



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

Naples Uprising Timeline

Photographs

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