Naples Uprising
Contributor: C. Peter Chen
ww2dbaseWhen the armistice between Italy and the Allies was announced, Italian authorities of the city of Naples fled the city, turning the responsibility of administration over to the German military commander in the region. The tension between the citizens of Naples quickly built up in the city. The first major clash took place on 10 Sep 1943, when a group of protesters blocked a German military vehicular column and killed six German military servicemen in the subsequent clash; in retaliation, German troops fired upon a large gathering of protesters at the Biblioteca Nazionale Vittorio Emanuele III (Vittorio Emanuele III National Library). On 12 Sep, Colonel Walter Schöll took command of the military occupation of Naples; he immediately issued an order threatening resisters with death, implementing a curfew, and requiring all firearms to be turned in to German troops. Many Italian resisters were executed as examples in the following days, while thousands of men began to be deported to labor camps in northern Italy and in Germany.
ww2dbaseOn 22 Sep, a group of resistance fighters broke into an Italian Army storehouse and captured a stock of weapons and ammunition. Three days later, another group of resistance fighters secured a stock of 250 rifles. Starting on 26 Sep, large scale riots began taking place in the streets, initially by unarmed men who rushed German troops who were rounding up Italian men for labor camps. On the next day, German troops responded, arresting thousands of rioters. Italian resistance fighters took the opportunity to rise up, starting the armed uprising. On the first day of the uprising, bloody clashes took place in the Vomero district, Castel Sant'Elmo fortress (which was captured by nightfall), Via Foria, and the San Giovanni a Carbonara church, and at other locations in the city. By 29 Sep, the uprising grew to a scale that began to seriously concern Schöll. Using captured resistance fighters as collateral, Schöll negotiated with some of the resistance leaders, offering to free the prisoners for a safe evacuation of German troops out of the city. The evacuation began on the following day, 30 Sep, amidst continued fighting; in frustration, some of the German troops set fire to the city archive and set up demolition charges before departing. Allied troops reached the city on 0930 hours on 1 Oct 1943.
ww2dbaseCasualty figures varied depending on the source, but it was generally agreed that somewhere between 100 and 300 Italians were killed in Italo-German clashes during the Naples Uprising.
ww2dbaseSource: Wikipedia
Last Major Update: Jan 2013
Photographs
Naples Uprising Timeline
4 Aug 1943 | Allied bombers attacked Naples, Italy, killing many civilians. |
1 Sep 1943 | Students gathered to protest at Piazza del Plebiscito, Naples, Italy. |
9 Sep 1943 | Small scale clashes took place between Italian civilians and policemen and German troops. |
10 Sep 1943 | A group of civilians blocked a German military vehicular column in Naples, Italy; in the subsequent clash, six German servicemen were killed. German troops fired on a group of civilians at the Biblioteca Nazionale Vittorio Emanuele III (Vittorio Emanuele III National Library) in retaliation. |
12 Sep 1943 | Several German troops were killed by resistance fighters in Naples, Italy while 4,000 Italians were deported from the Naples region (many of whom would become forced laborers). On the same day, Colonel Walter Schöll took command of the military occupation of Naples. |
22 Sep 1943 | German occupation administration in Naples, Italy announced that all men between 18 and 33 years of age were to be sent to labor camps in northern Italy and in Germany. On the same day, Italian resistance fighters captured a stock of weapons and ammunition from a military warehouse in the Vomero district of Naples. |
23 Sep 1943 | Colonel Walter Schöll issued the complete evacuation of the coast near Naples, Italy within a day; the area had a population of over 200,000. |
25 Sep 1943 | Italian resistance fighters captured a stock of 250 rifles which had been previously confiscated by German authorities in Naples, Italy. |
26 Sep 1943 | Large scale riots began taking place on the streets of Naples, Italy. |
27 Sep 1943 | German occupation administration arrested thousands of rioters in Naples, Italy; Italian resistance fighters took the opportunity to begin an armed uprising, capturing Castel Sant'Elmo by the end of the day. |
28 Sep 1943 | Italian resistance fighters and German occupation troops clashed in the Materdei district, the Vomero district, the Porta Capuana city gate, the Castel Nuovo fortress, the Sant'Anna dei Lombardi church, and other locations in Naples, Italy. |
29 Sep 1943 | Italian resistance fighters and German occupation troops clashed in the Giuseppe Mazzini Square (where a German tank fired on the Italians), the Ponticelli district, the Capodichino military airfield, the Piazza Ottocalli square, and other locations in Naples, Italy. As the scale of the uprising continued to grow, Colonel Walter Schöll began negotiating with some of the Italian leaders, using captured resistance fighters as collateral. |
30 Sep 1943 | German troops began evacuating Naples, Italy amidst continued fighting, leaving behind a burning city historical archive and many booby traps. |
1 Oct 1943 | Allied troops reached Naples, Italy at 0930 hours, which had already been taken over by Italian resistance fighters. The arriving troops found the port facilities were destroyed by the Germans. |
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Winston Churchill, 1935