*** World War II -- Italian air campaign bombing Italy








World War II Italian Air War: Bombing Italy (1940-44)

Naples air raid rubble
Figure 1.--Italy was one of the three major Axis powers. All three fter declaring war on America were subject to U.S. stratehic bombing. Of the three, Italy was most exposed to Allied bombing. It was not far away in the middle of Europe or protected by the vast Pacific. Even so Italy was not subjected to the same level of bombing delivered to Germany and Japan. Here we see Naples children pssing by the ruins of their coty as they reyurned to school once the ermans were driven north. The press caption read, "Vacation over for Naples kids: Naples children, who have had a long holiday from the classroom as they hid from both Allied and Nazi bombs, now file back to school, passing war ruins on the way. Many Neapolitan families moved into hillside caves as war rocked their city." The photograph was dated February 14, 1944.

Italy with France preparing to surender joined NAZI Germany and entered the War (June 10). Italy unlike Germany was not set in th middle of Europe, It was a peninsula and thus vulnerable to naval and air attack. Mussolini did not consider this. He thought that the War was won. The British began bombing Italy early in the War with a raid on Turin in the north (June 11, 1940). The British bombed Palermo in the south (Sicily) with bombers from Malta (June 23). These were pin pricks. Naples was struck for the first time (November 1, 1940). This was a more important raid by RAF and Fleet Air Arm Bristol-Blenheim twin-engine light bombers flying out of Malta. It was part of a coordinated British effort to reduce the supply of Italian forces in North Africa. Naples and Brindisi were important ports used by the convoys to Tripoli. Strategic bombing in earnest did not begin until America entered the War and the massive build up of Allied air forces. The fall of Axis air bases in North Africa after El Alamein meant that the United States could begin bombing Italy (1943). And by this time the entry of America into the War was massively increasing the striking power of Allied air forces. The RAI had played a major role in bombing Malta which was protected by only a small force of British fighters. The badly outclassed RAI, unlike the Luftwaffee, was unable to offer effective resistance to the massive air power being assembled by the Allies. One of the major targets was Naples, the largest port in southern Italy and important for getting supplies through to the shrinking Axis bridgehead in Tunisia. The fall of Tunisia and then Sicily further increased the ability of the Allies to bring the War home to Italy. Many Italian cities were bombed. Heavy raids started with the American bombings as the 9th Air Force became established. Naples was struck in force (December 4, 1942). The American sent the long range B-24 Liberators. The first raid killed 900 people. They were daylight raids so the bombers could find the port and other targets. Compared to the British raids on Italy the American raids were massive. Naples aqnd other Italian cities were not well-prepared for such intense air-raids. Most of the al anti-aircraft fire cane from ship-mounted guns at the port. There were air-raid shelters, but only because a network of underground train stations, quarries and caverns already existed. (photo, left), including sections of the old Roman aqueduct. One author writes, " The honeycomb of caverns and passageways below were converted into air raid shelters under Mussolini's UMPA or civil defense program. Whole families spent weeks below ground, often emerging into daylight to find their homes and entire neighborhoods turned to rubble ... so they returned to the cavernous shelters to survive. Evidence of DC battery power, showers and crude health and kitchen facilities can still be seen in many of the shelters." 【Ray】 Foggia was another important target vecause of the major air base there. The Allies also bombed Rome with several raids before the Italians surrendered (1943). The Germans also bombed Rome to a much lesser extent as the Luftwaffe was ovrealmed by Allied air power. Hitler appear to have ordered the detruction of the Vatican. The Allies flew 110,000 sorties against Rome. Some 600 aircraft were lost and 3,600 air crew members died. Some 60,000 tons of bombs were dropped. Pope Pius XII suceeded in having Rome declared an open city, through negotiations with President Roosevelt via Cardinal Francis Spellman. Rome was declared an open city (August 14, 1943). The Allied bombing of Zadar, an Italian enclave in Dalmatia (Yugosalvia) is a little known acrion in the air war (November 1943 - October 1944). While a relatively small city, it is notable because of the intensity of the bombing. There is no defenitive accounting on the impact and results vary substantially. The Allies report 30 raids. The Italians claim that there were 54. Reports of the fatalities also vary from 1,000-4,000 people. Zadar only had 20,000 inhabitants. American bombings of Italy never took on the massive scale of the strategic bombing campaign against Germany, but they dd wreak considerable damage on Italian cities.

