Behind the Enemy Lines

Between the spring and autumn of 1944, the Luftwaffe constituted a constant threat to the incursions of the MAAF (Mediterranean Allied Air Forces), and the losses in men and aircraft were even more substantial. In the span of a few months, between the autumn of 1944 and the end of hostilities, hundreds of Allied aircraft did not return from their missions on targets set in the north of Italy. In most cases, the aviators on board the aircraft were captured or were killed in action. But on many other occasions, the crews managed to evade capture thanks to the collaboration of the civilian population and to the help given by the partisans. Especially in the Tuscan-Emilia-Romagna Apennine mountains, these groups had set up a very efficient underground organization so that they could even pass through the positions of the Gothic Line and return to liberated territory. We present some lesser known events that had as protagonists on the one part American and British aviators and on the other Italian partisans and civilians active in different areas of the country: Lazio, Tuscany, Emilia Romagna, Lombardy, and Piedmont.