During World War II the Italian city of Bologna, the regional capital and largest city of Emilia-Romagna, suffered nearly a hundred air raids by the Royal Air Force and the USAAF, mostly aimed at disabling its strategically important marshalling yards, used for the movements of German troops and supplies between Northeastern Italy and central Italy. These raids destroyed or damaged almost half of the city, and caused nearly 2,500 victims among its population.
History
In the summer of 1943 the marshalling yards of Bologna, among the largest in Northern Italy, had been included by British commands in a list of railway objectives that would have been useful to attack in order to hamper the movements of German troops and supplies from the Brenner to Rome and from Udine to Florence, as well as on other secondary lines.Marco Gioannini, Giulio Massobrio, Bombardate l'Italia. Storia della guerra di distruzione aerea 1940-1945, p. 367. The San Donato marshalling yard was the largest railroad freight terminal in Italy, and one of the largest in Europe.
1943
In the first three years of war, Bologna was relatively safe from air attacks, as it was outside of the range of British bombers that operating from Malta attacked cities in Southern Italy, and at the limit of the RAF Bomber Command aircraft that, taking off from England, attacked the three cities of Italy's "industrial triangle" in the north-west. The first air raid on Bologna therefore only took place in the night between 15 and 16 July 1943, less than two months before the Armistice of Cassibile, when a dozen of Avro Lancaster bombers, having taken off from air bases in the Lincolnshire and participating in a shuttle bombing experiment (from England to Algeria and return, after refuelling in North Africa), dropped 19 tons of bombs on the city's power plant, hitting it but causing little damage (thus failing the main objective of this raid, the interruption of the supply of electrical power to the railway). Some bombs also fell on the city, killing ten civilians and wounding twenty.Primo bombardamento sulla cittàCronologia dei bombardamentiBombardate l’Italia: 1943
The second air raid on Bologna, on 24 July 1943, was far heavier; 51 Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress bombers of the 12th Air Force, having taken off from Algeria with additional fuel tanks, dropped 136 tons of bombs on the city's marshalling yards, but many of the bombs also fell on the city itself, destroying completely 85 buildings, destroying partially another 61 and causing damage to a further 259. Civilian casualties were about two hundred, with an equal number of wounded. Another air raid took place on 2 September, by 71 B-17s of the 12th Air Force, which again attacked the marshalling yard and again hit the city as well; 40 buildings were destroyed completely, 40 destroyed partially and 150 damaged, with thirty victims among the population.Cronologia dei bombardamenti24 luglio 19432 settembre 1943Disastroso bombardamento sul centro cittadinoTerzo pesante bombardamento sulla cittàBombardate l’Italia: 1943
The proclamation of the Armistice (8 September 1943) did not change the situation; Bologna was swiftly occupied by German troops, which kept using its marshalling yards for their movements, and thus the city continued being an objective for the Allied air forces. On 25 September 1943 Bologna suffered the bloodiest air raid in the entire war: 71 B-17 bombers of the 12th Air Force, out of 113 that had taken off from Tunisia, dropped 210 tons of bombs against the marshalling yard, but heavy cloud cover resulted in the bombers dropping the bombs over the entire city. The old city centre was among the hardest hit areas, but the suburbs, the Bolognina district and the area around the city's hippodrome also suffered heavy damage. 295 buildings were completely destroyed, 199 partially destroyed and 371 damaged; due to delay in issuing the air raid alarm (the Italian sighting network had ceased to exist with the German occupation, and the Germans had not yet set up a new network) the population was caught off guard, and this, along with the crowding caused by the market day and by the return of many evacuees who had believed that the Armistice meant that the Allied air raids had ended, resulted in a heavy death toll: between 936 and 1,033 people were killed, over a thousand were wounded. Hundreds of people were killed in the collapse of an air raid shelter in Via Leopardi, hit by a bomb.Rommel a CasalecchioI luoghi del disastro. I bombardamenti in cittàBombardamenti aerei subiti da BolognaDevastante bombardamento aereoCronologia dei bombardamentiUn bombardamento devastanteLe sirene mute del 25 settembre25 settembre 1943Bologna ferita: foto inedite 1943-1945Bombardate l’Italia: 1943
A further two raids took place in late 1943; on 1 October, three or four bombers of the 12th Air Force, having failed to reach their primary objective at Wiener Neustadt, attacked the marshalling yard of Bologna, but their bombs fell on the city, causing some damage and ten casualties. Four days later, a far heavier attack was carried out by 124 B-17s of the 12th Air Force (out of 139 that had originally taken off), which dropped 365 tons against the marshalling yard. The bombs, besides hitting the objective (the central station was almost completely destroyed), also hit the Cirenaica district (spared by the previous air raids), the Porta San Felice and Porta Lame areas and the headquarters of Resto del Carlino; 144 buildings were completely destroyed, 218 were partially destroyed and 164 damaged, with about eighty victims among the civilians.Cronologia dei bombardamenti5 ottobre 1943Bombardate l’Italia: 1943
