7 mai 1944: 15th AAF bombing on Bucharest, live photos

Is Chitila rezidential area. Most of the houses were build for "CFR" employees.
On the bottom of the picture the free space was old Chitila airfield ( prior WWI).

Dan.

PS: I have a friend (Razvan Bujor) who lived there. And every weekend i go to him i wonder how many american bombs unexploded are still burried under the ground.

This post has been edited by Cantacuzino on February 16, 2005 07:42 am

and here is another photo with a Bucharest destroyed building from Bulevardul Cuza after 15th AAF on 15 april 1944


Fratello

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Sorry, here is a mistake. This building is from Aleea Sevastopol, not from Bulevardul Cuza

Fratello

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This aerial photo was taken on 24 april 1944. The target is Chitila Marshalling Yard, Bucharest, Roumania.
(source http://www.461st.org/images/Mission%2014.jpg)

Fratello

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This is the aerial photo that was taken on 7 may 1944. The target is Marshalling Yard from Bucharest.

Fratello

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the source from this photo below is http://www.461st.org/images/Mission%2020.jpg

Was it an area bombing raid or a pinpoint boming raid? Judging by the number of bombers used and tonnage dropped, I'd say it was area bombing. In that case, the fact that civilian targets were also hit wasnt a mistake. I noticed the "by mistake" idea in several posts, and I think it is good to clarify the issue.

This post has been edited by Imperialist on March 03, 2006 09:05 pm

In Romania (and don’t merely), USAAF bombers utilized only “area bombing”, variant of the “carpet bombing” method, which ensured expected effect against the big target as marshaling yards, industrial areas, airports,a.s.o. (there was though an exception- the bombing raid on 1 August 1943).
In area bombing it used so-called “centralized sighting method” :
o each attack unit leaders sighted in range and direction;
o each box leaders sighted only in range;
o remains of the bombardiers drop the bombs upon their box leader.
The sighting performed on the aiming point setlled in the operation orders of the each bomb wing or combat wing.
.
The precision provided by Norden Mk.XV and Sperry S-1 bombsights (both whith Sperry A-5 automatic pilot), which fitted in B-17 and B-24, depended on:
o the skill of the bombardier, and
o the accuracy of the flight data introduced in bombsight.

In 1944 the precision of the bombers B-17 and B-24 was not better than 300 m CEP.
In romanian I could give more details,

Was Bucharest an "open city" at the time of the bombings? The idea appears in Eliade's journal and is quoted in this newspaper:

http://www.gandul.info/2006-06-22/politica_lingailor

No, it wasn't. There were many military objectives insdie it, including the General Staff on Stirbei Voda (where DNA is today, I believe)

We can see the same idea in the memoirs of Maruca Cantacuzino:

http://www.itcnet.ro/history/archive/mi199...rrent10/mi5.htm

What made these people, not quite average (Eliade, Cantacuzino), to think Bucharest was an open city? Was it declared an open city by any official?

take care

Further to what Victor noted, there was the Northern Railway Station (Gara de Nord) - targeted often by USAAF bombers - which was extensively used for transferring military matériel, as well as crude oil/gasoline.

Gen. Dénes

Verry relevant article about about Romania's politicians and how they see the ww2 aerial bomings!

This post has been edited by cipiamon on June 22, 2006 08:43 pm

The targeted target was not Gara de Nord in itself, but the locomotive repair shop "Grivita" and marshalling yards with a view to unsettling of the millitary transport.
It is known that Bucuresti-Chitila area was {and there is) the mopst important junction from Romania.
The aged people remember that, on thoser days, Gara de Nord "moved" to Chitila.

Here are a coupel of interesting articles with photos (then and now). Only in Romanian:
http://www.rezistenta.net/2009/09/1944-bom...ucuresti-1.html
http://www.rezistenta.net/2009/09/1944-bom...ucuresti-2.html