Oil Campaign of World War II
Encyclopedia
The Allied
Oil Campaign of World War II was directed at facilities supplying Nazi Germany
with petroleum
, oil
, and lubrication
(POL) products. Part of the immense Allied strategic bombing effort during the war
, the targets in Germany and "Axis Europe"; included refineries for natural oil, plants
producing synthetic oil
, storage depots, and other POL chemical works.
The reliance of Germany on oil and oil products for its war machine was identified before the war and the strategic bombing started with RAF attacks on Germany in 1940. After the US entered the war, it carried out daytime "precision" attacks such as Operation Tidal Wave against refineries in Romania
in 1943. The "last major strategic raid" of the war was on a refinery in Norway
in April 1945. During the war the effort expended against POL targets varied with the relative priority given to other objectives such as defeating the German V-weapon attacks or preparations for the invasion of western Europe in 1944.
. At the start of June, oil targets were made a priority of night bombing with attacks on other war industry to be made on dark nights (when the oil targets could not be located) but with the proviso that "indiscriminate action" should be avoided. On 20 June oil targets were made third priority below the German aircraft industry and lines of communication between Germany and the armies at the front. Following a brief period when German shipping was given priority, oil targets were made secondary priority in mid July under a policy of concentrated attack with five oil refineries listed for attention. Sir Charles Portal was sceptical of the likelihood of success of the policy identifying that only a few targets could be located by average crews under moonlit conditions.
The RAF viewed Axis oil as a "vital centre", and in February 1941, the British Air Staff
expected that RAF Bomber Command would, by destruction of half of a list of 17 targets, reduce Axis oil production capacity by 80%.
Although the Butt Report
of August 1941 identified the poor accuracy and performance of RAF bombing, Air Chief Marshal
Arthur Harris
maintained at the subsequent Casablanca Conference the great importance of oil targets in Axis territory. The first US bombing of a European target was of the Ploiești refineries on June 12, 1942
and the Oil Campaign continued at a lower priority until 1944. Priority fell with the need for attacks on German V-weapon targets ("operation Crossbow
") in France and then the attacks on lines of communication in preparation for the invasion of France (described as the "Transportation Plan").
In March 1944 the "Plan for Completion of Combined Bomber Offensive
" was put forward which found favour with the British Ministry of Economic Warfare,The plan proposed attacking "fourteen synthetic plants and thirteen refineries" of Nazi Germany
.
The plan estimated Axis oil production could be reduced 50% by bombing—33% below the amount Nazi Germany
needed—but also included 4 additional priorities: first oil, then fighter and ball bearing production, rubber production, and bomber output. The damage caused by the May 12 and 28 trial bombings of oil targets, as well as the confirmation of the oil facilities' importance and vulnerability from Ultra intercepts and other intelligence reports, would result in the oil targets becoming the highest priority on September 3, 1944.
In June 1944, in response to Air Ministry query on resources, Bomber Command staff estimated it would take 32,000 tons of bombs to destroy 10 oil targets in the Ruhr
. Harris agreed to divert spare effort to oil targets.
In late summer 1944 the Allies began using reconnaissance photo information to time bombing with the resumption of production at a facility. Even with the weather limitations: "This was the big breakthrough…a plant would be wounded…by successive attacks on its electrical grid—its nervous system—and on its gas and water mains." (author Donald Miller). However, due to bad fall and winter weather, a "far greater tonnage" was expended on Transportation Plan targets than oil targets. In January 1945, the priority of oil targets was lowered.
Joint Chiefs of Staff Directive 1067 prohibited German post-war
production of oil through July 1947, and the United States Army
made post-war
provisions to rehabilitate and use petroleum installations where needed, as well as to dispose of unneeded captured equipment. After inspections of various plants by the "European technology mission" (Plan for Examination of Oil Industry of Axis Europe) and a report in March 1946, the United States Bureau of Mines
employed seven Operation Paperclip
synthetic fuel
scientists in a Fischer-Tropsch chemical plant in Louisiana, Missouri
. In October 1975, Texas A&M University
began the German Document Retrieval Project and completed a report on April 28, 1977. The report identified final investigations of the German plants and interrogations of German scientists by the British Intelligence Objectives Sub-Committee, the US Field Information Agency (Technical), and the Combined Intelligence Objectives Sub-Committee.
identified "catastrophic" damage.
Several prominent Germans described it as critical to the defeat. Adolf Galland
, of the Luftwaffe, wrote in his book "the most important of the combined factors which brought about the collapse of Germany," and the Luftwaffe's wartime leader, Hermann Göring
, described it as "the utmost in deadliness."
