Bombing of Palermo in World War II
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During World War II the Italian city of
Palermo Palermo ( , ; scn, Palermu , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital (political), capital of both the autonomous area, autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan ...
, the regional capital and largest city of Sicily, was heavily bombed by both the Royal Air Force and the United States Army Air Force.


Background

Palermo was a target of strategic importance for several reasons: its port was a base for Italian naval light forces and a point of transit, and sometimes of departure, for ships and convoys carrying supplies to North Africa; it housed a
shipyard A shipyard, also called a dockyard or boatyard, is a place where ships are built and repaired. These can be yachts, military vessels, cruise liners or other cargo or passenger ships. Dockyards are sometimes more associated with maintenance a ...
and the Boccadifalco air base, used by both the
Regia Aeronautica The Italian Royal Air Force (''Regia Aeronautica Italiana'') was the name of the air force of the Kingdom of Italy. It was established as a service independent of the Royal Italian Army from 1923 until 1946. In 1946, the monarchy was abolis ...
and the Luftwaffe. The city was defended by
anti-aircraft batteries Anti-aircraft warfare, counter-air or air defence forces is the battlespace response to aerial warfare, defined by NATO as "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action".AAP-6 It includes surface based, ...
located on Mount Pellegrino, Pizzo Volo d’Aquila and along the coast, and by fighter planes based at the nearby Boccadifalco airfield. Two German radars, a Freya located on Cape Gallo and a Würzburg, were used for aircraft detection.


1940-1942

The first air raid on Palermo was carried out on 23 June 1940, one day before the signing of the
Armistice of Villa Incisa The Franco-Italian Armistice, or Armistice of Villa Incisa, signed on 24 June 1940, in effect from 25 June, ended the brief Italian invasion of France during the Second World War. On 10 June 1940, Italy declared war on France while the latter was ...
, by fifteen
French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
bombers; twenty-five civilians were killed. This was the only air raid suffered by Palermo in 1940, but from January 1941 British bombers based in Malta started attacking its harbour with increasing frequency. During the following two years, Palermo was the second most bombed city in
southern Italy Southern Italy ( it, Sud Italia or ) also known as ''Meridione'' or ''Mezzogiorno'' (), is a macroregion of the Italian Republic consisting of its southern half. The term ''Mezzogiorno'' today refers to regions that are associated with the peop ...
, after Naples; the main raids took place on 8 and 10 January 1941, 6, 10 and 31 July 1941, 8, 9, 12, 25, 26 and 29 September 1941, 21 and 31 October 1941, 2 and 4 February 1942, 2 March 1942 and 24 November 1942. Most of these raids, however, were carried out with small numbers of medium bombers, and generally caused little damage and few casualties. Exceptions were the raids of September 1941, that killed 70 people; the raid on 4 February 1942, which caused a hundred civilian deaths; and the raid on 2 March 1942 (by sixteen Vickers Wellingtons), when four ships were sunk in harbour and several more damaged. One of the ships sunk in this raid, the German freighter ''Cuma'', was loaded with fuel and ammunition and blew up, causing widespread damage to the port facilities and to several buildings in the city, hit by fragments of every shape and size. There were several dozen casualties, mostly among the crews of the ships in the harbour.Bombe su Palermo: cronaca degli attacchi aerei, 1940-1943
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1943

