Ploesti Raid Part of Air Force Heritage

[Cavelson]

First you were nazis and after it you're commies. Nigga please!

[WspEEdEEW]

What more can you say? Now you hear everybody talking about Romania like a poor, dirty country. They still playing heroes in Iraq now, shooting their families like they did to ours in this war! There is this Romanian expression that I want to dedicate to you: "La naiba cu voi, fatalailor!"

[stanciuSIE]

fuck america and fuck russia! Romanians are the oldest european peoples.

[tirpitz19]

@stanciuSIE Ai drieptate ma.Noi sintim pe aiste meleaguri de cind erau dinozaurii

[lapusteanu]

Yeah...American heroes who weren't fighting for their cause...and receiving Medal of Honour just because they came back safely from their mission...they were lucky to come back...my grandma was living near Ploiesti and she told me stories about Romanian authorities who were hiding American pilots to protect them from the Germans...how about that?

[perfectaliment]

Of the 177 B24 that took part in the mission 54 were lost and 53 planes were damaged. that's a fact!

[decoysetter]

If you knew you were living close to a place that you KNEW was going to be bombed, why in God's name would you remain? Was the AAC bombing worse than what the Nazi's did to your countrymen? I doubt it.

[flightwing600]

well at least the brave crews of the usaaf never backed down and put as many jerry's and romanians in early graves where they belong

[timisica]

This was the biggest defeat in the history of USAAF. They outnumbered and outgunned our IAR 80, but still, our soldiers were so brave too keep protecting their lands. Of course the americans received the Medal of Honour, because they were so few left. There was NO GERMAN FORCE AT ALL, NO LUFTWAFE, ONLY THE BRAVE ROMANIAN HEROES.

[loron91423]

We lost a family member in the raid. As I understand they were the first plane in plus being a rookie crew. God Bless

[danielnordeen]

Wow So much ignorance I am surprised the American haters do not know the facts. Guess that's not surpising since they were dominated by Nazi Germany and then Communist Russia where free speech would get you a trip to a gulag or gas chamber. This mission had many failures but it kept the Luftwaffe and may AA batteries engaged to defend it. It also was bombed into ruin over next year deprived the Nazi war machine of oil crucial to its survival. God Bless these men's American spirit of can do!

[hmanwarren1]

I am confused by all the anti-American comments. Romania was allied with the Nazis (the mass killers). Your beef is with Germany not America. I say what I say to all ungrateful children, You're welcome.

[carlosukastrochat]

@hmanwarren1 I agree with your post. They are just spoiled little brats who have never had to go through anything plus they grew up in an air conditioned society with color tv.

[IanHunedoara8]

@hmanwarren1 Yes and as a result of its unwise decision to ally with Germany Romania got an opportunity to indulge in a little genocide of its own while committing horrendous massacres in Cisinau and former TransDnestria

[GeorgeRR1978]

@IanHunedoara8 My friend, you should know better that we have allied one evil to defend the other. In 1940 Soviet Union invaded part of our country, remember? Present day republic of Moldova. THAT is why Romania allied with Germany, to fight on the eastern front, to gain back its teritorry.

[GeorgeRR1978]

Respond to this video...But you are right, the dictatorial guvernment of Romania was resposible for mass killing as you say. 

[GeorgeRR1978]

@hmanwarren1 Hello, the poster are young kids frustrated that this Tidal Wave version is not completly accurate; first of all, Romanian pilots were most of the force defending Ploiesti and secondly a lot of of bombs destroyed the city itself. But, you should be informed that we allied Germany because in 1940 Soviet Union invaded part of our country, we fought along them to get it back. Not out of love, but for our own survival as a nation we were cought between. God bless US!

[Paratroper09]

The heroism of...bla bla bla I-a rupt anti-aeriana HAHAHAHAHA In you face americans

[IanHunedoara8]

Ploiesti served double purpose besides to deprive Hitler of oil supply also made Antonescu gov't rethink its alliance with Germany

[Godsinwar]

Uauuu!!! Que coragem!!!

[dimgwalltameiben]

I've been reading these comments and Romania is next to Ukraine but the language is like Latin even down to case inflections. Weird!

[somedaysatan]

The Eastern/Byzantine Empire lasted until the sack of Constatinople by the Turks in 1453. Until that date Romania had been at first a province of the Roman Empire and than the Eastern Roman Empire. It was an important European province for the Empire and was close to Constantinople and thus heavily influenced by Roman culture and civilization for over 1,400 years (1st Century BCE - 1453 CE). This is why they have a heavy latin influence in their language.

[MihaiPaulBotosani]

@dimgwalltameiben You see, Romania is surrounded by slavic countries(except for Rep. of Moldova and Hungary). The slavic migrators (originating from Poland, Russia and Ukraine) could not assimilate our old culture so they moved further in the south. However, Romanian language has a few slavic words as a result of the migrations

[63Jax]

Oricat ii injurati voi pe americani aici tot nu au facut mai mult prapad in tara asta decat au facut jegosii de rusi, ei ne-au adus tara in halul asta cu comunismul lor. Oricum bombardamentele din Tidal Wave au fost un esec si au fost foarte costisitoare pt aviatia aliatilor. As fi preferat sa ramanen de partea nemtilor pana la capat.

