Western Allied Campaign in Romania

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Western Allied Campaign in Romania
Part of Oil Campaign and Eastern Front of World War II

A B-24 Liberator called "Sandman" during a bomb run over the Ploiești Astra Romana refinery during Operation Tidal Wave
DateDecember 1941 (war declarations)/
12 June 1942 - 19 August 1944
Location
Romania
Result See Aftermath
Belligerents
 United States
 British Empire		  Romania
Support:
 Germany
Commanders and leaders
Arthur Tedder
 Kingdom of Romania Ion Antonescu
Kingdom of Romania Gheorghe Jienescu[1]
Nazi Germany Alfred Gerstenberg
Casualties and losses
325 aircraft destroyed (259 by Romanian forces)
32 tanks leased to the Red Army captured
1,706 killed
1,123 captured		 80+ Romanian aircraft
7,693 civilians killed

The Western Allied Campaign in Romania consisted of war declarations and aerial operations during the

Second World War by eight Western Allied countries against Romania which itself was primarily engaged on the Eastern Front in fighting against the Soviet Union
.

War declarations

Romania declared war on the British Empire on 6 December 1941 and on the United States on 12 December. The British returned the war declaration that December, however, the Americans only did so in the summer of 1942. Two American allies, Nicaragua and Haiti, declared war on Romania on 19 and 24 December respectively. Romania promptly returned these declarations. Four British allies also declared war on Romania: Canada (7 December), New Zealand (7 December), Australia (8 December), and South Africa (9 December). However, Romania never returned these declarations (likely because the four countries were seen as British subjects by the Romanian leadership).[2]

Early plans

The first plans focused on disabling the

Cyril Newall and called for the use of five bomber squadrons and a four-month campaign in which 25–30% of the Ploiești refineries could be destroyed. Further development was called off after the German invasion of Greece in April 1941.[4]

Aerial operations

United States Army Air Forces

The Blue Streak, one of the B-24s that bombed Romania in 1942

When the

Bf 109 pilot both claimed to have shot down a "Halifax" bomber each, none of the 13 aircraft was lost over Romania. Five aircraft were however lost on the return journey to Habbaniyah in Iraq.[5][8]

In early 1943, at the Casablanca Conference, Churchill once again reiterated the importance of attacking Romania's oil refineries and disrupting the German war effort. Due to a lack of resources, planning was postponed until April 1943, when General Henry H. Arnold commissioned his staff to resume their development.[5]

Code-named Operation Tidal Wave, the attack on 1 August 1943 consisted of a large-scale low-altitude air raid over Romanian oil refineries at Ploiești by 178 unescorted B-24 Liberators. Over 50 of the American bombers were lost during the raid, 35 of which were shot down over Romania. The Royal Romanian Air Force claimed 13 American aircraft while losing only two fighters, and the Luftwaffe claimed 15 bombers in Romania, and another five over the Ionian Sea for the loss of five fighters.[9][10]

After Tidal Wave, further bombing operations were focused in the

P-51 Mustang. After General Spaatz' plan was authorized to start the campaign in Romania in March, the Fifteenth Air Force began raids on 4 April 1944, initially targeting rail infrastructure while also inadvertently hitting some refineries as well.[13][5] On the 6 April and 9 May raids, the IAR factory from Brașov was attacked. Following these two raids, production in Brașov was stopped there and the facilities were dispersed to other locations.[14]

A smoke screen deployed over Ploiești

With the

1st Fighter Group. While the raid was reasonably successful in damaging the Româno-Americană refinery, the tactic was not repeated due to the loss of 22 out of 59 P-38s that reached the target.[16]

At the start of June 1944,

Soviet demands as the Red Army was about to launch a major offensive against Romania.[18]

Liberator bomber of 178 Squadron loaded with mines for a sortie on the Danube

Royal Air Force

Starting in April 1944, seven

river barges.[19]

The RAF also conducted bombing raids on

flak fire was encountered over the target and 11 aircraft were lost, as well as one pathfinder Halifax of No. 614 Squadron which sustained irreparable damage and had to be scrapped.[24]

Aftermath

Damage sustained by the Concordia Vega refinery in 1944

In 1944, US bombers flew on more than 42

day bombing missions, while the RAF carried out at least 23 night air raids.[25] With oil production being reduced by just 50%,[26] the campaign ultimately proved to be an unsuccessful endeavor, as the Allies failed to fulfill their objective of knocking out Romania's oil production.[18] The bombing campaign did however significantly reduce the fuel exports to Germany by damaging the infrastructure, whereby only a fraction of the oil reached Germany.[10] River transports were also heavily affected. By August, less than 30% of the daily 10,000 tons of oil exported by ship to Germany before the bombardments could reach the destination.[21]

In just over a year, from Operation Tidal Wave until the 1944 bombing campaign was called off, the Romanian aircraft, aided by Romanian artillery, shot down 259 Allied aircraft (223 bombers and 36 fighters). Allied Nazi German forces shot down 66 more Allied aircraft. In total, Allied casualties amounted to 1,706

