You are correct, Za.

Aiming points during the war were not, for the most part, individual buildings, but large, easily identifiable objects such as rivers and roads. Yes, there were instances where unique buildings, such cathedrals, were used to locate targets, but not usually at night. The airborne radar used by the Allies at that time simply could not identify ground objects to the degree needed to pick out a 2000 sq ft one or two story building among other similar building. Any attempt to bomb any structure would have resulted in widespread damage to all surrounding structures, structures containing inmates. And try as they might to claim hitting a pickle-barrel at 20,000 feet, daylight bombing by the USAAF was only marginally more accurate than that practiced by Bomber Command.

I understand what you are trying to saying, chocapic, but even if the air forces had been able to take out the mechanisms for large scale killing, the Germans would have then dispersed the camps, as I am sure they would have done, given their record on dispersing means of arms production and the killings would have continued.

You might ask, why then, did we continue to bomb factories when they were being dispersed? Would we not be chasing our tails to hit dispersed factories just as we would be trying to hit the dispersed death camps? No. The Allies, even against the best determined wishes of Air Marshal Harris, changed the bombing strategy to go after transportation infrastructure. Dispersed factories were more heavily dependeant on rail transport than centralized manufactoring sites. Railroads could not be moved and were subject to damage and rail bridges are hard to replace. Kill the rails and you kill raw materials going in and finished products going out.

On a final note, I am not so certain that the Allied leadership was fully aware of the huge degree in which wholesale murder was being conducted on the European continent. They had to know that Jews and members of other ethnic groups were being killed, but I don't believe that they any inkling of enormousness of the enormity being perpertrated on the unfortunate souls in German hands. I don't believe that the various Allied leaders could have done anything more during the war to help these people, other than to try to see to the swift conclusion of the Nazi Empire.

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Best Regards,
JW