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lose all access to Romanian oil at the end of
August 1944, when the country surrendered in
the face of Soviet invasion.
The Fifteenth’s four fighter groups that re-
equipped with the P-51 between March and June
1944 - the 31st, 52nd, 322nd and 325th - racked
up impressive scores against both the Romanian
Air Force and the Luftwaffe on these missions.
Herschel Green, the 325th group’s leading ace,
who was a veteran of the North African, Sicilian
and Italian campaigns, later recalled that the air
battles over Romania were “the most intense
combat I experienced in my tour.” Ploesti was
so important that two Luftwaffe Gruppen -
including Erich Hartmann’s II/JG 52 - were
withdrawn from the Eastern Front to reinforce
the Ploesti defenses.
With the Ploesti campaign’s demonstrated
success, Spaatz once again asked Eisenhower for
permission to bomb the synthetic oil refineries.
When Eisenhower told him to wait till the end
of summer, an argument broke out between the
two that was so intense it was rumored Spaatz
had threatened to resign. Eisenhower relented
by authorizing the Eighth to attack on two days
in May when weather over France prevented
bombing of rail targets.
The first mission was flown on May 12, 886
bombers were sent to bomb a complex of
synthetic oil plants in central and eastern
Germany and met significant aerial opposition.
The 352nd Fighter Group’s John C. Meyer
almost became someone else’s score in a battle
over the synthetic oil plant at Prenzlau. Meyer
spotted a combat wing of Fortresses rocked
by explosions and took two 487th squadron
flights to investigate, closer, Meyer saw several
parachutes in the air, then spotted three gaggles
of enemy aircraft. He quickly lost the first two he
spotted in the heavy haze, but one Bf 109 from
the third flight failed to reach the sanctuary of
the haze and Meyer set it on fire with one burst.
After watching it crash, he spotted an airfield
with bombers on it and made a run in which
he destroyed a He 177. As he pulled up, a Bf 109
bounced him and he only managed to escape
with a series of violent maneuvers taken at
a low enough altitude he thought for a moment
he might crash. Meyer was able to return to
Bodney to complete the last mission of his first
tour of duty, with claims that raised his score to
15.5, including 8.5 aerial victories.
The Eighth lost 46 bombers on the May
12 missions. However, the aerial battles had been
one of the worst days for the Jagdwaffe, which
reported losing 61 fighters. Albert Speer wrote
of the strike in his memoirs, stating, “On that
day, the technological war was decided.” Speer
authorized top priority to repairing the synthetic
oil refineries and crews worked 24 hours a day
to restore production.
On May 28 and 29, the Eighth’s bombers
returned to hit the newly-repaired facilities
while the Fifteenth hit Ploesti with its biggest
attacks. ULTRA intercepts in June confirmed
that gasoline production had been cut in half.
Following these attacks, Speer told Hitler that
if the enemy persisted in these attacks over
the summer, Germany would have no way to
prosecute the war by fall.
With the invasion a week away, a larger
campaign would have to await victory in
Normandy. Strategic bombing had finally found
the target that would change the war.
By mid-June, the Allies were firmly ashore in
Normandy. General Spaatz renewed his request
that the Eighth be allowed to resume attacks on
the synthetic oil industry. Eisenhower had him
written permission to divert the bombers from
direct support of the invasion on days when
there was good weather over Germany and
were no missions against “Crossbow sites” (the
German V-1 launch sites) or infantry support.
The synthetic oil plants were located near
coal deposits in the Ruhr, Silesia, south of Berlin
and Leipzig. These plants produced 75 percent
of Germany’s total fuel supplies: 85 percent of
high-grade diesel and gasoline, and all aviation
gasoline.
Nearly one-third of this production was
concentrated in the massive Leuna plant outside
Merseburg and Politz, 70 miles northeast of
Berlin. Five other plants located in central
Germany produced another third.
The Leuna plant’s 250 buildings covered
three square miles and employed 35,000
workers, 10,000 of them slave laborers or POWs.
A facility that size should have been easy to
hit with precision bombing, but the German
defenses involved greasy black smoke sent
up from hundreds of small ovens that ruined
visibility. Additionally, decoy buildings that were
constructed outside the plant were bombed as
much as the plant itself. The plant was protected
by 600 radar-supported 88mm anti-aircraft
HISTORY
The legendary Chuck Yeager on the wing of his second P-15, P-51D "Glamourus Glen II" in which
he shot down an Me 262 in November 1944.
INFO Eduard
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July 2024