WWll - why did the allies, who knew all the top Nazi secret codes etc. NOT bomb the concentration camp walls?

Answer 1

woooooooaa dude...
Not sure with knowing what the secret codes has anything to do with bombing walls but I dont think bombing in WWII was that accurate ! I guess that might of had something to do with it.

Answer 2

From the outset of WW2 the British had got hold of a German Code machine, the Enigma Machine. They began breaking this code. When the Americans joined us in c1942 more code messages were broken. It is true that both the British and Americans knew a great deal about the Nazi concentration camps due to their ability to break coded messages being sent by the SS who were running the Death Camps.

Any action taken by the Allies which would have revealed to the Nazis that they had broken their Enigma Code would have meant them using alternative codes which may never have been broken.

The entire invasion of Normandy [D-Day June 1944] would have been put in jeopardy.

Nothing could be done about the Death Camps until the Allies had first restored France to the French people and then gone on into Germany and started finding the first camps.

The ENIGMA Code got broken because of carelessness on behalf of the Germans themselves. At the end of a working day, the operator was supposed to close down the code machine and set it back to zero. Quite often they would not do this. On German radio operator even shut his machine down with the words TOM MIX a famous Cowboy movie star. The Germans were just plain sloppy.

The Royal Corps of Signals had a highly organised radio intercept operation going on and could track a German operator. Once you know the operator and his unit, the next time he came on air, it was a safe bet that he was still with the same unit but now in a different location.

SORRY but that's how it was.

Answer 3

Firstly, it has to be borne in mind that most of the larger concentration camps were in the Eastern part of Nazi-occupied Europe - and therefore out of the reach of British and American bombers. When Dresden was bombed in February 1945 it was at the very limit of our bombers' range - fuel bowsers actually topped up the planes' fuel tanks after they had taxied out to the beginning of the runway! - and abominations such as Auschwitz and Treblinka were several hundred miles further east than Dresden. The Soviets, of course, had neither the capability nor the desire to perform such a humanitarian act.
Secondly, while by 1945 the Allies certainly knew the Nazi military codes, the concentration camps were nothing to do with the army or the war, except in so far as slave labourers produced munitions. They would have not been identified as strategic targets for bombing even had it been possible to do so, for even at a time when the Allies had an overwhelming military superiority and the outcome of the war was certain, we still had to concentrate our resources on known military targets such as harbours, factories and railway marshalling yards. We had neither the men nor the planes to do other than proritise.
Thirdly, it has to be remembered that even when reports of what was happening in the concentration camps began to filter through to the Allied governments, they could not believe that such appalling barbarities could actually be possible - an understandable reaction from those who had a generation previously fought a "War to end War", and who thought of Germany as a land of culture and civilsation, the home of Beethoven and Goethe.
The idea that the advancing Russians "liberated" Auschwitz must be dismissed as a propaganda stunt or a sick joke, since as most Poles would, I;m sure, confirm, they simply replaced one hideous tyranny with another one. It was naturally in the interests of the Communists to hide their own atrocities by blameing the Nazis for everything, e.g. the Katyn massacre of 14,000 Polish officers.

Answer 4

Bombing the concentration camps would have been very bad for the inmates and made them homeless. At least in the camp they got some food, a bed and shelter. Being a homeless Jew in Nazi Germany would have been even worse. No one would give you spare change, even a cardboard box would have hard to find due to the war economy. All in all they were better off where they were until the allies came to rescue them. True, they took their time but this couldnt be helped since there was a war on.

Answer 5

Because very little was known about what was going on in the camps at the time, and also because bombing simply wasn't precise enough. In any case, it is unlikely that the military traffic picked up by the allies included very much information about the camps. And, of course, as someone else has mentioned, acting on specific information obtained from decrypts would have compromised the whole code-breaking operation. There were many instances where terrible things had to be allowed to happen to keep the code-breaking activity secret.

Answer 6

The Nazi death camps and the concentration camps were never ever mentioned in The secret codes. As for the bombing of the walls of these camps, what purpose would it have served. In fact none of these camps had walls, just electrified fences. These camps were so secret that they were only discovered as the Allies advanced into germany.

Answer 7

Although the Allies knew about the camps,hey had aeriel photos of Auschwitz, they were not deemed a priority. It wouldn't help them win the war! Allied bombers flew over Auschwitz on more than one occasion when they bombed local factories. Even if they'd bombed the railway lines they would have saved some and helped the war effort because materials and goods would not be taken into or out of the factories that used slave labour from the local camps at Auschwitz...... Hope that helps.

Answer 8

There is also the fact that, Allies have scarce resources, so that they should make their bombing runs on more important targets (ie: Weapons Factories or army bases) than the camps. They wanted to win the war of course, liberation of those in the camps came second.

Answer 9

These were not lazer guided pre programmed limited yield 21st century missiles. They were big crude explosive bombs dropped from a great height with very little accuracy at all and designed to inflict destruction on a massive scale in the cities they fell on.

Not exactly the tool for pin point accurate bombing of wire fences located a few metres away from blocks full of friendly prisoners waiting to be liberated.

Answer 10

I don't suppose that information transmitted on concentration camps was a military secret. Most probably was not even communicated thro the mil system. hence nothing to intercept or decode. In those days if you attempted to bomb a fence, most of them were fenced not walled you would most probably wipe out half the camp with it. Alternatively if you succeeded in breaching the fence, where would they have gone?