[1] The situation changed in early 1943, when Cagliari came within range of the USAAF bombers operating from the newly conquered airfields in Algeria and later Tunisia.

On 7 February 1943, 51 Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress and Martin B-26 Marauder bombers dropped 81 tons of bombs on the Elmas airfield, destroying ten Axis aircraft on the ground and killing 31 servicemen.

[11][12][13][14] Two days later, 47 B-17s dropped 123 tons of bombs on the harbour and the Elmas airfield, hitting the targets (one steamer was sunk and another damaged in the port), the railway station, and part of the city, especially the Stampace district.

Main objectives were the port and the marshalling yard, but according to some sources part of the bombers were also specifically tasked with attacking the city itself, in order to weaken the morale of the population.

At the same time, thousands of propaganda leaflets were dropped, denouncing the alliance between Italy and Germany and urging the population to pressure the government to make peace with the Allies.

On the following night, Vickers Wellington bombers of the Northwest African Strategic Air Force dropped a further fifty tons of bombs.

The 13 May raid was the most destructive attack suffered by Cagliari, but civilian casualties were relatively low (estimates vary between thirty and sixty) as most of the population had already left the city.

[30] On 16 May 1943 capitano di fregata Francesco Murzi, commander of the 7th Submarine Group, reported that "…the city is almost completely destroyed.

The Armistice marked the end of the air raids over Sardinia, and over the course of 1944 most of the inhabitants returned to the city; Cagliari was gradually rebuilt during the following years.