Why did the U.S wait so late to liberate the concentration camps?

Answer 1

Attacking continental Europe and winning earlier than June 1944 was not possible. Attacking sooner would've meant tactical defeats and prolonged the war at least another year. The US strategy of building up an overwhelming force was the strategy in WWII. In 1943, the US & western allies were landing in Sicily and making their way up the boot of Italy. Building up the force that attacked the Atlantic Wall required a June 1944 attack date.

Several setbacks in 1944 also prolonged the war, inluding the little gamble known as the Battle of the Bulge.

Answer 2

In the 1920s, as part of an Army War College exercise, plans were made in regards to how to use airplanes as a weapon of war. When the USA got into the war with Germany in Dec 1941 the planners came up with AWPD -1 with the primary targets of disruption of the electrical power system; transportation system; destruction of oil and petroleum systems and attacks on civil concentrations. Note TRANSPORTATION was listed as #2. This plan was put into effect in AUG 1942 when the USAAF hit the rail yards in France. In that same month, the USAAF and British Bomber Command (BBC) discussed forming a Combined Bomber Offensive. (CBO). In the plans for the CBO, TRANSPORTATION was dropped off the list.

Now this is a key point. With Transportation off the list, the Germans were free to run their trains day and night with no attacks. In other words, the USAAF and BBC did nothing to slow down the transport of Jews to the camps. In fact, there is no record of any train headed EAST being hit from 1941 to 1944.

It was only when Eisenhower in preparation for D-Day did the targeting change to transportation, not as a strategic decision, but as a tactical one to prevent rearming of the German troops once the invasion started.

Also, when Roosevelt flat out asked the USAAF if they could bomb the camps in Poland to stop some of the slaughter, Roosvelt was told, "the 8th Air Force in England is too far away to hit the camps." What Roosevelt was not told and was lied to by obmission, was that the 15th Air Force, then stationed in Italy, could and did hit targets in Poland within miles of the camps.

So the question is valid to the extent that the USAAF and BBC could have slowed the trains to the camps, and the USAAF could have damaged the camps but chose to do neither. As far as Liberating the camps, we have to thank the USSR for that.

Answer 3

They liberated the camps when they came to them. Remember that the US was trying to defeat Nazi Germany and the Japanese - two militaristic nations intent on fighting the US until the end. The worst camps (Dachau in Southeastern Germany and Auschwitz in Southern Poland) were a long way from the beaches at Normandy. The US knew the camps existed - they had little idea how incredibly horrible the reality of the camps were and even if they did they had to fight the Nazis across hundreds of miles to liberate the camps.
The Soviet Union liberated many of the camps as well - I don't hear too many people wondering what took them so long to get there.

Answer 4

The allies did not know that many of these camps were death camps. The allies liberated the camps as they came upon them. However, many of the prisoners were required to be kept in the camps by allies so that they could adequatly supverise the nourshiment that were received by the people kept in the camps. It wasnt done out of hate, but rather as a necessity. This is probaly best shown in the episode of Band of Brothers where they liberate a concentration camp.

Answer 5

The concentration camps were deep in Germany and Eastern Europe. The Allies had to fight their way to them which they could not do until after D-Day. It was not a question of waiting; it was a question of access. If the camps had been on the French coast, they would have been liberated right after D-Day.

Answer 6

I disagree with the person above me.
True, the concentration camps were in deep Germany (technically, captured Polin). However, the story is well known that death-camp (*concentration camps were all over Europe) survivors saw U.S. planes fly past them towards the more "important" battleground, when the allied forces could have bombed the train tracks leading more innocent people to their awful death.
Personally, I think at the time the army was derived from its purpose and put the battlegrounds before saving people.
Like you, I wish I knew why.

Answer 7

Short & blunt answer: the camps were not of military importance.

The Allies were still actively engaged fighting the German army and that is where resources & troop strength needed to be directed. The camps were liberated as the army got to them.