At the beginning of 1943 the Italian anti-aircraft defenses, which had proved not to be very effective, were joined by German Flak batteries.
After this attack, Milan was not bombed for six more months, but at the beginning of August 1943, following the fall of Mussolini, it was decided to start a series of heavy bombings on the main Italian cities, to persuade the Badoglio government to surrender [REF].