Other massacres like Gorla
The bombing of the school of Gorla was not the only episode of air raid conducted by the Anglo-American allies in that historical period with the aim of terrorizing the civilian population to cause a popular uprising that would lead to the surrender of the Head of Government at the time, Benito Mussolini.
Among the numerous episodes, thanks to testimonies of survivors, we were able to reconstruct some of them that we report in chronological order; we invite anyone who is aware of other similar stories to contact us for publication on this page.
April 7, 1944 - The bombing of Treviso
The first episode that we tell you, took place in the City of Treviso, in Veneto, and we decided to put it at the top of the page not only because it was the first in chronological order, but because of the number of victims that even the survivors define "a sad record at national level ": in just 5 minutes, the duration of the bombardment, the impressive figures of 1600 dead, 350 seriously injured, thousands of light wounded were reached and above all hundreds of children remained orphans having lost both parents under the bombs.
In November 1943 it was decided to bomb Treviso as an important railway hub where about 5,000 German soldiers were present, including officers and simple soldiers.
A first minor episode took place on March 18, 1944, when some American fighters strafed the city's airport and neighboring areas where numerous civilians lost their lives.
After just over a year, on April 7, 1944, Holy Friday before Easter, 400 B17 bombers took off from the Apulian bases with final destination the Venetian city where they launched 2,636 bombs (it is not a typo error, they were two thousand six hundred thirty-six bombs ) for a total of about 450 tons of explosives ...
The target of the mission was to be the "Golden Star" Hotel located in the historic center, where a conference was scheduled on that day with the participation of Joachim Von Ribbentrop (German Foreign Minister from 1938 to 1945), of the German General Albert Kesserling, of the Italian General Rodolfo Graziani as well as numerous other German and Italian officers.
The sighting batteries on the coast of the Adriatic immediately signaled the arrival of the bombers heading north, all the soldiers present in the target were alerted and left the hotel putting himself to safety, while no one thought to warn the civilian population residing in the area that became the epicenter of the massacre: in the "corridor" that went from the railway station to Piazza dei Signori ("Lord's Square"), about 300 meters long, over 600 civilians were killed.
Even some residents on the outskirts of the town who had built a small air-raid shelter bordering on their homes, tried to save themselves in that place that was to represent salvation, but one of the houses hit collapsed above the entrance burying the people who they were inside, including many children, in memory of which in 1945 a nearby church was restored which was dedicated to them with the affixing of a plaque with the names of the children who died under the bombs.
The reconstruction operations lasted about 10 years, during which some bodies were found that had been considered missing, in addition to the approximately 700 recovered immediately after that Holy Friday, the tragic symbol of the Passion of Treviso combined with that of Jesus Christ ...
In the following video the facts are told with the testimonies of numerous survivors.
Visit the website of the "Treviso April 7th" Association
September 14, 1944 - The strafing of the Milan-Alexandria train
On September 14, 1944, the train that was to travel the line between Milan and Alexandria, once it had reached the bridge on the Ticino river before arriving in Vigevano, due to the activation of the alarm signal by frightened passengers for having seen approaching a group of six planes stopped right in the middle of the bridge, making it a very easy target for pilots who had been warned of a train loaded with weapons that had to cross the river at that time.
During the repeated passages of the planes, the passengers of the train tried to put themselves to safety, some even launching themselves in the underlying Ticino river.
An attempt at an anti-aircraft response succeeded in bringing down only one aircraft, while the others returned to the departure base.
The funeral took place in the following days, some coffins were empty since not all bodies were found.
