Oil Campaign targets of World War II

For details regarding Ersatz oil facilities of Nazi Germany, see Synthetic fuel#History.

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).

This table is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.
Type Germany (Ruhr
& Vienna areas)
Germany (other) Foreign
Bergius
plants
Bottrop-Welheim

Castrop-Rauxel
Duisburg
Gelsenkirchen (Nordstern)
Gelsenkirchen (Scholven/Buer)
Homberg
Kamen
Sterkrade/Holten[7]
Wanne-Eickel

Blechhammer

Essener Verein[3]
Leuna - most heavily defended oil target in Nazi Germany
Ludwigshafen
Lützkendorf-Mücheln[2]
Wesseling

Poland (Oświęcim)
Fischer-
Tropsch
plants
Dortmund

Kamen-Dortmund
Odertal
Ruhland-Schwarzheide[5]

Lützkendorf-Mücheln[2]

Essener Verein[3]

France (Harnes)
Refineries Austria (Korneuburg)

Vienna (Floridsdorf)
Vienna (Lobau)
Vienna (Moosbierbaum)
Vienna (Schwechat)
Vienna (Vösendorf)

Bremen

Chemnitz
Cottbus
Dortmund
Düsseldorf
Emmerich
Hamburg-Harburg[8]
Hanover
Magdeburg
Mannheim[9]
Mittelwerk (jet fuel)
Monheim
Nienhagen
Regensburg (imports)[2]
Rositz

Austria (Linz benzol plant)

Czechoslovakia (Brüx,
Bratislava, Dubová, Kralupy,
Kolín, Pardubice)

France (Balaruc)
France (La Pallice
Hungary (Almásfüzitő)
Hungary (Budapest)
Hungary (Szöny)
Poland (Czechowice)
Poland (Drohobycz)
Poland (Trzebinia)
Romania (Braşov)
Romania (Brazi)
Romania (Bucharest)[3]
Romania (Câmpina)
Romania (Ploieşti)

Oil fields Nienhagen Hungary (Nagykanizsa)[10]
Oil
storage
depots
Austria: (Korneuburg) Bücken

Bruges
Dülmen
Ebenhausen
Erfurt
Erbach/Ebrach
Frankfurt am Main
Freiham
Hamburg
Kassel
Marienburg
Munich
Neuenheerse
Roudnice nad Labem
Winterhafen)
Würzburg
Underground:
Ehmen
Farge[2]
Hitzacker[2]
Loccum[2]
Nienburg[2]

Belgium (Antwerp)

France (Dugny)
France (Le Pontet)
France (Le Pouzin)
France (Lyon)
France (Montbartier)
France (Paris)
France (Rouen)
France (Sète)
Italy (La Spezia)
Italy (Porto Marghera)
Romania (Constanţa)
Romania (Giurgiu)
Yugoslavia (Belgrade)
Yugoslavia (Pula)

External images

Map of oil facilities Blechhammer North
Bratislava Apollo refinery
Magdeburg/Rothensee

Nov '44 Wanna-Eickel bombing photo

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]
  1. "tbd" (pdf).
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Ludmer, Henry (November 1947). "Oil in Germany" (pdf). The Ohio Journal of Science 47 (6): 259–263. Retrieved 2009-02-11.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 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": 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": 2 pages.
    • "Appendix B": _____. "Petroleum": 2 pages + fold–out map.
    • "Appendix G": _____. "Computation of Report": 5 pages.
    • "Supplement": _____. "Reexamination of Previously Recommended Target Systems": 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": 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 10": _____. "Target Potentialities of Oil -- March 1944": 7 pages, including Tables 1–4.
  4. 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. 1 2 Becker, Peter W. (1981). "The Role of Synthetic Fuel In World War II Germany: implications for today?". Air University Review (Maxwell AFB).
  6. 1 2 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.
  7. 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)
  8. Levine, Alan J (1992). The Strategic Bombing of Germany, 1940-1945. p. 149. ISBN 978-0-275-94319-6. Retrieved 2006-06-30.
  9. "tbd".
  10. Gilbert, Sir Martin (June 2004). The Second World War. p. 509. ISBN 978-0-8050-7623-3. Retrieved 2009-04-07.
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