Albert Speer
, writing in 1970, said that "It meant the end of German armaments production."
It has been stated to have been "effective immediately, and decisive within less than a year."
Number of attacks by the RAF and USAAF against oil targets:
Short ton
s dropped on oil targets:
Allies of World War II
The Allies of World War II were the countries that opposed the Axis powers during the Second World War . Former Axis states contributing to the Allied victory are not considered Allied states...
Oil Campaign of World War II was directed at facilities supplying Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
with petroleum
Petroleum
Petroleum or crude oil is a naturally occurring, flammable liquid consisting of a complex mixture of hydrocarbons of various molecular weights and other liquid organic compounds, that are found in geologic formations beneath the Earth's surface. Petroleum is recovered mostly through oil drilling...
, oil
Oil
An oil is any substance that is liquid at ambient temperatures and does not mix with water but may mix with other oils and organic solvents. This general definition includes vegetable oils, volatile essential oils, petrochemical oils, and synthetic oils....
, and lubrication
Lubrication
Lubrication is the process, or technique employed to reduce wear of one or both surfaces in close proximity, and moving relative to each another, by interposing a substance called lubricant between the surfaces to carry or to help carry the load between the opposing surfaces. The interposed...
(POL) products. Part of the immense Allied strategic bombing effort during the war
Strategic bombing during World War II
Strategic bombing during World War II is a term which refers to all aerial bombardment of a strategic nature between 1939 and 1945 involving any nations engaged in World War II...
, the targets in Germany and "Axis Europe"; included refineries for natural oil, plants
Factory
A factory or manufacturing plant is an industrial building where laborers manufacture goods or supervise machines processing one product into another. Most modern factories have large warehouses or warehouse-like facilities that contain heavy equipment used for assembly line production...
producing synthetic oil
Synthetic oil
Synthetic oil is a lubricant consisting of chemical compounds that are artificially made . Synthetic lubricants can be manufactured using chemically modified petroleum components rather than whole crude oil, but can also be synthesized from other raw materials...
, storage depots, and other POL chemical works.
The reliance of Germany on oil and oil products for its war machine was identified before the war and the strategic bombing started with RAF attacks on Germany in 1940. After the US entered the war, it carried out daytime "precision" attacks such as Operation Tidal Wave against refineries in Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
in 1943. The "last major strategic raid" of the war was on a refinery in Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
in April 1945. During the war the effort expended against POL targets varied with the relative priority given to other objectives such as defeating the German V-weapon attacks or preparations for the invasion of western Europe in 1944.
Campaign strategy
The British had identified the importance of Germany's fuel supplies before the war in their "Western Air Plan 5(c)". The focus of British bombing during 1940 changed repeatedly in response to directives from the Air MinistryAir Ministry
The Air Ministry was a department of the British Government with the responsibility of managing the affairs of the Royal Air Force, that existed from 1918 to 1964...
. At the start of June, oil targets were made a priority of night bombing with attacks on other war industry to be made on dark nights (when the oil targets could not be located) but with the proviso that "indiscriminate action" should be avoided. On 20 June oil targets were made third priority below the German aircraft industry and lines of communication between Germany and the armies at the front. Following a brief period when German shipping was given priority, oil targets were made secondary priority in mid July under a policy of concentrated attack with five oil refineries listed for attention. Sir Charles Portal was sceptical of the likelihood of success of the policy identifying that only a few targets could be located by average crews under moonlit conditions.
The RAF viewed Axis oil as a "vital centre", and in February 1941, the British Air Staff
Air Staff
The Air Staff is one of the Department of the Air Force's two statutorily designated headquarters staffs: the other staff is the Office of the Secretary of the Air Force, also known as the Secretariat. The Air Staff is headed by the Chief of Staff of the Air Force . The Air Staff is primarily...
expected that RAF Bomber Command would, by destruction of half of a list of 17 targets, reduce Axis oil production capacity by 80%.
Although the Butt Report
Butt Report
The Butt Report was a report prepared during World War II which revealed the widespread failure of bombers to deliver their payloads to the correct target....
of August 1941 identified the poor accuracy and performance of RAF bombing, Air Chief Marshal
Air Chief Marshal
Air chief marshal is a senior 4-star air-officer rank which originated in and continues to be used by the Royal Air Force...
