From diary of Dr. Dr. Leander K. Powers. “March 22, 1944 - Thursday morning, we rode down beyond Pompeii. The cinders were so deep that traffic was stopped. Along about noon, the wind changed and the cinders began falling on Torre Annunziata. Everything had a coat of black, just like light snow. We rode up toward the Naples side on the Autostrade, and, as the wind was blowing toward town, I got a wonderful view of the boiling inferno. Yesterday, I rode into the town that was destroyed by the flowing lava and apparently the flow was coming to a stop, but the devastation was terrific. Tonight there is a lot of lightning coming from the crater and infrequent blasts. I learned from an Allied Military Government officer that 78 planes (B-25) were destroyed on the Pompeii airfield (Terzigno Airfield) during the past few days by the lava and cinders”. Victor Sierra

The devastation was terrific…

P-47 Thunderbolt getting some maintenance in the dispersal area of a makeshift airfield in the French countryside following the Allied invasion of Normandy.(rudeerude)

French countryside

A direct evidence from an American serviceman which experienced the eruption of Mount Vesuvius first-hand: Dana Craig from the 486th Bombardment Squadron of the 340th Bombardment Group: "...On the day prior, Vesuvius was belching smoke. It was an overcast sky with the threat of rain. About midnight, I went out of my billet to answer the call of nature. While outside, in a mild drizzle, I was hit on the head by what I thought was a small rock. Suspecting some sort of joke, I went inside for a flashlight. When I returned, the light revealed a layer of damp cinders on the ground. We knew at that time that Vesuvius was erupting. We began to feel the earth shake as though a bomb had gone off. After each quake, a few minutes would pass before the debris blown out of the crater would start to hit the ground. About daylight, the rear of our building started to cave in. We then began to see the larger rocks coming down. By this time everyone was wearing his steel helmet and heavy sheepskin jacket for protection from the falling material. I can't recall ever having breakfast that morning. It wasn't very long before we were loaded into trucks and evacuated to Naples" (from web site of 340th Bomb Group). In effect, because the wind direction, Naples was saved. In the photo the Vesuvius eruption see by Terzigno Airfield. In foreground a B-25 of 340th BG which was damaged by the eruption. Victor Sierra