Declaration of War (June 1940)

Italy with France preparing to surender joined NAZI Germany and entered the War, declzring swar ion Britain and France (June 10). Italy unlike Germany was not set in the middle of Europe. It was not only closer to the front line, but as a peninsula was vulnerable to naval and air attack. Mussolini did not consider this. He thought that the Gerrmans had a lready won the war.

Initial Bombing Operations (1940-43)

The British began bombing Italy early in the War with a raid on Turin in the north (June 11, 1940). The British bombed Palermo in the south (Sicily) with bombers from Malta (June 23). These were pin pricks. Naples was struck for the first time (November 1, 1940). This was a more important raid by RAF and Fleet Air Arm Bristol-Blenheim twin-engine light bombers flying out of Malta. It was part of a coordinated British effort to reduce the supply being delivered to Italian forces in North Africa. Naples and Brindisi were important ports used by the Italian convoys to Tripoli, the major port in Libya.

Malta

The RAI had played a major role in bombing Malta which was protected by only a small force of British fighters. The forces in Malta, largely cut off from supply, did not the capacity to lasunch a strategic bombing camopaign against Italy, but they did play a major role interducting the needed supplies meant for the Afrika Korps.

Allied Victory in North Africa

Strategic bombing in earnest did not begin until America entered the War and the massive build up of Allied air forces. The defeat of the Afrika Korps changed the strategic balance. The fall of Axis air bases in North Africa after El Alamein meant that the United States could begin bombing Italy (1943). And by this time the entry of America into the War was massively increasing the striking power of Allied air forces. The badly outclassed RAI, unlike the Luftwaffee, was unable to offer effective resistance to the building air power being assembled by the Allies. One of the major targets was Naples, the largest port in southern Italy and important for getting supplies through to the shrinking Axis bridgehead in Tunisia. Tunis fell to the British 7th Armored Division, and Bizerte to the UAnmerican II Corps (May 1943). These were the two vital ports in Tunisuia. Some 250,000 Germans and Italians surrender. Now the Allies had bases within in easy ange of Itakian cities.

Allied Air Forces


The U.S. 9th Air Force

The American 9th Air Dirce was a largely tactical force. It was aconstituted as the V Air Support Command (September 1941) and redesignated the 9th Air Force (April 1942). It was moved to Egypt and commended operations in conjection with Operayion Titch (November 1942). It supported the British drive across Libya, the Tunisian and Sicilian campaign, and finally the invasiion of Italy. It was then moved to Britain to become the American tactical air force for the Normandy invasion asnd the libertion iof Europe.

The U.S. 15th Air Foce

Fifteenth Air Force was established after the invasiion of Italy as a strategic force in southern Italy (November 1943). Most of their bases were located there. After the Salerno invasion and libefatiion of Naples, Itlaian air bases became cailable to the Allies. Thev15th was initially commanded by General Jimmy Doolittle. The initial force was IX Bomber Command, the strategic bomber command of the 9th Air Force which was being moved to Britain to transition to a decicated. It was enlarged by the 12th Air Firce (the American tactical Torch air component), and some groups originally intended for the 8th Air Force in Britain. The 15th Air Force operated by RAI bases already prepard in siuthern Italhy, especially Fogia. The 15th Air Force joined with the 8th Air Force in ther strategic bombingb of Grermany. Theu also supported the Allid drive up the Italaian Perninsula, including raids on Rome and cvities in northrn Italy. In adiition there were raids on Axis partners and German occupied areas in southern Europe. The ability to strike targets in the Eeich from both the west and south helped to put additiinal pressure on the German air defenses, both had to be defended by the incrasinglyu over stretched Luftwaffe.

