After the unpublished photos of the first American bombing raid on Avignon, which left 525 victims on May 27, 1944, Grégory Pons offers us a new series of photos from his personal collection as well as from the archives of the US Air Force. The Avignon native, a specialist in American aviation of that time and author of several books on the subject, returns in particular to the attack on the Petite Vitesse freight station, which burned for 48 hours.
After the terrible bombing of May 27, 1944, American heavy bombers returned to Avignon with the objectives once again of the Foncouverte area and the rotundas of the SCNF Route de Marseille, the bridges over the Rhône, the regional telephone center of Pontet and the train station. of goods from Petite Vitesse in Courtine. The alert sounds at 8:45 a.m. and will last 2 hours. These are again four-engined 15th Air Force aircraft from Italy, but this time they are B-24 Liberators. Around 150 aircraft divided into 3 waves including a formation of the 461st Bomb Group having taken off from Torretta (near Cerignola in southern Italy. The bombers will carry out their drops along different axes, obviously to lure the Flak (German anti-aircraft defense).
A hundred buildings destroyed and around fifteen dead
The damage was significant, a hundred buildings were again destroyed, 25 of them completely. Fifteen civilians were also killed and sixty injured. The Petite Vitesse station, which had been completely missed during the first raid on 27 May, was seriously damaged this time. The tracks were destroyed and many parked convoys were literally pulverised. The fires in the wagons loaded with goods and fuel caused thick columns of dense smoke that rose into the sky and were visible for kilometres. The fire would continue to rage for almost 48 hours.
Mayor asks residents to move away from railway tracks
The cable-stayed bridge which connects Avignon to Barthelasse (in place of the current Daladier bridge) is completely cut; but the Germans will work to put it back into service. Some bombs even hit the intramural sector at Boulevard Raspail and Rue d’Annanelle. Edmond Pailheret, mayor of Avignon, this time wrote a press release in which he called on people living near railway tracks, bridges and any other strategic objective to leave their homes for fear that the raids would increase in intensity. Preparation for the Allied landing in Provence will continue methodically and make bridges over the Rhône and Durance prime targets. Avignon will once again be targeted as part of these operations.
Gregory Pons
Sources : « AVIGNON 39/44 » de Robert Bailly-Archives du 461st Bomb Group
 80 years ago, Avignon under the bombs again){kind=link}