Publisher Description

"Forgotten Blitzes" analyses how states and civil society in Vichy France and Fascist Italy reacted to the experience of Allied bombing between 1940 and 1945. Between 1940 and 1945, the Allies dropped some 370,000 tons of bombs on Italy - nearly five times the total dropped on Britain by the Luftwaffe. France received nearly 590,000 tons, eight times the British figure. In each country, over 50,000 civilians died. How did the central and local authorities in Vichy France and Fascist Italy cope with a scale of attack beyond anything expected before 1940? How did ordinary French and Italian people respond? Was there a 'Blitz spirit' in either country, or did morale and solidarity collapse? How far were the Allies' claims to be liberators accepted by their bombed-out victims? This comparative work uses political, social and cultural approaches to highlight both the similarities between the challenges faced by states and people in each country, and the differences in the ways they reacted.
Extensive research in a variety of local and national archives, complemented by diaries and personal memoirs, has allowed the authors to build up a fine-grained picture of the impact of bombing as it affected states, local authorities and individuals.

Author Biography

Andrew Knapp is Professor of French Politics and Contemporary History at the University of Reading, UK. Claudia Baldoli is Senior Lecturer in History at Newcastle University, UK.

Table of Contents

1 Introduction; 2 Purpose and politics: the Allies and the bombing of France and Italy; 3 Preparing for catastrophe, 1930-1940; 4 Weak fascists and strong puppets? Governments and bombing, 1940-1945; 5 Civilians under the bombs: propaganda, morale, and rumour; 6 Resistance, bombs and liberation; 7 Conclusion.

Review Quote

A masterly, searching and judicious examination of the British and American bombing of France and Italy, which were occupied by or allied to the Third Reich and harnessed to the German war machine. It explores the ambiguities of civilian losses under "friendly fire" and the relationship of Allied bombing to resistance activity, such as escape lines for downed pilots. Military and strategic questions are dissected alongside the reactions of the Vichy and Italian governments, the effectiveness of civil defence and evacuation plans, propaganda warfare and morale, solidarity with victims, profiteering and plunder. Based on a mass of archival documentation, this is a tour de force in the comparative history of total war.

Promotional "Headline"

Forgotten Blitzes analyses how states and civil society in Vichy France and Fascist Italy reacted to the experience of Allied bombing between 1940 and 1945.

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