The bombing of Grosseto took place on 26 April 1943, day of Easter Monday, during World War II. Aimed at disabling the city's air base, it resulted instead in heavy damage to the city itself and at least 134 civilian casualties. History The Grosseto Air Base was considered by the Allies to be of strategic importance for operations in North Africa, since the attacks on British ships in the western Mediterranean Sea departed from here. The base was also the site of a torpedo-bomber training school of the Luftwaffe's Kampfgeschwader 102 unit and the arrival of the Messerschmitts Me 323 employed in the defense of Tunisia. This led to several Allied air raids aimed at its destruction. The first raid took place on 26 April 1943, day of Easter Monday, when 48 Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress of the Twelfth Air Force of the United States Army took off from airfields in Algeria and reached Grosseto, Tuscany. For unknown reasons, 19 of the 48 military planes dropped 2,000 cluster bombs on the city of Grosseto, instead of on the targeted airport. The raid began at 14:00, when most of the people were in the streets celebrating the holiday. The air raid sirens didn't sound and the population did not go to the air raid shelters which had been set up in the ramparts of the city's walls. At least 134 inhabitants of Grosseto were killed, mostly children aged between 5 and 14 who were playing at a funfair in the Porta Vecchia suburb. The Grosseto airport, objective of the raid, was hit but slightly damaged; at the same time, however, the suburbs of Grosseto located around the historic centre suffered heavy damage. The raid also hit care buildings such as the Red Cross hospital set up in the diocese's seminary and the House of Mother and Child. The following day, 27 April, King Victor Emmanuel III went to Grosseto to pay homage to the fallen and to visit the wounded in the Misericordia hospital. The raid was condemned by the Italian national press and the Catholic Church for its involvement of civilians, especially children. The newspaper Corriere della Sera published an article on 5 May 1943 entitled No Italian will forget the children tortured by gangsters. Further raids After this attack, Grosseto suffered further heavy raids by both the USAAF and the Royal Air Force from May to November 1943. All