By Kevin Seabrooke
New York Times bestselling author Makos delivers a gripping account of the low-level B-24 bombing raid against Hitler’s oil refineries in Ploesti, Romania.
For Operation Tidal Wave, 178 Liberators took off August 1, 1943, on an unescorted 1,000-mile flight from North Africa. Thick clouds and navigational missteps left them disorganized and stripped of surprise as they arrived over the heavily fortified target. Flying at tree-top height into a wall of flak and German fighters, American air crews displayed extraordinary valor, resulting in five Medals of Honor awarded. Interweaving the lived experiences of American aviators, a Romanian princess, and an enemy fighter ace, Makos reconstructs the heartbreak, heroism, and human cost of one of the deadliest aerial actions in World War II.
Tidal Wave: The Pilots, the Princess, and the Enemy Ace—A True Story of Courage and Survival in WWII (Adam Makos, Ballantine Books, New York, NY, 448 pp., Nov. 3, 2026 $32 HC)
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