manage to return to base.
Sottotenente Proserpio, who had just turned 19, was awarded the Medaglia d’argento al valor militare and was repatriated after convalescence.
“The pilot stated that he did not see any enemy fighters, nor does he have any idea what happened to the rest of the formation.”
The same report later noted that:
"This was the first time K Flight had operated in an area where enemy fighters could be expected. Apparently, this patrol was observing the battle rather than looking at the sky, with the result that it was surprised by a formation believed to consist of 8 CR.42s.”
After their swift attack the Italian fighters again climbed for height and the three victories were claimed by Capitano Raffi, Tenente Provinciali and Sergente Pietro Morlotti.
A little later, the commander of 1 SAAF Squadron, Major Schalk van Schalkwyk (N5855), took off from 'Azaza and was seen flying over Heston and then heading towards the front. At about 08.30, Captain Brian Boyle received a call from the 10th Brigade, from which he learned that a Gladiator was desperately struggling over Metémma against several CR.42s. Despite the mud making Heston's runway almost impassable, two Gladiators tried to take off, but only Boyle succeeded, arriving just in time to see van Schalkwyk’s Gladiator going down in flames, the pilot struggled to get out of the cockpit and parachuted down with his suit on fire. Immediately afterwards, Boyle himself was targeted by three FIATs:
“The bullets passed over my shoulder and into the dash-board. The oil came all over me. I was wounded by the fragments of the explosive bullets and the cockpit was full of smoke. I tried to get them off me and jump out, but they kept firing, so I landed smashing through the lines.”
Boyle was forced to ground near Gallabàt, and his Gladiator N5852 was damaged on impact with the ground. Rescued, he was taken to the hospital at Wadi Seidne, where he spent several weeks recovering.
Major van Schalkwyk was also picked up by Indian troops and transported to the rear by ambulance, but he was so badly burned that he died the next morning.
These two victories were credited to Capitano Raffi and Sottotenente Fiorindo Rosmino.
Captain Boyle was subsequently awarded a DFC (1 SAAF Squadron’s first) on 7 January 1941 for his gallant action in going single-handed to van Schalkwyk’s assistance.
North of Gedáref, at an altitude of 2400 meters, the South African pilots sighted and attacked the two covering CR.42s flown by Sottotenente Sola and Sergente Maggiore Omiccioli. After a few manoeuvres, one of the CR.42s crossed in front of Captain Le Mesurier, whose guns jammed. The two CR.42s split up with Lieutenants Condon and Jarvis chasing after Sola, firing at his fighter (MM6987 in charge of the 413a Squadriglia) repeatedly until they saw the aircraft crash 8 kilometres east of Gedáref. Omiccioli was instead pursued by Lieutenant Theron, who, however, came too close to his wake, so much so that the Gladiator became unstable. Omiccioli immediately took advantage of this and managed to escape his pursuer by diving.
The other CR.42s, meanwhile, machine-gunned a train stopped at the Gedáref station, some cavalry units and, on the way back, set fire to four trucks on their way from Gedáref to Showàk.
Antonio Raffi account differs in some details from the official reports, but in any case it is an interesting account of what happened:
“I had moved back to Gura, in squadron command, and the Gondar section remained under the command of Tenente Provinciali, who in those days with 6 CR.42 made an offensive reconnaissance in Upper Sudan. Towards noon, having reached the Gedaref vertical at 6000 metres, with reduced engines, they spotted some activity on the field of Gedaref and its surroundings. As they descended, they machine-gunned a Wellesley on the field and found an Indian cavalry regiment exercising nearby, causing considerable damage (by the way, this episode was confirmed to me by some Indian soldiers when I was captured prisoner in the hospital at Dessiè where I had been admitted for purulent dysentery). Then, continuing the action, they machine-gunned an ammunition train stopped at the Gedaref station, which blew up, then they spotted in the bush opposite a row of tankers, to be precise three with two trailers each, which they set on fire. At that moment, the low-altitude machine guns were attacked by Glosters. In the ensuing fight, we lost one aircraft, but my pilots reported three Glosters shot down, which were given as probable.”
Bulletin No. 201 claimed the shooting down of two Gladiators, while two others are reported to have crashed without being able to ascertain their fate and the fifth was seen to escape. Tenente Rosmino, on the other hand, referring to this combat, noted in his post-war reconstructed flight logbook of four aircraft shot down in collaboration. The Bulletin gives a very different version of the event from the British one, claiming that the entire Italian formation attacked the Glosters, then machine-gunned them on the ground after having eliminated or put them to flight. The two alleged victories would have been achieved by Omiccioli, who would write to his fiancée:
“I am proud to announce a new air victory, on 27 December we raided an enemy airfield in the Anglo-Swiss Sudan, in com-bat we shot down four Gloster Gladiator type aircraft, two of which were charged to me, one on fire, the other forced to land. This brought the number up to seven.”
