Bombing of Rome in World War II

Bombing of Rome
Part of the Winter Line and the battle for Rome

Inscription on the wall of a bombed building translated as "Work of the Liberators"
Rome, 1944
Date16 May 1943 – 5 June 1944
(1 year, 2 weeks, 6 days)
Location
Rome, Italy
Result Allied victory
Belligerents
 United Kingdom
 United States
 Italy (from 8 September)		  Italy (until 8 September)
 Italian Social Republic
 Germany
Commanders and leaders
United Kingdom Arthur Harris
United Kingdom Arthur Tedder
United States Jimmy Doolittle
United States Henry H. Arnold		 Fascist Italy Renato Sandalli
Nazi Germany Albert Kesselring
Casualties and losses
600 aircraft shot down
3,600 air crew		 719 casualties
1,659 injured[1]

Rome, along with Vatican City, was bombed several times during 1943 and 1944, primarily by Allied and to a smaller degree by Axis aircraft, before the city was liberated by the Allies on June 4, 1944.[2] Pope Pius XII was initially unsuccessful in attempting to have Rome declared an open city, through negotiations with U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt via Archbishop (later Cardinal) Francis Spellman. Rome was eventually declared an open city on August 14, 1943 (a day after the last Allied bombing raid) by the defending Italian forces.[3]

The first bombing raid was on July 19, 1943, when 690 aircraft of the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) flew over Rome and dropped 9,125 bombs on the city. Though the raid targeted the freight yard and steel factory in the San Lorenzo district of Rome, Allied bombs also struck the district's apartment blocks, damaging the Papal Basilica and killing 1,500 people. Pius XII, who had previously requested Roosevelt not to bomb Rome due to "its value to the whole of humanity", paid a visit to the affected regions of the district; photographs of his visit later became a symbol of anti-war sentiments in Italy.[4] The Allied bombing raids continued throughout 1943 and extended into 1944. In the United States, while the majority of the American media supported the bombing raids, many Catholic newspapers condemned them.[5]

In the 110,000 sorties that comprised the Allied Rome air campaign, 600 aircraft were lost and 3,600 air crew members died; 60,000 tons of bombs were dropped in the 78 days before Rome was captured by the Allies on June 4, 1944.[6]

  1. ^ G. Rocca, I disperati, p. 284.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference Catholic was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Döge, pp. 651–678
  4. ^ Baily, Virginia (25 July 2015). "How the Nazi occupation of Rome has gripped Italy's cultural imagination". The Guardian. Retrieved 5 January 2022.
  5. ^ Hammer, Christopher M., "The American Catholic Church's Reaction to the Bombing of Rome" (February 26, 2008). Available at SSRN 1098343 or doi:10.2139/ssrn.1098343
  6. ^ Lytton, pp. 55 & 57