Download or read book Ploesti 1943 written by Steven J. Zaloga and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2019-10-31 with total page 97 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Operation Tidal Wave was one of the boldest and most controversial air raids by the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF). At the time, the Romanian Ploesti oil fields produced about a third of all Axis oil, and was Germany's single most important fuel source. In the summer of 1943, the USAAF decided to stage a major raid on Ploesti from air bases in Libya. The resulting Operation Tidal Wave raid on 1 August 1943 was one of the costliest to date, losing 53 aircraft, about a third of the starting force. Of the more than 150 bombers that took part in the raid, only 88 B-24s returned to Libya, 55 of which were damaged. On the other hand, of the 17 Medals of Honor awarded to US soldiers and airmen from Pearl Harbor in 1941 to D-Day in 1944, 5 were awarded to pilots of the Tidal Wave mission in recognition of their extraordinary performance. Although undoubtedly bold and heroic, the mission had questionable results. Initial assessments argued that the mission caused 40% of the refinery capacity at Ploesti to be lost but subsequent studies concluded that the damage was quickly repaired and that output had exceeded August levels within a month. This new study examines the raid in detail, exploring the reasons why its dubious success came at such a high price. Supported by maps, diagrams, and full-colour artwork including battlescenes and bird's-eye views, this is the full story of the audacious Ploesti raid of 1943.
Download or read book Ploesti 1943 written by Steven J. Zaloga and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2019-10-31 with total page 97 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Operation Tidal Wave was one of the boldest and most controversial air raids by the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF). At the time, the Romanian Ploesti oil fields produced about a third of all Axis oil, and was Germany's single most important fuel source. In the summer of 1943, the USAAF decided to stage a major raid on Ploesti from air bases in Libya. The resulting Operation Tidal Wave raid on 1 August 1943 was one of the costliest to date, losing 53 aircraft, about a third of the starting force. Of the more than 150 bombers that took part in the raid, only 88 B-24s returned to Libya, 55 of which were damaged. On the other hand, of the 17 Medals of Honor awarded to US soldiers and airmen from Pearl Harbor in 1941 to D-Day in 1944, 5 were awarded to pilots of the Tidal Wave mission in recognition of their extraordinary performance. Although undoubtedly bold and heroic, the mission had questionable results. Initial assessments argued that the mission caused 40% of the refinery capacity at Ploesti to be lost but subsequent studies concluded that the damage was quickly repaired and that output had exceeded August levels within a month. This new study examines the raid in detail, exploring the reasons why its dubious success came at such a high price. Supported by maps, diagrams, and full-colour artwork including battlescenes and bird's-eye views, this is the full story of the audacious Ploesti raid of 1943.
Download or read book The Daring World War II Raid on Ploesti written by William R. Bradle and published by Arcadia Publishing. This book was released on 2017-06-01 with total page 287 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An in-depth look at the doomed U.S. Army Air Force attack on Romanian oil fields vital to Hitler’s success. In 1943, the Allied powers were grasping for anything to undercut Hitler’s power and relieve his relentless pressure on the Red Army, which had already suffered a staggering 11 million casualties. The U.S. Army Air Force planned Operation Tidal Wave, which would take off from Benghazi, Libya, fly low and maintain complete radio silence to escape Axis observation, and bomb Hitler’s vital oil fields in Ploesti, Romania. On August 1, 177 B-24 bombers prepared to take off. Fourteen hours later, only 88 B-24s returned. Operation Tidal Wave was a massive strategic defeat. However, it proved the mettle of the USAAF and provided a rallying point for the public. Author William R. Bradle offers the definitive account of this doomed operation—the strengths, weaknesses, heroism, and failings—and takes readers into the thick of the action with thrilling accounts from many of the crews. Praise for The Daring World War II Raid on Ploesti “This account of the Ploesti mission...does an admirable job of laying out the planning, personalities, and attendant conflicts among many participants, the mistakes made and losses inflicted by the Germans and Romanians.... An eminently readable story that further emphasizes and demonstrates the mettle of the Greatest Generation.”—New York Journal of Books
Download or read book Ploesti written by James Dugan and published by Potomac Books. This book was released on 1998 with total page 358 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: On August 1, 1943, an enormous armada of American B-24 Liberator bombers roared at nearly treetop level across the peaceful farms and villages of Romania. Their target: "the taproot of German might", Hitler's giant oil refineries of Ploesti. Hundreds of U.S. airmen volunteered for the mission despite warnings that half might not return. In thirty minutes, more firepower was exchanged than in two Gettysburgs, and five men won the Medal of Honor. Ploesti is a vivid and masterful reconstruction of the dramatic and controversial mission.
