Owing to its importance as an industrial center, home to Fiat and several other industries engaged in war production (including RIV, Lancia and Snia Viscosa), Turin, the regional capital of Piedmont, suffered over a hundred raids by the Allied air forces during World War II; the Piedmontese capital was thus among the most bombed cities in Northern Italy, suffering damage to about 40% of its housing stock, and over 2,000 victims among its population.
Chronology of main air raids
11/12 June 1940
First air raid on Turin. Along with the simultaneous attack on Genoa, this was the first air raid on an Italian city during World War II. Nine British bombers, out of 36 that had taken off from bases in England (two were lost), attacked the Fiat Mirafiori plant. The bombs fell on the city, causing some damage and seventeen victims.Bombardate l’Italia: 1940Bombardamento 12 giugno 1940
13/14 August 1940
Raid by twelve British bombers, targeting the FIAT Mirafiori plant. The bombs fell on the city, killing 18 inhabitants and wounding 83. One bomber was shot down.Bombardate l’Italia: 1940Bombardamento 14 agosto 1940
26/27 August 1940
Raid by eleven British bombers, targeting the FIAT plants. The bombs fell on the city, causing damage to the San Luigi Sanatorium.Bombardate l’Italia: 1940Bombardamento 27 agosto 1940
5/6 September 1940
Aircraft of RAF Bomber Command attacked the Fiat Lingotto plant, hitting both the objective and the city.Bombardate l’Italia: 1940Bombardamento 6 settembre 1940
19/20 October 1940
Another raid by the Bomber Command; the bombs fell on the city.Bombardate l’Italia: 1940Bombardamento 20 ottobre 1940
8/9 November 1940
Raid by the Bomber Command, targeting FIAT Mirafiori. The bombs fell on the city, killing one civilian and wounding six.Bombardate l’Italia: 1940Bombardamento 8 novembre 1940
23/24 November 1940
Another raid by the Bomber Command against Fiat Mirafiori; the bombs fell once again on the city.Bombardate l’Italia: 1940Bombardamento 23 novembre 1940
26/27 November 1940
Raid by the Bomber Command. The city was hit, one civilian was killed.Bombardate l’Italia: 1940Bombardamento 26 novembre 1940
4/5 December 1940
Another raid by the Bomber Command, which hit the city, causing another victim and eight wounded among the population.Bombardate l’Italia: 1940Bombardamento 4 dicembre 1940
11/12 January 1941
Raid by the Bomber Command; bombs fell on the city, causing three deaths and six wounded among the population.Bombardate l’Italia: 1941Bombardamento 11 gennaio 1941
12/13 January 1941
Raid by the Bomber Command, targeting the FIAT plants; bombs fell on the city, killing a civilian.Bombardate l’Italia: 1941Bombardamento 13 gennaio 1941
10/11 September 1941
Raid by the Bomber Command; 76 bombers took off from bases in England, part of which attacked Turin, whereas another part attacked Genoa (five bombers were shot down). The aircraft that attacked Turin dropped 75 tons of bombs, which fell on the city, causing two deaths.Bombardate l’Italia: 1941Bombardamento 10 settembre 1941
22/23 October 1942
Some scattered aircraft of the Bomber Command, part of a group tasked with bombing Genoa, dropped bombs on Turin.Bombardate l’Italia: 1942Giorgio Bonacina, La R.A.F. cancella intere città, in “Storia Illustrata” n. 164 (March 1972), p. 55Bombardamento 22 ottobre 1942
23/24 October 1942
Turin was bombed again by dispersed bombers belonging to a group headed towards Genoa; two people were killed, ten were wounded.Bombardate l’Italia: 1942Bombardamento 23 ottobre 1942
18/19 November 1942
The first of a series of seven “area bombing” raids by the RAF Bomber Command in autumn of 1942 took place. 71 British bombers dropped 121 tons of bombs on the Arsenale (Army munitions factory), the FIAT plants and large parts of the city. The FIAT plants were hit, along with the Westinghouse plants and the Nebiolo foundry. 42 civilians were killed and 72 were wounded.Bombardamento Torino 18 novembre 1942Bombardate l’Italia: 1942
20/21 November 1942
Second “area bombing” raid; 198 British bombers (out of 232 which had taken off from bases in England; three were shot down) dropped 211 tons of bombs, including 120,000 incendiary devices, on the FIAT plants and on the city. Damage was widespread; the FIAT and SNIA plants were hit, as were the AEM power plant AEM, the Martini hospital, the Maffei and Chiarella theatres and the Synagogue. 177 civilians were killed, and 120 were wounded. After this raid, the mass exodus of the population began.Bombardamento 20 novembre 1942Bombardate l’Italia: 1942Giorgio Bonacina, La R.A.F. cancella intere città, in “Storia Illustrata” n. 164 (March 1972), p. 56 This was the heaviest air raid suffered by an Italian city since the beginning of the war.Marco Gioannini, Giulio Massobrio, Bombardate l’Italia. Storia della guerra di distruzione aerea 1940-1945, p. 208
