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Interview with Charly Pfeifer
Charly Pfeifer recounts his experiences of the bombing of Betzdorf an der Sieg, a small town not far from the Ruhr. He explains the strategic importance of the city, due to the presence of locomotive works. He recalls taking shelter from the bombs in…
Interview with Mirco Marelli
Mirco Marelli describes a bombing raid on the factory where he worked in 1941: when the alarm sounded, bombs started falling but he was too far from any of the shelters, so he and a friend took cover under a staircase. He highlights how shocking it…
Bombing of Dresden
Men, women and children flee in panic surrounded by fire and destruction. One man falls to the ground near a pylon. Two ships are visible in the background and the nearer of the two has taken a direct hit and exploded in flames. At the top of the…
Pippo bombs San Giorgio di Nogaro
On a clear, moon-lit night, an aircraft with a British roundel bombs a street causing the roofs of buildings on either side to burst into flames. Incendiaries are burning while debris is falling onto the street among small explosions. In the…
Interview with Anna Maria Baccolini
Anna Maria Baccolini (b. 1933) recalls the first bombing of Turin, aimed at the Lingotto industrial area. She describes the impressive sight of the city burning and highlights the effects of nearby hits. She remembers the tender gesture of her father…
Interview with Carlo Bertolo
Carlo Bertolo (b. 1939) remembers a bombing of Turin when incendiaries were dropped. He recalls how one of them hit his house, but it was stopped by a trunk full of clothes before it could reach the shelter.
Interview with Luigia Colussi
Luigia Colussi (b. 1925) gives a short account of her wartime life and describes how she persuaded German troops to release her father. She talks about the contrast between the attitude of adults (who prayed and were generally worried by the…
Come proteggersi della nuova offesa nemica: “la piastrina incendiaria”
![MRadacichM[Ser'#-DoB]-170110-19.jpg](https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/square_thumbnails/38/268/MRadacichM[Ser -DoB]-170110-19.jpg "MRadacichM[Ser'#-DoB]-170110-19.jpg")
Instructions how to deal with a new type of small incendiary the Royal Air Force started to use. Advice includes: do not use water; put all the incendiaries in a hole dug in the ground; ask the assistance of the Unione Nazionale Protezione Antiaerea…
Interview with Rosetta Gobetti
Rosetta Gobetti (b. 1930) describes the bombing of a marsh near Isola della Scala, describing it as, probably, target mis-identification. She recalls a more severe bombing which destroyed many houses and killed 28 people. She gives a short…
Interview with Laura Perego
Laura Perego (b. 1919) tells how her village, on the outskirts of Milan, went through the war almost unscathed, despite being close to an ammunition dump and other potential targets. She remembers a mysterious, badly dressed man who lived in a nearby…
Interview with Marta Papotti
Marta Papotti (b. 1937) remembers the bombings of Turin and how she and her family dashed to the shelter in the basement. She recalls the sense of community and describes people reciting the rosary or just chatting. She describes how her father, the…
Interview with Günter Lucks
Günter Lucks (b. 1925) describes how he was forced to join the Hitler Youth in 1939, an event that caused a great deal of disturbance in a family with a strong communist background. When his parents moved out, because of his father’s job as…
Interview with Aldo Magnaghi
Aldo Magnaghi (b. 1927) remembers the bombings of Milan and explains how his house was not directly hit but rather heavily damaged by blast waves. He describes phosphorus loaded incendiaries, their effects on wooden structures, and how civilians…
Interview with Romualdo Siccardi
Romualdo Siccardi (b. 1926) remembers the bombing of the Borgo San Paolo gas holder in Turin, November 1942, when he was 16. He mentions, briefly, makeshift shelters in basements deemed tantamount to death traps and gives a detailed account of the…
Interview with Angelo Bencina
Angelo Bencina recalls wartime memories in Monfalcone: a cave being modified as a shelter; the descent of bright red and white target indicators at night; a bomb which narrowly missed him but did not explode; Window radio countermeasures being…
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 Richard Suchenwirth
Richard Suchenwirth recalls his wartime memories as a Flakhelfer in Pasing, a district of Munich. He tells of his father who was the author of three books on the Luftwaffe, the founder of the Austrian Nazi Party, a political orator and initial…
Interview with Hubert Draegert
Hubert Draegert remembers his wartime experiences, first in Berlin and then as an evacuee at his uncle’s farm near Wroclaw. He mentions the bombing of the Berlin State Opera and the repeated efforts made to rebuild the gutted building. He remembers…
After the last fly-over of British planes
![MWrightJ[Ser#-DoB]-150527-12.jpg](https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/square_thumbnails/165/2152/MWrightJ[Ser -DoB]-150527-12.jpg "MWrightJ[Ser#-DoB]-150527-12.jpg")
A communique written by the Swiss authorities after a mass fly over of RAF aircraft. Two aircraft crashed, bombs and propaganda leaflets were dropped. The area most affected was Fribourg but three other areas reported bombing - Riggisberg, Flammart…
Aerial violation of Swiss airspace
![MWrightJ[Ser#-DoB]-150527-070001.jpg](https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/square_thumbnails/165/2252/MWrightJ[Ser -DoB]-150527-070001.jpg "MWrightJ[Ser#-DoB]-150527-070001.jpg")
Report form the Commander, District 1, Land Division regarding violations of Swiss airspace on night of 12/13 July 1943 when all areas covered by the Territorial Inspectorate of District 1 received alerts which began at 00.06 and continued until…
Telegram No. 787 from the Swiss Government to the Swiss Legation in London
![MWrightJ[Ser#-DoB]-150527-080003.jpg](https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/square_thumbnails/165/2253/MWrightJ[Ser -DoB]-150527-080003.jpg "MWrightJ[Ser#-DoB]-150527-080003.jpg")
Telegram No. 787 from the Swiss Government to the Swiss Legation in London (A. 3080), concerning the violation of Swiss airspace on 13/14 July 1943, between 12.04am – 01.00am. Over 100 British aircraft flew over southern Switzerland, covering the…
Incendiary hail swamps the target
A newspaper cutting of a Lancaster dropping incendiary bombs over Duisburg. The text describes the event and a handwritten caption reads ' Oct 14th 1944'.
I went back, saw Duisburg die
An article describing daylight and night time operations on Duisburg. There is a photograph of a Lancaster dropping a 4000 pound bomb and incendiaries and a photograph of an aircrew. The crew is Flying Officer J Whitwood, pilot and Ken Thomas…
Bombing operations November 1944
Three newspaper cuttings describing attacks on Essen, Harburg oil refinery, Spitfire and Typhoon attacks on bridges and Aschaffenburg. They are captioned 'Nov 11th 1944'.
Bill Thomas memoir
He describes his first interest in the RAF, in 1938. He joined the Air Defence Cadet Corps, and later in 1941 the Air Training Corps. He was called up by the RAF in February 1942, and proceeded through initial training and the Initial Training Wing…