Western Allied Campaign in Romania
Part of Oil Campaign and Eastern Front of World War II
A B-24 Liberator called "Sandman" during a bomb run over the Ploiești Astra Romana refinery during Operation Tidal Wave
Date December 1941 (war declarations)/ 12 June 1942 - 19 August 1944 Location Romania (Bucharest, Ploiești, Constanța) Result Allied strategic failure
Belligerents
United States  British Empire	Romania Support:  Germany
Commanders and leaders
Franklin Roosevelt Winston Churchill	Ion Antonescu Gheorghe Jienescu[1]
Casualties and losses
325 aircraft destroyed (259 by Romanian forces) 32 tanks leased to the Red Army captured 1,706 killed 1,123 captured	80 Romanian aircraft 7,693 civilians killed

The Western Allied Campaign in Romania consisted of war declarations and aerial operations during the Second World War by eight Western Allied countries against Romania which itself was primarily engaged on the Eastern Front in fighting against the Soviet Union.

War declarations

Romania declared war on the British Empire on 6 December 1941 and on the United States on 12 December. The British returned the war declaration that December, however the Americans only did so in the summer of 1942. Two American allies, Nicaragua and Haiti, declared war on Romania on 19 and 24 December respectively. Romania promptly returned these declarations. Four British allies also declared war on Romania: Canada (7 December), New Zealand (7 December), Australia (8 December), and South Africa (9 December). However, Romania never returned these declarations (likely because the four countries were seen as British subjects by the Romanian leadership).^[2]

Aerial operations

Having declared war on Romania on 5 June 1942,^[3] the first attack on Romanian territory was conducted by the United States Army Air Forces on 12 June. Ten B-24 Liberators attacked the Romanian oil refineries at Ploiești, two attacked unidentified targets and one attacked the port of Constanța. The damage inflicted was negligible and none of the 13 aircraft were lost.^[4]

The second American attack took place over a year later, on 1 August 1943. Code-named Operation Tidal Wave, it consisted of a large-scale air raid over Romanian oil refineries at Ploiești by 178 unescorted B-24 Liberators. Over 50 of the American bombers were shot down by the German and Romanians during the raid, with the Royal Romanian Air Force claiming 20 American aircraft while losing only two fighters.^[5]

After the two previous isolated attacks, an organized bombing campaign was carried out against Romania between 4 April and 19 August 1944. The American aircraft were joined by the United Kingdom's Royal Air Force. The campaign was called off on 19 August 1944. It ultimately proved to be an unsuccessful endeavour, as the Allies failed to fulfill their objective of knocking out Ploiești's oil production. In just over a year, from Operation Tidal Wave until the 1944 bombing campaign was called off, the Royal Romanian Air Force, aided by Romanian artillery, shot down 259 Allied aircraft (223 bombers and 36 fighters). Allied Nazi German forces shot down 66 more Allied aircraft. In total, Allied casualties amounted to 1,706 KIA and 1,123 POWs. Romanian aircraft losses were much lower, amounting to 80 fighters shot down. It is not known how many Romanian aircrew were killed, but one of them was Alexandru Șerbănescu, Romania's second best flying ace (47 kills, shot down on 18 August). In addition, 7,693 Romanian civilians were killed, 2,673 of them on 4 April, when the campaign was kickstarted by the American bombing of Bucharest.^[6]

All Allied airmen who were taken prisoner during the air campaign were repatriated by airlift to Italy during Operation Reunion after the 1944 Romanian coup d'état. 1,161 ex-prisoners of which 1,127 American, 31 British, two Dutch, and one French were evacuated by modified B-17 bombers.^[7]

Ground operations

Although not directly engaging Romanian ground troops, the Western Allies had supplied military equipment to the Red Army via Lend-Lease. The Romanians had captured some Western tanks which had been leased to the Soviets: four M3 Lees, five M3 Stuarts, four Valentine Mk IIIs and nineteen unspecified Vickers tanks.^[8]