Bombing of Treviso ( born Bombing of Treviso ; Italian: Bombardamento di Treviso ) - a series of bombing of the Italian city of Treviso , carried out on April 7, 1944 by the US Air Force. About 1600 people became victims of the bombing [1] .
| Treviso Bombing | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Main Conflict: World War II | |||
 Palazzo dei Trecento after the bombing | |||
| date | April 7, 1944 | ||
| A place |  Italy : Treviso | ||
| Total | Victory of the Anti-Hitler Coalition | ||
| Opponents | |||
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| Losses | |||
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Content
Bombing
The bombing of the city took place on Friday afternoon and lasted only about five minutes. In total, 159 Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress participated in the raid, accompanied by as many Republic P-47 Thunderbolt , which dropped about two thousand bombs. The purpose of the bombing was the railway station, but the bombs spread to most of the city. Entire residential quarters were wiped off the face of the earth, a fire in the city lasted two weeks. The search for the dead continued for a long time, to prevent the decomposition of the bodies of the dead, lime and disinfectants were used.
Victims
The figures for the victims of the bombing remain controversial. Il-Gazzettino names 900 dead, historians Marco Giovanni and Giulio Massobrio estimate the death toll at 1,600 people, according to official documents, the death toll ranges around a thousand people. In fact (as in Dresden ) itβs almost impossible to accurately estimate the number of victims, because either the authorities overestimate the numbers (to use the bombing as a propaganda tool), or the official data, as a rule, are somewhat underestimated, since the bodies of many victims remain under the rubble destroyed quarters.
In total, up to five thousand Germans were in various areas of the city. As from many evidence of the era, many of them died in the raid, in particular, in the area of ββSt. Andrew the First-Called Square, as well as in the Golden Star Hotel, which, according to some historians, was the main goal of the Allied bombing.
The operation for the Allies was not entirely successful: anti-aircraft guns located around the airport managed to shoot down one B-17. In total, one person died, fourteen were injured [2] .
Reasons for the Bombing
In the postwar period, the United States did not name the purpose for which the bombing of Treviso was carried out. In the city, where there were many cultural monuments, there were no strategic goals. According to some historians, Treviso was confused with Tarvisio , a city on the border with Carinthia , an important railway junction connecting Italy with Austria . However, this version seems unlikely, as photo reconnaissance is usually carried out before the bombing.
According to another version, the Americans knew that at that time in the city of Treviso, in the area of ββthe central square (namely, in the destroyed Golden Star Hotel), a secret meeting was supposed to take place between the top leadership of the Nazis and fascists , but this version was not confirmed . Most likely, the reason for the bombing, Treviso was the train station - an important railway junction on the way from Italy to Germany, but because of the inaccurate drop of bombs, the bombing was not point-like.
Most likely, it was the station on April 7, 1944 that was the target of the bombing. Bombing has already been carried out on the territory of Northern and Central Italy, the purpose of which was to slow down or cut off communications between German troops, for which bombs and stations were bombed. There was no goal to destroy the city.
Notes
- β Marco Gioannini, Giulio Massobrio, Bombardate l'Italia. Storia della guerra di distruzione aerea 1940-1945 , Rizzoli, 2007.
- β Camillo Pavan, A difesa dell'aeroporto di Treviso. Le contraeree di Canizzano e Sant'Angelo sul Sile (1944-1945) , 2008, Treviso, p. 45