Enemy oil plants smashed in one-day "grand slam" by U.S. Air Force.

Enemy oil plants smashed in one-day "grand slam" by U.S. Air Force. On a single morning, June 20, 1944, Fortress and Liberator bombers of the U.S. Eighth Air Force staged a "grand slam" by severely damaging 14 strategic objectives inside Germany. This picture shows two crude oil refineries at Hamburg, Germany, which were among the 12 oil plants hit. The other targets included a German tank ordnance depot and a combined army vehicle-aircraft factory. Smoke is boiling up from the Rhomania-Ossag works. which had an estimated annual oil and fuel production of 550,000 tons, and the adjoining Ebano plant (dotted lines) with a yearly output of 400,000 tons. On July 13, 1944, U.S. representative Thomas E. Martin, of the House Committee on Military Affairs, said Allied raids had reduced German and German-controlled refining capacity from 27,000,000 tons a year to about 6,000,000 tons, and that of this only 3,000,000 tons were available for combat use. Synthetic oil production has likewise been severely dislocated. Rep. Martin said: "The increasing number of stranded German tanks and trucks, the grounded Luftwaffe, tells its own story of the dwindling German reserves. Germany has been beaten. The only question is how much longer will German blood be poured out in a hopeless effort to make up for the lack of oil and oil products?"