Download or read book Fortress Ploesti written by Jay A. Stout and published by Casemate. This book was released on 2003-11-19 with total page 413 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A comprehensive account of the World War II Allied bombing campaign to destroy pivotal Romanian oil refineries—by the retired Marine Corps fighter pilot. Unlike previous books on Ploesti, Jay Stout goes well beyond the famous big and bloody raid of August 1943 and depicts the entire 1944 strategic campaign of twenty-plus missions that all but knocked Ploesti out of the war and denied the German war machine the fuel and lubricants it so desperately needed. Stout’s account is also a launching point for the author’s inquiries into many aspects of the American strategic bombing effort in World War II. It delivers across the board. Stout, who served as a Marine F/A-18 pilot in the First Gulf War, asks questions about aviation combat history and technique that any modern combat pilot would be dying to ask. He carries the ball far beyond the goal post set by all other Ploesti historians. He has gone out of his way to describe the defenses throughout the campaign, and he brings in the voices of Ploesti’s defenders to complement the tales of Allied airmen who brought Ploesti to ruin. He describes the role of the bombers, as well as that of the fighters, the antiaircraft defenses, even the technique of obscuring the Ploesti complex with smoke. Stout’s lucid presentation of complex issues at the tactical and strategic levels makes his narrative “a must for those with a special interest in the attacks on Ploesti” (World War II History Magazine).
Download or read book Into the Fire written by Duane P. Schultz and published by Westholme Publishing. This book was released on 2008-09 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Schultz recreates the great World War II battle of Ploesti, Romania, combining original research and interviews with survivors in order to capture the tension, drama, and heroics of the warring sides.
Download or read book Those Brave Crews written by Ray Ward and published by weldon publications. This book was released on 2003 with total page 162 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Colonel Ray Ward's magnificent Those Brave crews: The Epic Raid to Destroy Hiltler's Oil Fields, follows the fortunes of American aircraft on their suicidal mission against the vital Ploesti (Roumania) oil fields. With him you will follow each different crew, sit in the pilot's seat, and share the unique experience of the gunners dueling eye-to-eye with the enemy flack crews. The sacrifice and dedication of these men rivals other famous events in history, such as the calvary charges of the Crimea, Pickett's assault at Gettysburg, or Xenephon's March.
Download or read book Black Sunday written by Michael Hill and published by Schiffer Military History. This book was released on 1993 with total page 264 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Detailed, first-person account of the famed low-level B-24 raid over the Ploesti oilfields on August 1, 1943.
