Defence of Bari Port

Defence of Bari Port
Part of Operation Achse during the Italian Campaign of World War II
Date 9 September 1943 Location Bari, Italy Result Italian victory
Belligerents
Nazi Germany	Kingdom of Italy Italian resistance
Commanders and leaders
Rudolf Sieckenius	Nicola Bellomo (WIA)
Strength
220 German Soldiers	310 Italian Soldiers
Casualties and losses
18 killed	6 killed

The Defense of Bari Port was a brief armed clash between a unit of the Wehrmacht and some Italian soldiers and civilians, which took place on 9 September 1943 following the Armistice of Cassibile.

On 8 September 1943, Italy signed the armistice of Cassibile with the Allies, in which the latter committed itself to no longer fighting against them but against the Axis. After this, the entire peninsula was occupied by Nazi Germany. In particular in Puglia, the Nazis, in addition to placing around 5,000 soldiers in the region, took possession of the airport of Foggia and established a garrison near Bari. On the morning of 9 September, the Germans forcefully penetrated the city and, after having sunk two steamships and responded with fire to the rebellion of the labourers, they settled in the port, with the aim of destroying it. The command sent around 100 sappers to the site, whose task was to place explosives that would quickly raze the main infrastructures to the ground.^[1]

In the morning the troops had made their way through the old city, occupying its historic centre. However, General Nicola Bellomo, who had been in charge of defending Bari since 1941, quickly assembled an improvised force to fight back against the Germans.^[2] The force consisted of approximately 80 former members of the Italian Fascist Party (though not all were in uniform), 15 Guardia di Finanza officers, and 6 members of the Italian Navy. The plan for Bellomo was to launch a counter-attack against the Germans at 1:45.^[3]

While the Italians were heavily outgunned (Bellomo himself carried only a pistol), the combined Italian and civilian forces managed to halt the German advance. The Italian civilians who supported the Italians had arrived rapidly at the conflict site and included elements of infantry units, a small group of military engineers, and many civilian fighters. Many of these civilian fighters were adolescents taking part in the defence of Bari. One of these adolescents was 15-year-old Michele Romito.^[4] Romito took a position on a wall of the city near the Arch of St. Nicholas. When an armoured personnel carrier covered with machine guns approached along the waterfront, Romito threw two hand grenades, which struck the vehicle and started a fire that blocked the path of other heavy vehicles that would follow.^[5]

The conflict resulted in significant loss of life amongst both the combatants and non-combatants/ civilians; six of whom were killed and numerous others were among the injure casualties.^[6] In spite of taking numerous bullet wounds during this encounter, Bellomo continued to successfully lead his forces as they continued to press forward with their offensive. While 18 German casualties occurred during this engagement, the majority of German prisoners-of-war were captured by the Garrison in Bari, prior to returning to their allies at Bari on September 18 and September 22, 1943. Thus, Bari is generally regarded as the first City in Italy to have liberated itself from enemy occupation as the result of the actions of its people.^[7] The incident is also one of the earliest instances of resistance by the people of Italy. In commemoration of the event; the City of Bari holds an annual ceremony to honour the defenders of the port.^[8]