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If you can't see the movie in the window on the page, by clicking on the link you can view it directly in full screen. Source: (Simone Tabarini - http://storiedilomellina.altervista.org) September 15, 1944 - The strafing of the Brescia - Carpenedolo tram "Mom looks at the planes ... and hell came ..." It was 1.15pm on a beautiful day, Friday September 15, 1944 and the war continued to claim victims. The Brescia Carpenedolo tram was located near the Novagli stop (Trivellini) in the Municipality of Montichiari when three planes flew over it at very low altitude, turning left towards Lonato. The tram passengers watched with fear and curiosity as someone tried to cheer them up by saying it was Italian aviation. This was not the case. The planes, when they were upright on Lonato, turned back, they swooped down on the tram, straining it with incendiary, piercing and disruptive bullets. In a moment the tragedy took place, after the first attack, the planes carried out another passage, this time strafing the people seeking shelter in the fields adjacent to the railway line. Pleadings, shouts, injuries and deaths all around, this is the scene that appeared in the eyes of the first rescuers who carried the wounded to the Montichiari hospital using any means including the "TOMAREL", classic horse-drawn carts used for any kind of agricultural transport. Source: (Story taken from the Facebook page: "Montichiari segnala che ...") September 26, 1944 - The "Milano" boat This episode took place on September 26, 1944, on the waters of Lake Maggiore, and more precisely on the scheduled ferry service between the town of Laveno (on the Lombard side) and the municipality of Intra (on the Piedmontese shore). For some days the regular operation of this connection had been suspended for precautionary reasons, but that morning in the small Lombard landing lot some soldiers from the Varese military school were found together with some civilians. The captain of the boat "Milano" then decided to make an extraordinary navigation to allow some passengers to reach their barracks, to others their home. Approximately halfway through the journey, from the south appeared a formation of planes that without thinking twice opened fire on the boat; three men of the crew were hit, including the helmsman. One of the soldiers transported had the readiness to run at the helm and, since the engines were still in operation, he managed to cross the Borromeo Gulf carrying the boat close to shore, despite the airplanes passing by. This allowed some of the passengers to swim to shore and save themselves. After the last passage, however, the "Milano" hit in the hull below the waterline sank, carrying with it its load of human lives. Since then the thing was silenced until autumn 2007, when the fire brigade with the help of an underwater robot decided to try to reach the sunken boat that is still at the depth of about 230 meters. From testimonies of those who saw the boat that day departed from Laveno and the number of those who managed to save themselves by diving into the water, it is estimated that the civilians dead are about seventy, whose bodies have never been recovered. On Youtube, there is a video published by VCO (a local broadcaster) with the testimony of a surviving woman who was on board the boat and with the video made by the Fire Department with a remote controlled underwater camera. November 5, 1944 - The massacre of the "Iseo" boat Even after the outbreak of the Second World War, the Iseo boat and the others of the shipping company continued to maintain connections between the coastal towns of Lake Iseo. The first years of the conflict passed relatively quietly, but with the fall of 1944 came the dark period of indiscriminate air attacks. On the morning of November 5, 1944, a Sunday, the Iseo, which started from Tavernola Bergamasca under the command of Captain Fausto Ministrino (other sources, strangely, indicate as captain a completely different name, Captain Buelli) with 112 passengers on board (among these there were the young players of the "Orsa Iseo" team who went to play on the other side of the lake, in addition to several women and children), was arriving at the landing stage of Siviano (Monte Isola). At the same time, coming from Valcamonica, there was a formation in the area of nine Anglo-American bombers, flying at high altitude and headed elsewhere, escorted by three fighter-bombers. The lake was calm, the sky clear: a splendid and sunny day. The planes headed down to the lake. The "Iseo" boat photo Simone Magnolini, taken from:www.lombardiabeniculturali.it) At 10.15, when the boat was only three hundred meters from the landing place, the three fighter-bombers left the formation, swooped down and threw themselves on the Iseo, straining it repeatedly and at low altitude. Lucia Crescimbeni, a passenger, remembers that one of the planes went down so low that she could see her pilot in the face. The machine-gun bursts, with bullets that Captain Ministrino recognized as almost all explosives, hit the tunnel and the room where the passengers were, causing carnage. Four panicked passengers threw themselves into the water to try to reach Siviano by swimming, but they drowned.
