Browse Items (1333 total)
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Interview with Annunciata Buffadossi
Annunciata Buffadossi recollects her wartime life in Milan. Annunciata stresses poor-quality housing in a low-class neighbourhood close to potential targets; emphasises how much she feared Germans and Fascists; and speaks with affection of her old…
Interview with Anna Maria Serafini
Anna Maria Serafini recalls her teenage life in Bologna as the fiancée of Luigi Pasetti, a civilian pilot later enlisted as torpedo bomber pilot. Describes how she got married and mentions Italian First World War pilot, Ferruccio Ranza, who acted as…
Interview with Adriano Landini
Adriano Landini (b. 1930) recalls his childhood living in the poor Santa Croce neighbourhood in Reggio Emilia. Describes the profound sense of solidarity in wartime, stressing the community spirit among the so-called "popol giost" (the salt of the…
Interview with Giglio Mazzi
Giglio Mazzi (b. 1927) recalls his early life in Reggio Emilia, born in a family with strong anti-fascist sentiments. Describes his first job at the Reggiane works, then at the local labour inspectorate where he was attached to a debris clearance…
Interview with Ferruccio Bergomi
Ferruccio Bergomi recalls his early life as a street urchin in the Precotto neighbourhood in Milan - describes monkey business, horseplay, fierce rivalries, melees, pilfering sundries and street games with friends. Gives an eyewitness account of the…
Interview with Sara Ventriglia
Sara Ventriglia, the daughter of a Jewish mother and a Catholic father, recalls her early life in wartime Milan. She describes the alarm being sounded, she and her family getting quickly dressed to reach a nearby shelter. She recollects moments…
Interview with Pietro Varesi
Pietro Varesi describes wartime life in Pavia, focussing on the Borgo neighbourhood. He mentions the Ticino bridges as primary targets for bombers; recalls bent shop shutters and debris on the streets; stresses the limited accuracy of bombing and the…
Interview with three survivors of the Po valley bombings
The informants remember wartime hardships endured near Pavia and Piacenza. Several stories recalled: a farmhouse being thoroughly searched for partisans, children questioned, people injured by shell splinters, a makeshift dugout used as shelter,…
Interview with Tullio Magnani
Tullio Magnani remembers his wartime years in the Pavia province. Although his father was blacklisted as a subversive communist he did not have any trouble at school. He recounted his role as a young resistance helper smuggling food rationing…
Interview with Ettore Raffin
Ettore Raffin describes his early life in wartime Cordenons, his father being in America and his brother at Friedrichshafen. Remembers watching masses of aircraft heading north en route to targets in Germany. Maintains that bombers took off from…
Interview with Guido Di Blas and Ilario Bolletti
Guido Di Blas and Ilario Bolletti recount wartime memories associated with the town of Monfalcone and the surrounding area. Describes a severe night of bombing stressing the ominous sight of target indicators and loud explosions; recalls the massive…
Interview with Gabriella Bisio and Teresa Mascherpa
Gabriella Bisio and Teresa Mascherpa recollect the bombing of Pavia and give a vivid description of its immediate aftermath. They describe food shortages, resorting to eating potatoes with milk and queuing up for a portion of salt. Gabriella…
Interview with Stefania Vischi
Stefania Vischi recalls her wartime life in the Monfalcone area. Stresses how she spent long hours alone inside a shelter, frightened by explosions and tremors. Contrasts the horror of being at the receiving end of the bombing war and the strong…
Interview with Delia Del Corto
Delia del Corto (b. 1932) remembers daily life in wartime Tuscany, living in a family of ten. Provides details on rural life, especially home bread making, and stresses the difficult coexistence with feared German troops. Mentions many anecdotes in…
Interview with Marisa Bianchi
Marisa Bianchi remembers her wartime years at Sesso, a rural hamlet in the Reggio Emilia province. Stresses the abundance of locally farmed food and emphasises how billeted German troops were friendly and supportive, even if she and her family had to…
Interview with Wilhelm Simonsohn
Wilhelm Simonsohn remembers his wartime service as a Luftwaffe night fighter pilot. He tells of his adoption by a Jewish family, and the discovery of his father’s background after being lampooned as ‘Jewish scum’ at school. He emphasises family…
Interview with Andreino Pagano
Andreino Pagano (b. 1934) remembers his wartime experiences in the Pavia province. He explains how a parish church provided a good shelter owing to its thick walls. Recalls various stories: resorting to the black market, the bombing of the Voghera…
Interview with Gino Muratori
Gino Muratori (b. 1929) recollects three Rimini bombings that occurred in November 1944, one of which was aimed at the Ausa river bridge. Mentions his grandmother losing two relatives when their boarding house was destroyed. Remembers how on 26…
Interview with Giovanni Delfino
Giovanni Delfino was at first evacuated to the Cremona area, where he could see the glow of the distant bombings. He then came back to Milan only to witness a bomb nearly missing his house and killing factory workers. He describes the gruesome sight…
Interview with Giuliana Birelli
Giuliana Birelli remembers growing up in a family of farmers in Tuscany, at a juncture in which German soldiers raided houses searching for food and harassing women. She tells various episodes: partisans actions, time spent in a makeshift shelter her…
Interview with Bill Thomas
Bill had joined the Air Defence Cadet Corps and Air Training Corps. He volunteered as a pilot in the Royal Air Force and flew Tiger Moths at RAF Sywell but was re-mustered as a navigator. Bill went to Canada as part of the Empire Air Training Scheme,…
Interview with Cyril Abbotts
Cyril Abbotts volunteered for the Royal Air Force while he was an engineering apprentice with W T Avery at Smethwick. After his reception at Lord’s Cricket Ground and initial training,he trained as a pilot at RAF Bowden and Moose Jaw in Canada. On…
Interview with Leslie Temple
Leslie Temple spent four years in the Air Training Corps before joining the Royal Air Force as a radio operator. He completed a tour of 30 operations with 101 Squadron at RAF Ludford Magna, as a German speaking special operator. He describes how…
Interview with Enrica Mariani
Enrica Mariani recollects her wartime experiences in Milan: her brother dying of bronchitis after spending too much time in the shelter and her father working in an armaments factory. The aggressive fascist militiamen and the long hours she spent in…
Interview with Fred Young
Fred Young volunteered for the Royal Air Force at seventeen and flew operations as a flight engineer with 57 Squadron from RAF East Kirkby. He recounts his experiences on several operations including Berlin, Magdeburg, Leipzig, Essen, Munich,…