On this day, December 5, 1943, Kaštel Sućurac was hit by an Anglo-American bombing that changed the history of the town forever. At exactly 15:05 p.m., one of the bombs fell directly on the Church of St. George, killing numerous worshippers gathered for Sunday worship.
Of the approximately 2.200 inhabitants of Kaštel Sućurac at the time, 97 people died, including the priest Don Ante Rubignoni. 38 houses were destroyed, and about fifty more were severely damaged. The Church of St. George was razed to the ground, while the bell tower, although shaken by the powerful detonation, remained standing – as a silent but powerful symbol of the tragedy and a lasting memorial to the innocent victims.
According to the war diary of the 448th Squadron, a total of 216 bombs weighing 500 pounds (226 kilograms) were dropped on the area of Kaštel Sućurac, Solin and Split on the same day. Thirty-six Allied bombers dropped their destructive payload, of which ten bombs fell on Kaštel Sućurac.
The tragedy left a deep scar on the place and its residents – there was hardly a family in Sućurac that had not lost someone in this fatal attack.
Split Diary A new age In the issue of December 7, 1943, he described those moments as follows:
"The attack on Kaštel Sućurac was carried out at the very moment when the people gathered in the church for Sunday devotions... The bell had just rung for the third time to begin the devotions when the first bomb fell... All that hell and horror lasted barely two minutes... Almost everyone present was killed by the effects of that bomb, which hit the church itself. The priest Don Ante Rubignoni himself was immediately pulled from the ruins, but he died on the spot a short time later."
A memorial mass for the victims will be celebrated today at 17 p.m. in the Parish Church of St. George the Martyr in Kaštel Sućurac, after which candles will be lit and flowers laid in front of the bell tower.
Photo: PGK
