[IronJack]

The major plant in Cologne that had been owned by the Ford Motor Company (actually Ford Werke, the German subsidiary of the company), for example, had gone unscathed through so many Allied bombing raids during the war that it became a place of refuge for the city's residents whenever the air raid sirens sounded.

Not buying it. There was no way bombing was that precise an art in those days. In Cologne, the same could be said of the cathedral. All its windows were blown out, but the building survived pretty much intact. It was NOT because of any intent on the part of the Allied bombers. Their accuracy was notoriously poor in the days when Cologne was being bombed.

And if Ford Werke was producing war machines for the Germans, there is no doubt it was on the hit list. Whether it was hit or not is largely a matter of luck, not conspiracy.

[Alberta's Child]

It's worth noting that the Ford plant in Cologne was on the outskirts of the city (it may have even been on the opposite side of the Rhine River from the center of the city). Allied bombing raids focused primarily on the historic city center, so it's not all that surprising that the center of the city was flattened while the plant remained largely unscathed.

Ironically, this also would have made the plant much easier to target without leveling the entire city, too.

The first Ford vehicle in the "post-war" rolled off the assembly line at Ford-Werke literally hours after the U.S. and Germany formally ended the war. Something about that whole arrangement stunk to high heaven.