The aerial photo
This is the photo taken from the plane that dropped the bombs on Gorla; it explains better than many words what happened that morning.
On the left the Initial Point is visible, that is the point from where the routes start to reach the different targets.
On the right side, the thin, almost vertical line is Monza Avenue, on which, below, the Gorla district is visible.
The green line at the center shows the correct route (118 °) followed by the first wave of bombers belonging to the 451st group that centered the warehouses located to the west of Monza Avenue (1st attack unit).
In yellow the route of 096 ° is indicated, which was the one drawn to allow the second wave of planes to carry over the target assigned to them, the other sheds that were however completely missed (2nd attack unit).
The red one is the line that highlights the course of 140 °, erroneously followed by the second group; the commander, having realized too late that he had finished off-target, decided to launch his cargo on the inhabited center. The day was clear, without the fog or the smog that are present in our days, there was no possibility of confusing the factories with the houses.
The result of this error is clearly visible on the lower right: the white dots represent the bombs dropped on the homes and on the school of Gorla.
The photo header indicates:
The target: MILAN BREDA WORKS
The mission number: 138
The date: October 20, 1944
Time: 11.24
The number of bombs dropped: 342 in total by the two waves of bombers
Source: National Archives, Washington, G-2, Target damage file (Milan)
The effects of the bombing on the City of Milan in the years 1943 and 1944, were described on a billboard in front of the Central Station
