A few months ago, Claude oliaklodvenitiens wrote about an incident that occurred at Pellestrina during WWII. The link to his post (in French) is here: la-naufrage-du-giudecca
I saved the link and waited for a fine, sunny day to make the trip to Pellestrina.
On 13 October 1944, a ferry boat (The Giudecca) that carried passengers between Venice and Chioggia was attacked at Pellestrina by 3 US aircraft bombers. Aside from civilians, there were Italian and German soldiers on board. The ferry soon burst into flames and sank. 67 bodies were recovered, some were never identified. The number of dead is unknown, as only the names of the crew were known for certain.
A plaque in the campo in front of the Chiesa Ognissanti commemorates this sad event, and a shrine is seen at the site of the sinking, in the waters of the lagoon.
Here is a video that was made to record the event youtu.be
And, a complete account from first-hand observers is found here. giudecca2000
For those with a deep interest and love of Venice, it is worth the trouble of using an online translator to read the sad words.
Hello World 
Thank you, never heard of this tragedy. Your post remembers me an exploration trip I did to know Pellestrina on May 1996; I also found a wreck, and took this picture. https://goo.gl/photos/FqVGhBk8Ru4Gadpr9
It was the “Chios Aeinaftis”, ex “Greenland” which I later knew had wrecked on the 26/10/1981 but so far I have no idea the circumstances or if there were any victims. Maybe some of your contacts in Venezia know.
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I might put this on my Facebook page and see if anyone has any information, Jon.
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And, here is an answer already!
Indeed, the ship was pushed against the protective dams of pellestrina in 1978. no casualties. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4eqYQBS_HZw
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That was quick!
Amazing how internet unifies and satisfies our curiosities.
Many thanks.
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Thank you for your question which gave us another interesting story!
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What a terrible tragedy. The pictorial images are so moving and very disturbing. My uncle, died along with hundreds of others before I was born, when the POW ship he was being transported on by the Japanese, was ‘accidentally ‘ torpedoed by the allies. 😦
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So many parents (on all sides) in conflicts during the centuries, have had their hearts broken.
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Killing civilians, children, babies women and old men just keeps on and on. It becomes easier if you can come up with a good name for it. I wonder which nation came up with the words ‘co-lateral damage’? It is usually used in a sentence like, “We destroyed five enemy targets but unfortunately there was some minor co-lateral damage.”
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Yes, sanitising the words seems to be the thing to do. And, then there’s “friendly fire”. Good grief.
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I didn’t know about this particular incident before reading your blog, but I’ve heard of many similar ones in different conflicts and perpetrated by different forces, some of whom were fighting for a cause I believe in (e.g. the allies in World War 2) and some of whom weren’t.
I guess the only real answer is to try as best we can to find peaceful solutions to problems and avoid letting disputes come to blows.
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Amen! Bun for President of the Whole World!
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Well, it’s a big job, but I guess somebody’s got to do it. Do I get a car?
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Do you want a car? Or are you environmentally friendly?
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Well, I live in an apartment and my office is pretty high up. I guess I could commute in a hang glider.
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But, you won’t have to go to that office anymore, and will be housed in a palace or some such.
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Oh that’s true. I guess I wouldn’t need the car then. My office would probably be underneath my bedroom. Perhaps I could use a firefighter’s pole like you see in movies.
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Wooo!
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Very sad Yvonne, never knew of this thanks for sharing
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I only knew about it because of reading it on Claude’s blog, Julie.
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Entirely too much sadness in the world.
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It just never ends, Darlene.
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So sad, heartbreaking and completely unnecessary. Sadly, it seems that we never learn.
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Nope, never, ever, Susie. And, as the weapons become more sophisticated and deadly, it gets worse.
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A very sobering reminder of what we do to each other in the name of defence. These non-battle tragedies are often overlooked in the histories and there are still families today – witness those in the video – who are deeply affected. I found the stories of the families in the SS Arandora Star (Interned Italians and refugee Germans, VERY badly treated and managed by Britain and sunk by a submarine off Ireland in 1940) very moving too.
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Yes, so darn many innocent people pay a very high price, one way or another, during conflicts, Hilary.
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Such sadness and so unnecessary.
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One thing that I’m unsure of is the reported presence of Italian soldiers. Italy had signed an armistice with the Allies in September, 1943, so what were these Italian soldiers doing?
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I wonder if it’s another case of them not being told. We’ve heard of soldiers continuing to fight after WW1 was over.
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A lot of Italian soldiers were put into POW camps by the Germans, after this Armistice.
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History is so interesting.
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Just imagine the terror and heartbreak for that small community, Cynthia.
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Questo mi spezza il cuore…..
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