Ploesti Had To Go

摘要

Known as "hitler's gas station," an enormous complex of Romanian oil refineries was by 1943 supplying 30 to 50 percent of the Third Reich's fuel. Instead of drawn-out high-altitude strikes,Ninth Air Force strategists envisioned a decisive knockout inflicted by Consolidated B-24s attacking from just 200 feet. Advantages of a ground-skimming raid in lumbering bombers with no fighter escort included evading German radar and can't-miss bomb delivery. The drawbacks: almost everything else.