The Pittsburgh Press (August 4, 1943)
In Ploești raid –
Farmhouses spout ack-ack at U.S. fliers
Anti-aircraft batteries disguised as barns, chicken coops
Tel Aviv, Palestine (UP) – (Aug. 3, delayed)
Four miles from the Ploești oil fields in Romania, innocent-looking farmhouses, barns and chicken coops “opened up and spat out ack-ack fire” at the American raiders who hit the area Sunday, Col. John R. Kane of Shreveport, Louisiana, said today.
Col. Kane, in charge of a group of the Ploești fliers on furlough here, said the bombardment was an anniversary raid for his men because they first attacked the Germans at Marsa Matruh in North Africa Aug. 1, 1941. Since then, they have attacked Rome once and Naples 13 times.
Col. Kane, a former West Point football player, said many anti-aircraft guns were wiped out in the raid.
Brereton gives ‘pep talk’
Sgt. Harry Rifkin of the Bronx, New York, a waist gunner, said:
After we had practiced for two weeks, Lt. Gen. Lewis Brereton gave us a pep talk the day before the raid. He told us if the mission was successful, it would shorten the war by six months. We think it was successful.
Huge flames were licking up in the oil fields when his plane came in for its low-level attack, Lt. R. Sternfels of Detroit, Michigan, said.
Lt. Sternfels said:
We tore through a balloon cable and skimmed over the target, flying low. The flames were so high they licked at us on all sides.
No time for fear
We had no time to be frightened. All we thought of after dropping our bombs was to get away from the place, but we kept flying 50 feet off the ground for 100 miles to prevent enemy fliers from diving at us.
Lt. Sternfels said about 50 Me 110s, 210s and 109s were in the air over the fields.
We saw one damaged Liberator land in a cornfield while the crew of another baled out not far from the target.
Air chief lauds ‘magnificent’ jobs
Cairo, Egypt (UP) –
Air Chf. Mshl. Sir Arthur Tedder, Allied air commander in the Mediterranean Theater, characterized the American bombing of the Ploești oil fields in Romanian today as “a big job magnificently done.”
He messaged Maj. Gen. Lewis H. Brereton, U.S. commander in the Middle East:
I wish to express my deep admiration of the magnificent manner in which the IX Bomber Command carried out their great task of striking to the very heart of the enemy’s war capacity.
I was immensely impressed by the thorough way in which the plans were prepared and the training completed.