Word: ploesti
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...sold an entire steel plant to Czechoslovakia. France's Renault signed up to build an auto assembly plant for the East Germans; in Poland, the British Motor Corp. is fighting Italy's Fiat for the contract to build an auto factory. Last week ouside Ploesti in Rumania, Illinois' Universal Oil Products prepared to break ground for a $22.5 million cracking plant-one of the biggest U.S. construction jobs ever undertaken behind the Iron Curtain...
Averell Harriman for massive credits* to buy modern petrochemical plants, which would expand the industrial complex already in operation near Ploesti. The Rumanians also urged increased contacts with the U.S. in academic, diplomatic, technical and cultural fields...
Mouth of Hell. Some planes followed the first wave on its wrong course, others plunged on toward Ploesti. Over the target, there was utter confusion. Planes roared in over the city from all different directions, often had to swerve to avoid head-on collisions. German gunners laid a curtain of flak over the refineries; Liberators flying lower than factory smokestacks were buffeted by exploding oil storage tanks. Luftwaffe Messerschmitts buzzed around the sheets of flame to pick off the disorganized and wounded bombers. Said a survivor: "We were dragged through the mouth of hell...
...Liberators that made it to Ploesti, 53 were shot down; more than one-fifth of the 1,600-man attacking force were killed. Actual damage to the refineries was relatively slight; many were back in operation in a matter of days. Nearly a year was to elapse before U.S. bombers would return to the city-this time at high level...
...flyers bombed Ploesti 20 more times in fleets of up to 485 aircraft. But at war's end, Festung Ploesti was still producing at 20% of capacity...