15. Operation Tidal Wave was another disaster for the bombing offensive
Operation Tidal Wave was an attack on nine oil refineries in the area surrounding Ploesti, Romania, in 1943. 177 heavy American bombers – B-24 Liberators – were launched against the refineries from bases in the Libyan desert. The B-24s were modified, with extra fuel tanks installed in the bomb bays, limiting the number of bombs each could carry. The flight plan was complicated, requiring precise navigation over the desert, the Mediterranean, Albania, and Yugoslavia. They were then to swing north of the targets and attack them while flying in a southerly direction, avoiding Ploesti itself. The raid was launched on August 1, 1943.
Less than 100 B-24s returned to Libya, nearly all of them damaged. Several crashed in the Mediterranean on the return flight, others diverted to Turkey, where they were interned. 53 were shot down. At least 310 airmen were killed and nearly 200 captured or interned when they landed in Turkey. The Americans claimed at least 40% reduction in production capacity, the Axis determined there was “no curtailment of overall product output”. The Germans lost five fighters in the raid, their Romanian ally two. Nearly all of the damage was repaired and production exceeded that before the raid in a little over three weeks. By any measure, the Ploesti raid was a disastrous failure for the USAAF.
