Interview with an eye-witness of Milan bombings

Interview with an eye-witness of Milan bombings

The interviewee describes two bombings in the Sesto San Giovanni and Niguarda areas, which he eye-witnessed. During the first, he was in a basement adapted as underground shelter: he recollects women reciting the rosary and a queasy sensation in the stomach, caused by explosions. During the latter he found himself in an open space in which trenches have been dug and saw the bombs falling. He describes how he, gradually, became used to violence and destruction; the sense of danger being tempered by his natural inquisitiveness. He talks of the inefficiency of anti-aircraft fire and the gradual escalation of the bombing war. He mentions the widespread sense of solidarity and mutual support: factory workers pilfering coal at great personal risk; and the role of the “Soccorso Rosso” clandestine mutual support network. The interviewee recalls an atmosphere of fear and episodes of violence, mentioning loathed Fascist militiamen and episodes of the resistance in Milan. He feels the bombings were the just retribution for starting the war.

2018-07-12

00:21:11 audio recording

This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.

AAn01688-180615