A new book from bestselling author Adam Makos reveals what happened to the airmen of Operation Tidal Wave after they went down over Romania—and the enemies who risked everything to save them. Operation Tidal Wave produced five Medals of Honor and remains the costliest mission in American airpower history. Yet the extraordinary story that began after the bombers crashed in the foothills of Romania has never been told in full—until now. In Tidal Wave, bestselling author Adam Makos (A Higher Call, Spearhead, Devotion) brings that untold aftermath to life.
The Ploesti oil refineries—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. At a moment when energy infrastructure is once again a flashpoint of global conflict, the story of the Allies’ attempt to destroy “Hitler’s gas station” feels newly urgent.
Makos recreates the raid itself from a rarely-seen vantage: an immersive ride along in the cockpit of the B-24 Chattanooga Choo Choo. Then the story 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.
From there the lens widens: to King Michael I, the young monarch working to pull Romania out of Hitler’s grip; and to Catherine’s cousin, Prince Constantin Cantacuzino, Romania’s deadliest fighter ace — a daredevil prince flying against the Americans, who would face an extraordinary choice to aid the very Americans he faced in the air.
(Image credit: Valor Studios)
Drawing on newly uncovered family archives, diaries, letters, and firsthand accounts, Tidal Wave brings Makos’s signature immersive, character-driven storytelling to one of World War II’s most legendary air campaigns. Part combat narrative. Part survival story. Part reckoning with what it means to resist, to endure, to forgive. At its heart, Tidal Wave asks the question Ernie never saw coming: What happens when your enemy becomes the only one who can save you? Pick up your copy today from your favorite bookseller or for a copy personally signed to you by author Adam Makos, head over to ValorStudios.com
