Oil Campaign targets of World War II
Allied bombing of the Oil Campaign targets of World War II included attacks on Nazi Germany oil refineries, synthetic oil plants, storage depots, and other chemical works. Natural oil was available in Northwestern Germany at Nienhagen[1] (55%—300,000 tons per year),[2] Rietberg (20%—300,000), and Heide (300,000) and refineries were mainly at Hamburg and Hannover. Refineries in France, Holland, and Italy (54)—mainly coastal plants for ocean-shipped crude—were within Allied bombing range and generally unused by Germany[3] (Italian refining ceased in August 1943).[4] Even before the war, Germany was dependent on foreign sources for an adequate supply of oil. The annexations of Austria and the Sudetenland (and the breakup of Czechoslovakia); the "campaigns in Norway, Holland, Belgium, and France…and imports from the Soviet Union provided significant wartime POL imports to Nazi Germany.[5] Firms that operated oil facilities included Deutsche Erdöl-Aktiengesellschaft, Brabag (e.g., Böhlen, Magdeburg/Rothensee, Zeitz),[6] Fanto (Pardubice, Budapest),[3] and I.G. Farbenindustrie (Blechhammer, Ludwigshafen/Oppau,[6] Oświęcim).
| Type | Germany (Ruhr & Vienna areas) |
Germany (other) | Foreign |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bergius plants |
Bottrop-Welheim
Castrop-Rauxel
|
Blechhammer
Essener Verein[3]
|
Poland (Oświęcim) |
| Fischer- Tropsch plants |
Dortmund
Kamen-Dortmund
|
Lützkendorf-Mücheln[2]
Essener Verein[3] |
France (Harnes) |
| Refineries | Austria (Korneuburg)
Vienna (Floridsdorf)
|
Bremen
Chemnitz
|
Austria (Linz benzol plant)
Czechoslovakia (Brüx,
|
| Oil fields | Nienhagen | Hungary (Nagykanizsa)[10] | |
| Oil storage depots |
Austria: (Korneuburg) | Bücken
Bruges
|
Belgium (Antwerp)
France (Dugny)
|
|
Map of oil facilities
Blechhammer North |
References
- ^Note 1 : Part 10 of the Plan for Completion of the Combined Bomber Offensive identifies plants at both "Lutzkendorf" and "Lutzkendorf-Mücheln" [sic].[3]
- ↑ "tbd" (pdf). Retrieved tbd. Check date values in:
|accessdate=(help) - ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 Ludmer, Henry (November 1947). "Oil in Germany" (pdf). The Ohio Journal of Science 47 (6): 259–263. Retrieved 2009-02-11.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 HQ. U.S.S.T.A.F. (5 March 1944). Plan for Completion of Combined Bomber Offensive Copy I [package]. Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library: SMITH, WALTER BEDELL: Collection of World War II Documents, 1941-1945; Box No.: 48: HQ, U.S.S.T.A.F.
MOST SECRET … DECLASSIFIED … 4/4/74
- Cover letter: Spaatz, Carl (5 March 1944). SUBJECT: Plan for Completion of Combined Bomber Offensive
TO: General Dwight D. Eisenhower, supreme Allied Commader, Headquarters, ETOUSA. Headquarters United States Strategic Air Forces in Europe APO 633: Office of the Commanding General.SECRET … DECLASSIFIED … 4/24/74 …3Incls:
- "Plan": Williamson, Charles C.; Hughes, R. D.; Cabell, C. P.; Nazarro, J. J.; Bender, F. P.; Crigglesworth, W. J. (5 March 1944). "Plan for the Completion of the Combined Bomber Offensive". pp. 5 pages + Appendices A–G & Supplement.
the rapid attrition of the German Fighter Force in being [vice production] can best be achieved by attacks on objectives which are so vital to the German War Machine that they must defend them with everything they have, or face the rapid reduction of their military forces to impotence. … the action to be adopted: … b. must favor a Rankin.
- "Appendix A": _____. "Fighter and Ball Bearing Production". pp. 2 pages.
- "Appendix B": _____. "Petroleum". pp. 2 pages + fold–out map.
- …
- "Appendix G": _____. "Computation of Report". pp. 5 pages.
- "Supplement": _____. "Reexamination of Previously Recommended Target Systems". pp. 2 pages + Parts 1–10.
[targets] which the C.A.S. and Casablanca directives have specifically mentioned
- "Part 1": _____. "Prospect for Ending War by Air Attack Against German Morale". pp. 2 pages.
Day raids by American heavy bombers against [morale] have little merit as a means of exploiting air supremacy over Germany. Neither fear, war weariness, nor the prospect of impoverishment is likely to be sufficient to enable impotent political and social groups to overthrow the efficient, terroristic Nazi social controls and bring about RANKIN. … The will of the Nazi party to resist Allied military pressure springs from strong, simple urges. It is generally agreed, and is doubtless clear to the party's leading members, that their chances for survival after RANKIN are slight.
- "Part 1": _____. "Prospect for Ending War by Air Attack Against German Morale". pp. 2 pages.
- …
- "Part 10": _____. "Target Potentialities of Oil -- March 1944". pp. 7 pages, including Tables 1–4.
- "Part 10": _____. "Target Potentialities of Oil -- March 1944". pp. 7 pages, including Tables 1–4.
- Cover letter: Spaatz, Carl (5 March 1944). SUBJECT: Plan for Completion of Combined Bomber Offensive
- ↑ Western Axis Subcommittee (after August 1943). "Estimated Refinery Output in Axis Europe -- 1943" (pdf). Enemy Oil Committee. Retrieved 2009-03-21. Check date values in:
|date=(help) - ↑ 5.0 5.1 Becker, Peter W. (1981). "The Role of Synthetic Fuel In World War II Germany: implications for today?". Air University Review (Maxwell AFB).
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Schroeder, W. C. (August 1946). "Report On Investigations by Fuels and Lubricants Teams At The I.G. Farbenindustrie, A. G., Works, Ludwigshafen and Oppau". US Bureau of Mines, Office of Synthetic Liquid Fuels. Retrieved 2009-03-21.
- ↑ Galland, Adolf (1968 Ninth Printing - paperbound) [1954]. The First and the Last: The Rise and Fall of the German Fighter Forces, 1938-1945. New York: Ballantine Books. p. 239. Check date values in:
|date=(help) - ↑ Levine, Alan J (1992). The Strategic Bombing of Germany, 1940-1945. p. p149. ISBN 978-0-275-94319-6. Retrieved 2006-06-30.
- ↑ "tbd". Retrieved tbd. Check date values in:
|accessdate=(help) - ↑ Gilbert, Sir Martin (June 2004). The Second World War. p. 509. ISBN 978-0-8050-7623-3. Retrieved 2009-04-07.