| Original caption: “Italian workers clear debris from Naples streets where military buildings and installations were smashed by the planes of the Northwest African Air Forces.” Northwest African Air Forces (NAAF) was a component of the Allied Mediterranean Air Command (MAC) during February-December 1943. It was responsible primarily for air operations during the Tunisian Campaign and bombing of Italy. During World War II the Italian city of Naples suffered approximately 200 air raids by the Allies from 1940 to 1944; Milan was the only Italian city attacked more frequently. Almost all of the attacks — a total of 181 — were launched in the 1st 9 months of 1943 before the “Four days of Naples” resistance uprising against the Nazi Germans and the Allied occupation of the city at the beginning of October. Estimates of civilian casualties vary between 20,000 and 25,000 killed. By January 11, 1943, the Allies were conducting daily bombings that only began to slow at the end of May, 5 months later. Usually, after completing their bombardments, the planes would descend to strafe the city. On February 21, known as La strage di via Duomo (“The massacre of via Duomo”), the entire Via dei Tribunali, a street in the old historic center, was destroyed. In March, the neighborhoods of Carmine, Pignasecca, Piazza Cavour, and Capodimonte were all hit. On March 28, the passenger ship Caterina Costa caught fire through either sabotage or accident, killing 600 and wounding 3,000. A fire had started in the morning, probably as a result of a technical error, and had not been brought under control; it continued all day until the explosion in the afternoon. The technicians and the various authorities concerned had either failed to intervene or had reciprocally put off taking decisions. In the end the explosion had the effect of a terrible bombardment. The Neapolitan Chief of Police later reported: “Nothing was done to sink the ship by flooding it, when initially the extent of the fire might have made this possible by opening the safety valves near the engines. And even if this had not been possible due to the shallow water, no attempt was made to tug it offshore which could have been done without great problems, since the ship was not anchored but moored with tow-ropes which could easily have been cut. What should be emphasized is the indecision shown by the port authorities, the lack of coordination and sense of responsibility, and the inadequacy of the initiatives that were taken…Precious time was wasted as a result of doubts and indecision; neither was there any proper evaluation of the tragic effects that the explosion might have had, so that the only precaution taken was to evacuate the area within a radius of 500 metres, while it would have been possible to avoid many victims in the city if only the authorities concerned had given the order to sound the alarm sirens…I must also add that the officer on duty at the Provincial Committee of Anti-aircraft Protection at the prefecture asked for information about the first explosions which were clearly heard in the city both from the Dicat (Anti-aircraft Defence Militia) and from the Harbour Office which replied, I would venture to say, in an almost superficial manner.” The entire city was affected. Nearly all the glass in doors and windows was broken; the force of the explosion caused partition walls and ceilings to collapse in many houses, but the damage done to the districts closest to the port and the number of victims in these areas resembled a full-scale bombing raid. The inspector of the Office of Works calculated that 50,000 buildings had been damaged. The historic basilica del Carmine was seriously damaged, a fire broke out in the State Archive, the wharves of the port exploded, and damage was also caused to the bonded warehouses as well as the factories and plants of the industrial zone which had already been the targets of regular bombing raids; the gasometer was seriously damaged, causing interruptions to the supply of gas throughout the city. In April, the neighborhoods of Corso Giuseppe Garibaldi, via Depretis, Piazza Amedeo, Parco Margherita, via Morghen, and Via Medina were all struck by bombs. The largest raid was on August 4, 1943, by 400 American Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress aircraft of the Northwest African Strategic Air Force (NASAF), a sub-command of NAAF, which targeted the Axis submarine base at Naples’ Maritime Station. The Church of Santa Chiara was destroyed in this raid but was later rebuilt. Many ships in the harbor were sunk, yet the harbor was made functional in just 1 week after the city’s occupation by Allied ground forces. These repeated disasters cut the water supply to Naples. As a result, Neapolitans used sewer water instead. Typhus spread and was controlled after liberation by the use of dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT). Neapolitans lived in caves to find shelter from the bombs. On September 6, with the Armistice of Cassibile already signed and Italy exiting the Axis, another bombing of Naples began. The last bombardment happened on the morning September 8, a few hours after the announcement of the armistice. The Nazis occupation of Naples ended 20 days later with the popular insurrection of the 4 Days of Naples. Allied liberation, however, did not end the city’s bombardments. Naples became the supply area of the Allied Forces assaulting the Winter Line and the Luftwaffe began bomb runs against the city. The largest Nazi bombings happened on the nights of March 14-15, 1944, and killed 300 people. After the liberation, the Camorra, the Neapolitan organized crime syndicate, controlled the contracts for reconstruction, and signed contracts with the United States Navy to provide security for the port of Naples. They also controlled the black market of goods stolen from the Allied supply ships, or traded with Allied servicemen. Time-delay mines were left by the Nazi Germans, and several detonated in the Naples Post Office on October 7, 1943. It killed Neapolitans and American soldiers. Mount Vesuvius erupted and the ash and lava forced the evacuation of Pompeii Airfield, and it 1st sent lava flowing down the western slopes toward Naples on March 17. The next few days brought rumbling, roaring and ground shaking, as lava, tephra and volcanic bombs were ejected from the crater. The complete rebuilding of Naples was estimated to take years. Allied soldiers detailed to Naples were disappointed, expecting an Italian paradise, but instead finding a ruined city with starving citizens. Many made small fortunes selling food, clothing and supplies to the Italians, and others trafficked in women. Rates of venereal disease were much higher than other commands. On the high end, it was estimated that 20 percent of Neapolitan women had exchanged sex for food; the level of coercion remains a subject of debate. Due to the delay in making a full recovery and rebuilding because of the bomb damage, Salerno and other ports have diminished the importance of Naples after the war. | |
| Image Filename | wwii2037.jpg |
| Image Size | 981.15 KB |
| Image Dimensions | 2920 x 2218 |
| Photographer | |
| Photographer Title | United States Army Signal Corps |
| Caption Author | Written or Adapted by Jason McDonald |
| Date Photographed | November 29, 1943 |
| Location | |
| City | Naples |
| State or Province | Campania |
| Country | Italy |
| Archive | National Archives and Records Administration |
| Record Number | NRE-338-FTL(EF)-2802(5) |
| Status | Caption ©2026 MFA Productions LLC Please Do Not Duplicate or Distribute Without Permission; Image in the Public Domain |
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