Italian bombing of Mandatory Palestine in World War II

Italian bombing of Mandatory Palestine
Part of World War II
Date June 1940-June 1941 Location Mandatory Palestine Result Mostly Italian victory
Belligerents
Italy	British Empire  United Kingdom  Mandatory Palestine
Casualties and losses
Unknown	137 deaths at the Bombing of Tel Aviv

Memorial in Tel Aviv to the 137 killed in the Italian Royal Air Force raid of the city on 9 September 1940.

The Italian bombing of Mandatory Palestine in World War II was part of an effort by the Italian Royal Air Force (Regia Aeronautica) to strike at the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth of Nations throughout the Middle East.

Background

Bombing of Haifa.

Bombing of Haifa refinery

On 10 June 1940, the Kingdom of Italy declared war on the French Republic and the United Kingdom. The Italian invasion of France was short-lived and the French signed an armistice with the Italians on 25 June, three days after France's armistice with Germany. This left the British and the forces of the Commonwealth of Nations for the Italians to contend with in the Middle East.

Bombing campaign

Starting in July 1940, the Italian bombings in the British Mandate of Palestine were primarily centered on Tel Aviv and Haifa. However, many other coastal towns such as Acre and Jaffa also suffered.^[1][2]

The last Italian bombing on the territories of the British Mandate of Palestine occurred in June 1941. Haifa and Tel Aviv where hit, but with little damage and few casualties.

Bombing of Haifa

Haifa was hit many times by the Italians, because of the port and refinery, starting in June 1940.

A casualty of the Italian bombing of Tel Aviv 10 September 1940

The 29 July 1940 issue of Time reported a bombing at Haifa by SM82 bombers during the previous week, with a dozen casualties.

According to Time Magazine, the Italians claimed a huge success which the British did not deny.

Where the British oil pipeline from Mosul reaches tidewater, "Ten big Italian bombers, flying at great altitude from the Dodecanese Islands, giving the British bases at Cyprus a wide berth, dumped 50 bombs on the Haifa oil terminal and refinery."

The bombing started fires which burned for many days afterward, and the refinery's production was blocked for nearly one month.

British fighters from a base on Mt. Carmel were too late to overtake the Italians returning to their base in Italian Dodecanese.^[3]

Bombing of Tel Aviv

Bombed buildings in Tel Aviv.

On 9 September 1940, a bombing raid on Tel Aviv caused 137 deaths.^[4] There was another raid on Tel Aviv on 12 June 1941 with 13 deaths, done by the Italians^[5] or by the French, based in Syria.^[6]

Historian Alberto Rosselli ^[7] pinpointed that the bombing of Tel Aviv that caused 137 death was because the Italian bombers were on their way to the strategic port and refineries of Haifa, but were intercepted by British aircraft. Forced to go back, the Italians received orders to drop their bombs on the port of Tel Aviv, but in attempting to avoid the attacking British planes they dropped the bombs by mistake on a civilian area near the port.

See also

• Italian Royal Air Force (Regia Aeronautica)
• Bombing of Bahrain in World War II

Footnotes

1. "The Italian Bombing" (in Hebrew). Tel Aviv Municipality. Retrieved 10 September 2011.
2. Yehuda Lapidot. "Why Italian Planes Bombed Tel-Aviv?". IsraCast. Retrieved 10 September 2011.
3. "Southern Theatre: God's Time". TIME. 29 July 1940. Retrieved 6 September 2011. (Paywalled)
4. Michael Omer-Man (9 September 2011). "This Week in History: Italy bombs Tel Aviv". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 6 September 2011.
5. Administrator. "LE BOMBE ITALIANE SUL TEL-AVIV, 1940, 1941". Retrieved 31 May 2016.
6. Green, David B. (9 September 2013). "This Day in Jewish History 1940: Italy Bombs Tel Aviv During WWII". Retrieved 31 May 2016 – via Haaretz.
7. "Alberto Rosselli". Retrieved 31 May 2016.