Illustration World War II war at sea 1940 1945 - Italian Navy. Italian submarines and submarine warfare. BETASOM, Italian language acronym of Bordeaux Sommergibile, the ubmarine base established at Bordeaux by the Italian Regia Marina Italiana during World War II. From this base, Italian submarines participated in the Battle of the Atlantic from 1940 to 1943 as part of the Axis anti-shipping campaign against the Allies. Original illustratoon published in Vedetta Atlantica the ufficial magazine of submarine italian crews in Betasom.