The oil campaign chronology of World War II lists bombing missions and related events regarding the petroleum/oil/lubrication (POL) facilities that supplied Nazi Germany or those Germany tried to capture in Operation Edelweiss.
Legend — events regarding Nazi Germany petroleum, lubrication, and/or oil supplies - events regarding notable Luftwaffe defensive efforts against Allied attack of petroleum, lubrication, and/or oil supply targets and/or — events regarding Allied planning — RAF, Eighth Air Force, and other roundels indicate units (most listings are from the RAF chronologyBomber Command Campaign Diary and the USAAF chronology)McKillop "100 BG" — listings that include the unit abbreviation (BG is Bombardment Group) are from the corresponding mission history for the unit.Mission histories for Bombardment Groups:
92 BG , 100thBG.com 301 BG (32 BS ), 303rdBG.com, 397 BG (596 BS , , 398th.org 401BG.com , 447BG ( cybercity , 43-37797 , 450 BG (Cottontails), 452 BG, 461st.org, 464 BG (zplace2b), 485thBG.org , 486th.org, 487thBG.com
Chronology Date Target/Topic Event Oil and other installations in Ruhr In response to the bombing of Rotterdam, Western Air Plan 5 was activated. This was the first large-scale strategic bombing during World War II and the first attack on the German interior - it inflicted little damage. Just 24 of 96 bombers dispatched to Ruhr Area power stations and refineries found the target area, setting several oil plants on fire. Oil installations in Ruhr 6 Handley Page Hampden and 6 Vickers Wellington bombers attacked Ruhr oil targets. Hamburg-Harburg 48 Hampdens attacked Hamburg oil installations. Bremen 24 Armstrong Whitworth Whitley bombers attacked Bremen oil installations. "Oil refineries" 24 Wellington, 24 Whitleys, and 12 Hampdens attacked oil refineries and railways in Germany and troops in Belgium.Bomber Command Diary May–June 1940 Leipzig/Leuna 35 Hampdens were recalled due to bad weather, but one failed to receive the recall and bombed the Leuna oil refinery, 30 miles west of Leipzig. P. 192. Bremen Hampdens bombed oil refineries near Bremen. In the course of the raid, a tail gunner on a No. 10 Squadron RAF Whitley shot down the first German fighter by the RAF in World War II. Hamburg-Harburg refineries Hampdens attacked oil refineries near Hamburg. Bremen The Bremen oil refinery was bombed. Hamburg-Harburg refineries Hamburg oil refineries were bombed. oil targets 24 Whitleys and 6 Hampdens bombed "oil and communication targets in Germany". Frankfurt oil depot The Frankfurt oil depot was attacked with 400 bombs.
Frankfurt also had a Naxos Union grinding wheel plant. Leipzig/Leuna Leuna bombed. Chiefs of Staff The Future Strategy report predicted "Germany's oil stocks might be exhausted--and Germany's situation disastrous--by June 1941." Antwerp 43 Wellingtons bombed an oil depot near Antwerp. A Redeventza refinery was at Antwerp.Supplement Part 10 Table 3 Gelsenkirchen Less than half of 135 aircraft dispatched bombed the Gelsenkirchen synthetic oil plants. Hanover 222 aircraft (the highest number to one target) conducted the first "oil plant directive" mission on 17 oil production targets. Gelsenkirchen (Nordstern) 9 Wellingtons bombed To enable bombing of "Roumanian oil installations", a British Expeditionary Force established a 'Balkan front'. The German invasion of the USSR included the goal to capture the Baku oilfields to increase their fuel reserves and their ability to retain lands captured in the war. Ploiești The Soviet Union's VVS bombed Ploiești. Ploiești 6 VVS aircraft bombed Ploiești. 1942 Harnes The Kuhlman Fischer-Tropsch plant at Harnes was shut down briefly due to bomb damage.
