Air raid on Bari
Air raid on Bari, Italy | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Part of the Italian Campaign of World War II | |||||||
Allied ships burn during the German attack on Bari | |||||||
| |||||||
Belligerents | |||||||
Germany |
United Kingdom United States Italy | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Albert Kesselring Wolfram von Richthofen |
Harold Alexander Arthur Coningham | ||||||
Strength | |||||||
105 Junkers Ju 88 A-4 bombers | |||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
One aircraft destroyed |
29 ships sunk harbor extensively damaged 1,000 military and merchant marine personnel killed 1,000 civilians killed[1] | ||||||
The air raid on Bari (
The attack lasted a little more than an hour and put the port out of action until February 1944. The release of mustard gas from one of the wrecked cargo ships added to the loss of life. The British and US governments covered up the presence of mustard gas and its effects on victims of the raid.
Background
In early September 1943, coinciding with the
Bari had inadequate
Little thought was given to the possibility of a German air raid on Bari, because it was believed that the
Thirty ships of American, British, Polish, Norwegian and Dutch registry were in Bari Harbour on 2 December. The adjoining port city held a civilian population of 250,000.[4] The port was lit on the night of the raid to expedite the unloading of supplies for the Battle of Monte Cassino and was working at full capacity.[4]
Raid
On the afternoon of 2 December, Luftwaffe pilot Werner Hahn made a reconnaissance flight over Bari in an
The attack opened at 19:25, when two or three German aircraft circled the harbour at 10,000 ft (3,000 m) dropping Düppel (foil strips) to confuse Allied radar. They also dropped flares, which were not needed due to the harbour being well illuminated.[4] The German bomber force surprised the defenders and was able to bomb the harbour with great accuracy. Hits on two ammunition ships caused explosions which shattered windows 7 mi (11 km) away.[4] A bulk petrol pipeline on a quay was severed and the gushing fuel ignited.[7] A sheet of burning fuel spread over much of the harbor, engulfing undamaged ships.[4]
Twenty-eight merchant ships laden with more than 34,000 short tons (31,000 t) of cargo were sunk or destroyed; three ships carrying a further 7,500 short tons (6,800 t) were later salvaged.[2] Twelve more ships were damaged.[8] The port was closed for three weeks and was only restored to full operation in February 1944.[7] All Bari-based submarines were undamaged, their tough exteriors able to withstand the German attack.
Name | Flag | Type | GRT or Displacement |
Status[8] | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Ardito | 3,732 GRT[8] | Sunk | |||
Argo | Coaster | 526 GRT[8] | Damaged | ||
Aube | Cargo ship | 1,055 GRT[8] | Sunk | ||
Barletta | Auxiliary cruiser
|
1,975 GRT[8][9][10] | Sunk | Forty-four crew killed. Four men from the militarized crew killed in action and four men were wounded. The military crew had twenty-two men killed in action, fourteen missing in action and forty wounded. Raised in 1948–1949 and repaired.[9] | |
HMS Bicester | Hunt-class destroyer | 1,050 GRT[8] | Damaged | ||
Bollsta | Cargo ship | 1,832 GRT[8][11] | Sunk | Raised in 1948, repaired and returned to service as Stefano M.[8] | |
Brittany Coast | Cargo ship | 1,389 GRT[8] | Damaged | ||
Cassala | Cargo ship | 1,797 GRT[8] | Total loss | ||
Corfu | Cargo ship | 1,409 GRT[8] | Total loss | ||
Crista | Cargo ship | 1,389 GRT[8] | Damaged | ||
Dagö | Cargo ship | 1,996 GRT[8] | Damaged | ||
Devon Coast | Coaster | 646 GRT[8][12] | Sunk | ||
Fort Athabaska | Cargo ship (Fort class) | 7,132 GRT[13] | Sunk | ||
Fort Lajoie | Cargo ship (Fort class) | 7,134 GRT[8][14] | Sunk | ||
Frosinone | Cargo ship | 5,202 GRT[8][15] | Sunk | ||
Genespesca II | Cargo ship | 1,628 GRT[8] | Sunk | ||
