The bombing of Vicenza was a series of attacks by the

United States Army Air Force The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

and the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

on the Italian city of

Vicenza Vicenza ( , ; ) is a city in northeastern Italy. It is in the Veneto region at the northern base of the ''Monte Berico'', where it straddles the Bacchiglione River. Vicenza is approximately west of Venice and east of Milan. Vicenza is a th ...

Veneto Veneto (, ; vec, Vèneto ) or Venetia is one of the 20 regions of Italy. Its population is about five million, ranking fourth in Italy. The region's capital is Venice while the biggest city is Verona. Veneto was part of the Roman Empire unt ...

, during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. The purpose of these raids was to disable the city's

marshalling yard A classification yard (American and Canadian English (Canadian National Railway use)), marshalling yard (British, Hong Kong, Indian, Australian, and Canadian English (Canadian Pacific Railway use)) or shunting yard (Central Europe) is a railway ya ...

and

airport An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial air transport. Airports usually consists of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surface ...

, but the bombing also caused considerable collateral damage to the city itself.

Chronology of the main air raids

25 December 1943

The first air raid on Vicenza. 20 bombers of the

15th Air Force The Fifteenth Air Force (15 AF) is a numbered air force of the United States Air Force's Air Combat Command (ACC). It is headquartered at Shaw Air Force Base. It was reactivated on 20 August 2020, merging the previous units of the Ninth Air Force ...

attacked the airfield, but many bombs also fell on the city, hitting the San Bortolo and San Francesco districts, causing 31 victims among the population.

28 December 1943

Raid by 17 bombers of the 15th USAAF, targeting the marshalling yard. Part of the bombs fell on the southeastern districts of the city, causing 41 victims among the population.

26 March 1944

Raid by 78 RAF bombers, targeting the marshalling yard. Bombs also fell on the southern districts of the city, killing 14 civilians.

2 April 1944

Raid by fifty RAF bombers, targeting the marshalling yard. The city was hit as well (among other buildings, the

psychiatric hospital Psychiatric hospitals, also known as mental health hospitals, behavioral health hospitals, are hospitals or wards specializing in the treatment of severe mental disorders, such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, eating disorders, dissociative ...

suffered damage), causing the death of 26 civilians.

14 May 1944

Raid by 150 bombers of the 15th U.S. Air Force, which dropped 1,300 bombs, targeting the marshalling yard. Many bombs fell on the city, causing heavy damage to the

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 ...

and killing 56 civilians.

17 November 1944

Raid by 38 RAF bombers, which dropped 106 tons of bombs over the airfield. Five civilians were also killed.

18 November 1944

Raid by the USAAF; 304 tons of bombs were dropped, targeting the air base. This was the bloodiest raid suffered by Vicenza: deaths among the population numbered at least 317 (according to official figures), but some estimates place this number at 500.

4 January 1945

Raid by the USAAF, targeting the marshalling yard. Two deaths among the population.

28 February 1945

Raid by the 15th U.S. Air Force, targeting the marshalling yard. The city was also hit, with sixteen victims among the civilians.

18 March 1945

Raid by 73 RAF bombers, targeting the marshalling yard. Bombs also fell on the city, setting fire to the roof of the

Basilica Palladiana The Basilica Palladiana is a Renaissance building in the central Piazza dei Signori in Vicenza, north-eastern Italy. The most notable feature of the edifice is the loggia, which shows one of the first examples of what have come to be known as the ...

and causing five civilian deaths.

26 and 28 April 1945

The last two air raids on Vicenza caused thirty-four deaths among the population.

Damage and casualties

The raids caused heavy damage to the urban fabric of Vicenza. In addition to homes and public buildings, many

landmark A landmark is a recognizable natural or artificial feature used for navigation, a feature that stands out from its near environment and is often visible from long distances. In modern use, the term can also be applied to smaller structures or f ...

s suffered serious damage: among them the

Cathedral A cathedral is a church that contains the '' cathedra'' () of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually specific to those Christian denomination ...

, the churches of San Gaetano and Santa Corona, the

, the

Arco delle Scalette The Arco delle Scalette ("arch of the little stairs") is an arch in Vicenza, built in 1596, whose design is attributed to the architect Andrea Palladio (about 1575). Since 1994 the arch has been part of a World Heritage Site, designated to prote ...

, the

Palazzo Valmarana Palazzo Valmarana is a palace in Vicenza. It was built by Italian Renaissance architect Andrea Palladio in 1565 for the noblewoman Isabella Nogarola Valmarana. Since 1994 it is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site " City of Vicenza and the Pall ...

and several other churches (such as the Basilica of Saints Felice and Fortunato) and historic palaces (such as the Ca’ d’Oro). The Verdi and Eretenio

theatre Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The perform ...

s were destroyed and never rebuilt. Casualties among the civilian population from the air raids numbered about one thousand victims (other sources claim that there were 2,000 deaths).Comune di Vicenza
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bombing Of Vicenza In World War Ii

Vicenza 1944 in Italy 1945 in Italy