Brother Bob---the subject is of a "touchy" nature---the question that Roosevelt, Churchill, & Co. had to ask was
Do we take a direct approach to the concentration camps---do we concentrate all of our efforts to liberate the 20 or 30 camps spread out over the continent---or do we concentrat on liberation of the continent???
True, Roosevelt may have heard of the horrors of places like Aushwitz---but it was not, IMO---an automatic thing to just go in and liberate the camp---
In other words, liberation of the death camps was not going to solve the problem! The problem was---#1---how to get rid of the Nazi swines in leadership and #2 how to have complete and solitary victory over the German War Machine---a most formidable foe to vanquish--even with a combined effort of the US, British, & Canadians on a Western Front---and the Russians on the Eastern Front!!!-----even in the waining weeks before the end of the war---there was that doubt in the minds of Eisenhower, Bradley and Co.---concerning the outcome of the war----even as late as March, 1945 the Allies were not "guaranteed" a complete victory!
The bombing of the rr facilities?? As in any war---stradegists combine heads to rank certain potential targets for bombing runs---and the decision was made to make rr facilities in industrial regions main priority----rob the Nazi swines of their ability to produce war!!
As far as bombing the "ovens and gas chambers"--one must remember the technology of "yester-year"---a squadron of B-17 Flying Fortresses carrying a couple of tons of bombs each---flying at an altitude of 20,000 feet with a Focke-Wolf 110 on their tails with machine guns "twinklin'"---makes for a very nervous bombadeer---when the payload of bombs are dropped-----how many of the "tons and tons" of bombs could you count on---that would actually hit the oven---"dead center"---accuracy was measured in half--to whole miles bomb drop radius---and not as in laser guided---where you can drop smart bombs down air condition shafts!!!
Liberation came to camps---mainly as US and Brit Divisions slogged their way inch by inch---I read one account where a US division had liberated a particular camp---they opened the gates--told the prisoners they were free----some prisoners just wanted to "hang around"---no where to go!! The US troops loaded a group of prisoners just liberated onto trucks--drove them into the nearest town--dropped them off and then went to the camp to pick up another load---on their way back to town with the next load, they were met by the prisoners they had just dropped off--on THEIR way BACK to the camp---finally, the US troops started fireing their machine guns(over the heads of the prisoners)--telling them---"You are free---go home--do not come back here!!"---of course, there were many, many prisoners in no shape to go anywhere!!
We can go on and on!