The Iseo, however, although seriously damaged, did not ignite (other sources speak instead of a fire principle) and remained governable. The commander Ministrino, who remained unharmed, increased the speed and managed to bring the boat into an inlet near the "Agostinel" locality, where he was able to dock (for another version, he struck the ship). Passengers still alive, 76 of whom were wounded, were disembarked along with 38 corpses (in addition to drowned passengers). An attempt at camouflage could only be useful when it was moored near vegetation, certainly not in the middle of the lake.Image taken from “Storia del XX Secolo” n. 40, may 1998 Among the first to rush to the scene to help, there was the doctor Adolfo Ferrata, who lived in a house in Siviano and was near the landing stage at the time of the attack (Ferrata used to say “The bed of the sick is my field of battle "). Peasants also came, tearing up the screw poles to form a gangway with which people on the boat would come ashore. Victims and wounded were then transferred to the Provincial House of the Sisters of Brescia, transformed into a hospital: it was also necessary to fill the atrium with mattresses to accommodate all the wounded. This is how the side of the boat looked after being hit, the bullet holes are visibleImage taken from “Storia del XX Secolo” n. 40, may 1998 There were 42 victims in all. Most were women, many were young and very young (ten were under eighteen, five of them less than ten). The youngest victims were the two twins Maria and Lisetta Barbieri, of only nine months. Their names: Archetti Adele, 27 years old, from Monte Isola Archetti Agostina, 33 years old, from Iseo Barbieri Lisetta, 9 months old, from Iseo Barbieri Maria, 9 months old, from Iseo Belotti Maria, 10 years old, from Vigolo Bettoni Francesco, 53 years old, from Tavernola Bianchi Matilde, 29 years old, from Sellere (Sovere) Bianchi Ornella, 18 years old, from Iseo Buffoli Elvira, 52 years old, from Iseo Carrara Giuseppe, 20 years old, from Iseo Carta Nidia, 36 years old, from Lovere Colosio Maria, 7 years old, from Monte Isola Dorta Paolo, 71 years old, from Iseo Falciola Giuseppe, 21 years old, from Lovere Fiorina Carla, 14 years old, from Riva di Solto Frattini Angelo, 36 years old, from Castro Guizzetti Teresa, 17 years old, from Monte Isola Inverardi Bernardina, 14 years old, from Iseo Lojodice Anna Maria, 1 year old, from Tavernola Lojodice Marino, 39 years old, from Tavernola Lojodice Vincenzo, 6 years old, from Tavernola Lussignoli Maria, 31 years old, from Predore Marilengo Wanda, 33 years old, from Iseo Martinelli Caterina, 37 years old, from Vigolo Mazzucchelli Brigida, 17 years old, from Monte Isola Mazzucchelli Michele, 29 years old, from Monte Isola Milia Calogero, 52 years old, from Iseo Negri Mario, 19 years old, from Iseo Nervi Luigi, 53 years old, from Riva di Solto Pezzini Bianca, 28 years old, from Iseo Rivetti Antonietta, 66 years old, from Marone Rolli Antonio, 46 years old, from Riva di Solto Scaramuzza Antonia, 58 years old, from Marone Serioli Maria, 15 years old, from Sale Marasino Silini Giustina, 33 years old, from Pisogne Stoppani Battista, 29 years old, from Lovere Viola Luigina, 32 years old, from Iseo Zanotti Angelo, 30 years old, from Marone Zenti Guido, 36 years old, from Riva di Solto Ziliani Lucia, 21 years old, from Monte Isola Ziliani Maria, 26 years old, from Monte Isola Ziliani Maria, 32 years old, from Monte Isola As often happens in these cases, the 'legends' flourished, intended to explain the apparently inexplicable attack on a harmless little lake motor vessel: stories for which the Allies would have attacked the Iseus because they mistakenly informed them that the boat was carrying troops and weapons ; rumors according to which the Iseo would have been attacked because they were mistaken by the pilots of the planes for the tugboat that the German engineers used for work on the coastal road. Others define the attack as deliberately terrorist, aimed at hitting the civilian population. Neither one nor the other interpretation, probably, is correct: even the Iseo's strafing is merely to be placed in attacks on the occasional targets represented by any means of transport could potentially have been used by German troops for their displacements. The Anglo-American fighter-bombers were often in free hunting for this type of targets. It was also true that in some cases boats had occasionally transported German or RSI troops, so that such attacks would not have been completely unjustified: on the other hand it cannot be ignored that the pilots had to realize that in most of the such incursions would have caused only unnecessary massacres of civilians. While terrible the