British Mediterranean and Middle East

British air operations in the Western Desert erre conducted by the Royal Air Force Near East Air Force, usually referred to as RAF Near East Air Force in the Eastern Mediterranean -- the Near East. This was reformed after the Allied invasoonn of Italy as RAF Mediterranean and Middle East (MEDME) (December 1943). It operated RAF elements in the Eastern Mediterranean. [1] MEDME heradquarters was set up at Caserta, but aftrr the War was moved back to Cairo. There were both tactical and strategic elemnts.

Naples

Naples was first struck in force as the Allies estblished Libyan bases closer to Italy (December 4, 1942). Naples was the largest oort in siuthern Europe. It was vital in keeping the retrating Afrika Korops and the Germn and Italian forces supplied. The American sent the long range B-24 Liberators. The first raid killed 900 people. They were daylight raids so the bombers could find the port and other targets. Compared to the British raids on Italy the American raids were massive. Naples aqnd other Italian cities were not well-prepared for such intense air-raids. Most of the al anti-aircraft fire cane from ship-mounted guns at the port. There were air-raid shelters, but only because a network of underground train stations, quarries and caverns already existed. (photo, left), including sections of the old Roman aqueduct. One author writes, " The honeycomb of caverns and passageways below were converted into air raid shelters under Mussolini's UMPA or civil defense program. Whole families spent weeks below ground, often emerging into daylight to find their homes and entire neighborhoods turned to rubble ... so they returned to the cavernous shelters to survive. Evidence of DC battery power, showers and crude health and kitchen facilities can still be seen in many of the shelters." 【Ray】 Even after Tunisia and Siciky fell, Naples contunued to be important as the Germans sought to deby the Allies such an important port.

Sicily

The fall of Tunisia and then Sicily further increased the ability of the Allies to bring the War home to Italy.

Rome

Foggia was another important target vecause of the major air base there. The Allies also bombed Rome with several raids before the Italians surrendered (September 1943). The Germans also bombed Rome to a much lesser extent as the Luftwaffe was ovrealmed by Allied air power. Even after the Italian surrender Hitler appear to have ordered the detruction of the Vatican. The Allies flew 110,000 sorties against Rome. Some 600 aircraft were lost and 3,600 air crew members died. Some 60,000 tons of bombs were dropped. Pope Pius XII suceeded in having Rome declared an open city, through negotiations with President Roosevelt via Cardinal Francis Spellman. Rome was declared an open city (August 14, 1943). But the Germns seized control of Rome after the Italian syrrender. So the Allies rdesumed bombing Rome to interdict the supplies being transported through Rome to support the German Gustav Line. This swas the main German defensive line stopping the Allid drive south of Rome. It extended from the Tyrrhenian Sea to the Adriatic Sea. The Gustav Line ran along the Garigiliano and Rapido rivers in the west and the Sangro river in the east. The line was manned by 15 well equioppd German divisions and considted of well situated artillery, pill boxes, machine gun emplacements, minefields and barbed wire. The German divisions had retreated to and fortified this line after the the Italian surrendered to the Allies on 8th September 1943. In order to reach Rome, the Allies had to break this line.

Northern Italy (1943-45)


