after the August 1943 bombings After Bomber Command adopted
area bombing as its main tactic, under the command of
Sir Arthur Harris, and after a series of bombings on
Germany during the spring and summer of 1942, in autumn 1942 an area bombing campaign was launched against the three cities of Italy's "industrial triangle", Milan,
Turin, and
Genoa. 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. 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. This was mainly due to wider streets, which prevented fires from spreading across them, and minimal use of
wood in the buildings.
Milan Cathedral was designated by Harris as the 'aiming point' for the area bombing. Although the cathedral was not hit during this raid, Harris's decision to centre the raid on a major religious building drew criticism from his superior,
Charles Portal and some members of parliament. Another raid with 71 planes was planned for the following night, but poor weather dispersed the formation and only 39 bombers reached Milan (six were lost, and many others randomly dropped their bombs on several towns and villages of
Lombardy), causing little more damage. Two more people were killed, and thousands started to flee from the city. At the beginning of 1943 the Italian anti-aircraft defenses, which had proved not to be very effective, were joined by German
Flak batteries. The success rate of the anti-aircraft fire, however, did not improve significantly. 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. Several factories were damaged, including
Alfa Romeo, Caproni,
Isotta Fraschini and
Breda; the
Milano Centrale railway station and the Farini
marshalling yard were also hit. Residential areas were also badly damaged, with 203 houses destroyed, 596 heavily damaged and over 3,000 slightly damaged; the headquarters of
Corriere della Sera suffered heavy damage. Several historical buildings suffered various extents of damage, including the
Royal Palace of Milan, the
Teatro Lirico, the
Basilica of San Lorenzo,
San Giorgio al Palazzo and the
Church of Santa Maria del Carmine. To extinguish the many fires, it was necessary to call
firefighters from all neighbouring
provinces and even from
Bologna. 133 people were killed in the attack, 442 were wounded and over 10,000 were left homeless.
Schools had to close down, and more citizens evacuated the city. The only RAF loss was one Lancaster shot down. 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 induce the
Badoglio government to surrender. 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. Milan was bombed by 72 aircraft (two of which were shot down by AA fire), which dropped 201 tons of bombs, mainly incendiaries. Large parts of the city centre were set ablaze; 600 buildings were destroyed, with 161 victims and 281 wounded among the population. The only factory that was damaged was the Pirelli plant. The headquarters of the Corriere della Sera were hit again and partly destroyed; among the public and historical buildings that suffered heavy damage were the
Sforza Castle, the
Natural History Museum, the
Villa Belgiojoso Bonaparte and
Palazzo Sormani. The
Pinacoteca di Brera was also hit.
Public transport was no longer possible in the city centre, as most of the streets were obstructed by ruins or sprinkled with
craters. 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. This was the second heaviest air raid ever suffered by an Italian city. The bombing caused massive fires in many parts of Milan; the fires drew air from the surrounding
countryside, creating
winds that reached a speed of 50 km/h, an event that usually heralded a
firestorm, which however did not materialize (owing to the humid climate, in addition to the previously mentioned urbanistic traits typical of Italian cities, and the fact that the raid was heavy but not very concentrated). Most of Milan's most famous buildings were hit during the raid; the Sforza Castle was further damaged,
Palazzo Marino (the
city hall) and
Santa Maria delle Grazie were partly destroyed, the
San Fedele Church and the
Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II suffered heavy damage. The Milan Cathedral was also hit by some bombs. The Alfa Romeo plant and the
fair ground were also damaged. The death toll, although never fully ascertained, was an estimated 700 deaths; casualties were not higher because about 900,000 of the city's 1,150,000 inhabitants had already left after the previous attacks. Most of those who were still in Milan evacuated the city on August 13. The RAF lost three bombers. On the night of 14/15 August, fires were still raging when another bombing was carried out by 134 Lancasters (ouf of 140 which had originally taken off; one was lost), which dropped 415 more tons of bombs. Several factories (Breda, Pirelli, Innocenti, Isotta Fraschini) and the Farini marshalling yard were badly hit; the Sforza Castle and the Royal Palace were further damaged, and
Teatro Dal Verme was partly destroyed, as was the
Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore. The
Basilica of Sant'Ambrogio also suffered heavy damage. The few remaining citizens helped firefighters and
UNPA (
Unione Nazionale Protezione Antiaerea, National Anti-Aircraft Protection Union) in the attempts to control the fires, but the destruction of the
aqueduct pipes hampered the efforts. The official death toll of this raid was of only nine killed, presumably due to the small number of people who were still in the city. On the following night, 186 Lancasters (13 more bombers did not reach the target; 7 were lost, mainly to
Luftwaffe fighters on the way back) carried out a final raid, during which they dropped an additional 601 tons of bombs. Several districts suffered further damage; the cathedral was hit again, and the
La Scala theatre and the
Ospedale Maggiore were heavily damaged; the
La Rinascente store was destroyed. 183 people were killed. 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. 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. The work of 5,000 workers and 1,700
soldiers was needed to remove the ruins.
Water,
light and
gas supply resumed within 48 hours, while public transport was nearly annihilated. No more raids were carried out during the rest of 1943, and life in the city was slowly resumed. ==1944–1945, the USAAF bombings==