The town that burned as the Axis crumbled

14 September is one of the dark anniversaries in Corfu’s history. On this day in 1943, the town was ablaze following successive raids by German aircraft carrying explosive and incendiary bombs. The Public Central Historical Library records that the raids, which began on the night of 13–14 September, continued for many hours, causing widespread fires.

The destruction was directly linked to the new military reality that had emerged five days earlier. Following the announcement of the Italian armistice with the Allies on 8 September, the Italians and Germans, previously allies, became enemies. Corfu’s sizeable Italian garrison, under Colonel Luigi Lusignani, refused to surrender the island. On 13 September, it repelled a German attempt to approach and land on the island, while Italian anti-aircraft guns shot down German aircraft. Italian military historiography confirms the clashes and the repulsion of a German naval force that day.

Corfu was of particular strategic importance: it had a port and an airfield and occupied a key position for controlling the entrance to the Adriatic and the lines of communication between Italy, Albania and occupied Greece. For the German command, securing the Ionian Islands formed part of Operation Achse, the military operation to disarm Italian forces following the armistice.

The price paid by the town was devastating. The fires destroyed homes and entire sections of the historic urban fabric. The old Municipal Theatre, the Ionian Academy, the Ionian Parliament, the Annunziata, the Markas and buildings in the Jewish quarter suffered severe or total destruction. The Municipality itself puts the number of buildings destroyed at around 850.

The night of 13–14 September was therefore not simply another bombing raid. It changed the face of Corfu forever, erasing within a matter of hours part of a cultural heritage that had endured for centuries.

GIORGOS KATSAITIS