Operations

The Allies invaded Italy (September 1943). The Italians surrendered and the German seized control of most of the country. One of the early prizes was the developed Italian air base at at Foggia in the South. The United States used the Italian bases. Allied air forces were reorganized. The two major commands were the 12th and 15th Air Forces. Jimmy Doolittle temporarily commanded the new 15th Air Force before going to England to command the 8th Air Force. The 12th Air Force transferred all of its heavy bomb groups and its B-26 Marauder medium bomb groups to the 15th Air Force and the 12th became strictly a tactical air force and the 15th became a strategic air force (November 1, 1943). Lieutenant General Carl Spaatz, the previous Northwest African Air Forces (NAAF), 12th Air Force, and 8th Air Force commander, took over the new United States Strategic Air Forces (USSTAF) consisting of Doolittle's 8th Air Force and Twining's 15th Air Force. Cities in southern Germany also now came within the range of Allied bombers. This opened a new front in the strategic bombing campaign. Spaatz often used the the 15th in Italy for long-range strategic bombing of European targets when inclement weather in England prevented the 8th Air Force from flying missions against the Reich. Havy bombers took off from Italy, bombed German targets, and landed in England. Similarly, some flew the opposite route. A few overnight stops in Russia were also made by some of the long-range bombers of the 8th and 15th Air Forces. Targets ib the Reich were not the only target. The highest priority target was the the Romanian oil fields (Germany's primary source of petroleum). This complicated the Luftwaffe's problems in defending the Reich ajnd defending Ploesti became impossible. Attacks on the vital Ploesti oil fields would be much shorter range attacks that the 9th Air Force operating from North Africa had been forced to conduct. Ira Eaker who had commanded the 8th Air Force was given command of the new 15th Air Force.

Ethical issues

After seizing Naples and southern Italy, the Allied move north was held up by a series of very effdective defensive lines and the Allied decision demanded by the Americans to focus in the Cross XChannel invasion--Operation Ovrlord. This left the Allied forces in Italy without the strength needed for such a major successful effort. And the German commander, Field Marshall Kesserling proved highly adept at using the rugged Italian terraine to best effectv for defensive opertions. The Allied encountered substantial casualtues in cracking through the German defenses. The Allies turned to their advantage in air power to dislodge the Germans. Woke idealists criticise the Allies for using air pwer in such as way that sunstantial civilian casualties occur. 【Evangelista】 Unlike the bombing of Germany, area bombing was not used. The primasry focus of the Allied bombing in Italy was two fold. First to destroy German positions and second to sever German supplyn lines. But thousands of Itslians were killed in the Allied bombing. Italy did not have major war industries like the Germans had, but Italian cities were major tranport nodes with marshalling yards in city centers. A woke historian asks, why "two-thirds of the 60,000 Italian civilian victims of Allied bombing were killed after the armistice signed in September 1943, when Italy was no longer an enemy. Hundreds of thousands of homes in more than 60 towns and cities – including Rome ..." He complains that much of the bombing was done by B-24 heavy bombers mamed 'Liberators'. War is a terrible thing and people get klled. Neither America or Britain started the War. The War was started by the Germans and Italy wanted to be part of it, anxious to share in the loot. And of course, never asked is, Without the Allies, just how were the Italians going to drive the NAZIs out of Italy, stop the German astrocitides, and liberate the Italians sized and transported to the Reich for slave labor under brutal cons=ditiins? In addition how ethical is it for Italins to ask young Americans and Brits to take heavy casualties to liberate Italy when it was the Italians who played such an imprtant role in starting the War? The same connumdrum existed in France, but there after the Allied breakout from Normandy, the Germans were in full retrerat untikl reach the borders of the Reich. France did not oprivide the samde rugged terraine that coukf be used for defense.

Zadar

The Allied bombing of Zadar, an Italian enclave in Dalmatia (Yugosalvia) is a little known action in the air war (November 1943 - October 1944). While a relatively small city, it is notable because of the intensity of the bombing. There is no defenitive accounting on the impact and results vary substantially. The Allies report 30 raids. The Italians claim that there were 54. Reports of the fatalities also vary from 1,000-4,000 people. Zadar only had 20,000 inhabitants.

Intensity

American bombings of Italy never took on the massive scale of the strategic bombing campaign against Germany, but they dd wreak considerable damage on Italian cities.

Sources

Evangelista, Matthew. Allied Air Attacks and Civilian Harm in Italy, 1940-1945: Bombing Among Friends

Ray, Larry.







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Created: 12:47 AM 2/18/2023
Last updated: 12:47 AM 2/18/2023