German natural oil refinery blasted by U.S. bombs.

German natural oil refinery blasted by U.S. bombs. The Deurag-Nerag natural oil refinery at Misberg, one of Germany's most important, was the target for U.S. bombs from June to December, 1944, and Dr. Alfred Albrecht (shown in the photo) was responsible for rebuilding and mending the twisted fragments until Ninth U.S. Army troops moved into the area and stopped his struggles April 9, 1945. In 10 daylight, high-altitude bombing attacks from June to December, 1944, the Eighth U.S. Air Force dispatched 1,695 heavy bombers to drop carloads of 500-pound bombs on the refinery, which is three miles east of Hanover. Dr. