Saving Italy: The Race to Rescue a Nation's Treasures from the Nazis (39 page)

32
“We are coming to you as liberators”
Churchill Telegram to Gen. Eisenhower (Algiers) re Telegram FDR to Churchill, 28 July 1943, Churchill Archives Centre, Cambridge, UK, CHAR 20/247, T.1130/3 re No. 327 (T.1125/3).

32
“played for time” . . . “will resume”
United Press. “Italian Fleet Under Steam, Set to Flee: Fear Germans will Seize Warships if Peace Made,” August 1, 1943.

32
list of bombing targets . . . “effect on our campaign”
Draft Memo on Morale Purposes of Bombing Italian Cities, C. D. Jackson Papers, Box 24, Italian Situation (1).

32
“We have not bombed Northern Italy”
Churchill Telegram, 29 July 1943, Bedell Smith Papers, Box 17.

32
“I cannot see any reason”
Churchill Memo to UK Foreign Secretary, 1 August 1943, Churchill Archives Centre, Cambridge, UK; CHAR 20/247, M.557/3.

33
“I never briefed [air]crews”
Conrad C. Crane,
Bombs, Cities, and Civilians: American Airpower Strategy in World War II
(Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1993), 94.

33
864,000 leaflets
D’Este,
Bitter Victory
, 428.

33
PWB also aired radio messages
Memo, 31 July 1943, C. D. Jackson Papers, Box 24, Folder 1.

34
“It should be emphasized”
Mark Connelly,
Reaching for the Stars:
A New History of Bomber Command in World War II
(New York: I. B. Tauris, 2002), 115; Harris to Portal and Sinclair, 25 October 1943, Public Records Office, AIR 2/7852.

34
“Night bombing does not”
Foreign Relations of the United States: Diplomatic Papers 1942, Vol. III: Europe
(Washington, DC: United States Government Printing Office, 1961), 794.

34
thirty thousand Londoners
Don Miller,
Masters of the Air: America’s Bomber Boys Who Fought the Air War Against Nazi Germany
(New York: Simon & Schuster, 2006), 51.

34
Standing on the roof . . . “fire below.”
Sir Arthur Harris,
Bomber Offensive
(Barnsley, Yorkshire: Pen & Sword Military Classics, 2005), 51.

34
“The Nazis entered this war”
Air Marshal Arthur Harris Speaks About RAF Bomber Command’s Strategic Offensive Against Germany
, Imperial War Museum, London, RAF Film Production Unit, June 3, 1942.

34
The late July 1943 bombings
Miller,
Masters of the Air
, 184.

35
The hundreds of tons of high explosives
Jörg Friedrich,
The Fire: The Bombing of Germany, 1940–1945
(New York: Columbia University Press, 2006), 1.

35
“The [4,000-pound blockbuster] bomb”
Friedrich,
The Fire
, 14.

35
“Small fires united into”
Harris,
Bomber Offensive
, 174.

35
“The idea was to keep on”
Ibid., 77.

35
The first bombs dropped on Italy
Baldoli and Fincardi, “Italian Society Under Anglo-American Bombs,” 1018.

35
“the Italian ‘psychology’
”
Gabriella Gribaudi,
Guerra totale. Tra bombe alleate e violenze naziste. Napoli e il fronte meridionale, 1940–1944
(Turin: Bollati Boringhieri, 2005), 48.

35
“maximum political and military pressure”
Telegram, Churchill to Roosevelt, August 4, 1943, Churchill Archives Centre, Cambridge, UK, CHAR 20/247, t. 1202/3.

35
people would revolt
Baldoli and Fincardi, “Italian Society Under Anglo-American Bombs,” 1020.

35
Bombs fell on Genoa
Harris,
Bomber Offensive
, 140–41.

35
An October 24 daylight raid
Bomber Command, “Campaign Diary: October 1942,”
Royal Air Force Bomber Command 60th Anniversary
, April 6, 2005, http://www.raf.mod.uk/bombercommand/oct42.html.

36
Mussolini’s order
Baldoli and Fincardi, “Italian Society,” 1037; Benito Mussolini,
Opera omnia di Benito Mussolini: dal discorso al direttorio nazionale del P.N.F. del 3 gennaio 1942 alla liberazione di Mussolini
, ed. Edoardo and Duilio Susmel (Florence: La Fenice, 1960), 126.

36
“the Milanese ignored”
Smith,
Bombing to Surrender
, 78. He cites
Time
,
Newsweek
, and OSS Reports.

