Operation Tidal Wave

Operation Tidal Wave
Part of Western Allied Campaign in Romania

A B-24 Liberator called Sandman during a bomb run over the Ploiești Astra Română refinery during Operation Tidal Wave[1][2]
Date1 August 1943
Location
Romanian refineries: Câmpina, Ploiești, Brazi[3][4]
44°56′N 26°1′E / 44.933°N 26.017°E / 44.933; 26.017
Result Axis victory
Belligerents
 United States  Romania
 Germany
 Bulgaria
Commanders and leaders
United States Lewis H. Brereton
United States Uzal G. Ent		 Nazi Germany Alfred Gerstenberg
Kingdom of Romania Gheorghe Jienescu [ro]
Strength
177 B-24s
(162 over the target)[5]		 36 heavy AA batteries
16 light/medium AA batteries
57 fighters
Casualties and losses
53 B-24s destroyed
(35 claimed in Romania)
55 B-24s damaged
310 aircrew killed or missing
190 aircrew captured or interned		 7 fighters destroyed
(2 Romanian and 5 German)
11 fighters damaged (2 Romanian and 9 German)
19 dead and 97 wounded
101 civilians killed and 238 injured

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. It was a strategic bombing mission and part of the "oil campaign" to deny petroleum-based fuel to the Axis powers.[4] The mission resulted in "no curtailment of overall product output".[6]

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,[7] 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.[8] 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".[9] 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.[10]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference Stout was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference Dugan was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ "AAFRH-3, pp. 31–47"
  4. ^ a b "When Heroes Filled The Sky". homeofheroes.com. Retrieved 14 February 2024.
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference Fili was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference WesternAxis was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ Axworthy 1995, p. 311.
  8. ^ "The Hall of Valor Project". The Hall of Valor Project. Military Times. Retrieved 1 August 2018.
  9. ^ Schultz 2007, p. xii.
  10. ^ "Raport Subsecretariat de Stat al Aerului". iar80flyagain.org (in Romanian). 2023-05-17.