Operation Bowler was an air attack on Venice harbour by Allied aircraft on 21 March 1945, as part of the Italian campaign of the Second World War. It was led by Acting Wing Commander, later Group Captain, George Westlake of the Royal Air Force. The attack sank two merchant ships as well as naval escorts and smaller vessels, as well as seriously damaging a large cargo ship and destroying five warehouses, an Axis mine stockpile (blowing a 100 yard hole in the quayside) and other harbour infrastructure, such as an underwater training establishment for frogmen and human torpedoes.