By the late autumn of 1943, about 120,000 of Bologna's 318,000 inhabitants had left the city.Bombardamenti su Bologna
1944
The first raid of 1944 took place on 29 January, by thirty-nine B-17s of the 15th Air Force that had taken off from Cerignola; their objective had been Prato, but bad weather forced them to abort this mission, and the Bologna marshalling yards were chosen as secondary target. Many of the 117 tons of bombs dropped in this raid missed the objective and fell on the city, within a radium of two kilometres, destroying completely 105 buildings, destroying partially 154 and causing damage to another 118; 31 people were killed and 47 wounded. The Archiginnasio was partially destroyed.Cronologia dei bombardamenti29 gennaio 1944Pesante bombardamento: distruzione dell’Archiginnasio e di altri importanti monumentiBombardate l’Italia: 1944
Another raid was carried out on 22 March by 88 Consolidated B-24 Liberator bombers of the 15th Air Force (out of 134 that had originally taken off), which dropped 224 tons of bombs on Bologna's marshalling yard; once more many bombs fell on the city, destroying completely 70 buildings, destroying partially 130, damaging 300 and causing about two hundred civilian dead (many of whom in the Via Leopardi air aid shelter, hit again by a bomb and partially collapsed like on 25 September) and 110 wounded. On 7 April, 130 or 200 bombers of the 15th Air Force dropped 240 tons of bombs on the San Donato marshalling yard; the target was hit, but many bombs also fell on the outskirts of the city, hitting 100 buildings (30 completely destroyed, 30 partially destroyed, 40 damaged) and causing 51 dead and 52 wounded.Cronologia dei bombardamenti22 marzo 1944Le bombe colpiscono anche la collinaBombardata la Stazione Nuova di San DonatoBombardate l’Italia: 1944
The following three raids caused little damage and a dozen victims: on 30 April, by 100 bombers; on 2 May, by 70 bombers; on 12 May, by a single bomber. On 13 May, instead, Bologna was attacked by 200 bombers of the 15th Air Force (that had taken off from San Giovanni in Fiore), which dropped 380 tons of bombs on the central station and the San Donato and San Ruffillo marshalling yards; again the bombs hit both the targets and the city, causing damage to 105 buildings (31 destroyed completely, 31 partially destroyed, 45 damaged) and causing over a hundred dead and 220 wounded among the civilians.Cronologia dei bombardamentiBombardamento con oltre cento mortiBombardate l’Italia: 1944
On 19 May, Bologna's marshalling yard were attacked by a hundred bombers of the 15th Air Force; 34 buildings were hit (16 completely destroyed, 6 partially destroyed, 12 damaged), with 47 dead and 10 wounded. On 5 June 76 American bombers took off from Lecce and dropped 170 tons of bombs on the marshalling yards; this raid was judged as accurate by American reports, but part of the bombs again hit the city, especially Borgo San Pietro, destroying completely 49 buildings, partially another 23, causing damage to a further 28 and causing twelve dead and seven wounded. A B-24 was shot down by the Flak. On 22 June 65 B-17s and B-24s of the 15th Air Force dropped 130 tons of bombs on the marshalling yard, but once again many of the bombs fell on the city (especially the historic centre and the Arcoveggio district) destroying completely 51 buildings, destroying partially 68, causing damage to 79 and killing twenty people.Cronologia dei bombardamentiIl parroco di Borgo muore tra le macerie del Santuario della Madonna del SoccorsoBombardamento sullo scalo ferroviarioBombardate l’Italia: 1944
Minor attacks, which caused light damage, took place on 26 June (22 dead and 23 wounded), 5 July (five dead and one wounded), 21 July (nine wounded), 24 July (three dead), 29 July (three dead and eight wounded), 7 August, 9 August, 16 August, 22 August (three deaths) and 23 August. On 24 August 76 bombers of the Royal Air Force dropped 190 tons of bombs on the marshalling yard; again the bombs hit the city was well, especially the Sant’Orsola and Bolognina districts, leveling 48 buildings, destroying partially 46 and causing damage to 142. Victims were about one hundred. Minor raids followed on 25, 26, 27, 28 and 31 August.Cronologia dei bombardamentiBombardamento notturnoBombardate l’Italia: 1944
On 1 September 75 RAF bombers dropped 160 tons of bombs on the marshalling yard, hitting both the target and the city, especially the Arcoveggio and Bolognina districts. Seventeen buildings were completely destroyed, 44 were partially destroyed, 52 were damaged; casualties were about one hundred. On 5 September a minor raid caused one death and four wounded, and on the following day 51 British bombers (out of 67 that had taken off; one was shot down) dropped 177 tons of bombs on the marshalling yard, hitting both the objective and the city and causing nine dead and eight wounded. On 12 September 84 RAF bombers dropped 241 tons of bombs on the San Donato marshalling yard, hitting again both the target and the city (one victim, four buildings completely destroyed, six partially destroyed, twenty-one damaged). Two minor air raids took place on 13 and 14 September. In the September raids, the RAF made use of 4,000-lb blockbuster bombs; these attacks also saw the participation of Free French fighter-bombers.Cronologia dei bombardamentiBombardamento alla BologninaBombardate l’Italia: 1944