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 are acknowledged, affirmed and commemorated.
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Posted on 01/27/2003 5:37:14 AM PST by SAMWolf
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are acknowledged, affirmed and commemorated.
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Losses on the first large-scale Ploesti raid were staggering, heroism unsurpassed.  Why did Ploesti merit that unprecedented effort? In mid-1943, seven refineries in and near the city were producing an estimated 35 percent of Germany's oil and an equal proportion of her aviation gasoline. Some Allied planners thought that destruction of the refineries might even force the Nazis out of the war. The task force put together for Ploesti was composed of two Ninth Air Force B-24 groups--the 376th and 98th--based in North Africa and three B-24 groups from Eighth Air Force--the 93d, 44th, and the recently arrived 389th--that were moved from their UK bases to fields in North Africa near Benghazi, Libya. The attack was set for Sunday, Aug. 1, in order to minimize casualties among impressed workers at the refineries. It was meticulously planned and thoroughly rehearsed, including two full-scale practice missions against a simulation of the Ploesti targets, laid out in a remote area of the desert. In concept, if not in execution, the plan of attack was simple, its essence: surprise and precision. The bomber stream would be led by the 376th Group under Col. Keith K. Compton, followed by the 93d, 98th, 44th, and 389th in that order. Specific buildings within the five refineries in Ploesti; the refinery at Campina, 18 miles northwest of the city; and one at Brazi, five miles to the south, were assigned to elements of the five groups.  The task force, totaling 177 B-24s with Brig. Gen. Uzal Ent as mission commander flying in Compton's aircraft, would take off between 4 and 5 a.m., fly north in a tight column of groups to Corfu (off the coast of Greece), then climb over the mountains of Albania and Yugoslavia to the Danubian plain, where they would descend below enemy radar coverage. At Pitesti, the first Initial Point (IP), the 389th would break off to the left and proceed to the refinery at Campina. The four leading groups would drop to 500 feet and continue to the final IP at Floresti, where they would begin a 13-mile bomb run on five refineries in the city and the one at Brazi, descending to treetop level for bomb release. All six refineries would be hit almost simultaneously by a single wave of bombers, flying line-abreast, that would saturate the defenses. That was the plan. Winston Churchill is credited with observing that "in war, nothing ever goes according to plan except occasionally, and then by accident." Ploesti was no exception. In the long flight over the Mediterranean, the column lost some of its cohesion, with the 376th and 93d Groups slightly ahead of the other three. Then, near Corfu, the lead aircraft with the route navigator went out of control and crashed. (Ent and Compton were not in the lead bomber, but in a position to assume the lead when a final turn to the bomb run was made.) A second 376th aircraft bearing the deputy route navigator followed down to look for survivors. Unable to climb back in time to rejoin the group, it returned to Benghazi. Now ahead of the formation towering cumulus clouds rose above the mountains. The two lead groups threaded their way through or under the clouds, while the 98th, 44th, and 389th penetrated the cloud line at varying altitudes. By the time those three had reformed a column and resumed a heading for Pitesti, the first two groups were 29 minutes ahead of them. Because of radio silence, Ent and Compton could not contact the trailing groups. Not knowing whether or not those groups had turned back, they decided to follow the operations order even though they might have to go it alone. Thus, the five groups actually proceeded toward Pitesti as two widely separated forces. A surprise attack on the refineries in Ploesti by a single wave of some 140 bombers, that dominant key to success at an acceptable cost, was beyond redemption.  