Bombing of Genoa in World War II

Owing to the importance of its port (the largest and busiest port in Italy) and industries (such as the Ansaldo shipyard and Piaggio), the Italian port city of Genoa, the regional capital and largest city of Liguria, was heavily bombarded by both Allied air and naval forces during Second World War, suffering heavy damage. On 14 June 1940, four days after Italy's entry into the war, the French heavy cruisers and with destroyers and sortied from Toulon and shelled Genoa's industrial zone, between Sestri Ponente and Arenzano (at the same time, another French naval formation attacked the industrial plants of Savona and Vado Ligure). Italian coastal batteries returned fire and seriously damaged Albatros, while the only reaction from the Regia Marina, owing to the paucity of naval forces available in the area (all the Italian battlefleet was in Taranto at the time), was limited to a daring but ineffectual counter-attack by the torpedo boat Calatafimi. The French naval bombardment, however, did not cause much damage or casualties; three civilians were killed and twelve were wounded. All damage was repaired within ten days. Operation Grog Another and far heavier naval bombardment of Genoa was carried out on 9 February 1941 by the British Force H. The battlecruiser , battleship and light cruiser , along with the aircraft carrier (whose aircraft launched diversionary attacks on La Spezia and Livorno), sailed from Gibraltar and shelled the city in the early morning, firing altogether 273 15-inch shells, 782 6-inch shells and 400 4,5-inch shells. Only one third of the shells fired hit the targets; industrial plants did not suffer heavy damage, and the only two warships undergoing work in the shipyards, the battleship and the destroyer , remained unscathed. Of 55 merchant ships in the harbour, two were sunk (steamer Ezilda Croce and floating orphanage Garaventa), two were seriously damaged (steamers Salpi and Garibaldi) and twenty-nine suffered splinter damage.