24/25 November 1942
A minor raid by the RAF, six tons of bombs were dropped.Bombardate l’Italia: 1942
28/29 November 1942
Third “area bombing” raid; 194 British bombers (out of 228 that took off from England; three were lost) dropped 371 tons of bombs on the FIAT plants and on the city, causing 67 dead and 83 wounded. Among the damaged buildings were the FIAT plants, the Arsenale, the Church of Sacro Cuore di Maria, the San Giovanni and Mauriziano hospitals, the Porta Susa railway station. For the first time in Italy, 8,000-lb blockbuster bombs were used.Bombardamento 28 novembre 1942Bombardate l’Italia: 1942Giorgio Bonacina, La R.A.F. cancella intere città, in “Storia Illustrata” n. 164 (March 1972), p. 56
29/30 November 1942
Fourth “area bombing” raid; eighteen Bomber Command aircraft (out of thirty-six that had flown from England) dropped 28 tons of bombs on the FIAT plants and on the city, killing sixteen people and wounding fifteen. Bombs hit the FIAT plants, the San Giovanni hospital, the psychiatric hospital.Bombardate l’Italia: 1942Bombardamento 30 novembre 1942
8/9 December 1942
Fifth “area bombing” raid: 118 British bombers (out of 133 that had taken off from England; one was shot down by anti-aircraft batteries, crashing in the city centre) dropped 265 tons of bombs (123 tons of explosive bombs and 162 tons of incendiary bombs) all over the city, hitting the FIAT plants, the municipal palace, the church of Madonna in Campagna (where 64 people were killed in the collapse of an air raid shelter), the church of Santa Croce, the Vittorio Alfieri theatre, the Polytechnic and the University, the Martini and Molinette hospitals. Smoke columns from the fires rose two and a half kilometres in the sky; 212 people were killed, 111 were wounded.Bombardamento 8 dicembre 1942Bombardate l’Italia: 1942Giorgio Bonacina, La R.A.F. cancella intere città, in “Storia Illustrata” n. 164 (March 1972), p. 55Marco Gioannini, Giulio Massobrio, Bombardate l’Italia. Storia della guerra di distruzione aerea 1940-1945, pp. 206-207
9/10 December 1942
Sixth “area bombing” raid by 196 Bomber Command bombers (out of 227 that had taken off from bases in England, three of which were shot down), which dropped 393 tons of bombs. 73 people were killed, 99 were wounded; the FIAT plants were hit, as were the University and the ophthalmic hospital. This raid was not very concentrated, and was considered “disappointing” by the British commands, as the smoke from the still-raging fires caused by the previous raid diminished the bombers’ accuracy.Bombardamento Torino 9 dicembre 1942Bombardate l’Italia: 1942Marco Gioannini, Giulio Massobrio, Bombardate l’Italia. Storia della guerra di distruzione aerea 1940-1945, p. 207
11/12 December 1942
Seventh “area bombing” raid; bad weather prevented most of the eighty-two bombers that had taken off from England from reaching their objective. Half were unable to cross the Alps, many others dropped their bombs over the Aosta Valley; only twenty-eight reached Turin and dropped 55 tons of bombs, which caused little damage and no casualties.Bombardamento Torino 11 dicembre 1942Bombardate l’Italia: 1942
After the autumn 1942 raids, more than 250,000 of Turin's 700,000 inhabitants left the city; nearly 2,000 homes had been hit, along with all major factories, four hospitals, and many churches and historic palaces. The water, gas, electricity and public transport networks had also suffered serious damage.Giorgio Bonacina, La R.A.F. cancella intere città, in “Storia Illustrata” n. 164 (March 1972), p. 55Marco Gioannini, Giulio Massobrio, Bombardate l’Italia. Storia della guerra di distruzione aerea 1940-1945, p. 209
3/4 February 1943
Another “area bombing” raid; 156 Bomber Command aircraft (out of 188 that had taken off from England; three were shot down) dropped 354 tons of bombs on the city, causing 29 deaths and 53 wounded. The FIAT and Lancia plants were hit, as were the University and the city centre.Bombardate l’Italia: 1943Bombardamento Torino 4 febbraio 1943
13/14 April 1943
Minor raid by the RAF, three tons of bombs were dropped.