Arthur Harris
Sir Arthur Harris, 1st Baronet
Marshal of the Royal Air Force Sir Arthur Travers Harris, 1st Baronet GCB OBE AFC , commonly known as "Bomber" Harris by the press, and often within the RAF as "Butcher" Harris, was Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief of RAF Bomber Command during the latter half of World War...
maintained at the subsequent Casablanca Conference the great importance of oil targets in Axis territory. The first US bombing of a European target was of the Ploiești refineries on June 12, 1942
Egypt-Libya Campaign
The Egypt–Libya Campaign is the name used by the United States military for the US contribution to the Allied Western Desert Campaign, during World War II. From 1942, U.S. forces assisted the British Commonwealth in fighting Axis forces in Egypt and Libya. The U.S...
and the Oil Campaign continued at a lower priority until 1944. Priority fell with the need for attacks on German V-weapon targets ("operation Crossbow
Operation Crossbow
Crossbow was the code name of the World War II campaign of Anglo-American "operations against all phases of the German long-range weapons programme—operations against research and development of the weapons, their manufacture, transportation and their launching sites, and against missiles in flight"...
") in France and then the attacks on lines of communication in preparation for the invasion of France (described as the "Transportation Plan").
In March 1944 the "Plan for Completion of Combined Bomber Offensive
Combined Bomber Offensive
The Combined Bomber Offensive was an Anglo-American offensive of strategic bombing during World War II in Europe. The primary portion of the CBO was against German Air Force targets which was the highest priority from June 1943 to 1944...
" was put forward which found favour with the British Ministry of Economic Warfare,The plan proposed attacking "fourteen synthetic plants and thirteen refineries" of Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
.
The plan estimated Axis oil production could be reduced 50% by bombing—33% below the amount Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
needed—but also included 4 additional priorities: first oil, then fighter and ball bearing production, rubber production, and bomber output. The damage caused by the May 12 and 28 trial bombings of oil targets, as well as the confirmation of the oil facilities' importance and vulnerability from Ultra intercepts and other intelligence reports, would result in the oil targets becoming the highest priority on September 3, 1944.
In June 1944, in response to Air Ministry query on resources, Bomber Command staff estimated it would take 32,000 tons of bombs to destroy 10 oil targets in the Ruhr
Ruhr
The Ruhr is a medium-size river in western Germany , a right tributary of the Rhine.-Description:The source of the Ruhr is near the town of Winterberg in the mountainous Sauerland region, at an elevation of approximately 2,200 feet...
. Harris agreed to divert spare effort to oil targets.
In late summer 1944 the Allies began using reconnaissance photo information to time bombing with the resumption of production at a facility. Even with the weather limitations: "This was the big breakthrough…a plant would be wounded…by successive attacks on its electrical grid—its nervous system—and on its gas and water mains." (author Donald Miller). However, due to bad fall and winter weather, a "far greater tonnage" was expended on Transportation Plan targets than oil targets. In January 1945, the priority of oil targets was lowered.
Post-war
Despite the RAF and Harris claims regarding the great importance of oil targets, Harris had opposed assigning the highest priority to oil targets but acknowledged post-war that the campaign was "a complete success" with the qualifier: "I still do not think that it was reasonable, at that time, to expect that the [oil] campaign would succeed; what the Allied strategists did was to bet on an outsider, and it happened to win the race."Joint Chiefs of Staff Directive 1067 prohibited German post-war
Post-war
A post-war period or postwar period is the interval immediately following the ending of a war and enduring as long as war does not resume. A post-war period can become an interwar period or interbellum when a war between the same parties resumes at a later date...
production of oil through July 1947, and the United States Army
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
made post-war
Post-war
A post-war period or postwar period is the interval immediately following the ending of a war and enduring as long as war does not resume. A post-war period can become an interwar period or interbellum when a war between the same parties resumes at a later date...
provisions to rehabilitate and use petroleum installations where needed, as well as to dispose of unneeded captured equipment. After inspections of various plants by the "European technology mission" (Plan for Examination of Oil Industry of Axis Europe) and a report in March 1946, the United States Bureau of Mines
United States Bureau of Mines
For most of the 20th century, the U.S. Bureau of Mines was the primary United States Government agency conducting scientific research and disseminating information on the extraction, processing, use, and conservation of mineral resources.- Summary :...
employed seven Operation Paperclip
Operation Paperclip
Operation Paperclip was the Office of Strategic Services program used to recruit the scientists of Nazi Germany for employment by the United States in the aftermath of World War II...
synthetic fuel
Synthetic fuel
Synthetic fuel or synfuel is a liquid fuel obtained from coal, natural gas, oil shale, or biomass. It may also refer to fuels derived from other solids such as plastics or rubber waste. It may also refer to gaseous fuels produced in a similar way...
scientists in a Fischer-Tropsch chemical plant in Louisiana, Missouri
Louisiana, Missouri
Louisiana is a city in Pike County, Missouri, United States. The population was 3,863 at the 2000 census, making it the largest city in Pike Couunty. Louisiana is located in northeast Missouri, on the Mississippi River south of Hannibal....
