Ploesti Oil Fields a Vital Target To End The War

     Those Brave Crews The Epic Raid to Destroy Hitler's Ploesti Oil Fields, vital to the Nazi war machine. On the mission to the Ploesti oil fields , 1700 volunteers beforehand having been told their lives would be at forfeit, attempted to shorten the war, by so doing to save hundreds of thousands of lives. A massive 'tidal wave' of bombers was sent against the sprawling Ploesti oil fields. Five groups of American B-24 Liberators lifted off from airfields around Benghazi, Libya. Their destination was the huge oil refining complex at Ploesti, Roumania. Code named "Tidal Wave" this raid was designed to take the Axis defenders by surprise and strike a decisive blow against Nazi Germanys oil supply. The young men on board those Liberators knew of Ploesti oil fields importance to Hitler's war machine; they also knew that many of them might not come back. Sadly, the mission was dogged by misfortune from the very beginning.

     Undaunted by a string of unfortunate events, the valiant men of Tidal Wave pressed on to the Ploesti oil fields and a trip through hell. Many crew members experienced dysentery they contracted in North Africa. Despite their affliction, these men reported for duty. "They could not, would not selves excuse/They knew what waited up ahead/And found their strength in duty's call./ Tarfu crewman summed it, neaV'Put your faith in potted seat/And pray ten men at once don't meet. The "cruelest blow" to the crew of Tarfu was the "destruction of their portable commode by flak while over the target."

     The German's were not to be caught unaware on this raid. Allied intelligence, according to Edward Jablonski in his mufti-volume history Air War, believed that the Ploesti oil fields would be defended largely by war-weary Roumanian forces. In fact, the Ploesti Oil Fields was ringed by 40 batteries of heavy "88s" plus hundreds of lighter weapons manned by veteran Luftwaffe crews. The men of Tidal Wave would also face, in the immediate area of the target, three groups of ME-109s and one of ME-110s.

     Breaking up in the clouds over the Balkans, the five groups of Tidal Wave separated into two formations. Due to the enforcement of radio silence, the groups would not see one another again until the confusion of the aerial melee over the Ploesti oil fields. When it was all over Tidal Wave lost 59 of its 165 aircraft (not counting aborts) and 681 men of 1,726 were killed, wounded, missing, or captured. Five Medals of Honor were awarded for the mission, three posthumously. This was the highest number of such distinctions for any single air action of the war.

     Numerous accounts exist of this most famous of some 25 raids on Ploesti. However, Ray Ward's Those Brave Crews has broken new ground in the historical literature on strategic bombing in WW II. Ward's book is indeed a wonderful literary achievement, an epic poem that recreates the hope, terror, and valor that characterized that fateful mission. The most difficult task facing a writer is conveying to the reader a realistic sense of the nature of his topic. Ward's poem, unprecedented in the literature of this era, has fulfilled that task magnificently. His words weave a tapestry of conflicting feelings and emotions: laughter, pride, fear, sorrow. But above all, Ward's tale is one of rare bravery, dedication, and sacrifice. His chosen medium, epic poetry, sets his account above all others through an ability to transport the reader back to those death-filled skies above the Nazi puppet of Roumania.