Oil campaign targets of World War II explained

See main article: Oil campaign 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), 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^[2] (Italian refining ceased in August 1943).^[3] 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 petroleum imports to Nazi Germany.^[4] Firms that operated oil facilities included Deutsche Erdöl-Aktiengesellschaft, Brabag (e.g., Böhlen, Magdeburg/Rothensee, Zeitz),^[5] Fanto (Pardubice, Budapest),^[2] and I.G. Farbenindustrie (Blechhammer, Ludwigshafen/Oppau,^[5] Oświęcim).

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Type	Germany (Ruhr & Vienna areas)	Germany (other)	Foreign
Bergius plants	Bottrop-WelheimCastrop-Rauxel Duisburg Gelsenkirchen (Nordstern) Gelsenkirchen (Scholven/Buer) Homberg Kamen Sterkrade/Holten^[6] Wanne-Eickel	BlechhammerEssener Verein Leuna - most heavily defended oil target in Nazi Germany Ludwigshafen Lützkendorf-Mücheln<	--Used both the Fischer–Tropsch and Bergius processes--> Wesseling	Poland (Oświęcim)
Fischer- Tropsch plants	DortmundKamen-Dortmund Odertal Ruhland-Schwarzheide	Lützkendorf-MüchelnEssener Verein<	--Used both the Fischer–Tropsch and Bergius processes-->	France (Harnes)
Refineries	Austria (Korneuburg) Vienna (Floridsdorf) Vienna (Lobau) Vienna (Moosbierbaum) Vienna (Schwechat) Vienna (Vösendorf)	BremenChemnitz Cottbus Dortmund Düsseldorf Emmerich Hamburg-Harburg^[7] Hanover Magdeburg Mannheim^[8] Mittelwerk (jet fuel) Monheim Nienhagen Regensburg (imports)^[9] Rositz	Austria (Linz benzol plant)Czechoslovakia (Brüx, Bratislava,Dubová,Kralupy, Kolín, Pardubice) France (Balaruc) France (La Pallice Hungary (Almásfüzitő) Hungary (Budapest) Hungary (Szőny) Hungary (Pétfürdő) Poland (Czechowice) Poland (Drohobycz) Poland (Trzebinia) Romania (Braşov) Romania (Brazi) Romania (Bucharest) Romania (Câmpina) Romania (Ploieşti)
Oil fields		Nienhagen	Hungary (Nagykanizsa)^[10]
Oil storage depots	Austria: (Korneuburg)	BückenBruges Dülmen Ebenhausen Erfurt Erbach or Ebrach Frankfurt am Main Freiham Hamburg Kassel Marienburg Munich Neuenheerse Roudnice nad Labem Winterhafen) Würzburg Underground: Ehmen Farge Hitzacker Loccum Nienburg	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)

References

Part 10 of the Plan for Completion of the Combined Bomber Offensive identifies plants at both .^[2]

Notes and References

1. Web site: tbd .
2. Book: 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: Book: Spaatz, Carl . Carl Spaatz . 5 March 1944 . SUBJECT: Plan for Completion of Combined Bomber Offensive
   TO: General Dwight D. Eisenhower, supreme Allied Commander, 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 .
3. Web site: Western Axis Subcommittee . c. 1943 . Estimated Refinery Output in Axis Europe -- 1943 . Enemy Oil Committee . 2009-03-21 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20090327145036/http://www.fischer-tropsch.org/Tom%20Reels/Linked/B1870/B1870-0517-0541%20Item%208C.pdf . 2009-03-27 .
4. Becker . Peter W. . 1981 . The Role of Synthetic Fuel In World War II Germany: implications for today? . Air University Review . . https://web.archive.org/web/20130222003452/http://www.airpower.maxwell.af.mil/airchronicles/aureview/1981/jul-aug/becker.htm . 2013-02-22 . dead .
5. Web site: 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 . 2009-03-21 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20071108041008/http://www.fischer-tropsch.org/Bureau_of_Mines/info_circ/ic_7375/ic_7375.htm . 2007-11-08 .
6. Book: Galland, Adolf . Adolf Galland . 1968 . Ninth Printing - paperbound . The First and the Last: The Rise and Fall of the German Fighter Forces, 1938-1945 . New York . Ballantine Books . 239 . 1954.
7. Book: Levine, Alan J . The Strategic Bombing of Germany, 1940-1945. 2006-06-30 . 149 . 978-0-275-94319-6 . 1992.
8. Web site: tbd .
9. Ludmer . Henry . November 1947 . Oil in Germany . The Ohio Journal of Science . 47 . 6 . 259–263 . 2009-02-11.
10. Book: Gilbert, Sir Martin . Martin Gilbert . The Second World War . Henry Holt and Company . registration . 509 . 978-0-8050-7623-3. 2009-04-07 . June 2004.