Read this thread http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1951975/posts
The Allies were aware of Auschwitz since 1940 earliest, and since 1942 largely aware of the Holocaust. Polish refugees and allied intelligence gave enough information.
The US made aerial photos of whole Auschwitz in 1944, and even bombed Auschwitz III (Monowitz), the Industrial slave labor complex of the camp.
Since 1944 it was possible to reach the camp and bomb the gas chambers and railways... plus the SS Barracks.
There were RUMORS of such camps, But not until June 44 did evidence begin to mount of thier actual existence.
But there were SO MANY rumors of atrocities coming out, that it got lumped in with all the rest.
And the previous poster was right. The PRIORITY was destroying Germanies ability to make war, not wasting American lives and Machines on a fool’s errand in a HEAVILY defended area.
(Think the Peolesti Raids, and thier cost)
Actually, we had ample intelligence and evidence, including photographs smuggled out by escapees, in early 1944.
We knew what was going on in the camps.
They knew they were concentration camps and there was plenty of intel that the camps were death camps. Many people thought the rumors were grossly exaggerated.
It didn’t become real until our soldiers got to the camps and saw what had happened.
‘I understood before that we were not aware of what was going on until our forces stumbled upon them. How could we have bombed what we did not know existed?”
The soldiers didn’t know but our leadership did. There were reports of what was happening by people who escaped and the underground. The decision was made to focus elsewhere as the best way to end the war.
Excuses for not moving on this data included trying to protect MAGIC intercepts, the Brits trying to protect postwar claims to Palestine, the Ivy Leaguers in the OSS turning a blind eye to the Jewish Problem, the general opinion that Zionists were one notch left of the Communists, and couldn't be trusted. Most of the death camps were beyond the effective range of the US and Brit bombers, since the Soviets would not allow Allied bombers to fly missions that would require refueling in Russian territory. As far as Stalin was concerned, the Germans were doing the Russians a favor by disposing of the Jews.
Why didn't the Allies smash the rail systems that fed the camps? They were too busy trying to cut off oil and industrial production. It wasn't until near the end of the war that tactical airpower was turned loose on transportation targets, like bridges, roads, rail yards and rolling stock.
It never ceases to amaze me how Jews will still vote Democrat, regardless of what FDR did to them.