POWs. The total allied attrition rate suffered over Romania was around seven percent, compared to the 3.5 percent suffered in Western Europe. Romanian aircraft losses were also heavy, amounting to over 80 fighters shot down.[25] It is not known how many Romanian aircrews were killed, but one of them was Alexandru Șerbănescu, Romania's second-best flying ace (47 kills, shot down on 18 August).[18] In addition, 7,693 Romanian civilians were killed, 2,673 of them on 4 April, when the campaign was kickstarted by the American bombing of Bucharest. Another 7,809 civilians were wounded, and 23,260 were left homeless.[27]

Western Allied prisoners

See also: Prisoner of war § Romania

The

Normal School on St. Ecaterina street.[28]

All Allied airmen who were taken prisoner during the air campaign were repatriated by

B-17 bombers.[29]

Ground operations

Although not directly engaging Romanian ground troops, the Western Allies had supplied military equipment to the Red Army via Lend-Lease. The Romanians had captured some Western tanks that had been leased to the Soviets: four M3 Lees, twenty-one M3 Stuarts, four Valentine Mk IIIs and nineteen unspecified Vickers tanks.[30][31]

Gallery

  • A B-17 bomber bursts into flames after being hit by flak over Ploiești
    A
    B-17 bomber
    bursts into flames after being hit by flak over Ploiești
  • B-17s over Ploiești on 28 July 1944
    B-17s over Ploiești on 28 July 1944
  • Bombing of Brașov on 16 April 1944
    Bombing of Brașov on 16 April 1944
  • Firefighters extinguishing flames in Ploiești
    Firefighters extinguishing flames in Ploiești

See also

References

  1. Crowood Press
    . p. 95.
  2. ^ Erik Goldstein (2005). Wars and Peace Treaties: 1816 to 1991. Routledge. pp. 216–218.
  3. ^ Alexandru Popescu. "Rețeaua Rică Georgescu". Historia (in Romanian). Retrieved 30 March 2024.
  4. ^ Zaloga 2019, p. 5.
  5. ^ a b c d McGowan, Sam (2015-08-07). "Operation Tidal Wave Takes Aim at Ploesti". warfarehistorynetwork.com.
  6. ^ Martin Folly; Niall Palmer (2010). The A to Z of U.S. Diplomacy from World War I through World War II. Scarecrow Press. p. 86.
  7. ^ Eric Hammel (2010). Air War Europa: Chronology: America's Air War Against Germany In Europe and North Africa, 1942 - 1945. Pacifica Military History. p. 48.
  8. ^ "Operațiunea HALPRO - primul bombardament USAAF asupra României - 12 iunie 1942". iar80flyagain.org (in Romanian). 2022-11-25.
  9. ^ "Raport Subsecretariat de Stat al Aerului". iar80flyagain.org (in Romanian). 2023-05-17.
  10. ^ a b Zaloga 2019, p. 82.
  11. ^ a b Zaloga 2019, pp. 84–85.
  12. ^ "Efectele bombardamentelor asupra rafinăriilor". iar80flyagain.org (in Romanian). 2023-05-17.
  13. ^ Zaloga 2019, pp. 85–87.
  14. ^ Horia Stoica (22 September 2022). "IAR III-Producția în timpul războiului, bombardarea și dispersarea fabricii-1941-1945". independentaromana.ro (in Romanian).
  15. ^ Zaloga 2019, p. 87.
  16. ^ a b Zaloga 2019, pp. 88–90.
  17. ^ Axworthy 1995, p. 313.
  18. ^ a b c Frank Joseph (2011). The Axis Air Forces: Flying in Support of the German Luftwaffe. ABC-CLIO. pp. 171–175.
  19. ^ a b David Gunby (10 February 2017). "Mining the Danube in 1944". RAFCommands Forum.
  20. ^ Bill Taylor. "A Tight Squeeze". Scottish Saltire Aircrew Association.
  21. ^ a b Lucian Dobrovicescu. "Aprilie 1944. Moartea vine din cer: Bombardamentele Aliate asupra României". Historia (in Romanian).
  22. ^ "Bombardamentele din aprilie 1944 ale aviației anglo-americane asupra Bucureștilor și Ploieștilor". Agerpres (in Romanian). 4 April 2019.
  23. ^ a b "No. 40 Squadron Wellington X ME990 -R F/O. Lawrence Franklin Tichborne". aircrewremembered.com. October 2018.
  24. ^ "No. 614 Squadron Halifax II JP225 F/O. Bruce Willard Prange DFC". aircrewremembered.com. October 2018.
  25. ^ a b Bernád 2003, p. 53.
  26. ISBN 973-96405-8-3
    .
  27. ^ Axworthy 1995, p. 314.
  28. ^ "Operatiunea Reunion (I)". iar80flyagain.org (in Romanian). 2022-10-28.
  29. ^ Daniel Haulman (30 May 2012). "Operation Reunion and the Tuskegee Airmen" (PDF). Air Force Historical Research Agency.
  30. ^ Axworthy 1995, p. 221.
  31. ^ Greg Kelley; Jason Long. "Romanian Armour in World War Two". Archived from the original on 26 September 2003.

Bibliography

  • Axworthy, Mark (1995). Third Axis, Fourth Ally: Romanian Armed Forces in the European War, 1941–1945. London: Arms and Armour.
  • Bernád, Dénes (20 June 2003). Rumanian Aces of World War 2.
    ISBN 978-1-84176-535-8
    .
  • ISBN 9781472831965
    .
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