The chain of circumstance was not yet complete. The 376th and 93d Groups made their turn at Pitesti and headed for the final IP at Floresti. Halfway between the two IPs lay the town of Targoviste, which closely resembled Floresti. Flying at very low altitude, the 376th mistook Targoviste for the IP and turned southeast on the briefed bomb-run heading, which took the two groups to the west of Ploesti--an error that wasn't discovered until they were on the outskirts of Bucharest. At that point, Ent broke radio silence, ordering the two groups to turn north and attack targets of opportunity in the complex of refineries. The 93d Group, led by Lt. Col. Addison E. Baker, a National Guard officer who had been called to active duty in 1940, caught a glimpse of refineries off to the left. He and his pilot, Maj. John Jerstad, who had completed his combat tour but volunteered for the mission, bored in on an unidentified refinery, which turned out to be Columbia Aquila, a 44th Group target. Enemy defenses, much heavier than anticipated, were thoroughly aroused. More than 230 antiaircraft guns, supported by many barrage balloons and smoke pots, surrounded the refineries, with perhaps 400 fighters in the area. Into a maelstrom of ground fire, Baker led the group. Short of the refinery, his B-24 was hit and burst into flames. Baker and Jerstad could have bellied in on open fields or pulled up to bailout altitude and probably saved themselves and their crew. But this was a mission on which some thought the outcome of the war might hinge. Without wavering, they led the bombers straight on to the refinery before crashing into the ground. Both Baker and Jerstad were awarded the Medal of Honor posthumously. Off to the right of their funeral pyre, a second element of the 93d bombed two refineries assigned to the 98th Group. Meanwhile, five B-24s of the 376th Group led by Maj. Norman C. Appold hit the Concordia Vega refinery, originally assigned to the 93d, and "emerged covered with soot" as other 376th bombers unloaded on various segments of the Ploesti complex.  While the 376th and 93d were making the best of a bad situation, the other three, led by veteran pilot Col. John R. "Killer" Kane, commander of the 98th, turned at Pitesti as planned. The tail-end 389th under Col. Jack Wood broke off to the northeast, bombing the refinery at Campina to complete destruction. Four aircraft were lost to flak, one of them piloted by 21-year-old 2d Lt. Lloyd H. Hughes, who was on his fifth combat mission. His B-24, hit by ground fire, leaked streams of gasoline from wing and bomb-bay tanks. Below lay wheat fields, where Hughes could have landed, but instead he drove on through the smoke and flame created by the bombers ahead of him, struck his target, and came out with his left wing sheathed in flame. His desperate attempt to save the crew by crash-landing on a lake bed failed when one wing of the blazing B-24 hit a river bank and the plane exploded. The mission's third posthumous Medal of Honor was awarded to Hughes.
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Today's classic warship, USS Gudgeon (SS-211)
Gar class submarine
Displacement. 1,475
Lenght. 307'
Beam. 27'3"
Draft. 13'3"
Speed. 20 k.
Complement. 85
Armament. 1 3", 2 .50 cal, 2 .30 cal, 10 21" tt
USS GUDGEON was launched by the Mare Island Navy Yard 25 January 1941, sponsored by Mrs. William S. Pye, and commissioned 21 April 1941 at Mare Island, Lt. Comdr. Elton W. Grenfell in command.
After shakedown along the California coast, GUDGEON sailed north 28 August, heading for Alaska via Seattle. On her northern jaunt the new submarine inspected Sitka, Kodiak, and Dutch Harbor for suitability as naval bases. Continuing to Hawaii, she moored at the Pearl Harbor submarine base 10 October. Training exercises and local operations filled GUDGEON's time for the next 2 months. When the Japanese struck at Pearl Harbor 7 December she was at Lahaina Roads on special exercises, but returned to base immediately.
America's Pacific Fleet had been seriously damaged by the sneak attack on Pearl Harbor but powerful strength remained as GUDGEON and her fellow submarine soon offered convincing proof. On 11 December GUDGEON, in company with PLUNGER, sailed from Pearl Harbor on her, and America's, first submarine offensive patrol of World War II. When she returned some 51 days later, GUDGEON had contributed two more impressive "firsts" to the Pacific submarine fleet. She was the first American sub marine to patrol along the Japanese coast itself, as her area took her off Kyushu in the home islands. And on 27 January 1942 GUDGEON became the first U.S. Navy submarine to sink an enemy warship in World War II, Japanese submarine I-173. The Japanese submarine had just returned from a patrol which took her well into American water off the coast of California and Washington.
