The glow from the Auschwitz crematoriums indicated a purpose
Interview with the curator of the Polish Army Museum

Was the air force in any position to stop the genocide in Auschwitz?
The allies had two options. The American air force could perform a massive air raid, but this would have caused enormous casualties. The other alternative was a precise strike on the crematoriums and buildings occupied by the SS armed forces, as well as the rupture of the barbed wire fence system. The destruction of the SS buildings would have been a demonstration of the world's concern about the prisoners. It was also possible to interrupt the railway, via which the transports made their way into the concentration camps.

Bombers would not have been - affirms British historian Martin Gilbert - precise enough. In combat, hundreds if not thousands of prisoners could have perished.
Indeed, Americans mostly used Liberators and Flying Fortresses, enormous jets that attack from a very high flight ceiling, which were able to launch bombs within a radius of a few hundred meters from the target. Precision was not their strength. Mistakably, they bombarded Swiss territory and their own squads in Italy and Normandy, some of which were polish. Many prisoners would have indeed been killed by such attacks. Heavy bombers attacked large chemical plants, which were located near the camp - and they were mostly useful for bombarding large targets. During the war, the Americans often attacked targets close to the ghettos, as well as German mills, in which people from occupied Europe were used in forced labor - and they did not worry about civilian casualties.
Another possibility was to attack the railway leading into the camp. For this objective, even the big Liberators could have been used, in addition, the bombing of allied railways was done very often.
The allies were also capable of executing hard, precise impacts. For those impacts, they used light, two-engine planes - English Mosquitoes and American Lightnings. They were able to attack practically over house roofs. The bombs were literally thrown through the front doors. In this manner were destroyed the Amiens prison in France and the Gestapo headquarters in Oslo. The mosquitoes would have had to be launched in Italy, fly over the mountains, and then lower their flight ceiling.

Did the small planes have enough range?
Mosquitoes with additional headers were able to fly from England to Konigsburg, and then fly over uprising Warsaw (make a series of photographs); at the end they photographed the airport at Wagram in Austria and unloaded in Italy. Lightning planes routinely flew as escorts for bombers, which attacked targets in southern Poland. A precise attack on the crematoriums in Auschwitz was possible. The smoke over the crematoriums was perfectly visible at night. The Luftwaffe command even requested the camp supervisors not to use crematoriums during the night, for they provided a great navigation point for enemy planes.


Why then, were the camps not bombarded?
The politicians did not exert any pressure for this matter. During the war, there were anti-Jewish feelings in Western Europe. They did not want the public opinion to think, that the war was led in the interest of saving the Jews, while neglecting strategic army targets. The information on the Holocaust was not believed until the end, despite efforts from the Polish people to provide such information from the very beginning of the year 1942.