Bombing of Naples in World War II

Second World War
Part of World War II
Date1940-1944
Location
Naples
40°50′00″N 14°15′00″E
Result Strategic Allied victory
Belligerents
Allies Fascist Italy
Casualties and losses
20,000 - 25,000 civilians

During World War II the Italian city of Naples suffered approximately 200 air raids by the Allies from 1940 to 1944; only Milan was attacked more frequently. Almost all of the attacks — a total of 181 — were launched in the first nine months of 1943 before the Four days of Naples and the Allied occupation of the city at the beginning of October. Estimates of civilian casualties vary between 20,000 and 25,000 killed.[1][2]

In Naples, the primary targets were the port facilities at the extreme eastern end of the Port of Naples as well as the rail, industrial and petroleum facilities in the eastern part of the city and the steel mill to the west, in Bagnoli.[1]

The first bombing raid on Naples was on 1 November 1940. A force of Bristol Blenheim light bombers of the Royal Air Force based on the island of Malta attacked in the hours before dawn, mainly targeting industries in the eastern part of the city (because of the presence of fuel reserves and refineries) and the area near the main railway station.

The largest raid was on 4 August 1943, by 400 American Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress aircraft of the Northwest African Strategic Air Force (NASAF) which targeted the Axis submarine base at Naples.[1][3] The Church of Santa Chiara was destroyed in this raid[1] but was later rebuilt. The Santa Maria di Loreto hospital was also destroyed in the bombing of Naples.

Harbour

Many ships in the harbour were sunk, yet the harbour was made functional in just one week after the city's occupation by Allied ground forces.

References
  1. Air Raids on Naples in WWII Archived 2011-06-11 at the Wayback Machine
  2. Lucia Monda - Napoli durante la II guerra mondiale ovvero: i 100 bombardamenti di Napoli. - Relazione convegno I.S.S.E.S Istituto di Studi Storici Economici e Sociali del 5 marzo 2005 Napoli durante la II guerra mondiale (in Italian)
  3. Combat chronology US Army Air Forces Mediterranean - 1943

Further reading
  • Aldo Stefanile. I cento bombardamenti di Napoli (Naples: Marotta, 1968)
  • Norman Lewis. Naples '44 ( London : Eland, 2002 – 1st ed. Collins 1978)
  • Gastone Mazzanti. Obiettivo Napoli (Rome: Teos, 2004). (About World War II)
  • Gabriella Gribaudi. Guerra totale: tra bombe alleate e violenze naziste. Napoli e il fronte meridionale, 1940-1944 (Turin: Bollati Boringhieri, 2005)


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