The bombing of Brașov, Romania, in 1944
"In the morning of April 16 (1944), more than 60 bombers entered the Romanian territory at Turnu Severin. Unfortunately, there was a problem then, a misunderstanding with the observation points ... Those planes actually went unnoticed because the 1st Mountain Troops Group, which was at Roșiorii de Vede, lifted all 23 Romanian fighter jets, but, when not observing anything, they landed after 35 minutes. The bombers left for Brașov where they met with Emil Omerth's 77 German Squadron, the Black Wolves. One of the planes was shot down by Captain Omerth, who thus recorded his sixty-ninth victory. They were the only planes that fought with the American bombers that day. Five bombers were shot down and the Germans lost eight fighter aircraft that day.
The population of Brașov was completely unaware, because the alarm went off just when the bombers were over Brașov, so nothing could be done. The population had not been announced in advance. April 16 was Easter day, many Orthodox Romanians were at church, others were in homes and it was a very difficult situation. I learned about that from my parents who, at the time were young and, as lovers, they were walking under Tâmpa Mountain when they saw the bombers. The bombing took place between 11:05 and 11:15. My father, who worked in the IAR plant - Romanian Aeronautics Industry - knew where the anti-aircraft shelter was. This was not as we imagine now, a cave in a mountain, but there were 1.20 m deep trenches, where you could hide and lie down just so that the bomb splinters did not touch you ... There were also platforms built on wooden pillars, but they did not matter ...
The bombers first went to the IAR (Romanian Aeronautics Industry) plants, bombed the plant without completely destroying it, and then, on their way to Brașov, they bombed, the railway workshops, the railway station of Brașov,
Astra factory, nowadays known as Roman, where cannons were manufactured. Then – and that was very surprising - many bombs were also dropped on the city...
A part of the Palace of Justice, the current Prefecture, Villa Kertsch, an emblem of Brașov, were destroyed; then a bomb exploded in Piața Sfatului (the central square of Brașov, called The Council Square) and simply shattered the tower of Biserica Adormirii Domnului (Romanian for: Church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary) in Piața Sfatului. That day of April 16 was horrific: about 180 people died, there were many injured people and many material damages.
Those were some very sad times for the city ... However, the question as to why the American aviation had bombed the city, even though they should have bombed only the strategic objectives, i.e. the aircraft factory, the Astra factory, the train station arose...
Many people argued that it was because of the cloud of smoke, because they had lost visibility, but it is well known that there are some orders: bombers filled with bombs cannot return to airports with bombs in their warehouses. Those had to be dropped..."
Traian Dumbrăveanu