Language:
English
Year of publication:
1999
Titel der Quelle:
War in History
Angaben zur Quelle:
6,2 (1999) 205-229
Keywords:
Auschwitz (Concentration camp)
;
Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)
;
World War, 1939-1945 Diplomatic history
;
Nazi concentration camps
Abstract:
Analyzes military aspects of the proposed bombing of Auschwitz in 1944. Had such an attack been ordered, the task would most likely have fallen to the US 15th Air Force, as a unit prepared for bombing oil facilities in Silesia. Disagreeing with Richard Foregger and James Kitchens, shows that such an operation, although difficult, was feasible and might have been relatively effective. By August 1944, enough information was, or could have been, available to plan and carry out the attack. In the case of bombing Birkenau, the aircraft would have had greater distance from the German gunners' positions in Auschwitz than there was during the bombing of the oil facilities. The bombing could have been accurate enough. The reason that the bombing did not take place was the lack of political will. Had the political will existed, and had the U.S. War Department seriously studied this possibility and exerted pressure on the military leaders, who were reluctant to take risks, it would have overcome all objections, as the Warsaw air-drop operations in August-September 1944 demonstrated.
Note:
Appeared also in "The Bombing of Auschwitz; Should the Allies Have Attempted It?" (2000).
URL:
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