Bombing of Milan in World War II
As the main economic and industrial center in
The first raids, 1940
During the first years of war (until 1943/1944), Milan could only be reached by bombers of the RAF Bomber Command coming from England. The first raids were precision bombings carried out by small numbers of planes, mainly with industrial objectives, which caused little damage and few casualties. The first raid happened in the night of 15/16 June 1940, five days after Italy entered the war; a few buildings were hit and one person was killed.[1][2] On the following night, eight aircraft dropped bombs on the Caproni plant, causing little damage.[1][2]
Bombings were renewed during August 1940. On the night of 13/14 August, three bombers dropped bombs and propaganda leaflets; the target was again the Caproni plant which however was not hit, while several buildings along a few streets were, with 15 killed and 44 wounded.[1][2] On the night of 15/16 August another raid ensued, but the reaction of the anti-aircraft batteries shot down one Vickers Wellington bomber, and induced the others to drop their load over the towns of Merate and Mariano Comense.[1][2] On the night of 18/19 August another bombing by four planes hit the Innocenti and Caproni plants and the Linate Airport. On the night of 26 August, eleven bombers bombed the Idroscalo.[1][2]
One final bombing (by three planes) was carried out on 18/19 December 1940, targeting the Pirelli plant but instead causing slight damage to a few houses and killing eight people, wounding 16.[1][2]
No bombings were carried out during 1941, and until the autumn of 1942.
The area bombing, 1942–1943
After Bomber Command adopted
While Turin and Genoa suffered seven and six raids, respectively, Milan was in this phase the least targeted city. Nonetheless, on 24 October 1942, 73 Avro Lancasters dropped 135 tons of bombs, including 30,000 incendiaries, over the city, in a rare case of RAF diurnal bombing. 441 buildings were hit, including the San Vittore jail, the headquarters of the Hoepli, two train stations and the Cimitero Monumentale.[1][2] 171 people were killed and about 300 wounded.[1][2] Four Lancasters were lost, only one of them to AA fire.[1][2]
Although over 330 fires were started,[3] it was judged that the incendiaries were much less effective than in previous raids on German cities; as it had already been shown by the bombing of Genoa, Italian cities were less vulnerable to firebombing than the German ones.[2] This was mainly due to wider streets, which prevented fires from spreading across them, and minimal use of wood in the buildings.[2]
At the beginning of 1943 the Italian anti-aircraft defenses, which had proved not to be very effective, were joined by German
After a pause of nearly four months, Milan suffered a new area bombing on the night of 14/15 February 1943, when 142 Lancasters dropped 110 tons of explosive bombs and 166 tons of incendiary bombs over the city.
After this attack, Milan was not bombed for six more months, but at the beginning of August 1943, following the fall of Mussolini, it was decided to start a series of heavy bombings on the main Italian cities, to persuade the Badoglio government to surrender.[2]
On the night of 7/8 August 1943, 197 bombers took off from bases in England to carry out a simultaneous bombing of Milan, Turin, and Genoa.[2]
Milan was bombed by 72 aircraft (two of which were shot down by AA fire), which dropped 201 tons of bombs, mainly incendiaries.
On the night of 12/13 August 1943, Bomber Command launched its heaviest raid on Milan and any Italian city. 504 bombers (321 Lancasters and 183 Halifaxes) took off from English bases, and 478 of them reached Milan and dropped 1,252 tons of bombs (670 explosive bombs and 582 incendiary bombs), including 245 4,000-lb blockbusters and 380,000 incendiary devices, over the city.[2] This was the second heaviest air raid ever suffered by an Italian city.[1][2] The bombing caused massive fires in many parts of Milan; the fires drew air from the surrounding
At this point, Bomber Command halted its attacks, as it was thought that the "persuasive" effect had been achieved, and further bombings could have instead fueled anti-British sentiment.[2] The four August raids had caused over 1,000 dead and hit half of the buildings in the city, destroying or heavily damaging 15% of them and leaving over 250,000 people homeless.[1] The work of 5,000 workers and 1,700 soldiers was needed to remove the ruins.[1] Water, light and gas supply resumed within 48 hours, while public transport was nearly annihilated.[1]
No more raids were carried out during the rest of 1943, and life in the city was slowly resumed.
1944–1945, the USAAF bombings
After the Summer of 1943 and the
The first bombing of 1944 took place in the night between 28 and 29 March, when 78
Bombing of Gorla
The last heavy bombing suffered by Milan took place on 20 October 1944. On this day, a group of 111 USAAF bombers were sent to bomb the Breda, Isotta Fraschini and Alfa Romeo plants; while the groups assigned to attack the Isotta Fraschini and Alfa Romeo hit their targets, the 36
After 20 October 1944, no more bombings were carried out on Milan. Countless minor air attacks, mainly strafing and bombing actions by fighter-bombers and light bombers, took place throughout the autumn of 1944, the subsequent winter and the spring of 1945; trains, vehicles, modes of transport and more generally targets of opportunity were attacked.[1] Dozens more civilians were killed, as it was not possible to distinguish trains and vehicles used by the Wehrmacht and those carrying civilians.[1]
Damage and casualties
Although a reliable and complete count has never been made, it has been estimated that at least 2,200 people were killed in the bombings of Milan; the second heaviest death toll in Northern Italy (Bologna suffered 2,481 casualties). At least 400,000 people, more than one third of the population, were left homeless.[5]
At the end of the war, Milan had suffered heavy damage from the air raids; out of 930,000 rooms that existed before the war, 360,000 were destroyed or heavily damaged, and over 200,000 suffered lighter damage.[6] Overall, about one third of the buildings were destroyed or had to be subsequently demolished; the ruins were used to create the artificial hill known as Monte Stella.[1] The heavy destruction of the areas surrounding the city centre and the unregulated building that ensued in the reconstruction years left this part of Milan heavily disfigured.[2]
Due to the area bombing focusing on the city centre, the cultural heritage was hit the hardest; three quarters of the historical buildings suffered various extents of damage, including the Cathedral, the Basilica of Sant'Ambrogio, Santa Maria delle Grazie, the Sforza Castle, the Royal Palace, La Scala and the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II.[6] The industry and transport system, having been prime targets for the whole duration of the war, also suffered heavy damage; the main factories (Caproni, Innocenti, Pirelli, Breda, Alfa Romeo, Isotta Fraschini) suffered heavy damage, as did most of the railway stations. Public transport inside the city was completely disrupted.
References
- ^ 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 ap aq ar as at au av aw ax "Storia di Milano ::: Bombardamenti aerei su Milano". Retrieved 28 November 2016.
- ^ 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 ap aq ar as at au av aw ax ay az ba Marco Gioannini, Giulio Massobrio, Bombardate l'Italia. Storia della guerra di distruzione aerea 1940–1945, pp. 9-25-29-40-46-71-73-83-86-97-100-112-113-116-119-176 to 179-196 to 202-221-222-227 to 229-235-236-265-273-293-295-298-326 to 328-339-344-346 to 354-371 to 373-381-383 to 385-423-431-442 to 445-447-458 to 460-465-487-488-493.
- ^ Giorgio Bonacina, "La RAF cancella intere città", on "Storia Illustrata" n. 172 – March 1972
- ^ "The massacre of Gorla and the sad story of its little martyrs". 20 October 2019.
- ^ "Archivio Corriere della Sera". Retrieved 28 November 2016.
- ^ a b "MILANO in "Enciclopedia Italiana"". Retrieved 28 November 2016.
External links
- "Milano, un libro racconta la città devastata dalla guerra (Milan, a book recalls a city devastated by war)". La Repubblica. 5 February 2015. — old photographs of the city