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Operation Tidal Wave produced five Medals of Honor and remains one of the costliest missions in American airpower history. But the extraordinary story that began after the bombers crashed in the foothills of Romania has never been told in full.
According to a news release, in TIDAL WAVE: The Pilots, the Princess, and the Enemy Ace -- A True Story of Courage and Survival in WWII, published by Ballantine, Adam Makos brings that little-known aftermath vividly to life.
The book goes on sale in November. Makos, a Montoursville area native, will speak and sign copies Nov. 1 from 1 to 4 p.m. at Otto Bookstore on West Fourth Street.
"It's always a thrill to come back home and launch the book among my friends and neighbors, because that's what you think of while you're writing a book like this -- you look forward to the day when it can be shared and enjoyed by the people closest to you," Makos said in an email. "Our community was there for us when we were just kids peddling our homemade magazine, and I feel that without that early support in those crucial times we might've never made it to this point where we're writing books that are now read and known around the world. Anything good that comes from these books, the people they impact, what the stories go on to become, even making it to the silver screen -- it all began in Lycoming County."
"The Ploesti oil fields -- the objective of the famous August 1, 1943 low-level B-24 raid -- fueled the Axis war machine, making them one of the most strategically important targets of World War II," the news release said. "At a moment when energy infrastructure is once again central to global conflict, the story of how the Allies attempted to destroy 'Hitler's gas station' feels newly resonant. In TIDAL WAVE, Makos recreates the attack itself, and then shifts focus to what happened next: the fate of the American airmen shot down over Romania, and the extraordinary Romanians who chose to help them. At the center of the story is Lt. Ernie Poulson, a young B-24 copilot whose plane crash-landed on the estate of Princess Ecaterina 'Catherine' Caradja. By nationality, she was his enemy; Ernie and his fellow Americans had just bombed her country. But what she did next defied every expectation. As Makos widens the lens, we meet Catherine's cousin, Prince Constantine Cantacuzino, Romania's top ace who fights for the other side but will ultimately face a choice to help rescue the very Americans he faced in the air, and King Michael I, the young monarch working to pull his country out from under Hitler's grip before it's too late."
Drawing on newly uncovered sources, family archives, diaries, letters, and firsthand accounts, TIDAL WAVE, the news release said, "brings Makos's signature immersive, character-driven approach to one of World War II's most legendary air campaigns. The result is at once a combat narrative, an escape story, and a deeply human account of courage, resistance, and reconciliation -- asking what happens when the person you've been taught to see as the enemy becomes the one willing to save you."