. In October 1975, Texas A&M University
Texas A&M University
Texas A&M University is a coeducational public research university located in College Station, Texas . It is the flagship institution of the Texas A&M University System. The sixth-largest university in the United States, A&M's enrollment for Fall 2011 was over 50,000 for the first time in school...
began the German Document Retrieval Project and completed a report on April 28, 1977. The report identified final investigations of the German plants and interrogations of German scientists by the British Intelligence Objectives Sub-Committee, the US Field Information Agency (Technical), and the Combined Intelligence Objectives Sub-Committee.
Opinions on outcome
The US strategic bombing surveyStrategic bombing survey (Europe)
The United States Strategic Bombing Survey was established by the Secretary of War on 3 November 1944, pursuant to a Directive from President Roosevelt...
identified "catastrophic" damage.
Several prominent Germans described it as critical to the defeat. Adolf Galland
Adolf Galland
Adolf "Dolfo" Joseph Ferdinand Galland was a German Luftwaffe General and flying ace who served throughout World War II in Europe. He flew 705 combat missions, and fought on the Western and the Defence of the Reich fronts...
, of the Luftwaffe, wrote in his book "the most important of the combined factors which brought about the collapse of Germany," and the Luftwaffe's wartime leader, Hermann Göring
Hermann Göring
Hermann Wilhelm Göring, was a German politician, military leader, and a leading member of the Nazi Party. He was a veteran of World War I as an ace fighter pilot, and a recipient of the coveted Pour le Mérite, also known as "The Blue Max"...
, described it as "the utmost in deadliness."
Albert Speer
Albert Speer
Albert Speer, born Berthold Konrad Hermann Albert Speer, was a German architect who was, for a part of World War II, Minister of Armaments and War Production for the Third Reich. Speer was Adolf Hitler's chief architect before assuming ministerial office...
, writing in 1970, said that "It meant the end of German armaments production."
It has been stated to have been "effective immediately, and decisive within less than a year."
Statistics
The following statistics are from the British Bombing Survey Unit. Figures are for the oil campaign in the last year of the war.Number of attacks by the RAF and USAAF against oil targets:
| Month | Eighth Air Force | Fifteenth Air Force | RAF Bomber Command |
|---|---|---|---|
| May 1944 | 11 | 10 | 0 |
| June 1944 | 20 | 32 | 10 |
| July 1944 | 9 | 36 | 20 |
| August 1944 | 33 | 23 | 20 |
| September 1944 | 23 | 8 | 14 |
| October 1944 | 18 | 10 | 10 |
| November 1944 | 32 | 19 | 22 |
| December 1944 | 7 | 33 | 15 |
| January 1945 | 17 | 5 | 23 |
| February 1945 | 20 | 20 | 24 |
| March 1945 | 36 | 24 | 33 |
| April 1945 | 7 | 1 | 9 |
Short ton
Short ton
The short ton is a unit of mass equal to . In the United States it is often called simply ton without distinguishing it from the metric ton or the long ton ; rather, the other two are specifically noted. There are, however, some U.S...
s dropped on oil targets:
| Month | Eighth Air Force | Fifteenth Air Force | RAF Bomber Command |
|---|---|---|---|
| May 1944 | 2,883 | 1,540 | 0 |
| June 1944 | 3,689 | 5,653 | 4,562 |
| July 1944 | 5,379 | 9,313 | 3,829 |
| August 1944 | 7,116 | 3,997 | 1,856 |
| September 1944 | 7,495 | 1,829 | 4,488 |
| October 1944 | 4,462 | 2,515 | 4,088 |
| November 1944 | 15,884 | 4,168 | 16,029 |
| December 1944 | 2,937 | 6,226 | 5,772 |
| January 1945 | 3,537 | 2,023 | 10,114 |
| February 1945 | 1,616 | 4,362 | 15,749 |
| March 1945 | 9,550 | 6,628 | 21,211 |
| April 1945 | 1,949 | 124 | 5,993 |