Table of Contents After A-2 and the War Plans Division reported it as a target, Colonel Bonner Fellers identified Romanian oil was "by far the most decisive objective [and] the strategic target of the war". Cologne The Kolnische Gummifaden Fabrik tire and tube factory at Deutz on the east bank of the Rhine was entirely destroyed. 1942 Ministry of Economic Warfare The "Bombers' Baedeker" identified oil, communications, and ball bearings were "bottleneck" German industries. (cited by Coffey, p. 237) Ploiești (Astra Română) The Halverson project raid from Egypt was the first US mission against a European target — 10 aircraft bombed the Astra Română oil refinery. Bremen 1,067 aircraft attacking Bremen targets used Gee with limited success, damaging the oil refinery, Focke-Wulf buildings, the Atlas Werke, the Bremer Vulkan shipyard, the Norddeutsche Hütte AG steel mill, and 2 large dockside warehouses. Hitler authorized Operation Edelweiss to capture the Soviet oil fields of Baku. On July 10, Hermann Göring had met with experts on how to repair the Russian Maykop oil facilities (Germany also reassembled an oil facility in Kherson, in Ukraine). The Soviets set the Maikop oilfields on fire on August 9, the town was evacuated on the 16th, and Nazi Germany began occupation in August. Bucharest The VVS bombed the oil installations. Ploiești The Soviet Union's VVS bombed the oil installations. The US "Enemy Oil Committee" was established as a counterpart to the British "Technical Sub-Committee on Axis Oil" (Hartley Committee). Hartley Committee The Axis Oil Position in Europe, November 1942 estimated that Romanian oil fields contribute 33% of Axis supplies. Joint Intelligence Subcommittee The German Strategy in 1943 predicted Nazi Germany will have increased domestic oil supplies in mid-1943. A German armoured column within 30 miles of the Soviet Sixth Army near Stalingrad had to retreat due to having fuel for only 15 miles. At his HQ company Christmas party, Erwin Rommel received a miniature oil drum as a gift (containing captured British coffee). C/AS Management Control After Hap Arnold created the United States Army Air Forces Committee for Operations Analysis (COA) on December 9, 1942, to develop a plan for strategic bombing, the COA's initial Western Axis Oil Industry report listed the following order of strategic importance: hydrogenation facilities (15 plants), refineries (29 plants), lubrication plants, coker units, Fischer-Tropsch facilities, tetraethyllead facilities, and oilfields/pipelines. The Axis Oil Position (C.C.S. 158) at the Allied Casablanca Conference identified it would be "remote" for Nazi Germany to retain the Maikop oil fields. However, "even if the whole of the Romanian production were knocked out early in the year, [Germany] would still have enough for operations in 1944 [but the destruction of] two tetraethyllead factories… would hamstring the production of German aviation fuel" (Brehon Somervell). Nazi Germany destroyed the Maikop facilities prior to withdrawing. Combined Chiefs of Staff C.C.S. 166/1/D identified oil facilities as the 4th bombing priority. (Brehon Somervell is stamped on the inside front cover of the Eisenhower Library copy, and the copy number is stamped on the inside back cover) C.C.S. 158: (pages 40-2) C.C.S. 166/1/D: (distributed version, pages 88-9) C/AS Management Control The COA's comprehensive plan identified the strategic bombing objective was to "bring about a high degree of destruction in a few really essential industries than to dissipate bombing efforts over a large number of targets [in] many industries." 19 vital industries were identified: Petroleum was 3rd (39 targets), "Synthetic rubber and rubber tires" were 6th (12 targets) and "Coking plants" were 10th (89 targets). In particular, destruction of 13 hydrogenation plants and 12 Ploesti refineries would reduce "German petroleum resources" by 90%. "We must, therefore, apply [bombardment] to those specially selected and vital targets which will give the greatest return." (Arnold to Carl Spaatz) AAFRH-3: (p. vii: Arnold to Spaatz, April 10, 1943) AAFRH-10: (p. 84) AAFRH-18: AAFRH-19: (available at the Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library in the "Collection of 20th Century Military Records, 1918-1950 Series I"; Historical Studies Box 35).