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{{Short description|Italian admiral}}
{{Infobox military person
|name         = Vittorio Tur
|birth_date   = {{birth date|df=yes|1882|3|30}}
|death_date   = {{death date and age|df=yes|1969|10|22|1882|3|30}}
|birth_place  = [[Livorno]], [[Tuscany]], [[Italy]]
|death_place  = [[Rome]], [[Latium]], [[Italy]]
|image        = Vittorio Tur.jpg
|caption      = Admiral Tur on Kefalonia, on 4 May 1941
|allegiance   = {{flag|Kingdom of Italy}}
|branch       = {{navy|Kingdom of Italy}}
|serviceyears = 1897–1945
|rank         = ''Ammiraglio di Squadra'' ([[Admiral]])
|commands     = *"Caorle" Marine Battalion
*''Impavido'' ([[destroyer]])
*{{ship|Italian destroyer|Generale Achille Papa||2}} (destroyer)
*Royal Naval Crews Corps 
*[[East Africa]] Naval Division
*7th Cruiser Division
*Northern Adriatic Autonomous Naval Command
*Special Naval Force
*Italian Naval Command in [[France]]
*Southern Tyrrhenian Naval Department
|battles      = *[[Italo-Turkish War]]
*[[World War I]]
** [[Second Battle of the Piave River]]
** [[Battle of Vittorio Veneto]]
*[[Second Italo-Ethiopian War]]
*[[Spanish Civil War]]
*[[World War II]]
**[[Operation Anton]]
|awards       = *[[Silver Medal of Military Valor]] (3)
*[[Bronze Medal of Military Valor]] (2)
*[[War Cross for Military Valor]] (1)
*[[War Merit Cross]] (4)
}}

'''Vittorio Tur''' (30 March 1882 – 22 October 1969) was an Italian admiral during [[World War II]].

==Early life and career==
Vittorio Tur was born in [[Livorno]]. He entered the [[Italian Naval Academy]] in Livorno in 1897, graduating in 1901 with the rank of [[Ensign (rank)|ensign]].<ref name=diz>[http://www.difesa.it/Area_Storica_HTML/editoria/2016/uomini-mm/Pagine/files/basic-html/page527.html Biographical Dictionary Men of the Navy.]</ref> Between 1902 and 1904 he took part in an [[Circumnavigation|around-the-world]] cruise on the [[Protected cruiser|armoured cruiser]] [[Italian cruiser Calabria|''Calabria'']], after which he served for a few years on battleships and cruisers and then took part, in 1907-1908, in a mapping campaign with the hydrographic ship ''Staffetta'' off [[Africa]].<ref name=diz/> He was promoted to [[lieutenant]] in 1908, and in 1911–1912 he participated in the [[Italo-Turkish war]] aboard the [[battleship]] [[Italian ironclad Sicilia|''Sicilia'']].<ref name=diz/>

When Italy entered [[World War I]], on 24 May 1915, Tur was the [[executive officer]] of the [[destroyer]] ''Irrequieto''. He soon obtained his first command, a [[torpedo boat]] in the Northern [[Adriatic Sea]].<ref name=diz/> For an action with his torpedo boat off the coast of [[Pula|Pola]], he was awarded a [[Bronze Medal of Military Valor]].<ref name=diz/> In June 1917 he was promoted to [[lieutenant commander]], and in March 1918 he was given command of the "Caorle" Battalion of the [[San Marco Regiment|Marine Regiment]], deployed on the [[Piave (river)|Piave River]].<ref name=diz/> In command of the "Caorle" Battalion, Tur participated in the [[Second Battle of the Piave River]] and the [[Battle of Vittorio Veneto]], receiving for his actions two [[Silver Medal of Military Valor|Silver Medals for Military Valor]] and another Bronze Medal.<ref name=diz/>

When [[World War I]] ended, Tur remained in command of the "Caorle" Battalion at Pola, then in 1919 he was given command of the destroyer ''Palestro'', which he held for two years.<ref name=diz/> After promotion to [[commander]] in 1922, in the following years he alternated short shore duties at [[La Spezia]] (in the [[La Spezia Naval Base|Arsenal]] and at the Head Office for Torpedoes and Ammunition) with the commands of the destroyers ''Impavido'' and {{ship|Italian destroyer|Generale Achille Papa||2}} and their flotillas.<ref name=diz/> In 1928 Tur was promoted to [[captain]] and appointed commander of the Royal Naval Crews Corps ([[Corpo Reali Equipaggi Marittimi|''Corpo dei Regi Equipaggi Marittimi'']], CREM) School in Pola, an office that he held for one year. In 1934–1935, after promotion to [[rear admiral]], he held the post of Superior Commander of the CREM.<ref name=diz/>

In 1935 Tur became [[vice admiral]] and received command of the Naval Division in [[East Africa]], with flag on the [[light cruiser]] [[SMS Pillau|''Bari'']]; in that role, he was stationed in East Africa during the [[Second Italo-Ethiopian War]] (1935–1936).<ref name=diz/> In 1936 he became commander of the 7th Naval Division (with flag on the light cruiser [[Italian cruiser Eugenio di Savoia|''Eugenio di Savoia'']]), and participated in naval operations related to the [[Spanish Civil War]].<ref name=diz/>
In 1937-1939 Tur was again Superior Commander of the CREM, and in 1939 he became commander of the Northern Adriatic Autonomous Naval Command.<ref name=diz/>