human casualties had been, the machine-gunning had apparently caused material damages of modest entity: the Iseo was immediately repaired, and returned in service the same day of the attack. He survived the conflict, maintaining, indefatigably, the service of connection on the lake: his life would still have been very long. The 60th anniversary of the 1944 strafing, on November 5, 2004, was commemorated with a traveling exhibition organized on board the Iseo itself. Major Pete Miller, delegate of the British embassy in Italy, also attended the commemoration. The Iseo boat sailing as it is today.Image taken from the Navigazione Lago d'Iseo website A plaque with the names of the victims, placed in the Sanctuary of the Madonna della Ceriola, recalls the machine gun fire of November 5, 1944, along with an ex voto left by a passenger who survived the attack. Sourcee: Blog: With the skin hanging on a nail January 9, 1945 - The strafing of the Torino - Giaveno train in Orbassano The electric train that connected Turin to Giaveno was inaugurated in 1928 and passed through the Municipalities of Turin, Beinasco, Orbassano, Bruino, Sangano, Trana, San Bernardino, Giaveno. The passengers came from all the Municipalities; they were people who worked, studied, workers, housewives. On January 9, 1945, around three in the afternoon, the train, while passing through Orbassano, was the target of an aerial strafing by the Allied anti-aircraft in the vicinity of the stop in front of the silk factory Depetris, which was located between the current De Gasperi street and Bixio street. The consequences of the air attack were huge and remained in the memory of those present, as shown by the images and testimonies. Despite the sudden intervention of the Red Cross, the victims were 31 and the wounded 34, some of whom died later. The wounded were hospitalized in various hospitals: Orbassano, Sassi (Turin), Cross of the Order of Malta (Turin). A new air raid on the train occurred a few days later, on January 27, 1945, in the territory of Sangano (which was then incorporated as a fraction to the Municipality of Bruino). Also in this case the incursion caused civilian victims. These dramatic events have always been commemorated and in 1995 the City of Orbassano also inaugurated a monument to civil war victims located in the Primo Levi garden in Dante Di Nanni street.
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If you can't see the movie in the window on the page, by clicking on the link you can view it directly in full screen. January 29, 1945 - The strafing of the Seriana Valley train On the morning of January 29, 1945, the Second World War, which is now coming to an end, brings destruction and death to so many poor people in the Seriana valley. It is a Monday and the train, which left Bergamo at 7.55 am and heads for Clusone, carries many workers from factories in the middle and upper valley. Among these there are also several Vallaltesi boys who are employed in the chemical-mining companies of Gorno and Selva which, due to their military relevance, are under military control. Monday morning is also a market day in Clusone. And so artisans, livestock dealers and ordinary people flock to the train to go to the most important market in the Upper Seriana Valley. That day, the already many passengers are joined by several priests and seminarians who are reaching Clusone to participate in the funeral of Archpriest Monsignor Plebani. While the train travels through the villages of the Seriana Valley as on a normal weekday, an American fighter-bombing squad from Pontedera, south of Florence, flies over our valleys towards Lecco where, according to information gathered by the reconnaissance of the day before, expect to find a gathering of railway trains. The objective of the mission is to destroy these trains with bombs and machine-gun shots. The railways are fundamental for the supply of German troops who are desperately trying to stem the advance of the Allies and for this they become one of the main objectives of the American air attacks. When the four planes reach the city of Lecco, also due to the haze, they fail to identify any train and so they decide to continue north in search of new targets. Arriving near Colico they see a convoy of trucks and tanks and attack it with bombs, destroying various means. At the end of the attack they proceed to Valtellina and once in Sondrio they turn south towards the Seriana Valley to return to the base. Around 9:00 am they are flying over Mount Farno. Scanning the valley that runs a few hundred meters below them they see the train that has passed Colzate's level crossing in the meantime and is proceeding slowly towards the Costone bridge.
