Operation Tidal Wave


Operation Tidal Wave was an air attack by bombers of the United States Army Air Forces based in Libya on nine oil refineries around Ploiești, Romania, on 1 August 1943, during World War II. It was a strategic bombing mission and part of the "oil campaign" to deny petroleum-based fuel to the Axis powers. The mission resulted in "no curtailment of overall product output".
This operation was one of the costliest for the USAAF in the European Theater, with 53 aircraft and 500 aircrewmen lost. It was proportionally the most costly major Allied air raid of the war, and its date was later referred to as "Black Sunday". Five Medals of Honor and 56 Distinguished Service Crosses, along with numerous other awards, went to Operation Tidal Wave crew members. A 1999 research report prepared for the Air War College at Maxwell Air Force Base in Alabama concluded that the bombing campaign in Ploiești was "one of the bloodiest and most heroic missions of all time". One of the downed American planes crashed into a female prison in Ploiești, resulting in about half of the civilian casualties from the total of 101 killed and 238 injured.

Background

Romania had been a major power in the oil industry since the 1800s. It was one of the largest producers in Europe, and Ploiești was a major part of that production. The Ploiești oil refineries provided about 30% of all Axis oil production.

Axis air defenses

In June 1942, 13 B-24 Liberators of the "Halverson project" attacked Ploiești. Though damage was small, Germany and Romania responded by putting strong anti-aircraft defenses around Ploiești. Luftwaffe General Alfred Gerstenberg built one of the heaviest and best-integrated air defense networks in Europe. The defenses included several hundred large-caliber 88mm flak guns and many more small-caliber guns. The latter were concealed in haystacks, railroad cars, and mock buildings. German and Romanian AA artillery at Ploiești consisted of 36 heavy and 16 medium and light anti-aircraft batteries. The heavy batteries were further supplemented by 15 Würzburg radar stations used for fire control.
The defenses were divided between two regiments of the German 5th Flak Division and the Romanian 7th AA Regiment. Half of the manpower of the German 5th Flak Division was Romanian. Additionally, smoke generators and 23 barrage balloons were deployed. The Axis had 57 fighters within flight range of Ploiești. For the defense of Ploiești, the Royal Romanian Air Force had aircraft from five Escadrile : 61, 62, 45, 53 and 51. The Germans had another four Staffeln: 1, 2, 3./JG4 and 11./NJG6. 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.

Mission plan

The case for targeting Romania's oil refineries was set forth at the Casablanca Conference by Winston Churchill, who believed that destroying them would deal the "knockout blow" to the German war effort. However, due to a lack of resources for organizing other attacks, the plans were put on hold.
The plans were resumed in April 1943, when General Henry H. Arnold commissioned his staff to continue their development. Two plans were conceived: one called for a medium-scale high-altitude attack to be launched from Syrian bases, while the other called for a massive low-altitude attack launched from Libya. Colonel Jacob E. Smart's idea of the low-altitude attack was ultimately accepted. The code name for the mission was Operation Statesman, which was later changed to Operation Soapsuds, and finally to Operation Tidal Wave. In charge of the operation was General Lewis H. Brereton.
The Ninth Air Force was responsible for the overall conduct of the raid. To reach the necessary number of bombers, the partially formed Eighth Air Force from England provided three additional bomb groups. Due to the distance involved, all the bombers employed were B-24 Liberators.
Based on HALPRO's experiences, the planners decided Tidal Wave would be executed by day and that the attacking bombers would approach at low altitude during the last leg of their run to avoid detection by German radar. Training included extensive review of detailed sand table models, practice raids over a mock-up of the target in the Libyan desert, and practical exercises over a number of secondary targets in July to prove the viability of such a low-level strike. The bombers to be used were re-equipped with bomb-bay fuel tanks to increase their fuel capacity to. Additionally, Norden bombsights were replaced with low-level bombsights and the lead B-24s were also fitted with two.50-caliber machine guns, which were operated by the pilot. The ordnance carried by the bombers consisted of and high-explosive bombs, supplemented by incendiary bombs. All were armed with delayed action fuses varying in time from 45 seconds to six hours.
Originally the operation was to consist of 154 bombers, but the final number reached 178, with a total of 1,751 aircrew, one of the largest commitments of American heavy bombers and crewmen up to that time. The planes were to fly from airfields near Benghazi, Libya. They were to cross the Mediterranean and the Adriatic Sea, pass near the island of Corfu, cross over the Pindus Mountains in Albania, cross southern Yugoslavia, enter southwestern Romania, and turn east toward Ploiești. Reaching Ploiești, they were to locate predetermined checkpoints, approach their targets from the north, and strike all targets simultaneously. The five main refineries of Ploiești were designated as targets White 1-5, while the Creditul Minier refinery from Brazi was designated target Blue, and Steaua Română from Câmpina was designated target Red.
For political reasons, the Allied planners decided to avoid the city of Ploiești so that it would not be bombed by accident.

