The bombing of Pescara was a series of attacks by the United States Army Air Force on the city of

Pescara Pescara (; ; ) is the capital city of the province of Pescara, in the Abruzzo Regions of Italy, region of Italy. It is the most populated city in Abruzzo, with 118,657 (January 1, 2023) residents (and approximately 350,000 including the surround ...

in Abruzzo, Italy during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. The raids caused thousands of civilian casualties and left 80 % of the city destroyed or damaged.

History

Pescara was the location of one of the most important marshalling yards in

central Italy Central Italy ( or ) is one of the five official statistical regions of Italy used by the National Institute of Statistics (ISTAT), a first-level NUTS region with code ITI, and a European Parliament constituency. It has 11,704,312 inhabita ...

, of considerable importance for the transit of supplies to the Axis troops in

southern Italy Southern Italy (, , or , ; ; ), also known as () or (; ; ; ), is a macroregion of Italy consisting of its southern Regions of Italy, regions. The term "" today mostly refers to the regions that are associated with the people, lands or cultu ...

and later to the German forces fighting on the Winter Line. This led to the city being repeatedly bombed by the

USAAF 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 ...

, suffering nine major raids between August 1943 and May 1944. The first raid took place on 31 August 1943, by 45

Consolidated B-24 Liberator The Consolidated B-24 Liberator is an American heavy bomber, designed by Consolidated Aircraft of San Diego, California. It was known within the company as the Model 32, and some initial production aircraft were laid down as export models desi ...

s of the 376th US Bombardment Group. The target of this attack was the marshalling yard, but this was not hit; the raid was grossly inaccurate and most of the bombs fell all over the town, causing widespread damage and destruction, especially in the city centre. This was the deadliest air raid suffered by Pescara; civilian casualties in this attack have been estimated as 1,600 to 1,900.Comune di Pescara
/ref>Una drammatica pagina della storia di Pescara: i bombardamenti del 1943-1944 e la successiva ricostruzione
/ref>Bombardamenti sulle città italiane, 1943
/ref> The second major raid was carried out on 14 September 1943, six days after the Armistice of Cassibile, by 37 bombers of the 98th and 376th US Bombardment Group, again targeting the marshalling yard. This time 341 bombs were dropped, and the attack was fairly accurate, with most of them hitting the target; however, the railway station was crowded with passengers of several trains at the time of the raid, resulting in hundreds of civilian deaths (estimates range from 600 to 2,000). Bombs also fell on the northern districts around the marshalling yard. After these two raids, about 80 % of the population of Pescara left the town, many of them fleeing to nearby

Chieti Chieti (, ; , , ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in Southern Italy, east of Rome. It is the capital of the province of Chieti, in the Abruzzo, Abruzzo region. In Italian, the adjectival form is ''teatino'' and inhabitants of Chieti ar ...

, which had been declared an open city, and to Pianella. More air raids took place on 17, 18 and 20 September, 4 October, 7 and 8 December 1943 and 12 May 1944, but these caused few casualties, as the town had become almost deserted. By the time the Allies entered Pescara, on 10 June 1944, 78 % of all buildings had been destroyed or damaged (1,265 buildings had been destroyed, 1,335 had been badly damaged, and 2,150 had been lightly damaged); of a population of 54,000 people, between 2,000 and 6,000 had been killed, and 12,000 were left homeless. The part of the town located north of the Pescara river was completely destroyed.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bombing Of Pescara In World War Ii

Pescara 1943 in Italy