The situation drastically changed in early 1943, when Palermo became a target for USAAF bombers operating from newly conquered bases in French North Africa. The USAAF used larger numbers of bombers, and frequently made use of Boeing B-17 and Consolidated B-24 heavy bombers as opposed to the medium bombers previously used by the British. Air raids on Palermo escalated in both frequency and intensity, initially as the Allies sought to hamper the use of its harbour for supply convoys bound for Tunisia, and later in preparation for the invasion of Sicily. The first USAAF raid took place on 7 January 1943, when ten bombers of the 9th Air Force (out of 25 that had taken off from air bases in North Africa) attacked the harbour, sinking the destroyer ; many bombs also fell on the city centre, killing 139 civilians.Bombardate l’Italia: 1943
/ref> Another raid on the port took place on 23 January; on 3 February, thirty B-17s of the 9th Air Force attacked again the harbour, and again the bombs fell all over the waterfront and the old city centre, killing 98 people and wounding nearly 300. Two days later, the RAF attacked Palermo, hitting the Mondello and San Lorenzo districts; the raid was repeated on 8 February. On 15 February, bombers of the
12th Air Force The Twelfth Air Force (12 AF; Air Forces Southern, (AFSOUTH)) is a Numbered Air Force of the United States Air Force Air Combat Command (ACC). It is headquartered at Davis–Monthan Air Force Base, Arizona. The command is the air component to U ...
attacked again the harbour and hit the shipyard, but many bombs fell on the city, killing 226 civilians. On 20 February, the RAF attacked the Boccadifalco air base, but the suburbs of Palermo were also hit; the same happened two nights later.Le bombe del 9 maggio 1943 che distrussero Palermo
/ref> On 1 March 1943, thirty-six bombers of the 12th Air Force dropped 94 tons of bombs over the harbour: the objective was hit, disabling the
drydock A dry dock (sometimes drydock or dry-dock) is a narrow basin or vessel that can be flooded to allow a load to be floated in, then drained to allow that load to come to rest on a dry platform. Dry docks are used for the construction, maintenance, ...
and sinking the destroyer ''Geniere'' and some smaller vessels, but once again part of the bombs fell on the city, hitting among other things the Cathedral. On the following night, the RAF renewed the attack; on 2 March the USAAF attacked again the harbour, followed on 8 and 11 March by the RAF, which hit the city. On 22 March, twenty-four U. S. bombers of the 12th Air Force dropped 264 bombs over the harbour; most of the bombs hit the target, sinking six merchant ships and several smaller vessels and damaging many more, including the destroyer ''Granatiere''. One of the merchant vessels, ''Volta'', was loaded with
ammunition Ammunition (informally ammo) is the material fired, scattered, dropped, or detonated from any weapon or weapon system. Ammunition is both expendable weapons (e.g., bombs, missiles, grenades, land mines) and the component parts of other weap ...
and exploded, causing further damage to the harbour. 38 civilians lost their lives, in addition to several dozen military personnel and merchant seamen. On the night between 4 and 5 April, the RAF attacked Palermo; during this raid, the churches of Santissimo Salvatore and of San Francesco Saverio were hit. On the following day, the 12th Air Force bombed the harbour and the Boccadifalco air base, killing nine people. On 7, 10 and 12 April Palermo was attacked by the 9th Air Force and by the RAF. On 16 April, Palermo was bombed by B-17s, causing 92 deaths; the raid was repeated on the following day, when the entire area surrounding the harbour was heavily bombed, hitting the Foro Italico and the Castellammare, Tribunali and Ponte Ammiraglio districts. On 17 April, 48 USAAF bombers dropped 130 tons of bombs on the harbour, rendering it unusable for several weeks, and on the following day another 75 bombers hit the Brancaccio and Ucciardone marshalling yards, as well as the tram depot, causing twenty civilian casualties. On 9 May, Palermo suffered the heaviest and bloodiest raid of the entire war: 211 bombers of the 12th Air Force dropped 315 tons of bombs, targeting the harbour and the marshalling yard, but many of the bombs fell all over the city, causing widespread destruction and 373 deaths among the population. Four days later, a raid by the RAF caused another seventeen victims; on 25 May, the USAAF attacked the Boccadifalco air base. On 12 June, Palermo was bombed by 39 bombers of the 12th Air Force, targeting the Boccadifalco airfield; this raid caused 25 victims. Further attacks on the air base followed on 12 June and 15 June (five civilian deaths). On 30 June, another USAAF raid on the Boccadifalco air base resulted once again in bombs hitting the city (the University and the
hospital A hospital is a health care institution providing patient treatment with specialized health science and auxiliary healthcare staff and medical equipment. The best-known type of hospital is the general hospital, which typically has an emerge ...
were among the damaged buildings) and causing 84 victims. On 1 July, a RAF raid damaged the
Palazzo dei Normanni The Palazzo dei Normanni (Norman Palace) is also called Royal Palace of Palermo. It was the seat of the Kings of Sicily with the Hauteville dynasty and served afterwards as the main seat of power for the subsequent rulers of Sicily. Since 1946 ...
and caused a further thirty-two deaths; another attack followed five days later, and on 14 July, four days after the Allied landings, Palermo was bombed by 24 9th Air Force bombers.


