Ploesti Author:James Dugan and Carroll Stewart On August 1, 1943, 178 Liberators left Africa to bomb Ploesti, the Rumanian oil refineries - the "Taproot of German Might." The air armada carried 1,250,000 rounds of tracers and 311 tons of bombs - more firepower than two Gettysburgs. — The planes skimmed so low over the fields that cornstalks stuck in their bomb-bay doors. American gunners sh... more »ot it out point-blank with flak towers and "Q-trains," and pilots maneuvered crazily between the refineries smoke stacks. In this maddening holocaust of explosions and death, five men won the Medal of Honor.« less