[TheZalmoxes]

Fuck the bull sheat called america.I hope one day to see the same over america.

[loron91423]

Our cousin was on the lead plane which was shot down and all were lost. His last name was Griswold. God Bless all those who served.

[pufycino]

Im happy that my great grandfather killed your cousin's sorry ass! A romanian. hahhahhaaaaa Next time stay out of SOMEONE ELSE'S COUNTRY!

[countersniperssr]

maybe you do not know how many Americans pilots loose their lifes there hunted by Romanians IAR 81. More than you loose in Dresda or Hamburg..But I am not glad for that...

[GeorgeRR1978]

@pufycino you are a stupid low ass hole. I am a Romanian too, Romanians treated well the POWs and always respected the Americans ; we have waited them to free us , remember, mother fucker low life. Hey, US people please excuse this comment, it's out of frustration that the documentaries are not saying anything about Romanians and civilian losses.

[foxxbiker]

americanii dobitoci nu au nimerit tintele propuse,rafinariile ,campuri petroliere ,bla bla..insa au distrus casele civililor ploiesteni,gara de sud,puscaria ,bulevardul castanilor ..nu e de mirare ca unii piloti "aliati"care au aterizat fortat pe campurile din jurul ploiestiului au fost linsati de catre localnici...

[Snsuzele]

muther fucker american's

[aditzaditzaditza]

cititi cartea lui ioan grigorescu"bine ati venit in infern" ca sa intelegeti ce sa intamplat la ploiesti in 1 august 1943

[pondword23]

My dad was a pilot and subsequently a POW of the low level raids. The men who survived are heroes whether the mission was a turkey shoot or a not.

[Oracolul2009]

deci cucoana spune ca au pornit americanii viteji sa bombardeze Ploiestiul , au traversat ei Mediterana dar i-a prins vremea rea si unii din ei s-au ratacit... altii au nimerit Ploiestiul dar apararea antiaeriana era mai puternica decat se asteptau ei si atunci s-au intors de unde au venit ca sa evite o decimare in masa... pentru fapta asta de vitejie s-au acordat pilotilor 5 Medalii de Onoare , cel mai mare numar de decoratii date vreodata intr-o singura misiune... ciudati americanii astia...

[douasutesase]

Recomand cartea lui N. Grigorescu

Bine ati venit in infern...

[MirceaBv]

Fiecare invingator isi scrie propria istorie glorioasa! Chiar daca ea de multe ori nu a fost asa!

[MihaiPaulBotosani]

@Oracolul2009 E tipic american. Dar stii cum au ei gura mare, tot ei sunt eroi. Dezgustator

[Dannoo007]

was a turkey shoot !

[ursucarnivor]

you got owned yanks:))))

[NocturalRyte]

Last time I checked we won the war, asshole.

[ursucarnivor]

romania won the war too motherfucker excuse me.but we wont with the russians until the czeh republic.ohh yeah and you got owned at ploiesti;)

[dmh1909]

you were able to fight and win against the Germans and the Japanese, but some dirty Muslims reveal, daily, an incredible weakness of the US Military..!

[podgornairazvan]

Everyone is talking only about the bombers and consider only those 53 bombers that where downed on Romanian territory.Ask yourself how many have they made it home and what happened to the fighters escorting this formation

[razastegaru]

they had no fighter escort.

[riflelord2]

in the early 1943 they didin't have a fighter the could travel that far

[Dangurt]

My Father was the Capt of Thudermug. He was the youngest in the group of Liberators to get to fly. His Capt had dysentary and didnt make the mission. His 2 wingmen tried talking him into leaving formation comming home ad he declied. They crashed into eachother in the clouds. He would have been in the middle of the formation. The book Ploesti by James Duga is great. R.I.P. Russel Lognecker!

[vikings46554]

Allow me to enlighten you, my fathet went on the initial mission from North Africa and was a tailgunner in the 449th Bomb group. The cost was high, 75% of those that went never returned due to incompetence my father said by the officer's who planned this operation.

[lucisuciu]

.. hey people , to be correct , " only " 56 % of planes were lost, in total ... but that s quite a lot .. after this opperation americans changed the strategy and bombed targets only from high altitude ... with low accuracy , unfortunately...

[cavter]

this was the "tidal wave" opperation.

[vortex8612]

the oilfields are one thing, but a lot of civilian structures were hit. i'm from ploiesti and i know this for a fact. there are very few surviving buildings older than the late forties.

[47blackdeath]

@vortex8612 , prietene, la Ploiesti au cam mancat bataie. Se spune ca nici nu se asteptau la o asa intampinare cum le'a fost facuta acolo. A fost cea mai mare infrangere aviatica suferita de USAAF. Si nu, nu nemtii ii asteptau, ii asteptau zburatorii nostrii. Au fost vanati de IAR 80 si mai putine Me. In fine, pacat ca na ferim sa spunem adevarul pentru ca vrem sa pupam in ** pe x si pe y. Se intoarce Bazu in mormant cand afla ca romanii si'au pierdut si demnitatea. pacat .. o tara atat frumoasa

[alanheath3]

@vortex8612 I think it was very difficult to hit a target with any degree of accuracy in those days so I am not surprised that there was this much damage.