As for Sottotenente Sola, the Italians didn’t immediately declared his loss: the other pilots claimed to have last seen his ”aircraft in flight difficulty due to decreased speed after action” and were unable to specify whether he ”made use of his parachute or landed”. The pilot was only declared missing after his failure to return and Filippo “Pippo” Sola was not officially declared dead until 28 April 1953. 24-years-old Sola, from Bologna, had arrived in the AOI with the 409a Squadriglia, and had then probably been transferred to the 414a Squadriglia and after the dissolution of the latter unit to the 413a Squadriglia.
The South African pilots, although aware of the attack on the base, didn’t report having faced any other adversaries apart from the two aforementioned aircraft. Evidently, Sola and Omiccioli were successful in attracting the attention of their opponents, thus protecting their comrades. The Bulletin does not mention any losses other than Sola's, but a note in the personal file of Tenente Provinciali’s personal file kept at the Central State Archive shows that his CR.42 MM4400 was damaged "in combat" and had to be repaired at SRAM: at this point it is logical to think that it was hit by ground fire.
The SAAF states that all aircraft returned to base and that the only damage suffered was a 12.7mm explosive projectile that hit the propeller of Lieutenant Condon’s Gladiator N5789 and rendered it unserviceable.
The shooting down of a CR.42 was credited to Lieutenant Condon.
On return from the mission and while preparing to land at Barentù, Tenente Provinciali in CR.42 MM4459, ”crashed, for an unspecified cause, from about 50 meters to 5 kilometres from the Barentù air base". It is not known whether the crash was due to damage sustained during combat, to a sudden engine failure, or to illness or injury.
Provinciali, who suffered serious injuries, was rescued and taken to the infirmary, but died there after less than an hour.
Bulletin No. 214 states that an enemy aircraft had definitely been hit in combat, but strangely enough, it does not mention the loss of one officer, as it was initially considered to be unrelated to war.
Tenente Provinciali was buried in the Cemetery of Heroes in Chéren (tomb 325).
Kill no.
Date
Time
Number
Type
Result
Plane type
Serial no.
Locality
Unit
1940
1
06/11/40
07:10-
1
Gladiator (a)
Destroyed
Fiat CR.42
E Metémma
412a Squadriglia
Biplane victories: 1 destroyed.
TOTAL: 1 destroyed.
(a) Claimed in combat with Gladiators from ‘K’ Flight, which lost 3 Gladiators (1 pilot KiA and 1 PoW) without claiming anything. The 412a Squadriglia claimed 3 Gladiators without loss.
Luciano Cacciavillani's personal logbook courtesy of Cacciavillani family (Luciano jr and Alberto)
Giovanni Levi’s personal logbook, courtesy of Michele Palermo
Fiorindo Rosmino’s personal logbook, courtesy of Rossella Baron
Aroldo Soffritti’s personal logbook, courtesy of Ariella Soffritti
Various documents belonged to Luigi Baron, courtesy of Rossella Baron
Various documents belonged to Antonio Raffi, courtesy of Alide Comba
Collection of Comando Aeronautica AOI War Bulletins, USSMA, Rome, kindly provided by Michele Palermo
410a Squadriglia war diary (1940) kindly provided by Stefano Lazzaro.
Comando Aeronautica Africa Orientale war diary (June 1940) kindly provided by Stefano Lazzaro.
Dust Clouds in the Middle East - Christopher Shores, 1996 Grub Street, London, ISBN 1-898697-37-X
Fiat CR.32 Aces of the Spanish Civil War – Alfredo Logoluso, 2010 Osprey Publishing, Oxford, ISBN 978-1-84603-983-6
Guerra di Spagna e Aviazione Italiana – Ferdinando Pedriali, 2nd ed., 1992 Ufficio Storico Stato Maggiore Aeronautica, Rome, kindly provided by Stefano Lazzaro
I Cavalieri Erranti - Ludovico Slongo, Stefan Lazzaro, Eugenio Eusebi, Michele Palermo and Danilo Ventura, 2023, ISBN 978-88-87952-37-7
In cielo e in terra - F. Pagliano, 1969 editore Longanesi, Milan, kindly provided by Alfredo Logoluso.
Mario Visintini. Storia e Leggenda di un Asso Italiano – Gianni Bianchi, Associazione Culturale Sarasota, kindly provided by Stefano Lazzaro
Le Vittorie Aeree di Mario Visintini in Africa Orientale – Eugenio Eusebi, Stefano Lazzaro, Ludovico Slongo, in: Storia Militare no. 246 (XXII), March 2014, Albertelli Edizioni Speciali, Parma, ISSN 1122-5289
Spanish Republican Aces – Rafael A. Permuy López, 2012 Osprey Publishing, Oxford, ISBN 978-1-84908-668-4
Springbok Fighter Victory: East Africa Volume 1 1940 – 1941 – Michael Shoeman, 2002 African Aviation Series No. 11, Freeworld Publications CC, ISBN 0-958-4388-5-4
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission
The Story of no. 1 Squadron SAAF – Vivian Voss, 1952 Mercantile Atlas (Pty.) Ltd., Cape Town, kindly provided by Ludovico Slongo.
Visintini, il Pilota Solitario - Silvio Platen, 1942 editore Rizzoli, Rome, kindly provided by Alfredo Logoluso.
Additional info kindly provided by Stefano Lazzaro, Alfredo Logoluso and Ludovico Slongo.