Goggiam | Cargo ship | 1,934 GRT[8] | Total loss | ||
Grace Abbott | Liberty ship | 7,191 GRT[8] | Damaged | ||
Inaffondabile | Schooner | Unknown[16] | Sunk | ||
John Bascom | Liberty ship | 7,176 GRT[8] | Sunk | Four crewmen, ten armed guards killed.[17] Wreck scrapped in 1948.[18] | |
John Harvey | Liberty ship | 7,177 GRT[8] | Sunk | Cargo of mustard gas bombs. Thirty-six crewmen, ten soldiers, twenty armed guards killed.[17] Wreck scrapped in 1948.[18] | |
John L. Motley | Liberty ship | 7,176 GRT[8] | Sunk | Cargo of ammunition. Thirty-six crewmen, Twenty-four armed guards killed.[17] | |
John M. Schofield | Liberty ship | 7,181 GRT[8] | Damaged | ||
Joseph Wheeler | Liberty ship | 7,176 GRT[8] | Sunk | Twenty-six crewmen, fifteen armed guards killed.[17] Wreck scrapped in 1948.[19] | |
Lars Kruse | Cargo ship | 1,807 GRT[8] | Sunk | Nineteen crew killed.[20] | |
Lom | Cargo ship | 1,268 GRT[8] | Sunk | Four crew killed.[21] | |
Luciano Orlando | Cargo ship | Unknown[8] | Sunk | ||
Lwów | Cargo ship | 1,409 GRT[8][22] | Sunk | ||
Lyman Abbott | Liberty ship | 7,176 GRT[8] | Damaged | ||
MB 10 | Armed motor boat | 13 tons displacement[8] | Sunk | ||
Norlom | Cargo ship | 6,326 GRT[8] | Sunk | Six crew killed. Refloated November 1946, scrapped 1947. | |
Odysseus | Cargo ship | 1,057 GRT[8] | Damaged | ||
Porto Pisano | Coaster | 226 GRT[8] | Sunk | ||
Puck | Cargo ship | 1,065 GRT[8][23] | Sunk | ||
Samuel J. Tilden | Liberty ship | 7,176 GRT[8] | Sunk | Ten crewmen, fourteen U.S. soldiers, three British soldiers killed.[17] Wreck scrapped in 1948.[24] | |
Testbank | Cargo ship | 5,083 GRT[8] | Sunk | Seventy crew killed.[25] | |
Vest | Cargo ship | 5,074 GRT[8] | Damaged | ||
HMS Vienna | Depot ship | 4,227 GRT[8] | Damaged | ||
Volodda | Cargo ship | 4,673 GRT[8] | Sunk | ||
HMS Zetland | Hunt-class destroyer | 1,050 GRT[8] | Damaged |
John Harvey
One of the destroyed vessels—the U.S.
Within a day, the first symptoms of mustard poisoning had appeared in 628 patients and medical staff, including blindness and chemical burns. That puzzling development was further complicated by the arrival of hundreds of Italian civilians also seeking treatment, who had been poisoned by a cloud of sulfur mustard vapor that had blown over the city when some of John Harvey's cargo exploded. As the medical crisis worsened, little information was available about what was causing the symptoms, because the U.S. military command wanted to keep the presence of chemical munitions secret from the Germans.[28] Nearly all crewmen of John Harvey had been killed, and were unavailable to explain the cause of the "garlic-like" odor noted by rescue personnel.[26]
Informed about the mysterious symptoms, Deputy Surgeon General Fred Blesse sent for Lieutenant Colonel Stewart Francis Alexander, an expert in chemical warfare. Carefully tallying the locations of the victims at the time of the attack, Alexander traced the epicenter to John Harvey, and confirmed mustard gas as the responsible agent when he located a fragment of the casing of a U.S. M47A1 bomb.[3]
By the end of the month, 83 of the 628 hospitalized military victims had died. The number of civilian casualties, thought to have been even greater, could not be accurately gauged since most had left the city to seek shelter with relatives.[3]
An additional cause of contamination with mustard is suggested by George Southern, the only survivor of the raid to have written about it. The huge explosion of John Harvey, possibly simultaneously with another ammunition ship, sent large amounts of oily water mixed with mustard into the air, which fell down like rain on men who were on deck at the time. That affected the crews of the Hunt-class destroyers HMS Zetland and HMS Bicester. Both ships were damaged by the force of the blast and had taken casualties. After moving the destroyers away from burning ships and towing the tanker La