PLOESTI RAID
WIDESPREAD DAMAGE
EYE-WITNESS'S EVIDENCE
Rec. ,11.15 a.m. LONDON, August 3. Rumanians and Germans are still fighting monster fires which are raging throughout the entire petroleum area at Ploesti, an eye-witness of the American raid told the Ankara correspon-! dent of the Associated Press of Great Britain in a telephone conversation from Rumania. The raiders hit almost everything that was worth while in the entire mile-long pumping and refinery district in and around Ploesti. A terrific air battle raged when swarms of German and Rumanian fighters which had waited at a great height for the arrival of the Americans pounced on them as they neared their target. The defences had been on the alert for nearly an hour because the raiders' flight was charted as they crossed Bulgaria. The eye-witness said that he saw some big bombers crash, but that many more fighters were destroyed. The raiders headed straight for individual targets, and did not heed the fierce fighter opposition. The lowlevel attack of the bombers disorganised the ground defences. It is impossible to assess the damage, but the eye-witness estimated that production was halved. Three Liberators and about 27 of the crews who participated in the Ploesti attack made a forced landing at Smyrna, reports Reuters Istanbul correspondent. They are being detained pending inquiry. PL.6ESTI RAID CASUALTIES Rec. 9 a.m. LONDON, August 3. A Rumanian communique on the Ploesti raid states that civilian casualties total 116 dead and 147 injured, of which 63 dead and 60 injured were prisoners in the town prison, on the roof of which an American plane crashed in flames. The King visited wounded at Ploesti and Campina and the Chief of Government, General Antonescu, immediately after the raid, visited the oil centre.
LANDING IN TURKEY
LONDON, August 3. Reuter reports from Istanbul that seven of the United States Liberators which made the daylight attack on the Ploesti oilfields are now known to have made forced landings in Turkey. An eighth bomber came down just outside Turkish territory.
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/EP19430804.2.65
Bibliographic details
Evening Post, Volume CXXXVI, Issue 30, 4 August 1943, Page 5
Word Count
334
PLOESTI RAID
Evening Post, Volume CXXXVI, Issue 30, 4 August 1943, Page 5
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