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Bombing of concentration camps?

Discussion in 'Air War in Western Europe 1939 - 1945' started by luketdrifter, Apr 6, 2009.

  1. luketdrifter

    luketdrifter Ace

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    There was a letter to the editor in my local news paper today that the author commented on two raids on German slave labor camps. July 7,1944 flight of 452 bombers over Auschwitz and the targeting of slave labor camps near Buchenwald on August 24th 1944. This is the first I've ever heard of this and wonder A) is it true? And B) Why? Seems like it would be a waste of resources given the impercision of percision bombing. Can anyone shed some insight on this for me?
     
  2. LRusso216

    LRusso216 Graybeard Staff Member

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    While I am far from an expert on this topic, it seems highly unlikely to me that this occurred. I did some quick research, and most of what I found says that, while some pressed for these kinds of attacks, many others could see no purpose in attacking places that would ultimately kill far more innocent people than those who were waging war. As a starting point I would look over this site.
    Auschwitz (concentration camp, Poland) :: Supplemental Information -- Britannica Online Encyclopedia

    I'll wait to be corrected by others, but I just can't imagine that, if it happened, it wouldn't be documented somewhere. Do you know anything about the letter writer? It's possible he had an agenda he was trying to advance.
     
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  3. Slipdigit

    Slipdigit Good Ol' Boy Staff Member WW2|ORG Editor

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    There is a long thread on this somewhere in the forum from Autumn 2007. I'll try to find it.
     
  4. BWilson

    BWilson Member

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    The 8/24 raid could have been off-target bombers -- Weimar (very close to Buchenwald) was a target that day:

    (from Air War Web Portal: USAAF 8th Air Force Chronicles August 1944)

    Found this in Wikipedia re: the 7 July bombing:

    from Auschwitz bombing debate - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

    Cheers

    BW
     
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  5. luketdrifter

    luketdrifter Ace

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    I'll wait to be corrected by others, but I just can't imagine that, if it happened, it wouldn't be documented somewhere. Do you know anything about the letter writer? It's possible he had an agenda he was trying to advance.[/quote]
    Just that he was responding to another letter (who probably was trying to advance an agenda) and he's a frequent contributor to the paper. I know his son, and it sounds like he's a WWII guy, so maybe I'll let him know about this site. Could be something he'd be into.
     
  6. hucks216

    hucks216 Member

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    From what I can remember reading, Auschwitz was bombed but it wasn't the intended target as the bombers had been sent to bomb the nearby Monowitz factories and a few stray bombs hit the camp, killing some of the inmates.
     
  7. redcoat

    redcoat Ace

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    It must also be remembered that Auschwitz was a massive complex of 3 camps. There was the concentration camp for mainly political prisoners, the slave labour camp for the nearby factories, and the death camp where the vast majority of victims were killed soon after they arrived.
    The slave labour camp was quite close to the factories where they worked and it was this part of Auschwitz which was hit in a raid on these factories in August 1944.
     
  8. ozjohn39

    ozjohn39 Member

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    The suggestion of bombing the railway lines approaching the main gate is also a non starter.

    They would have been repaired by slave labour the same day.

    John.
     
  9. luketdrifter

    luketdrifter Ace

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    I appreciate all the responses, Rouges...I wrote a letter back to the editor but he told me the discussion was closed. Awesome.
     
  10. blacksnake

    blacksnake Member

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    [​IMG]
    Well...That says it all really Luke. Is he the editor from the Spiderman movie?.."When I want your opinion I'll give it to you!" Ridiculous.

    Allied aerial photographs of Auschwitz where uncovered in 1978 by two CIA photo-analysts. The two then re-analyzed the photos using historical material from the Intelligence Archives, and where able to identify key areas of the camp.

    The Allies photographed the Auschwitz area of Upper Silesia following intel of a giant fuel and rubber factory in Monowitz. On the 4th April 1944 a recon plane flew over the area to photograph the IG Farben factory at Monowitz. It was common practice to start filming ahead of time and stop slightly overtime. The factory was only 4km from Birkenau and as a result the Auschwitz camp was photographed for the first time...

    A second flight on 31st May 1944 took three photos of Birkenau from 26,000ft, but analysts failed to identify the camp.

    [​IMG]

    Three more recon flights in June, August and September of 1944 captured the factory and the camp. On August 20th the first bombing mission slightly damaged the IG Farben factory.
    A second mission on September 13th was carried out by B-24 Bombers of the 464th Bombardment Group and this sobering shot was taken as 500lb bombs where dropped over the gas chambers of Birkenau...

    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG][​IMG]These bombs, however, continued on their ballistic route and hit the factory. A number of stray bombs did hit Birkenau causing light damage, but the camp itself was never deemed a target.
    Photo-analysts of the time claim not to have realized the significance of Birkenau, although Camp-III situated alongside the IG Farben factory was identified as a concentration camp.

    Hope that answers your question Luke. Feel free to email it right down that editors throat.:D
    [​IMG]
     
  11. Kai-Petri

    Kai-Petri Kenraali

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    Killing innocent people was not a problem in France etc ( and I mean this as war is war ) when major axis production facilities were bombed to stop plane etc production. What was the main concern in bombing production facilities close to concentration camps, really?
     

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