Why weren't more investigations brought up on Auschwitz/Birkenau?

Question

During WWII, planes flew over the concentration camp of Auschwitz/Birkenau and assumed it was just a factory, yet millions of people were being killed. Why weren't there orders to investigate this 'factory' further?

@ pinchhaz, I see your point. They thought it was just a factory, and didn't bother with it. If they had found out it was a camp, they could have liberated it.

Answer 1

You don't make clear why you think further investigation was warranted. Why would someone think that this one factory was different than the thousands of others?

In other words, your question doesn't make much sense to me. And, even if the Allies had determined what was going on, what could they have done differently? They were already sending millions of troops into battle and devoting significant resources against the Axis. WWII was a war on a scale which has not been seen since. It involved the mobilization of the entire armed forces of many countries around the world.

It's not like the Allies could have just ended the war victoriously any time they wanted to. The Americans were busy fighting in both the European and Pacific theaters, the British were working to keep their island from being overrun, and the Russians took very heavy casualties to their military and civilian populations by fighting on a very broad front.

I think the best that could have happened if the world had discovered the horror of the Holocaust sooner would be that even more countries would have joined the Allied cause, possibly hastening the end of the war.

Answer 2

The main goal of the war was to drive to the Rhine and strangle Berlin. Although concentration camps were 'heard' of by the allies no one ever saw one until the American Army stumbled across one on its push through Germany.

Another reason....the plight of the Jews really wasn't a high priority on the Allies list of things to accomplish. Sounds rather cold I know but think about it. The Allies wanted to break the back of the German war machine and making the liberation of the camps a priorty doesn't make the war end quicker. Actually it just becomes a large logistical problem when you already are struggling to equip and feed your army thats constantly moving.