36
“the aim of the Combined Bomber Offensive”
Norman Longmate,
The Bombers: The RAF Offensive against Germany, 1939–1945
(London: Hutchinson, 1983), 369.

36
the city center of Milan.
Marrucci, ed.,
Bombe sulla città
, 68–69. On buildings destroyed, see: Roberto Cecchi, from “Il Novecento,”
TRECCANI Enciclopedia
, chap. II, “Distruzioni Belliche e opera di ricostruzione” (1945–1960).

36
Damage to its water mains
Keller, “Fine Arts Section,” Keller Papers, Box 19, Folder 10, 66.

36
Citizens of the Swiss city of Lugano
“Britain’s Bombers Deal Heavy Blows,”
New York Times
, August 16, 1943.

36
“building was gutted by fire.”
Keller, “Fine Arts Section,” Keller Papers, Box 19, Folder 10, 68.

37
Milan’s two principal art museums
Field Report, 12 May 1945, Keller Papers, Box 21, Folder 33.

37
In all . . . “badly damaged”
Richards and Saunders,
Royal Air Force 1939–45
, 325.

37
“the hardships, suffering”
“Text of Premier Mussolini’s Address to the Italian People on the War,”
New York Times
, February 24, 1941.

37
The
Regia Aeronautica
Harvey, “The Italian War Effort and the Strategic Bombing of Italy,” 41–42.

37 * Ibid., 37.

37
“public services in disarray”
Ibid., 41–42.

38
The Italian inclination . . . “drove with full lights.”
Baldoli and Fincardi, “Italian Society,” 1026.

38
Royal Air Force navigator . . . “by their men”
Don Charlwood,
No Moon Tonight
(Manchester, UK: Crécy Publishing, 1956), 142.

38
“Smaller [British RAF] forces”
Richards and Saunders,
Royal Air Force
, 325.

39
“the frequent and intense bombing”
“La funzione terroristica dei bombardamenti Anglo-Americani,”
Corriere della Sera
, August 18, 1943. The article in the
Corriere della Sera
quotes the Rome newspaper
Il Popolo di Roma
.

39
“again brilliantly lighted”
“Lights on in Cairo; Long Blackout Ends,”
New York Times
, August 21, 1943.

39
“after the war”
United Press, “Telegrams by Light Hinted for Post-War,”
New York Times
, August 21, 1943.

39
u.s. group is named
“U.S. Group is Named to Save Europe’s Art,”
New York Times
, August 21, 1943.

40
“No one there could”. . . . “aware of its importance.”
“Report on Conversation with Herbert Matthews,” NARA, M1944, Roll 57.

40
“specialist in planning”
Harry L. Coles and Albert K. Weinberg,
Civil Affairs: Soldiers Become Governors
(Honolulu, HI: University Press of the Pacific, 2005), 87.

Chapter 4: The Experiment Begins

41
President Roosevelt had, in fact, signed
Report of The American Commission for the Protection and Salvage of Artistic and Historic Monuments in War Areas
(Washington, DC: United States Government Printing Office, 1946), 3.

41
Aware that the Commission. . . . The first candidate
Mason Hammond, “Remembrance of Things Past: The Protection and Preservation of Monuments, Works of Art, Libraries, and Archives during and after World War II,”
An Offprint from the Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society
, vol. 92, 1980, 87.

42
“My qualifications were not in art”
Hammond, “Remembrance of Things Past,” 87.

43
“the assignment for which I was destined”
“Protection of Monuments in North Africa,” 3 July 1943, NARA, RG 165, NM-84/Entry 463, Subseries I, Box 1, Folder: CAD 000.4.

43
“It is unfortunate . . . what not to hit”
Hammond to Reber, July 24, 1943. NARA, RG 165, NM-84/Entry 463, Subseries I, Box 1, Folder: CAD 000.4.

44
Knowing that the army . . . captured in Libya
Mason Hammond, “Copy of Report of Professor Mason Hammond on his Work in Italy,” NARA, RG 239, M1944, Roll 22, Frames 88–115, 7.

44
Not until July 28, almost three weeks after
Ibid.

45
“methods too devious”
“Progress Report for the Month of September of the Office of Fine Arts and Monuments,” October 7, 1943, NARA, RG 331 10000/145/24.

45
Hammond found a car
Ibid.

45
“small and decrepit”
“Copy of Report of Professor Mason Hammond,” 11.

