PHOTO ARTICLE: In Defence of Naples

I’ve heard so many people criticise Naples as a sh*thole. Having taken a group on a WW2 walking tour of the city last week, I wanted to stick up for Napoli. She took an absolute battering at the hands of both Allied and Axis powers during the war, so if you’re wondering where the shiny stuff has got to, or why she might lack a bit of character in places, you can bear this in mind for starters. Here are a few images that highlight what the city and her people endured after the Allied invasion of Italy in September 1943…

At the same time as the invasion, Italy backed out of the war and left Germany in the lurch (take that Hitler). With both American and British landings happening to the south, German troops flooded through Italy. Napoli was occupied, and a 59 year old cavalryman named Walter Scholl was put in charge of the Naples Military Area on 12th September. The city was still home, despite its systematic destruction by Allied bombers, to some half a million people with nowhere else to go, and he began by laying down the law with these orders which were plastered all over the city:

• ‘Every single citizen who behaves calmly will enjoy my protection. On the other hand, anyone who openly or surreptitiously acts against the German armed forces will be executed. Moreover, the home of the miscreant and its immediate surroundings will be destroyed and reduced to ruins. Every German soldier wounded or murdered will be avenged a hundred times.’

• There was going to be a curfew from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m.,

• He also announced a state of siege.

• All firearms and ammunition were to be handed in. Anyone found in possession of one after twenty-fours had passed would be shot.

• His final instruction was that everyone should keep calm and act reasonably.

As if this didn’t make the Germans unpopular enough, they then ordered an entire coastal strip of the city to be evacuated to a depth of 300 metres. The evacuation order caused mayhem as it had to be completed in 24 hours. One witness recorded: 'They flee with tired faces, an absent gaze, bent under the weight of crates and suitcases. Many women cry.’ Unsurprisingly, Neopolitans were pissed off. That and they were emboldened by the news that the Allies were on their way. Take a stroll through Naples and you can’t avoid the phrase ‘Quattro giornate di Napoli,’ the Four Days of Naples. This is a big deal of you are a Neapolitan, and this event is still celebrated annually. You’ll see it claimed as paving the way for the Allied entry to the city, and it certainly made the German situation worse, but here’s a more balanced Italian view:

‘The advance of the Anglo-Americans and the city riots accelerated the reaction of the German military commander in Naples, Colonel Walter Scholl, who declared a state of siege and the desire to execute one hundred Neapolitans for every German killed. Between 27th and 30th September, a series of spontaneous actions in support of the Neapolitan clandestine resistance spread throughout all the neighbourhoods, where harsh clashes took place, attacks on ammunition depots and the liberation of Italian prisoners rounded up by the Germans. The Neapolitans also committed themselves to preventing the devastation planned by the occupiers who were undermining the city's infrastructure and main public buildings, leaving around 300 victims on the ground.’

The clashes varied in size. One of the first incidents occurred in Vomero, where a group of armed men stopped a German car and killed the driver, an NCO. At Porta Capuana, about 40 men armed with rifles and machine guns set up a roadblock and ended up killing six German soldiers, whilst capturing another four. At the other end of the scale 200 insurgents, led by Italian lieutenant, Enzo Stimolo, (the German intention after Italy cutting ties was to disarm the million or so men Italy had under arms, good luck with that) attacked a weapons depot at Castel Sain Elmo and captured it.

On our tour, we visited this spot, the site of a barricade during the German occupation put up by locals.