Order of battle

Ninth and Eighth Air Force

  • Ninth Air Force
  • * 98th Bombardment Group , Col. John R. Kane°
  • * 376th Bombardment Group , Gen. Uzal G. Ent°°, Col. Keith K. Compton°°
  • Eighth Air Force
  • * 44th Bombardment Group , Col. Leon W. Johnson°
  • * 93rd Bombardment Group , Lt.Col. Addison E. Baker°, Maj. John L. Jerstad°
  • * 389th Bombardment Group , Col. Jack W. Wood°°, 2nd Lt. Lloyd Herbert Hughes°

    Romanian and German

  • Luftflotte 4 – Jagdfliegerführer Rumänien Otopeni
  • * IV./Nachtjagdgeschwader 6 – Ziliștea, with Bf 110
  • ** 11./NJG6 – Otopeni
  • ** 12./NJG6 – Otopeni
  • * I./Jagdgeschwader 4 – Mizil, with Bf 109
  • ** 1./JG4
  • ** 2./JG4
  • ** 3./JG4
  • ** 4./JG4
  • Flotila 2 Vânătoare Pipera
  • * Grupul 6 Vânătoare – Pipera, with IAR 80
  • ** Escadrila 61 Vânătoare
  • ** Escadrila 62 Vânătoare
  • Flotila 3 Vânătoare
  • * Grupul 4 Vânătoare
  • ** Escadrila 45 Vânătoare – Târgșor, with IAR 80

    Tidal Wave

On the morning of 1 August 1943, the five groups comprising the strike force began lifting off from their home airfields around Benghazi. Large amounts of dust kicked up during takeoff caused limited visibility and strained engines already carrying the burden of large bomb loads and additional fuel. These conditions contributed to the loss of one aircraft, Kickapoo, during takeoff, but 177 of the planned 178 aircraft departed safely.

Into the Balkans

The formation reached the Adriatic Sea without further incident; however, aircraft #28, Wongo Wongo, belonging to the 376th Bombardment Group and piloted by Lt. Brian Flavelle, began to fly erratically before plunging into the sea due to an unexplained malfunction. Lt. Guy Iovine—a friend of Flavelle who was piloting aircraft #23 Desert Lilly—descended from the formation to look for survivors, narrowly missing aircraft Brewery Wagon, piloted by Lt. John Palm. No survivors were seen, and due to the additional weight of fuel, Iovine was unable to regain altitude to rejoin the formation and resume course to Ploiești.
The resulting confusion was compounded by the inability to regain cohesion due to orders to maintain strict radio silence. Ten other aircrews returned to friendly airfields after the incident, and the remaining aircraft faced the climb over the Pindus mountains, which were shrouded in cloud cover. Although all five groups made the climb around, the 376th and 93rd, using high power settings, pulled ahead of the trailing formations, causing variations in speed and time which disrupted the synchronization of the group attacks deemed so important by Smart. Mission leaders deemed these concerns to be less important than maintaining security through radio silence. Although the Americans' orders would have allowed them to break radio silence to rebuild their formations, the strike proceeded without correction, and this proved costly. While in flight towards Bulgaria, the bomber formations were detected by German radar. The bombers were also spotted by Bulgarian Avia B-534s, which took off to protect Sofia.
Earlier that day, a German signal station picked up a message from the Ninth Air Force regarding the departure of a large bomber formation. While the destination of the bombers could not be determined, the information was relayed further to other Luftwaffe units, including Jagdfliegerführer Rumänien. The American leaders were unaware that the Germans knew of their presence.

