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On
Display: September 15, 2003 - October 19,
2003
Location: Louisiana Memorial
Pavilion |
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We
Remember: Operation Tidal Wave, Bombing the
Ploesti Oil Fields
“If we lose the oil
fields, we lose the war.”
--Adolf
Hitler
On August 1, 1943, one
hundred seventy-seven Army Air Corps B-24
bombers flew from Libya through 1,000 miles of
enemy territory to the oil fields in Ploesti,
Romania. The large B-24s, heavily loaded with
4,000 pounds of bombs each, were on a
minimum-altitude attack on a facility protected
with 230 anti-aircraft guns, mobile
anti-aircraft units called “flack trains” and
hundreds of German soldiers armed with machine
guns. Code named “Tidal Wave,” the operation
combined heavy bombardment groups from the 8th
and 9th army air forces under the command of
Brigadier General Uzal G. Ent. A third of
Germany’s oil was produced and refined at
Ploesti, so if the Allied bombing was successful
it would cripple the German war machine.
The formation of heavy, low-flying B-24s
was to make a surprise attack but became
scattered before reaching the target. The first
group to arrive had the undesired effect of
alerting the German defenders to the others. The
subsequent groups faced heavy anti-aircraft
fire, poor visibility from burning oil
refineries and explosions of Allied delayed
action bombs. What resulted was a confusing,
disastrous battle marked by heroic actions but
heavy casualties. In the end 54 Allied bombers
and their crews were lost and only one-sixth of
the planes that returned were left flyable. A
second raid on the oil fields was not
immediately possible with such a depleted force,
so the Germans were able to repair the damage
and resume the oil production.
Oil
production at Ploesti was ultimately knocked out
but only after several more B-24 missions that
resumed in 1944. Five high-altitude raids were
staged in April and June. In July and August the
15th air force followed with eleven high
altitude raids flown from captured German air
bases in Italy. In August, Soviet forces
captured the region and ended the threat of the
oil fields, hastening the German
defeat.
Welcome 93rd Bomb Group" and "We
Remember Operation Tidal Wave: Bombing the
Ploesti Oil Fields" will continue through
Sunday, October 19, 2003. |
| This Liberator,
damaged by falling debris, has lost a large
portion of its right wing. The plane has rolled
over and is headed for the ground. The bomb bay
doors are clearly visible in the photograph.
Although equipped with parachutes, seven out of
ten aircrew members typically died in plane
crashes. Once a damaged plane began to dive or
spin, forces inside the craft pinned men to the
floor of bulkheads, trapping them inside. The
Army Air Corps lost 54 planes in the first raid
on Ploesti; only one in six of the returning
bombers were left in flyable
condition. | |
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