Defence of Bari Port

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.

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

Background

Italy signed the Armistice of Cassibile with Allies on 8 September 1943 signing an end to fighting against Allied powers and joining with Allies against Axis powers. After the signing of the armistice agreement, German troops were in place to occupy the Italian mainland. In Apulia, approximately 5,000 German soldiers established multiple base locations including, the mess hall at Foggia airfield, which was taken over by the Germans and a group of soldiers were established at the port of Bari. On September 8th and 9th Germans occupied Bari by force while in the process of capturing the city, two merchant vessels were sunk, and there was armed resistance from dock workers. On September 9th German forces secured the harbour for the purpose of making it unusable for Allied vessels. Approximately 100 combat engineers from the German Army were sent to Bari where they began setting up explosives to destroy the majority of the facilities and infrastructural support for the port.^[1]

Clashes

Following the previous evening’s air raid, German troops had taken control of most of the historic centre of Bari, which was largely due to the German troops’ rapid advance through the area. On 13 April 1945, 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]

Consequences

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]