Over Romania

As they were passing the Danube, the B-24s descended to and continued at low altitude. Although now well strung out on approach to Pitești, all five groups made the navigational checkpoint from Ploiești. As planned, the 389th Bomb Group departed for its separate, synchronized approach to the mission target. Continuing from Pitești, Col. Keith K. Compton and Gen. Ent made a costly navigational error. At Târgoviște, halfway to the next checkpoint at Florești, Compton followed the incorrect railway line for his turn toward Ploiești, setting his group and Lt. Col. Addison Baker's 93rd Bomb Group on a course for Bucharest. In the process, Ent and Compton went against the advice of their airplane's navigator and the Halverson Project veteran Cpt. Harold Wicklund. Now facing disaster, many crews chose to break radio silence and draw attention to the navigational error. Meanwhile, both groups had to face Gerstenberg's extensive air defenses around the Bucharest area in addition to those awaiting them around Ploiești.
The Romanian and German fighters, although scrambled earlier, were directed to fly at, as the bombers were expected at high altitude. This error was soon corrected and the fighters were instructed to attack the low-flying bombers. The first contact with the B-24s was made by IAR 80s of Grupul 6 Vânătoare at 11:50 AM, near Săbăreni.
Noticing the navigation error, Lt. John Palm, piloting Brewery Wagon, broke off from the 376th Group's formation and attempted to bomb the refineries alone. Badly hit by flak, the aircraft jettisoned its bombs on an empty factory while trying to escape. Soon after, the damaged bomber was engaged by a Bf 109 of 1./JG4, flown by Hauptmann Wilhelm Steinmann. The bomber crash-landed in a field near Tătărani, becoming the first B-24 shot down over Romania. The eight surviving crewmen, including Palm, were taken prisoner.
The Hell's Wench aircraft, flown by Lt. Col. Baker and his co-pilot Maj. John L. Jerstad, who had already flown a full tour of duty while stationed in England, also broke formation and led several B-24s to their targets. Hit by flak, they jettisoned their bombs to maintain the lead position of the formation over their target at the Columbia Aquila refinery. Despite heavy losses by the 93rd, Baker and Jerstad maintained course and, once clear, began to climb away. Realizing the aircraft was no longer controllable, they kept climbing to let their crew abandon the aircraft. Although none survived, Baker and Jerstad were posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for these actions.
Maj. Ramsay D. Potts, flying The Duchess, and Maj. George S. Brown, aboard Queenie, encountering heavy smoke over Columbia Aquila, led additional aircraft of the 93rd and successfully dropped their bombs over the Astra Română, Unirea Orion, and Columbia Aquila refineries. In all, the 93rd lost 11 aircraft over their targets in Ploiești. One of the bombers, Jose Carioca, was shot down by a Romanian IAR 80 fighter, which went into a half roll and moved swiftly under the B-24 upside down, raking its belly with bullets. The bomber crashed into Ploiești Women's Prison. Of the 101 civilians killed and 238 injured in this raid, about half died when this three-story building exploded in flames. Forty women survived, but there were no survivors from Jose Carioca's crew.
The aircraft that shot down Jose Carioca, IAR 80B no. 222, flown by Sublocotenent, was also damaged and set on fire after shooting down another B-24. While the pilot was trying to bail out, the IAR collided with the propeller of another B-24, which severed its vertical stabilizer. Anastasescu, who was thrown clear of the IAR as the airplane crashed in a field, later made a full recovery in hospital.