| View of Naples, including the harbor and adjoining buildings taken from a castle tower. In the background, looms Mt. Vesuvius. There are many Allied transports in the harbor. Castel Nuovo is the right center; the dome is the shopping center Galleria Umberto I to the right; and the Palazzo Reale di Napoli (Royal Palace of Naples) is to the right of that. Behind Castel Nuovo, is the Faro di Molo San Vincenzo (“Molo San Vincenzo Lighthouse”) on the pier, which is barely visible. Following the landing at Salerno, Italy, Allied troops captured Naples, Italy on October 1, 1943, which was left in very poor conditions by retreating Germans. From the destruction of food factories, to polluting the water supply, to the burning of the city’s archives, the Neapolitans quickly needed to rebuild the city. The U.S. Navy and Royal Navy aided the citizens and helped salvage the city, though German U-boats plagued their progress by attacking Allied shipping. For the Battle of Anzio, the Allies utilized the capital for construction of landing craft and for ferries, ships, and supplies to support the multi-month beachhead invasion. Allied port workers and drivers fuelld the black market. At the beginning of 1944 almost a 3rd of all military supplies in the port were stolen and sold on to local mobsters. It was Allied soldiers and sailors who also fueled the market in prostitution, and even child prostitution. Some of the brothels offered up girls as young as 10 or 12, and several Allied soldiers admit to taking advantage of such offers in their private diaries and memoirs. But the vast bulk of anti-social behavior that plagued Naples in 1944 was caused by ordinary young men on leave, looking for a good time before they were sent back to the violence and squalor of the front line. They had been promised a tourist paradise, and were determined to experience it whether or not it really existed. So they took day trips to Capri and Pompeii, but then they got drunk and made passes at the local girls. When the city’s meager attempt to entertain them became disappointing, they started fights with local people, each other, and the policemen who came to arrest them. 1 group of soldiers hijacked the mayor’s car and forced the driver to ferry them about Naples like a tour guide for several hours while they carried on drinking in the back. Behavior like this left bitter-sweet memories in Naples after the war was over. On the 1 hand the Allies had rescued Italy from the Germans, whose atrocities were widespread and brutal. Most Neapolitans recognized that the hearts of British and American soldiers were in the right place, and that the vast majority of them genuinely wanted to help the city get back on its feet. But a significant minority treated Naples like the venue for a giant stag party. Their headlong pursuit of pleasure, at a time when such daydreams were neither appropriate nor possible, caused local resentments that were often difficult to forget. | |
| Image Filename | wwii1832.jpg |
| Image Size | 893.88 KB |
| Image Dimensions | 2712 x 2144 |
| Photographer | |
| Photographer Title | United States Navy |
| Caption Author | Written or Adapted by Jason McDonald |
| Date Photographed | November 9, 1943 |
| Location | |
| City | Naples |
| State or Province | Campania |
| Country | Italy |
| Archive | National Archives and Records Administration |
| Record Number | 80-G-54374 |
| Status | Caption ©2026 MFA Productions LLC Please Do Not Duplicate or Distribute Without Permission; Image in the Public Domain |
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