NationStates Jolt Archive

Just watched a video on the 60th anniversary of aushchwitz, i do admit, that the story of Auschwitz was very sad, and inhumaine, but I am having trouble understandin why people think that we should have bombed train tracks, when the Allies were almost ready to lose the war. I mean Nazi troops were within 100 miles of Moscow, and Britian was getting the crap bombed out of them. Even in North Africa Rommel and his troops were defeating the British, to me it just doesnt make sense, but I guess thats why im not a Liberal.
I wnat your oppinion

I don't think they really knew what was going on at Auschwitz until it was liberated.

Beyond the sheer problem on getting the bomber to the targets. After all, to fly to the Auschwitz area, one would have had to cross Germany itself, or other occupied territory, on a flight, that if flown in a direct line, would be cutting it close for the range of the planes of the time.

If it were feasible, I can see a legitimate criticism, but it just wouldn't have been so.

I don't who proposed that, but it was a ridiculous idea.

We would have to have sent bombers to the limits of their range without fighter support and at low altitude for such a precise strike. Not a single bomber would have made it to a target.

Combine that with the fact that we didn't know about Auschwitz until the Russians actually made it into Germany, and I don't see why that thought is feasible.

Beyond the sheer problem on getting the bomber to the targets. After all, to fly to the Auschwitz area, one would have had to cross Germany itself, or other occupied territory, on a flight, that if flown in a direct line, would be cutting it close for the range of the planes of the time.

If it were feasible, I can see a legitimate criticism, but it just wouldn't have been so.

Well, not really. They did highly successful raids on Prague, which was about the same distance. They routinely hit Berlin, too...

Ploiesti in Romania as well, but those planes probably took off from North Africa.

I don't think they really knew what was going on at Auschwitz until it was liberated.

The Allies made several tactical decisions during the course of the war that are difficult to justify for some people. They chose not to bomb Auschwitz later in the war when they probably could have without losing any real progress in the war effort. The Soviets sat back and allowed the Germans to destroy the uprising in Warsaw when their army was within easy striking distance. War is about politics and the Allies made many political decisions. I am not saying the decision to bomb or not bomb Auschwitz was just political and I don't know if it was the right decision or not. I am saying that the Allies knew much more about what was happening to the Jews and other undesirables than is generally known. It wasn't just the Nazi's who hated Jews. Those feelings existed in many people and countries even if it wasn't offical policy. Witness the boat load of refugees from Germany before the war who couldn't find a country who would let them in and ended up in the concentration camps. The USA was full of anti-semitic feelings including people in high places such as Henry Ford and Charles Lindberg.

Well, not really. They did highly successful raids on Prague, which was about the same distance. They routinely hit Berlin, too...

Ploiesti in Romania as well, but those planes probably took off from North Africa.

The program interviewed surviors who heard bombers, not German, going overhead to other sites. It was possible. They made a decision not to for whatever reason.