Francesco Maugeri (Gela, 14 October 1898 – Turin, 8 September 1978) was an Italian admiral, head of the Servizio Informazioni Segrete during World War II and Chief of Staff of the Marina Militare between 1947 and 1948.
Biography
Maugeri entered the Livorno Naval Academy in November 1911 and graduated as ensign on October 14, 1915. He participated in the Great War with the 255th Seaplane Squadron, earning two Silver Medals of Military Valour and being promoted to lieutenant in 1918. In 1927 he was promoted to lieutenant commander, and from May 1929 to January 1931 he commanded the destroyer Giovanni Nicotera; in 1932 he was promoted to commander and assigned as staff officer to the command of the 1st Fleet, and later given command of the 7th Destroyer Squadron from 29 July 1935. From 30 September 1936 he taught naval art at the prestigious Military High School of the Army in Turin; in 1937 he was promoted to captain and given command of the heavy cruiser Pola from 16 September 1938 to 2 August 1939 and then of the light cruiser Giovanni delle Bande Nere from 3 August 1939 to 15 November 1940.
As commanding officer of Bande Nere, he participated in the battle of Punta Stilo and in the battle of Cape Spada in the summer of 1940. On 16 November 1940 he assumed command of the heavy cruiser Bolzano, participating in the battle of Cape Spartivento and in the battle of Cape Matapan. On 5 May 1941 he left command of Bolzano and was promoted to rear admiral, and on 24 May 1941 he was given command of Servizio Informazioni Segrete (SIS), the Italian Navy's intelligence service, a post he held for the following two and a half years. After Benito Mussolini's ousting and arrest on 25 July 1943, Maugeri escorted him to Ponza, where he was imprisoned till 7 August, and then again during his subsequent transfer to La Maddalena, where he was held until his final transfer to Campo Imperatore on 27 August. Maugeri would later recount his conversations with Mussolini in the book Mussolini mi ha detto (Mussolini told me), published in late 1944.
According to some sources, Maugeri was one of the main players in the negotiation for the surrender of Italy to the Allies during the summer of 1943, for the part concerning the fleet. After the Armistice of Cassibile, he remained in Rome even after the disbandment of Supermarina and the flight of his superiors; after the German occupation of the capital, he went into hiding and formed a clandestine intelligence network, comprising many of his SIS subordinates, which gathered information on German movements and passed them to the Allies. This continued until the liberation of Rome, on 4 June 1944.
In early 1945 Maugeri was promoted to vice admiral, and after the end of the war he was given command of the Northern Tyrrhenian Naval Department, with headquarters in La Spezia. He was later promoted to admiral and served as chief of staff of the Marina Militare from 1 January 1947 to 4 November 1948, replacing Admiral Raffaele de Courten. He also held the posts of commander-in-chief of the Southern Tyrrhenian Naval Department, of vice president of the Naval Section of the Superior Council of the Armed Forces and of military advisor at the Italian delegation to the NATO.
In 1948 Admiral Maugeri wrote in English the book From the ashes of disgrace, published in New York and never translated in Italy, recounting his experience during the war expressing sympathy for the Allies and aversion to the Axis cause. In the late 1970s he published in Italy his memoirs, Ricordi di un marinaio, largely based on his previous book but with some changes in the most controversial parts.