==World War II==
When Italy entered [[World War II]] joining with the Axis powers (10 June 1940), Admiral Tur was Naval Commander in [[Durres]], [[Albania]].<ref name=diz/> In October 1940 he was promoted to full [[admiral]] and received the command of Special Naval Force (''Forza Navale Speciale'', FNS) a unit specifically created for [[amphibious warfare|amphibious operations]].<ref name=diz/> FNS was composed of the light cruisers {{ship|Italian cruiser|Bari||2}} and [[SMS Strassburg|''Taranto'']], the destroyers {{ship|Italian destroyer|Carlo Mirabello||2}} and {{ship|Italian destroyer|Augusto Riboty||2}}, the torpedo boats {{ship|Italian torpedo boat|Antares||2}}, {{ship|Italian torpedo boat|Altair||2}}, {{ship|Italian torpedo boat|Aretusa||2}}, {{ship|Italian torpedo boat|Andromeda||2}}, {{ship|Italian destroyer|Angelo Bassini||2}}, {{ship|Italian destroyer|Nicola Fabrizi||2}} and {{ship|Italian destroyer|Giacomo Medici||2}} and the [[landing ship]]s ''Sesia'', ''Tirso'' and ''Garigliano''; its initial task would be the invasion and occupation of the Greek island of [[Corfu]], scheduled for 28 October 1940, coinciding with the start of Italy's [[Greco-Italian War|invasion of Greece]]<ref name=dif>Pier Filippo Lupinacci, Vittorio Emanuele Tognelli, ''La difesa del traffico con l'Albania, la Grecia e l'Egeo'', pp. 26-27, 73-74.</ref> Bad weather, however, delayed the operation, until the poor results of the ground operations in [[Greece]] led to cancellation of the Corfu landing in order to divert the troops to the Greek-Albanian front.<ref name=dif/>

Between 29 April and 7 May 1941, following the collapse of the [[Greece|Greek resistance]] as a result of [[Battle of Greece|German intervention]], the Special Naval Force under Tur proceeded to occupy the [[Ionian Islands]].<ref name=dif/>

In 1942, FNS was tasked with the implementation of [[Operation Herkules|Operation C3]], the planned conquest of [[Malta]]: according to the plan, 19 transport ships, 270 [[landing craft]] and about fifty other vessels, escorted by thirty destroyers and torpedo boats, were to land a total of 62,000 men (as well as 1,600 [[vehicle]]s and 700 [[artillery]] pieces) on the island's coasts.<ref name=tre>{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20160816215937/http://www.avia-it.com/act/cera_una_volta/echi/CUV_Echi_2014/Segnalazione_articoli_lug/Le_tre_previste_invasioni_di_Malta.pdf Le tre previste invasioni di Malta]}}</ref><ref>[http://digilander.libero.it/avantisavoiait/Operazione%20C3%20Malta.htm Operatione C3 Malta]</ref> Admiral Tur was to direct the landing operation; in order to implement the landing (35,000 men were scheduled to be landed on the first day of the invasion, followed by another 25,000 in the following days), FNS was strengthened with [[Marinefährprahm#Design and development#Motozattera (MZ)|MZ-type landing craft]], ML-type motor launches, [[bragozzo|''bragozzi'']], motor sailing vessels and lagoon [[vaporetto|''vaporetti'']] transformed into landing craft, railway [[ferry|ferries]] converted into landing ships, and several [[minelayer]]s.<ref name=tre/><ref>[http://www.betasom.it/forum/index.php?showtopic=35445 Malta C3]</ref> In the first half of 1942, FNS, concentrated in [[Livorno]], began training in landing operations along the coast of [[Tuscany]], which had a rocky conformation similar to that of Malta; but in July 1942, due to the rapid Axis advance on the Libyan-Egyptian front, Operation C3 was postponed and then canceled.<ref>[http://digilander.libero.it/avantisavoiait/Operazione%20C3%20Malta.htm Operation C3 Malta]</ref><ref name=tre/>

On 11 November 1942, FNS (with a combined strength of 146 vessels) under Admiral Tur, left Leghorn and landed Italian troops at [[Bastia]], [[Ajaccio]], [[Porto Vecchio]] and [[Santa Maura]] to carry out the occupation of [[Corsica]] during the implementation of [[Case Anton]], the German-Italian occupation of [[Vichy France]].<ref name=diz/> The landing (carried out with part of the personnel and equipment intended for the invasion of Malta), which did not meet with opposition from the modest Vichy forces, was executed without problems, and the island was smoothly occupied.<ref name=diz/><ref>Erminio Bagnasco, ''In guerra sul mare. Navi e marinai italiani nella seconda guerra mondiale'', p. 322.</ref>

In January 1943, Admiral Tur was appointed Naval Commander in [[France]], with [[headquarters]] in [[Toulon]], and in May he was transferred to the command of the Southern [[Tyrrhenian Sea|Tyrrhenian]] Naval Department, headquartered in [[Naples]], a post he held until 8 August 1943.<ref name=diz/>

When the [[armistice of Cassibile]] was announced, on 8 September 1943, Tur was in [[Rome]]; following the [[Operation Achse|German occupation of central and northern Italy]], he remained in German-occupied territory, but he refused to cooperate with the German authorities, or to join the [[Italian Social Republic]].<ref name=diz/> On 30 March 1945 he was placed in reserve for reasons of age, but he was called back into service until 15 July 1945.<ref name=diz/>

He died in Rome on 22 October 1969.<ref>B. Palmiro Boschesi, ''Il chi è della seconda guerra mondiale'', vol. 2, Milano, Mondadori Editore, 1975, pp. 224-225</ref>

==Notes==
<references />

{{use dmy dates|date=January 2017}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tur, Vittorio}}
[[Category:1882 births]]
[[Category:1969 deaths]]
[[Category:Italian military personnel of World War I]]
[[Category:Regia Marina personnel of World War II]]
[[Category:Regia Marina personnel of the Spanish Civil War]]
[[Category:Italian admirals]]
[[Category:Italian military personnel of the Second Italo-Ethiopian War]]