When did oil production at Ploesti stop?

[aserta]

u're a bitch and u deserve to die, u're also a discrace to the brave soldiers that fought on both sides.

[Floryn21]

fuck you america USA

[gorillaman78]

Way off base. My grandfather went on the Ploesti raid and said they dropped their bombs right in the pickle barrel. 75% bombers returned 25% losses due to German (only) 88's and flak. Smoke over target caused problems as well.

[hagi699]

Only 7% of the planes sent to bomb Ploiesti made it out. The other 93% were destroyed by the Romanian defences

[jordy22222]

The "Tidal Wave" bombing operation was a fiasco for US Air Forces. They lost many Liberators, hit by the Romanian-German AA and aviation. My grandfather a veteran of those days told me they used to fire their Oerlokon AA cannons till they started to glow red-white. Hopefully Romania was a Heaven for the prisoners although Allied bombers killed a lot of civilians. WW2 was after all an dirty war and Romania caught in the middle paid an unfair price for the next 55 years.

[keymankeys1960]

sounds like you all forget who won...the USA kicked the hell out of the Nazi puke.The great Nazi leaders either ran like hell or lay dead in a bunker.

[andreiclawhammer]

Well it wasn't just the USA ,it was The Allies, and Russians entered first Berlin , but I admit ,Europe would have fallen and conquered(Russians or Germans whateva, same scum to me) if it weren't for the US. Still you guys abandoned us( Eastern Europe I mean) to the russians ,that's why Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary ,Slovakia, Belarus, had to endure a period of Soviet control !

[podgornairazvan]

It was no surprise ,they've got their asses kicked there ,only 5% of the Liberators survived that attack

[qajk24]

WRONG - I don't call a loss of 54 B-24s from the 178 that flew the mission a return of only 5%. Do the math.

[Xterraman]

wow, look at that B24 fold up in explosion.....coool.

[haiducs]

pretty cool. Just as cool as the fact that no plane had ever returned to the base. The ones who hadn't been shot down fell later into the Mediteranean Sea or landed on other fields.

[Xterraman]

the worst part was that those yank prisoners had to clean up the field by picking up body parts of their commrades in a trash bag.

[haiducs]

War is like this. The Ploiesti oil rafinery was a dman important military objective at the time, that i can understand. What i can't understand is why was so important the Bucharest North Railway station. How do u think it was looking after the "yanks" took care of it?

[obecian]

Are you saying the B-24's did not return to base because if that's so, How do I explain to my family that their Grandfather died before I was born ! Duh...

[haiducs]

Read about Operation Tidal Wave. There were more american rides over Romania, but only one with this name. Your old man must have been in another one and anyway, i didn't say there were no survivals. There ware many prisoners, the ones that managed to bail out. And the ones who got into romanians' hands have beeb treated well, unlike the ones who got captured by the germans. So many of them made it back.

[obecian]

My Dad was in the 15th Air force - He was based in Italy-. I am not sure of the name of the "rides" , but they did have more than a few missions over Ploesti--- I have a copy of the waist gunner's dairy and it has every one of the 51 missions he was in. And thank goodness, he did not bail out - they landed back in Italy every time.

Thanks for the clarification. I did look up Operation Tidal Wave. You are right. That was not the 15th.

[Anton1941]

Ill tell you a little story Haiducule..

German bomber pilots who bombed Moscow in 41 and 42 and who happened to be shot down were killed imediately by the Russians. They did not take prisoners or were as "nice" as us.

They simply stated that "enemy paratroopers" had landed.

After this, there was no German who volunteered to fly over Moscow and bomb it.

We should have done the same to those American criminals because having treated them decently, we got nothing good in return, nor will we..

[haiducs]

that is correct, and i heard of stories like that too. Well I think it's in our culture (sure it WAS at the time) to be friendly to everyone without asking anything in return. My grandmother who at the time was living in Giurgiu, said that some american prisoneers have been taken by the local police, and they were only 19-20 years old boys.

[Anton1941]

Have you heard of the romanian fighter pilot who was killed while hanging from his parachute?

The American in his P-51 just turned around and opened fire on him, tearing him apart in the air. Some curageous historians in romania now write books about the bombing of towns, hospitals, railway stations and bread factories.. there were alot more evil things done to us,..on purpose and unecessary.. but we keep quiet because we want to remain "frendly" to the west ..

[haiducs]

Never heard about the unhappy pilot episode, honestly, but if you say it was so I belive you (chiar m-ai facut curios, vreau si eu sa stiu mai multe despre acest episod). By the other hand, I know that our pilots were flying IAR80 which was CONSTANTLY reported as FW 190, and the Bf 109 - the deadliest German fighter. It is likely that the American pilots didn't know who they were dealing with, although the painting scheme was totally different - u know how the americans are.Shit happens.

[VercingetorixXIII]

@Anton1941 Wow, Im sorry... we have done so much dirt to each other are you polish?

[datzfast]

@Anton1941 it sould be done he might kill another person if he lives