The frascati air raid

The bombings from a ground point of view

The frascati air raid

99th Bomb Group with n. 32 F.F. B17 - 5,500 m (18,000 feet).

2) 301st Bomb Group with n. 36 F.F. B17 - 6,000 m (20,000 feet).

3) 97th Bomb Group with n. 35 F.F. B17 - 5,500 m (18,000 feet).

4) 2nd Bomb Group with n. 28 F.F. B17 - 6,000 m (20,000 feet).

Screams filled the air as the first bomb was dropped into the city, only the deafening sound of

bombs blowing up and the roar of planes could be heard. I was a young Italian who had the

utter misfortune of Being close to St. Pietro square when the bombing happened, I was running

for my life as gun shots and bombs could be heard. Suddenly a bomb was dropped, very close

behind me as I felt the shock wave of the impact knock me over, my ears where ringing as the

bomb had clearly stopped all sense of hearing my from my ears. I got up my mind hazy and

vision blurred as I struggled to run, I forced my self to move on as I saw a sicking sight. Many

Italians and Germans who had been in the city, had been shot by the planes Crimson red blood

pooled around the lifeless body's, I nearly threw up as I forced my self to run. When i ran near I

friends house I saw him impaled by a cement pillar, blood pooled around him as a shocked and

pain stricken expression was now frozen onto his face, tears blurred my vision as I ran my

hearing had come back to me although it was a bit fuzzy but I could hear the sound of

explosions as I ran. Soon I found a bomb shelter and ran inside, I shut the door behind me as I

stumbled into another citizen of the town who I did not know. There was a few, german soldiers

and at least nine Italian citizens who had fled here when the bombs went off, I recognized a

certain one. My Big Brother Romano, he was my twin brother we looked exactly alike from our

brown hair to our brown eyes even to the strange curls we have on our head! I was so happy to

see him, I thought he had died, he must of seen me to for the moment he saw me he ran over

and hugged me "(1) fratello che era così preoccupato! non mi ha mai spaventare così! Ho pensato dove sparato e ucciso!" he said he sounded really scared, "(2) Romano non ti preoccupare, non stavo male. le mie orecchie solo male che è tutto" I said hoping to calm him down a bit "(3) ma Feliciano l'emorragia!" He said, I guess I didn't notice the blood that was trickling down the side of my leg, a piece of debris had gotten stuck in my leg..."(4) Sto bene." I said "(5) avrebbe potuto essere peggio." He sighed and nodded "(6) va bene facciamo solo ottenere ripulito, ok?" He said I nodded "ok." I nodded as we walked to a bunk I sat down on it while he carefully took the debris out of the wound and cleaned it. I winced in pain at the sudden sting of the water but ignored it as I looked around the shelter. The horrific sounds of bombs,shots,and screams filled the air outside...Romano sighed as he finished wrapping my leg up he laid me on one of the bunks "(7) basta avere un po 'di sonno ok? sei stato comunque molto" he said as he sat on the bunk beside me. Soon I drifted off to sleep, when I woke up Romano must have fallen asleep beside me, because he was laying right next to me. I carefully got up noticing that the sounds of bombs where gone...I woke my brother up, he sat up and listened "(8) le bombe devono aver smesso lascia andare fuori, ma dobbiamo stare attenti e anche stiamo ottenendo fuori di qui, le nostre case probley passati." He sighed and helped me to my feet, when the blinding sun hit our eyes the sight we saw was one that no one would ever want to see. The whole town was in ruins, my brother pushed back his tears and helped me to walk. When we got out of the town we noticed the Italian soldiers had just arrived, one of them noticed us and ran over to help us "(9) stai bene? Hai bisogno di aiuto?" He asked my brother shook his head "(10) io e mio fratello sono bene ha una ferita, ma era piccola ed era pulito e avvolto." The solider nodded "(11) ok ma abbiamo bisogno di tirarti fuori di qui uno dei nostri soldati vi porterà alla città più vicina." He said my brother nodded the soldier lead us to a car and placed us in. My brother laid my head on his shoulder "(12) resto ci porterà qualche volta per arrivare alla prossima città .." He said as I heard someone step in the car and start it up, I closed my eyes and slowly drifted off to sleep, in my head I knew I was very, very lucky to have survived the bombing.....

((Translations))

1)brother I was so worried! don't ever scare me like that again! I thought you where shot and killed!

2)Romano don't worry, I was not hurt. my ears just hurt that's all

3)but feliciano your bleeding!

4)I'm fine

5)it could have been worse.

6)alright let's just get it cleaned up, ok?

7)just get some sleep ok? you've been though a lot

8)the bombs must have stopped lets go outside but we must be careful and also we are getting out of here, our homes probley gone

9) are you alright? do you need any help?

10)me and my brother are fine he has a wound but it was small and it was cleaned and wrapped.

11)ok but we need to get you out of here one of our soldiers will take you to the closest town.

12)rest it will take us sometime to get to the next town..