On August 1, 1943, the strategic bombing operation Tidal Wave took place. From Libyan airfields in the Benghazi region, 178 Liberator heavy bombers (in English - Liberator) from the 9th US Air Force were launched.
They had to cover almost a thousand kilometers over the Mediterranean Sea and the same amount over enemy territory, and then bomb the Romanian oil refineries Astra Romana, Steaua Romana, Concordia Vega, Colombia Aquila and Romana Americana in the area Ploiesti. These factories produced more than half of the gasoline and diesel fuel used by the German army, aviation and navy.
A risky attempt to leave the Third Reich without the "blood of war" in one fell swoop was unsuccessful and resulted in huge losses. The Americans underestimated the power of the air defense, covering the vital oil facilities for Germany, sending their bombers during the day and without a fighter escort. However, they still did not have fighters capable of accompanying the Liberators along the entire route to their targets.
And although 154 bombers reached their targets, dropping more than 300 tons of bombs on them, 89 aircraft were shot down and another 55 were damaged. 440 American pilots were killed, 108 were captured and 78 were interned in Turkey, where their damaged aircraft made forced landings. Four members of the crew of the bomber that crashed in Yugoslavia were rescued by local partisans. The Germans and their allies lost four fighters and 16 troops, and about 200 civilians were killed.
The destruction at the refineries at first seemed very serious. Tens of thousands of tons of oil products were burnt, and the Americans estimated the reduction in production at 42%. However, the destroyed factories and storage facilities were rebuilt in just a few weeks. And already in September, the production of gasoline, kerosene, diesel fuel and lubricants in Romania reached the previous level, and then even increased.
Meanwhile, the American air command recognized its own losses as absolutely unacceptable, and therefore there was no question of repeating the operation. The wave of the magic wand that stopped the Hitlerite war machine did not work. Romanian fuel continued to flow to Germany until September 1944, when Romania, under the blows of the Red Army, withdrew from the war and turned weapons against its former ally.
B-24D bomber "Liberator" with radio call sign "Snow White", which took part in Operation Tidal Wave. Below it, in the second row, are the Romanian Messerschmitt fighters Bf.109E and IAR-80, and in the third - the Bulgarian Dewuatin D-520 and Avia B-534, which participated in repelling the raid.
Promotional video:
German crew of a small-caliber automatic anti-aircraft cannon, covering one of the oil storage tanks.
"Liberators" over the burning Ploiesti refineries, set on fire by the previous group of bombers. Hazes of anti-aircraft shell explosions are visible in the air.
Some crews attacked from extremely low altitudes to improve the accuracy of bombing, although this made them vulnerable to MZA.
One of the victims of the Tidal Wave.