Download or read book 1 August 1943 Today s Target is Ploesti written by Robert J. Modrovsky and published by . This book was released on 1999 with total page 42 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The focus of this paper will be on the 1 August 1943 bombing raid on the Ploesti oil field and refineries by an American task force composed of bombardment groups of the Eighth and Ninth Air Forces. The Ploesti raid stood apart from the rest of the war in the air. The idea for it, and the unusual tactics employed, came from the top; it generated from General Arnold's headquarters and was approved by President Roosevelt. Winston Churchill called Ploesti the taproot of German might. It was not a part of any particular campaign, but was considered vital in itself. It was painstakingly planned and executed relatively quickly by the best-prepared and most experienced force available at the time. It was also fought with unparalleled bravery, the sole action of the war for which five Congressional Medals of Honor were awarded. The purpose in examining Ploesti is to first gain a complete understanding of the events leading to the planning for the raid, the raid itself, and finally the impact on the Germans in its aftermath. With this established, the intent is to assess the raid while keeping one fascinating question in mind after building a doctrine for twenty years based on high altitude, daylight, precision bombing, why, in its first major bombing effort, did the United States depart from doctrine and conduct a low level bombing mission on Ploesti, the only low-level bombing mission conducted in the war?
Download or read book 1 August 1943 Today s Target Is Ploesti A Departure From Doctrine written by Lieutenant Colonel Robert J. Modrovsky and published by Pickle Partners Publishing. This book was released on 2014-08-15 with total page 67 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The focus of this paper will be on the 1 August 1943 bombing raid on the Ploesti oil field and refineries by an American task force composed of bombardment groups of the Eighth and Ninth Air Forces. The Ploesti raid stood apart from the rest of the war in the air. The idea for it, and the unusual tactics employed, came from the top; it generated from General Arnold’s headquarters and was approved by President Roosevelt. Winston Churchill called Ploesti “the taproot of German might.” It was not a part of any particular campaign, but was considered vital in itself. It was painstakingly planned and executed relatively quickly by the best-prepared and most experienced force available at the time. It was also fought with unparalleled bravery, the sole action of the war for which five Congressional Medals of Honor were awarded. The purpose in examining Ploesti is to first gain a complete understanding of the events leading to the planning for the raid, the raid itself, and finally the impact on the Germans in its aftermath. With this established, the intent is to assess the raid while keeping one fascinating question in mind - after building a doctrine for twenty years based on high altitude, daylight, precision bombing, why, in its first major bombing effort, did the United States “depart from doctrine” and conduct a low level bombing mission on Ploesti, the only low-level bombing mission conducted in the war?
Download or read book Into the Fire written by Duane P. Schultz and published by Westholme Publishing. This book was released on 2007 with total page 328 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Offers a popular history of the World War II aerial attack on Hitler's oil refineries at Ploesti, Romania.
Download or read book Operation Tidal Wave written by Vincent dePaul Lupiano and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2020-12-01 with total page 273 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Operation Tidal Wave tells the story of the bloodiest air battle in the history of war. It is about 1700 airmen who set out to bomb the oil refineries surrounding the city of Ploesti, Romania, on August 1, 1943. Success, they thought, would be a force in ending the war. Success instead was extremely limited and 500 airmen were killed, wounded, captured, or interned. Negligible damage resulted at the Ploesti refineries, and a few months later they were operating at one-hundred percent capacity. To show the asperity of the raid, five Congressional Medals of Honor were awarded, two posthumously.
Download or read book Air Force Combat Units of World War II written by Maurer Maurer and published by DIANE Publishing. This book was released on 1961 with total page 520 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Fortress Ploesti written by Jay Stout and published by Casemate. This book was released on 2003-11-19 with total page 321 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Unlike previous books on Ploesti, Jay Stout goes well beyond the famous big and bloody raid of August 1943 and depicts the entire 1944 strategic campaign of twenty-plus missions that all but knocked Ploesti out of the war and denied the German war machine the fuel and lubricants it so desperately needed.
Download or read book Ploesti Mission 1 Aug 1943 written by William Lake and published by . This book was released on 1995 with total page 46 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This roster contains names that appeared in the AAF publication AAFDFH-3 Ploesti mission dated June 1944 and from general orders published by the Ninth Air Force.
Download or read book The Ploesti Mission of 1 August 1943 written by United States. Army Air Forces and published by . This book was released on 1944 with total page 191 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Army Air Forces in World War II Men and planes written by and published by . This book was released on 1948 with total page 920 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
