Air Force the Official Service Journal - Air Force Historical Studies ...

fallen into Allied hands, thus making complete cv.iluutiou
possib!c.
At Plocsti, the oil region covers an area of 10 SCJuare miles,
densely crowded \\ith refineries and pumpim; stations interconnected
witl: a r~lil\\ay network. The pl.uits arc in three
principal groups-at Plocst i, Ciuupin.r and BLI/.iI-and were
potentially capable of a erucic oil output of 709,000 tons per
month. The largest of these units, Astra Rom.mu. served as
the central recei\ing station for oil from most of the other
plants, and pumped it to the Giurgiu tcnninal of the pipeline
on the Dn nub«, oyer \yhich it wus transported to the
Reich. The proximity of Romania to the J'\,II,i forces on the
Russian front enabled the Ccrmans to supply them with
case, while some of the fnel requirements of the hard pressed
divivious in lt.ilv could also be met with Romanian lnbricants
.md gasoliile.
When the first attackins; party of 177 13-24s c.unc mer
without fighter escort in the now historic low-level attack of
»
;/
.: //
I
\~
\'\
\ '
August l , I 04 3, a tremendous amount of damage was accomplished
in spite of the loss of ;4 planes. i\stra Rom.ma's
powerhouse \\,1' pnt out of operation ,Illd its CLIcking inst.illation
\\'as demolished, ,IS \\cll ,IS h.ilf of its fllllctioning
c'Ixlcih'. Crcclitul ~Iinier, Colombia Acquila and Stcllia
H,Olllana-tlnce of Plocsf i's most uioclcrn pLlllts--\\'ere hit
Ii.ud , l lulf of the Phoenix Orion rctiucrv \\'as obliterated,
and the Lumina works had a large proportion of its vital
parts reduced to rubble.
At the t imc of the opening salvo agal11st German oil in
c.i rlv 1944, Plocst i's cst itu.rtc«] production was 4;S.OOO tons
of crude output per month, of which 177.000 tons repre-
.s('nted m.ixim um g,ISO]inc production. During April the
I Sth Air hJree--this time flying at 2(),000 feet with fighter
escort-softened up the tIrget for its Sundav punch hy
pouuding the r.ulroud lll,nsh,I1Jing yards wh ic]: lie to the
north and south of the oil fields themselves.
From J\lav on, the heavies couccutr.rtcd on the rcfi ncr ics.
The enel1l~" reacted with strong countermeasures of active
and paxxivc defense, exploiting e\'CT\' old trick and a couple
of new ones. Their fighters were up in force. with the
Romanian and J'\al.i pilots f1\'ing \, Il;~-lOC)s. Antiaircraft
guns, including four-barreled 20 Illlll, SS m m , 10:; nun and
J 2S I1IIll guns, threw lip a curtain of fbk that at all times
was hcavv, intense and accurate.
But fighter interception nnd ack-uck were not the sole
extent of Hitler's defense prcpa rnt ious. Bcginning with the
L1St strike in \[;1\', the whole Plocsti area \\'as screened bv a
thick. s\\'ir1ing ,irtifici;l1 fog, ;\pproximateh' 2,()()() snll')ke
geuerators were cmplovcd ill this c.rpacitv, and funct imu-d
in the same marmcr cvcrv time Allied airmen came O\Tr. On
the hst hlttle, however, there \I'as hut little smoke, Conliuuccl
halllmering of comrnunication lines had p.iid off, .md
\ '\
he oil blitz has been a constant struggle between offense and
defense.
~.
Damage at Ploesti shows plainly which is succeeding
I
\ \
\ \
I
JI 'I
'~-:J:
DECEMBER, 1944 35