The fighter-bomber pilots exchange the train for a military convoy and start the attack. The powerful machine guns of the planes pour a shower of large caliber bullets first on the locomotive and then on the passenger carriages. Pilots see engine parts flying in the air along with a large amount of steam and brown smoke. The driver Folsi, on his first trip on that train, was shot dead by the first gusts. Mario Guerini, one of the survivors, remembers those dramatic moments aboard the train: "Shortly after Colzate's level crossing there was the first bullets. Someone thought that it was the ice crushed by the wheels of the train then we all understood that it was a strafing. "Mario Guerini who is accompanying Don Lazzari, parish priest of Gazzaniga, saves himself by sheltering under the train that has since stopped. Terrified passengers try to escape those hiding under the carriages who escape through the fields and towards the Serio river. Adriana Cortinovis, who is going to Oneta where she is a teacher at the school of the town, remembers that "inside the carriage there was blood everywhere and the passengers sitting seemed to sleep, but they were dead".
American planes do two passages, and after having noticed that the train is devastated and that on the ground there are dead and wounded among the alleged troops, they go away towards the south. In reality, there were no reports of soldiers aboard the train. Both on the train and on the surrounding land there are numerous deaths and injuries that utter moans and ask for help. The wounded are transported first to makeshift assistance centers and then, on a truck, to the Gazzaniga hospital, where Dr. Samuele Angeletti performs surgical operations that save many lives for hours. The mangled bodies of the dead are placed on some train carriages transported to Vertova. The corpses are composed in the church of Santa Croce, near the station. Here the sad procession of the victims' families will continue for hours. On January 30th the newspaper the Eco of Bergamo reports the sad balance sheet of 24 dead and 26 seriously injured, many of whom will die in the following days. Among the many passengers of Vall'Alta there is not even one wounded. Most of them return home already that morning, bringing the news of the incident to town. There is no doubt in Vall'Alta. The safety of the villagers is interpreted as a miraculous sign of the Madonna di Altino. On February 11th, dedicated to Our Lady of Lourdes, it is close and for some years this anniversary is celebrated at the Sanctuary. The parish priest don Carlo Bosio, on behalf of the entire village of Vall'Alta, assumes a solemn commitment. From that year in the 11 February Mass at the Altino sanctuary, we will have to renew our thanks to the Madonna for protecting her children during the train strafing. Source: (Story taken from the online magazine "Paese Mio")
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If you can't see the movie in the window on the page, by clicking on the link you can view it directly in full screen. January 30, 1945 - The bus hit in Badile After the Badoglio declaration of armistice of September 8, 1943, the Italians tried to return to a model of life that would allow them to overcome the deprivations due to the rationing of foodstuffs. For this reason, many residents of the province each morning went to work using public transportation available. One of these was the bus that traveled the state road from Milano to Pavia, also stopping in small villages to collect workers; so it happened also on the morning of January 30, 1945, when at the end of the journey it never arrived. Arrived in Badile, a small fraction of the municipality of Zibido San Giacomo, the vehicle was hit by numerous bursts of machine gun that started from a formation of airplanes (English) that in the meantime had appeared in the sky; after the first passage the travelers who had not been injured tried to save themselves by running towards a nearby farmhouse or simply throwing themselves into a ditch that had to perform the trench function. The planes carried out other low-altitude passages continuing to open fire to avoid leaving witnesses to the incident. The last burst came from a single aircraft that concluded the work by leaving the bodies of those who hoped to have saved on the snowy field. The day before (January 29) the same scene took place in the town of Motta Visconti, a few kilometers from Badile. A cross on the State Road reminds passersby the massacre of Badile's bus 
