The Bombing War: Europe 1939-1945

117. TNA, AIR 23/5752, Wellington Operations from Malta; Marco Gioannini, Giulio Massobrio, Bombardate l’Italia. Storia della guerra di distruzione aerea 1940–1945 (Milan: 2007), online appendix.

118. TNA, AIR 2/7397, HQ RAF Med to Bomber Command HQ, 1 Nov 1940; HQ Malta to HQ Middle East, 14 Nov 1940; HQ Malta to HQ Middle East, 23 Nov 1940.

119. TNA, AIR 8/436, Cadogan (FO) to Portal, 21 Oct 1941; Portal to Cadogan, 26 Oct 1941.

120. TNA, AIR 2/7397, Cadogan to Freeman (DCAS), 8 Jan 1942; Freeman to Cadogan, 9 Jan 1942.

121. TNA, AIR 2/7397, reports on raids in October and November 1941 classified 9 of the 16 raids as nuisance raids, using fewer than 7 aircraft. On British policy see Baldoli, Knapp, Forgotten Blitzes, 20–21, 25.

122. TNA, AIR 8/435, minute by Churchill for Portal and Sinclair, 3 Dec 1942.

123. TNA, AIR 19/215, Portal to Churchill, 29 Nov 1942; Portal to Churchill 1 Dec 1942.

124. UEA, Zuckerman Archive, SZ/OEMU/50, Ministry of Home Security, RE8, ‘Note on Italian Construction and its Vulnerability to I.B. and H.E. Bombs’, 30 Dec 1942; RE8, ‘Note on Italian Domestic Architecture’, 4 Nov 1943, 1. On the Milan raid, CCAC, BUFT 3/26, Memorandum BOps, 15 Nov 1942, ‘Milan: Daylight Raid 24 October 1942’.

125. CCAC, BUFT 3/26, BOps to Director of Tactics, 31 May 1943.

126. Knox, Hitler’s Italian Allies, 101.

127. IWM, Italian Series, Box 25, ‘Relazione statistica sull’attività operativa’, 8.

128. Paolo Formiconi, ‘La protezione e la difesa contraerea del regime fascista: evoluzione istituzionale’, in Nicola Labanca (ed), I bombardamenti aerei sull’Italia (Bologna: 2012), 123–5.

129. IWM, Italian Series, Box 1, E2476, Ufficio operazioni aeronautica, memorandum for the commanding general, 5 Mar 1943, 1–2.

130. IWM, Italian Series, Box 2, E2485, Relazioni critiche mensili dei reparti intercettori, Dec 1942, Jan and May 1943. On radios see Box 3, E2489, Superaereo to department of air armament, ‘Riunione del 28 novembre 1942; tipo di onda per la caccia notturna’, 1 Dec 1942.

131. IWM, Italian Series, Box 3, E2489, Liaison officer of XII Fliegerkorps, ‘Protocollo della riunione, 9 June 1943’; Box 1, E2476, Comando Supremo to Superaereo, Superesercito, Supermarina, 13 Mar 1943 ‘Difesa contra-aerea’; Comando supremo, memorandum for Gen. Addetto, 10 Mar 1943.

132. IWM, Italian Series, Box 2, E2485, Relazioni critiche mensili dei reparti intercettori, Maggio 1943, 1–2.

133. IWM, Italian Series, Box 3, E2489, maps of ‘Nuovo progetto di schieramento di caccia notturna’, 9 June 1943, July 1943, 15 Aug 1943; Castioni, ‘I radar industriali italiani’, 1,250–51, 1,254.

134. IWM, Italian Series, Box 1/E2470, Anti-aircraft CoS to Gen. Presso, 20 Feb 1943; Gen. von Pohl to Italian Army Staff (Air Defence), 15 Mar 1943.

135. Natalini, I rapporti tra aeronautica italiana e tedesca, 157–61. Night-fighters in IWM, Italian Series, Box 3, E2489, Ministero dell’Aeronautica, ‘Appunto per il Duce’, May 1943, 4.

136. Natalini, I rapporti tra aeronautica italiana e tedesca, 162–4; IWM, Italian Series, Box 3, E2489, Ministero dell’Aeronautica, ‘Appunto per il Duce’, May 1943.

137. IWM, Italian Series, Box 10/E2528, Italian Embassy, Berlin to the Minister for Air, 25 July 1941; Italian Embassy to Minister for Air, 23 July 1941, encl. ‘Collaborazione industriale aeronautica fra Italia e Germania’.

138. Nicola della Volpe, Difesa del territorio e protezione antiaerea (1915–1943) (Rome: 1986), 194–203, doc 17, ‘Istruzione sulla protezione antiaerea’.

139. ACS, MdAe, Busta 82, Ministry of War to all ministries, 18 Feb 1939; Volpe, Difesa del territorio, 36. Active air defence was allocated 252 million lire in 1938–9 but civil defence only 20.8 million.

140. ACS, MdAe, Busta 82, Gen. Valle to Mussolini, 23 Apr 1939, encl. Air Staff memorandum, 18 Apr 1939.

141. Volpe, Difesa del territorio, 209–10, doc 18, Army Council meeting, 8 May 1939.

142. ACS, MdAe, Busta 82, Ministry of War to all prefects and regional military authorities, 10 June 1940.

143. Baldoli, Knapp, Forgotten Blitzes, 54; Volpe, Difesa del territorio, 46–8.

144. Baldoli, Knapp, Forgotten Blitzes, 71–3.

145. ACS, MdAe, Busta 82, War Ministry to all ministries and prefects, 29 May 1940; Interior Ministry to Air Ministry, 2 Oct 1940; Comando della 3 Zona Aerea to Air Ministry, 11 Nov 1940; note from secretary to the Duce to the Air Ministry, 16 Nov 1940.

146. TNA, AIR 20/5384, Genoa prefect to Interior Ministry, 18 June 1940.

147. ACS, MdAe, Busta 82, Commissariat for War Production to the War Ministry, 24 June 1940.