15th Air Force Operation Reunion (Operation Gunn) to rescue Allied prisoners of war in Romania during World War II. The Romanian Ministry of National Economy in Bucharest (now demolished). Sign reads “Ministerul Economiei Nationale Comisariatul General Preturilor”. United States OSS (Office of Strategic Services) Evacuation Party leaders convene outside the Romanian Ministry of National Economy. Captured Allied prisoners of war at a camp near Bucharest. Allied prisoners of war play a card game. Romanian troops raise the Romanian flag on a flagpole. Crowds of Allied prisoners of war waving and cheering. Colonel Krager gives out evacuation instructions to Allied prisoners of war. Some Allied prisoners of war are seen wearing German Stalhelm helmets. A young British prisoner of war looks at the camera. Prisoners of war waiting patiently for their evacuation to Popesti Airfield.
A Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress bomber takes off from the airfield during 15th Air Force Operation Reunion (Operation Gunn,) to rescue Allied prisoners of war in Romania during World War II. . Men carry an injured airman on a stretcher to a B-17 Flying Fortress bomber. The men go under the bomber. Men raise the stretcher up the B-17 Flying Fortress bomber’s bomb bay door. Injured POWs on stretchers are taken inside the evacuation aircraft through the bomb bay door. Prisoners of war assist each other in boarding the aircraft. POWs form a line as they board the aircraft one by one. Some prisoners of war board the aircraft through the belly. A POW (who lost a leg) board the bomber. A prisoner of war smiling before he boards the evacuation bomber. Bomber starts engines. B-17 Flying Fortress bomber taking off from Popesti Airfield.
Aftermath of Allied bombings in Bucharest, Romania during World War II. A sign reads 'Soc. Romano Americano de petrol' St Catherine school. A Romanian guard on duty on a raised platform. Nazi prisoners in a courtyard as a soldier moves past barbed wire fence. Nazi officers imprisoned in a school. Officers read books and papers. Imprisoned German women in a dormitory read books. Romanian soldiers lined up in a courtyard.
A huge fire seen at night in petroleum facilities bombed by the U.S. 15th Air Force, at Ploiesti (or Ploesti) Romania, during World War 2. Flames and heavy smoke rises up amongst storage tanks and facilities. Several Helmeted German soldiers are seen silhouetted against the flames as they make their way through the area.
Romanian firefighters, assisted by helmeted German soldiers, direct hoses on fire at oil storage facility in Ploesti, Romania, following bombing by U.S. 15th Air Force in World War 2. The oil fires seem difficult to extinguish with water. Later, extremely heavy clouds of black smoke are seen billowing from a complex of storage tanks. Firefighters are helpless to intervene. One stands with hands on his hips as he simply watches the inferno. Views of the damaged facility in the aftermath, several days later.
Smoke rising from bombing at rail yards in Ploesti (Ploiesti) Romania,during World War 2. View of tank cars and petroleum storage tanks in the rail facilities. A locomotive sitting on a track partially obscured by heavy smoke blowing across the scene. Smoke coming from trains of tank cars that have been bombed.Firefighters training hoses on flames and black smoke rising high into the air. Firefighter silhouetted against the flames as he climbs a ladder next to embankment bringing a hose to train on the fires.