45
A Lancia, “model about 1927”
“Report on the Advisers on Fine Arts and Monuments in AMGOT, for October 1943, November 1, 1943,” NARA, RG 331, 10000/145/24.

45
“None of these has endured”
“Activities of Advisers on Fine Arts and Monuments, AMGOT, 5 November 1943,” NARA, RG 331, 10000/145/24.

45
clipping from
The New York Times
Letter to Finley, undated, NARA, RG 239, M1944, Roll 14.

45
first official Adviser
Hammond Report on Italy, NARA, RG 239, M1944, Roll 22.

46
The most significant monuments of Sicily
“Activities of Advisers on Fine Arts and Monuments,” NARA, RG 331, 10000/145/24.

46
“One has the ever present spectacle”
Letters to Florence, 17 August 1943 and September 1943, Mason Hammond Papers, Private Collection, London.

46
Most of the German forces
D’Este,
Bitter Victory
, 608.

47
Even while Marshal Badoglio
Deakin,
The Brutal Friendship,
500.

47
only a matter of time before Italy double-crossed
Heiber, ed.,
Lagebesprechungen im Führerhauptquartier
, 197–98.

47
Rudolf Rahn, was meeting with Badoglio in Rome
Rudolf Rahn,
Ruheloses Leben
(Düsseldorf: Peter Diederichs Verlag, 1949), 228. Rahn said it was 11 a.m., Deakin said it was noon.

47
On September 8
Ibid., 229

47
“continue the struggle”
Deakin,
The Brutal Friendship,
529. Note that in Rahn’s
Ruheloses Leben
, 229, he added, “Marshal Badoglio is an honorable soldier whose assurances can be fully trusted.”  

47
fifty-five thousand Allied troops
Atkinson,
The Day of Battle
, 199.

47
“The Italian government has surrendered”
Ibid., 195.

47
“threw their weapons away”
Richards and Saunders,
Royal Air Force
, 331.

47
German forces. . . . Within twenty-four hours
Deakin,
The Brutal Friendship
, 530–31.

48
The pope had instructed
Chadwick,
Britain and the Vatican during the Second World War
, 272.

48 * http://msgrhughoflaherty.50webs.com/chapter2.html/#white.

48
The Germans posted guards
Chadwick,
Britain and the Vatican during the Second World War
, 272.

48
On September 12
Deakin,
The Brutal Friendship
, 537.

48
“Duce, the Führer has sent me”. . . . “I knew my friend Adolf Hitler”
Annussek,
Hitler’s Raid to Save Mussolini
, 228.

48
Standing by to greet him
Lang,
Der Adjutant
, 216. Goebbels says they met at the Wolfsschanze.

48
Mussolini would be the titular head
Ibid., 218.

48
Wolff had returned
Karl Wolff,
Mit Wissen Hitlers: Meine Geheimverhandlungen über eine Teilkapitulation in Italien 1945: Der persönliche Bericht des “Höchsten SS- und Polizeiführers” sowie “Bevollmächtigen General der Deutschen Wehrmacht in Italien”
(Stegen am Ammersee, Germany: Druffel & Vowinckel-Verlag, 2008), 17.

49
“You vouch for the Duce”
Lang,
Der Adjutant
, 210.

49
“I now have a special order for you, Wolff”
Karl Wolff, “Niederschrift über meine Besprechungen mit Adolf Hitler September bis Dezember 1943 über die Anweisungen den Vatikan zu besetzen und über die Verschleppung des Papstes Pius XII” (hereafter referred to as Wolff, Wolff Affidavit), March 28, 1972, Munich, accessed at http://www.ptwf.org/Downloads/Wolff%20Affidavit.pdf. The affidavit may also be found on pp. 53–62 of Wolff’s autobiography,
Mit Wissen Hitlers
. Wolff provided this affidavit in conjunction with proceedings relating to the Vatican’s beatification of Pope Pius XII.

49
“Yes, my Führer!”
Wolff, Wolff Affidavit.

49
“As soon as possible I want you and your troops”
Wolff, Wolff Affidavit.

49
“There will be quite an uproar worldwide”
Lang,
Der Adjutant
, 210.

49
“How long might it take you”
Wolff, Wolff Affidavit.

49
“I am quite frankly not sure”
Ibid.

49
“This seems too long” . . . “I would prefer”
Ibid.

50
“If one wants a first class result”
Lang,
Der Adjutant
, 210.