On her second war patrol, 22 February to 15 April 1942 GUDGEON scored kills on two unknown marus, both freighters, 26 and 27 March. She then checked into dry-dock for overhaul, but undocked 3 weeks early and readied for sea in a remarkable 40 hours to participate in the momentous Battle of Midway. Departing Pearl Harbor 18 May, GUDGEON took station off Midway as part of the submarine screen which encircled the two giant fleets clashing there. Although she had a ringside seat for the action, which saw Japan handed its first naval defeat in 350 years, GUDGEON was prevented from offensive action by the confusion of battle and the possibility of mistaken identity. She returned to Pearl Harbor 14 June.
Departing for her fourth patrol 11 July, GUDGEON sank 4,858-ton NANIWA MARU in a night submerged attack 3 August, her only kill of the patrol. An aggressive attack on a four-ship convoy 17 August seriously damaged two marus before the patrol ended at Fremantle, Australia, 2 September. Now a part of the Southwestern Pacific submarine forces, GUDGEON sank 8,783-ton CHOKO MARU 21 October during her fifth war patrol, 8 October to 1 December, and carried out a daring attack on a seven ship convoy 11 November, torpedoing several ships but sinking none. The submarine's sixth war patrol (27 December 1942-18 February 1913 ) was unsuccessful terms of ships sunk, but she carried out two special missions. On 14 January 1943 GUDGEON successfully land six men on Mindanao, Philippines, to carry out the vital guerrilla resistance movement there. Returning from her patrol area, GUDGEON was diverted to Timor Island 9 February, and the following day rescued 28 men-Australian, English, Portuguese, and Filipino-for passage to Fremantle.
GUDGEON's seventh war patrol (13 March April) netted her two more Japanese ships before she ran out of torpedoes and had to return to Australia. On 22 March she sank 5,434-ton MEIGEN MARU as well as seriously damaging two other ships in the convoy. Five days later GUDGEON took on 9,997-ton tanker TOKO MARU in a night surface attack punctuated by bursts of gunfire as the Japanese ships spotted and fired on the submarine. It took five torpedoes to sink TOKO MARU, and most of GUDGEON's crew enjoyed the rare treat of watching her slide into the depths.
On her eighth war patrol, conducted as she sailed from Australia to Pearl Harbor 15 April to 25 May 1943, GUDGEON chalked up three more kills. Her first came 28 April as she sank KAMAKURA MARU, a former ocean liner. The 17,52-ton transport was the largest Japanese transport, and one of the largest enemy ships sunk by an American submarine. Special operations interrupted GUDGEON's patrol as she landed six trained guerrilla fighters and 3 tons of equipment for the guerrilla movement on Panay 30 April. After sinking a small trawler, NOKO MARU, with her deck guns 4 May, GUDGEON battle-surfaced again that same day and left a coastal steamer burning and settling. Eight days later, 12 May, she torpedoed and sank freighter SUMATRA MARU. Returning to Pearl Harbor, the veteran submarine was sent to San Francisco for badly needed overhaul, her first since commissioning 2 years earlier.
A refreshed sub and crew departed Pearl Harbor for their ninth war patrol 1 September 1943. Before returning to Midway 6 October with all torpedoes expended, GUDGEON had sunk TAIAU MARU and seriously damaged several others. Heading along the China coast for her 10th war patrol (31 October-11 December), GUDGEON chalked up two more marus. Early in the morning of 23 November she spotted a convoy of four ships and closed for attack. GUDGEON fired a spread of six torpedoes with gratifying results. Frigate, WAKAMIYA, hit by one of the deadly "tin fish" broke in two, sinking almost immediately. A tanker and a freighter were also hit but managed to escape. GUDGEON closed in to administer the kill to transport NEKKA MARU.