12/13 July 1943
Another “area bombing” raid by the Bomber Command: 264 RAF bombers, out of 295 that had taken off from England (thirteen were lost), dropped 763 tons of bombs on Turin (478 tons of explosive bombs, including eight 8,000-lb and 203 4000-lb blockbuster bombs, and 285 tons of incendiary bombs). The entire city suffered heavy damage: among others, the Centro, Vanchiglia and Regio Parco districts were hit, as were the FIAT plants, the Gradenigo, San Giovanni and Mauriziano hospitals, the University, Palazzo Chiablese, and the Monumental Cemetery. The Mole Antonelliana was also hit by a bomb, which started a small fire that was however put out before it could cause serious damage. Firefighters carried out over 1,100 interventions, but the destruction of the water network left hydrants without water; in order to fight the fires, water had to be drawn from public and private-owned tanks, swimming pools and even from the sewers. The supply of both water and gas was interrupted for weeks, and the tramway network was completely knocked out. The dead among the civilian population numbered 792, the wounded 914 (several of whom died of their wounds, bringing the final death toll to 816); this was therefore both the heaviest (in terms both of number of bombers employed and bomb tonnage) and bloodiest air raid suffered by an Italian city since the beginning of the war (both “records” would be exceeded, a mere six days later, by the first raid on Rome.Bombardate l’Italia: 1943Bombardamento Torino 13 luglio 1943Marco Gioannini, Giulio Massobrio, Bombardate l’Italia: storia della guerra di distruzione aerea 1940-1945, pp. 322-323.Cronologia dei principali avvenimentiLa pioggia di bombe del 13 luglio 1943Museo Torino – Mole AntonellianaComando Vigili del Fuoco di Torino
7/8 August 1943
Another “area bombing” raid, by 74 Bomber Command aircraft. 191 tons of bombs were dropped, causing 20 deaths and 79 wounded. The Fiat plants, the railway workshops and the Porta Susa and Porta Nuova railway stations were hit, as were the Santa Barbara and Santi Martiri churches and the Balbo Theatre.Bombardate l’Italia: 1943Bombardamento 8 agosto 1943
12/13 August 1943
Another “area bombing” raid by the RAF: 142 bombers (out of 152 that had taken off from England; two were shot down) dropped 240 tons of bombs over the entire city, hitting among others the FIAT plants, Palazzo Carignano and the Molinette hospital. Civilian casualties were relatively light (18 dead and 63 wounded), like in the previous raid and in the following one, compared to the extent of damage caused; the reason was that by now, over two-thirds of the entire population of Turin – about 465,000 people – had left the city.Bombardate l’Italia: 1943Bombardamento 13 agosto 1943Marco Gioannini, Giulio Massobrio, Bombardate l’Italia: storia della guerra di distruzione aerea 1940-1945, p. 209.
16/17 August 1943