SIMERIA RAILWAY JUNCTION. (Hunedoara)., Any information relating to American Bom

Here's a question for the Aviation Fans of the forum.

Over Easter I went with my wife to visit friends in Simeria about 14 kms from Deva, at the dinner was an old lady and she was telling us about the bombing raids in Simeria in WW2, apparently it was a very important railway junction in WW2.

She said that every window in the town was smashed and losts of people were killed by the US Airforce raids, and strangely she said there were no Air Raid Bunkers or shelters.

Also some of the Anti-Aircraft units around the area were mainly German. Does any of the Club members have any information?

Also I heard it is possible to access from a arcive in the UK or USA aeriel photographs of targets bombed by the RAF and US Airforce does anybody know of the site or it address??

Thank you and have a nice weekend visiting the Military Mueseam in Bucharest unfortunatly it is not possible for me to make the trip this time, but hopefuly the next one

Kevin in Deva.

It is probably The Aerial Reconnaissance Archives.

I don't have any data about the bombing of Simeria. However, Simeria was and still is a major railroad junction, disproportionate with the size of the town. Probably this how the town developed. To my knowledge 5 major railroads are intersecting around Simeria. For comparison Bucharest is the largest railroad junction in Romania with 8, and most of the big cities (like Cluj for instance) are not really important railroad junction.

While my grandfather was doing his part in one of the most elite Romanian units on the Russian front, my grandmother and my mother were living in Simeria, where the headquarter of my grandfather's regiment was relocated from Zalau, after the Vienna Dictate from August 1940.

The bombings started in March 1944, and since then they were quite daily. After Ploesti, Simeria was the most bombed Romanian town in that war. Like the other people from Simeria, when the alarm was sound my grandmother took her daughter to get shelter together along the shores of river flowing outside the town. The river was surrounded by forest, and it was regarded as ideal to hide by the people of the area.

In one day, my grandmother realized that she was caught too late home to arrive in time to the shore of the wild river. (Possible, she was too focused to cook a meal.) She decided to take the risk to remain home, without seeking refuge in the forest along the river. Exactly in that day, the American bombers dropped their "carpet bombing" over the area of the forest along the river. That was actually a mistake: the town, the railroads and the rail station were not touched during that raid. Unfortunately, the bombs killed about 300...400 civilians seeking refuge outside the town, as usual. I was told that almost all civilians who were using on a daily basis those hiding places were killed in that occasion. For a town with less than 10,000 people, this was a cumbersome tragedy. (Try to imagine hundreds of coffins, in many rows, being given a ceremony by few priests, for all coffins in the same time.) So, due to a strange luck, my grandmother and my mother escaped alive in that situation - and that's why I exist today, to bother you with my messages.

After the event from the previous paragraph, to the great happines of my mom (a little girl then), the primary schools were closed, to be re-opened in September that year.

The bombings continued to reach an unbearable level, so just a week before August 23, 1944, my family moved to Deva, a town at few kilometers from Simeria. There, near the bridge of Deva, my grandmother witnessed after August 23 a Hungarian plane spraying with machine gun bullets the civilians walking on the bridge.

As if Simeria was not bombed enough by the Yankees, after August 23, 1944 the diving Ju-87's (the notorious Stukas) performed a very accurate and effective bombing targeting few German trains abandoned by the German ground troops after August 23. This raid was not 100% efective, and for example a German train full of radio apparatuses remained untouched, and many opportunists self-served themselves with top quality radios.

Today, like in the 1940's, one of the most beautiful places in Simeria is a kind of botanical garden, who in the 40's was the property of a Hungarian nobleman, who allowed everybody to walk through his botanical garden. In 1988 I saw the park myself - a window of opportunity in the hour left by changing two trains in Simeria.

Also it seems in Simeria Petru Groza was in house arrest as political opponent of Antonescu, and king Mihai visited him once there for political reasons. When in the 1990's ex-king Mihai said on the Romanian TV that he never knew Petru Groza before he became prime minister, my mother told me: "He is lying. Together with my classmates and the other school kids, we were sent to greet king Mihai when he came in Simeria to discuss with Petru Groza."

This post has been edited by Florin on May 27, 2006 05:37 am

There were also Romanian AA's. This should not be a surprise - after all, this was in Romania.

After every raid with hundreds of cvadrimotors, the Americans sent next day an isolated plane, at about 9000 meters / 27000 feet altitude, for some reconaissance / photos.

Very close to the house where my grandmother and my mother were tenants, a huge AA was installed and operated by Romanians. The piece was isolated (not in battery), but it was at least an 88.
One sunny morning, while the isolated American spy plane was buzzing at 9000 meter altitude, the guys carefully and patiently adjusted the canon, and the first shot was very, very close from the plane, but ah! - not a hit, unfortunately.
The American plane immediately left the sky with full motor speed, so the following 2 shots were missing the target more than the first.

The result of the story was that the windows of the neighboring houses, including that where my family lived, were broken by the air shock wave from the muzzle of the big canon.

This post has been edited by Florin on May 27, 2006 05:15 pm