Aftermath

On 22 July 1943, during the Allied invasion of Sicily, Palermo was captured by U.S. troops of General Geoffrey Keyes' "Provisional Corps", part of
George S. Patton George Smith Patton Jr. (November 11, 1885 – December 21, 1945) was a general in the United States Army who commanded the Seventh United States Army in the Mediterranean Theater of World War II, and the Third United States Army in France ...
's Seventh Army. This brought an end to Allied bombing raids, but the American-occupied city became now a target for the
Regia Aeronautica The Italian Royal Air Force (''Regia Aeronautica Italiana'') was the name of the air force of the Kingdom of Italy. It was established as a service independent of the Royal Italian Army from 1923 until 1946. In 1946, the monarchy was abolis ...
and the Luftwaffe, which carried out several raids during the following month. The last Axis air raid took place on 23 August 1943, six days after the end of land operations in Sicily; a few weeks later, the
Armistice of Cassibile The Armistice of Cassibile was an armistice signed on 3 September 1943 and made public on 8 September between the Kingdom of Italy and the Allies during World War II. It was signed by Major General Walter Bedell Smith for the Allies and Brig ...
ended the hostilities between Italy and the Allies, and forced the Luftwaffe to withdraw from its bases in
southern Italy Southern Italy ( it, Sud Italia or ) also known as ''Meridione'' or ''Mezzogiorno'' (), is a macroregion of the Italian Republic consisting of its southern half. The term ''Mezzogiorno'' today refers to regions that are associated with the peop ...
. Air raids on Palermo, from either side, had finally come to an end; in three years, the city had been bombed by five different air forces – French, British, American, Italian, and German. The raids caused heavy damage to the city. According to the 1949 issue of the Treccani Encyclopedia, over 100,000 rooms had been destroyed or damaged.Enciclopedia Treccani
/ref> 40 % of the pre-war housing stock was lost; 69,000 rooms were rendered uninhabitable, leaving 60,000 people homeless in the city centre alone.Danni di guerra e restauro dei monumenti. Palermo 1943-1955
/ref> The most damaged areas were the ones located near the port, target of many Allied raids; the Borgo Vecchio and San Pietro alla Cala districts were almost completely destroyed. After the occupation, the
Allied Military Government The Allied Military Government of Occupied Territories (originally abbreviated AMGOT, later AMG) was the form of military rule administered by Allied forces during and after World War II within European territories they occupied. Notable AMGOT ...
dumped the rubble into the sea near the Foro Italico; this created an artificial beach with an area of 40,000 square meters. Several unrepaired bomb-damaged buildings survive to this day: for instance in Corso Vittorio Emanuele, near Piazza Marina and near Ballarò.
Cultural heritage Cultural heritage is the heritage of tangible and intangible heritage assets of a group or society that is inherited from past generations. Not all heritages of past generations are "heritage"; rather, heritage is a product of selection by soci ...
suffered greatly; many
Norman Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 10th and 11th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norm ...
, Renaissance and
Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...
palaces and churches in the old city centre were destroyed or badly damaged, including the Basilica of the Most Holy Trinity, the church of San Francesco, Palazzo Sclafani, the church of Santa Maria della Catena, the church of San Giorgio dei Genovesi, Palazzo Abatellis, the church of Sant'Ignazio all'Olivella, the church of the Gesù, the church of San Giuseppe dei Teatini, the church of Santissimo Salvatore. Others suffered less serious damage, including the Cathedral, the
Royal Palace of Palermo The Palazzo dei Normanni (Norman Palace) is also called Royal Palace of Palermo. It was the seat of the Kings of Sicily with the Hauteville dynasty and served afterwards as the main seat of power for the subsequent rulers of Sicily. Since 1946 i ...
, the Porta Felice, the churches of
San Giovanni degli Eremiti San Giovanni degli Eremiti (St John of the Hermits) is an ancient former monastic church located on Via Benedettini #19 in the ancient quarter of Albergaria of the city of Palermo, region of Sicily, Italy. It is about two blocks south from the ...
,
San Giovanni dei Lebbrosi San Giovanni dei Lebbrosi is an ancient church in Palermo, Sicily. While built by the Norman rulers, the architecture has strong Arabic influences. The church in 1119 was attached to a leprosarium, hence the title. The church was dedicated to St ...
and of the Holy Spirit. Altogether, 119 historic buildings (twenty palaces, thirteen public buildings and 86 churches) suffered damage; eleven were completely destroyed, nineteen partially destroyed, twelve badly damaged, fifty-four damaged, and twenty-three lightly damaged. Civilian casualties from the air raids amounted to 2,123 dead and several thousand wounded.Associazione Nazionale Vittime Civili di Guerra
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Bibliography

* Albergoni Attilio, Vincenzo Crisafulli, ''Palermo Immagini della memoria 1937 - 1947'', Vittorietti editore, Palermo, 2013 * Albergoni Attilio, ''La guerra dell'Arte con la cronologia dei bombardamenti su Palermo'', Sopr. BB.CC. e AA. Palermo, Navarra Editore, 2017 * Bellomo Alessandro, Picciotto Clara, ''Bombe su Palermo: cronaca degli attacchi aerei 1940-1943'', Associazione culturale Italia, Genova, 2008 * Romeo Samuel, Rothier Wilfried, ''Bombardamenti su Palermo: un racconto per immagini'', Istituto poligrafico europeo, Palermo, 2017


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bombing Of Palermo In World War Ii
Palermo Palermo ( , ; scn, Palermu , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital (political), capital of both the autonomous area, autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan ...
Palermo 1943 in Italy