Several attacks but no kills highlighted GUDGEON's 11th war patrol. On 2 February 1944, she sighted a damaged carrier with two escorts. GUDGEON closed for attack, but the escorts spotted her in the glassy smooth sea and attacked. A down- the-throat shot with four torpedoes temporarily discouraged the destroyers and allowed GUDGEON to seek deep water and safety, but when she surfaced the Japanese men-of-war were gone. Later in the same patrol GUDGEON was forced to try another down-the-throat shot at an enemy escort, but no hits. She returned to Pearl Harbor 5 March 1944.
GUDGEON sailed for her 12th war patrol 4 April 1944. The battle-tested submarine stopped off at Johnston Island 7 April, and was never seen or heard from again. On 7 June 194, GUDGEON was officially declared overdue and presumed lost. Captured Japanese records shed no light on the manner of her loss, and it must remain one of the mysteries of the silent sea.
During her 3-year career, GUDGEON earned herself a proud place in the Pacific submarine fleet. Her total tonnage sunk, 71,047, placed her 15th on the honor roll of American submarines, and she had accounted for a total of 12 confirmed kills.
For her first seven war patrols GUDGEON received the coveted Presidential Unit Citation. She earned 11 battle stars for World War II service.
Mi24
The Vagabond King, B-24 Liberator #42-40787, shook from the flak concussions, from bullets smashing its windows, and from the roaring rumbling of its four Pratt & Whitney R-1830 fourteen-cylinder radial engines. 1st Lt. John McCormick cursed as the gunner in the top turret opened up with his twin fifties. He was ruining the bomb run! And McCormick wanted to hit this target, the Steaua Romana oil refinery outside Ploesti. General Brereton had told them this raid could shorten the war by six months. McCormick barked out orders to his crew, just as he had done so often in the past two weeks, when the 389th Bomb Group practiced for Operation "Tidal Wave" over the godforsaken Libyan desert outside Benghazi.
"Mosco, bomb bay doors open," to the bombardier, 1st Lt. Marvin Mosco.
"Start the camera, Van," to the radioman, enlisted man Martin Van Buren.
He steadied the stick as the big Liberator sped along the deck at 225 mile per hour, staying close to Hitler's Hearse, Captain R.C. Mooney's plane immediately ahead, so that Mooney's bombs, with 45 second delay fuses, didn't blow up in Vagabond King's nose. Down at chimney height, as black smoke from the bombs and sooty burning hydrocarbons boiled up all around them, suddenly "Bombs away!" and Vagabond jumped up, 4,000 pounds lighter. At that instant, the Hearse, grimly lived up to its name, as it took several direct hits, killing the Capt. Mooney. As more bullets tore into his own bomber, McCormick hoped those workers at Consolidated's San Diego plant had been paying attention when they built his plane. The Vagabond had taken a lot of punishment; one anti-aircraft shell had hit Van and he was a bloody mess.
Paul Miller, the gunner in the A-6 power tail turret, reported that their particular target, the boiler house, had been flattened and was burning fiercely. McCormick hugged the deck as he made his getaway, figuring that the German fighters couldn't dive on them down that low.
The Vagabond King headed south, desperate to get medical attention for the badly wounded Van. They flew over Turkey and touched down at Nicosia airfield, Cyprus as it was getting dark, fourteen hours after they had taken off. They were one of the lucky ones; of 178 B-24's that took off that morning, 54 didn't come back.
Ever find it strange how those singers on Mitch Miller sounded like they were in a concert hall vs. a studio? :) Still, I sang along with 'em.
The "Cadillac" (excuse my mixed metaphor) was the FORD version of the B24, better engines and put together with a better fit than the original ones cranked out by Consolidated...
My 2c worth on the B24...
I'm unaware of any motion picture made about this mission, Sam. There may be one and I'm not remembering it. The mission is depicted on a History Channel tape entitled "Secrets of World War II." I remember it vividly. After perusing THC video tapes on WWII, either it's sold out or been withdrawn. The combat footage is indescribable.
S/Sgt E.O.Hamel, a hell of a guy.
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