#Tidal wave plus#

All the bombers employed were B-24 Liberators. The Ninth Air Force (98th and 376th Bombardment Groups) was responsible for the overall conduct of the raid, and the partially formed Eighth Air Force provided three additional bomb groups (44th, 93rd, and 389th). Supposed defenses of Ploiești area on August 1, 1943 These defenses made Ploiești the third or fourth most heavily defended target in Axis Europe, after Berlin and Vienna or the Ruhr, and thus the most heavily defended Axis target outside the Third Reich. For the defense of Ploiești, the Royal Romanian Air Force had aircraft from five Escadrile (Squadrons): 61 ( IAR 80A), 62 ( IAR 80B), 45 (IAR 80C), 53 ( Bf 109G) and 68 ( Bf 110).

#Tidal wave plus#

The Axis had 52 fighters within flight range of Ploiești ( Bf 109 fighters and Bf 110 night fighters, plus assorted types of Romanian IAR 80 fighters). Half of the manpower of the German 5th Flak Division was Romanian. The defenses were divided between the German 5th Flak Division (30 heavy, 5 medium, and 7 light batteries) and the Romanian 4th AA Brigade (22 heavy, 2 medium, and 10 light batteries). German and Romanian AA artillery at Ploiești consisted of 52 heavy (88 mm), 9 medium (37 mm), and 17 light (20 mm) anti-aircraft batteries. The latter were concealed in haystacks, railroad cars, and mock buildings.

The defenses included several hundred large-caliber 88mm guns and 10.5 cm FlaK 38 anti-aircraft guns, and many more small-caliber guns. Luftwaffe General Alfred Gerstenberg built one of the heaviest and best-integrated air defense networks in Europe. Though damage was small, Germany and Romania responded by putting strong anti-aircraft defenses around Ploiești. In June 1942, 13 B-24 Liberators of the 'Halverson project' ( HALPRO) attacked Ploiești. The Ploiești oil refineries provided about 30% of all Axis oil production. It was one of the largest producers in Europe and Ploiești was a major part of that production. Romania had been a major power in the oil industry since the 1800s. 6 Ninth Air Force and Eighth Air Force order of battle.

3.2 Astra Română and Columbia Aquila attacks.3.1 Concordia Vega and first Steaua Română attacks.A 1999 research report prepared for the Air War College at Maxwell Air Force Base in Alabama concluded that the mission to Ploiești was 'one of the bloodiest and most heroic missions of all time.' Five Medals of Honor and 56 Distinguished Service Crosses along with numerous others awards went to Operation Tidal Wave crew members. It was proportionally the most costly major Allied air raid of the war, and its date was later referred to as 'Black Sunday'. This mission was one of the costliest for the USAAF in the European Theater, with 53 aircraft and 660 air crewmen lost. The mission resulted in 'no curtailment of overall product output.' It was a strategic bombing mission and part of the ' oil campaign' to deny petroleum-based fuel to the Axis powers. Operation Tidal Wave was an air attack by bombers of the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) based in Libya on nine oil refineries around Ploiești, Romania on 1 August 1943, during World War II. Western Allied Campaign in Romania ( Tidal Wave).