The Battle of Brenner Pass - Gianni Caproni Aeronautical Museum
An exhibition that recalls the period 1943-45, when Trentino was overwhelmed by a long series of bombings.From ...
An exhibition that recalls the period 1943-45, when Trentino was overwhelmed by a long series of bombings.
From 2 September 1943 to 3 May 1945 the Brenner line was the subject of a prolonged air campaign and in Trentino, as in the rest of Italy, little or nothing was done to protect civilians from its effects.
The attacks on Trento and Bolzano on 2 September 1943 thus panicked the population. The raid has a dual purpose: military, because it tends to hinder the influx of German troops and vehicles into Italy, but also political, because it wants to put pressure on the Badoglio government to sign the armistice with the Anglo-Americans. After 8 September 1943, the strategic-military aspect returned to prominence and the Brenner line was the subject of a prolonged air campaign by the Allied side that reached its peak between March 1944 and May 1945.
Between 1943 and 1945, there were over 400 dead or missing and hundreds injured. But the end of hostilities does not coincide with the end of the mourning and pain caused by the bombings. In May 1945, Trentino was in fact scattered with bombs, butterfly bombs (today's cluster bombs), mines and grenades, often handled by curious and reckless children. Between May 1945 and December 1948, 54 more people died and 49 were injured.
On the 80th anniversary of the end of the Second World War, this exhibition aims to remember that dramatic two-year period and its multiple legacies.
Through photographs, maps, infographics, films, interviews and objects, the exhibition gives space to the recovery work of the Benàch Cultural Association, which has been responsible for identifying the main places where warplanes have fallen on the territory of Trentino, identifying the aircraft and collecting objects and materials.