Drome away from the fires, the ships received orders to sail for Taranto. They threaded their way past burning wrecks, with the flotilla leader, Bicester having to follow Zetland, because her navigation equipment was damaged. Some survivors were picked up from the water in the harbour entrance by Bicester. When dawn broke, it became clear that the magnetic and gyro compasses had acquired large errors, requiring a considerable course correction. Symptoms of mustard gas poisoning then began to appear. By the time they reached Taranto, none of Bicester's officers could see well enough to navigate the ship into harbour, so assistance had to be sought from the shore.[29]
Cover-up
A member of Allied Supreme Commander General
Allied High Command suppressed news of the presence of mustard gas, in case the Germans believed that the Allies were preparing to use chemical weapons, fearing it which might provoke them into pre-emptive use. The presence of multiple witnesses caused a re-evaluation of this stance and in February 1944, the U.S. Chiefs of Staff issued a statement admitting to the accident and emphasizing that the U.S. had no intention of using chemical weapons except in the case of retaliation.[31]
General Dwight D. Eisenhower approved Dr. Alexander's report. Winston Churchill, however, ordered all British documents to be purged. Mustard gas deaths were described as "burns due to enemy action".[3]
U.S. records of the attack were declassified in 1959, but the episode remained obscure until 1967 when author Glenn B. Infield published the book Disaster at Bari.[30] In 1986, the British government admitted to survivors of the Bari raid that they had been exposed to poison gas and amended their pension payments.[32] In 1988, through the efforts of Nick T. Spark, U.S. Senator Dennis DeConcini, and U.S. Senator Bill Bradley, Dr. Alexander received recognition from the Surgeon General of the United States Army for his actions in the aftermath of the Bari disaster.[33] Alexander's information contributed to Cornelius P. Rhoads' chemotherapy for cancer and Alexander turned down Rhoads' offer to work at the Sloan Kettering Institute.[34]
In his autobiographical work Destroyer Captain, published in 1975 by William Kimber & Co, Lieutenant Commander Roger Hill describes refuelling HMS Grenville in Bari shortly after the attack.[35] He describes the damage done and details how a shipload of mustard gas came to be in the harbour because of intelligence reports which he viewed as "incredible".[citation needed]
Aftermath
An inquiry exonerated Sir Arthur Coningham of negligence in defending the port but found that the absence of previous air attacks had led to complacency.[7]
See also
Notes
- ^ Atkinson (2007), pp. 275–276.
- ^ a b c Orange (1992), p. 175.
- ^ ISBN 1-4020-3618-3.
- ^ a b c d e f Saunders (1967), p. 36.
- ^ Infield (1976), p. 28.
- ^ "Kampfgeschwader 54 "Totenkopf" – Kampfgeschwader (Jagd) 54 – 1. Lebenslauf – 1943" [Battle Squadron 54 "Skull" – Battle Squadron (Hunt) 54 – 1. curriculum vitae – 1943]. lexikon-der-wehrmacht.de (in German). Lexikon der Wehrmacht. Retrieved 1 December 2016.
Im Dezember flog das Geschwader weiter Einsätze gegen alliierte Schiffe in der Adria und den Hafen von Bari [In December, the wing continued to carry out operations against Allied ships in the Adriatic and the port of Bari]
- ^ a b c d Orange (1992), p. 176.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag ah ai aj ak al am an ao "D/S Bollsta". Warsailors. Retrieved 25 January 2012.
- ^ a b "Motonave "Barletta"" (in Italian). Franco Prevato. Retrieved 21 February 2015.
- ^ "Navi Italiane in Guerra". Archived from the original on 22 March 2019. Retrieved 22 March 2019.
- ^ "Bollsta (+ 1943)". Wrecksite. Archived from the original on 22 March 2012. Retrieved 28 July 2011.
- ^ "Devon Coast (+ 1943)". Wrecksite. Archived from the original on 22 March 2012. Retrieved 28 July 2011.
