Bulgarian Air Bombardment of Constanta, 1916

Here is a Bulgarian-issued postcard of the air bombardment of Constanta harbour in 1916, currently selling on eBay.
Any details of this event?



Gen. Dénes

Here are also a couple of pictures from Constanta after the bombardments of 1916
Source: http://www.westfront.de/englisch/romania.htm

One more photo (from eBay):



I remember reading somewhere that the harbour installations (including the oil tanks) were deliberately set on fire by the retreating Romanian troops to prevent them falling into the hands of the enemy. Can anyone confirm this?

It's one thing to set the oil tanks on fire by own troops while retreating, and another one to set them ablaze during an aerial bombing attack. That's what I am actually interested in, namely if the Bulgarians could perform such a large-scale precision bombing raid in 1916.

Gen. Dénes

This post has been edited by Dénes on October 15, 2005 09:27 pm

If I remember right, most of the efforts then were to capture the resources of the enemy, not to destroy them. Thus it appears unlikely that the Bulgarians have targeted the oil depots in Constanţa.

Could it be that the postcard you posted presents an artist's view of the event?

The Russian fleet also bombarded Constanta two times after it was captured by the Central Powers, destroying the oil tanks. Maybe the photos show the aftermath of that bombardments.

As a sidenote, these succesfull attacks inspired the Soviet Black Sea Fleet to try a similar one in 1941, the attack when Moskwa was sunk.

Yes, it could very well be. That's why I was looking from more info on any such aerial bombardment.

I know a Bulgarian aviation web site, where I will post the same question.

Gen. Dénes

The recent history of Bulgarian Air Forces: “Dimitar Nedialkov, Air Power of the Kingdom of Bulgaria, Part.II, FARK ODD, Sofia 2001” said nothing about a Bulgarian air attack over Constanta in 1916. The only aerial activities on Romanian (Dobrudgea) Front in 1916 were the 1st and 2nd Balloon Otdelenies (Detachments) to observe Bulgarian attacks on Tutrakan (Turtucaia), Dobrici. and Cobadin in September 1916.
I think Bulgarian Air Forces had no offensive capabilities during that period.
C. Kiritescu in his famous history of WW1, said about air attacks over Constanta but those might be German, not Bulgarian.

Here is a quote from The Times History of the War about the fall of Constanţa in October 1916:

Given the novelty and the rare occurrence of aerial attacks at that time, I guess they would have mentioned an aerial bombardment of Constanţa. Instead they only mention gunfire.

Hi Guys,

Has anyone checked if the operations of the German Zeppelins that raided Bucharest in 1916 were also extended to Constanta?

Cheers,

Sid.

Regarding the raids on Bucharest in 1916, I have read that the Zeppelins were bombing it only during the night, while during the daytime bombing missions were performed by planes.