Bombing of Plaza de Mayo

Civilian casualties after the massacre

Date	16 June 1955
Location	Plaza de Mayo, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Result	Failed magnicide and coup d'état attempt

Belligerents

Argentina

Anti-Peronist elements of the Armed Forces

Commanders and leaders

Juan Domingo Perón
Franklin Lucero

Samuel Toranzo Calderón
Benjamín Gargiulo
Aníbal Olivieri

Units involved

Regiment of Mounted Grenadiers
Motorized Garrison Buenos Aires
1st Regiment
3rd Regiment
Argentine Air Force

Argentine Naval Aviation
7th Air Brigade
4th Naval Infantry Battalion
Part of the Argentine Air Force

Strength

330 Mounted Grenadiers
4 aircraft
4 Sherman tanks
Armed Peronist civilians

700 marines
30-34 aircraft
At least 875 anti-Peronist civilians

Casualties and losses

17 killed
55 wounded

30 rebels killed
3 aircraft shot down

308 civilians killed and an additional number that could not be identified

The Bombing of Plaza de Mayo was a massacre which took place in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on 16 June 1955. On that day, 30 aircraft from the Argentine Navy and Air Force strafed and bombed Plaza de Mayo square in Buenos Aires, in what remains to this day the largest aerial bombing ever on the Argentine mainland. The attack targeted the adjacent Casa Rosada, the official seat of government, as a large crowd was expressing support for president Juan Perón. The strike took place during a day of official public demonstrations to condemn the burning of a national flag allegedly carried out by detractors of Perón during the recent procession of Corpus Christi. The action was to be the first step in an eventually aborted coup d'état. The number of identified bodies was put at 308 —including six children— plus an indeterminate number of victims that couldn´t be identified.

The absolute disregard for human life and the violence with which the act was carried out, makes it comparable with the wave of state terrorism that would appear years later in the country.

At 12:40 pm, thirty Argentine Naval Aviation airplanes, consisting of 22 North American AT-6, five Beechcraft AT-11 and three Consolidated PBY Catalina flying boats, took off from Morón Air Base. Perón had been warned of the movements beforehand by the Minister of War, Franklin Lucero, who advised him to retreat to a bunker under the Libertador Building.

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Wikipedia