- ^ "Fort Athabasca (+ 1943)". Wrecksite. Archived from the original on 22 March 2012. Retrieved 28 July 2011.
- ^ "Fort Lajoie (+ 1943)". Wrecksite. Archived from the original on 22 March 2012. Retrieved 28 July 2011.
- ^ "Frosinone (+ 1943)". Wrecksite. Archived from the original on 22 March 2012. Retrieved 28 July 2011.
- ^ "Inaffondabile (+ 1943)". Wrecksite. Archived from the original on 22 March 2012. Retrieved 28 July 2011.
- ^ a b c d e "American Merchant Ships Sunk in WWII".
- ^ a b "Liberty Ships – Joaquin – Johns". Mariners. Retrieved 6 November 2016.
- ^ "Liberty Ships – Jonas – Justo". Mariners. Retrieved 6 November 2016.
- ^ "Lars Kruse (+ 1943)". Wrecksite. Archived from the original on 22 March 2012. Retrieved 28 July 2011.
- ^ "Lom (+ 1943)". Wrecksite. Archived from the original on 22 March 2012. Retrieved 28 July 2011.
- ^ "Lwow (+ 1943)". Wrecksite. Archived from the original on 22 March 2012. Retrieved 28 July 2011.
- ^ "Puck (+ 1943)". Wrecksite. Archived from the original on 22 March 2012. Retrieved 28 July 2011.
- ^ "Liberty Ships – S". Mariners. Retrieved 6 November 2016.
- ^ "Testbank (+ 1943)". Wrecksite. Archived from the original on 22 March 2012. Retrieved 28 July 2011.
- ^ a b Saunders (1967), p. 37.
- ^ Saunders (1967), p. 38.
- ^ Pechura & Rall (1993), p. 43[1]
- ^ Southern (2002), p. 82–86.
- ^ a b Infield (1976).
- ISBN 0-313-32407-7.
- ^ Atkinson (2007), p. 277.
- ^ "Tucson senior helps retired doctor receive military honor". Mojave Daily Miner. Associated Press. 20 May 1988. p. B8.
- ^ Conant, Jennet (September 2020). "The Bombing and the Breakthrough". Smithsonian. Retrieved 6 September 2020.
- ISBN 9781904381259books.google.co.uk, accessed 2 December 2018
References
- ISBN 978-0-8050-6289-2.
- Infield, Glenn B. (1976). Disaster at Bari. Toronto: Bantam. ISBN 978-0-450-02659-1.
- Langford, R. Everett (2004). Introduction to Weapons of Mass Destruction. John Wiley/Interscience. ISBN 978-0-471-46560-7.
- Mason, Geoffrey B. (2004). Service Histories of Royal Navy Warships in World War II.
- OCLC 313489807.
- Orange, Vincent (1992) [1st pub. London: Methuen 1990]. Coningham: a biography of Air Marshal Sir Arthur Coningham. Washington, D.C.: Center for Air Force History. ISBN 0-413-14580-8.
- Pechura, Constance M.; Rall, David P. (1993). Veterans at Risk: The Health Effects of Mustard Gas and Lewisite. Washington, D.C.: National Academies Press. )
- Reminick, Gerald (2001). Nightmare in Bari: The World War II Liberty Ship Poison Gas Disaster and Coverup. Palo Alto: Glencannon Press. ISBN 1-889901-21-0.
- Saunders, D.M. (September 1967). "The Bari Incident". United States Naval Institute Proceedings. Annapolis: United States Naval Institute.
- Southern, George (2002). Poisonous inferno: World War II tragedy at Bari Harbour. Shrewsbury, England: Airlife Publishing. ISBN 1-84037-389-X.
- "Naval Armed Guard Service: Tragedy at Bari, Italy on 2 December 1943". U.S. Department of the Navy – Naval Historical Center. 8 August 2006. Archived from the original on 12 January 2008. Retrieved 7 January 2008.
Further reading
- Birchfield, B.; Ellis, Harry V. III & Pflug, Robert H. (1989). "Question 2/88". Warship International. XXVI (2): 202–203. ISSN 0043-0374.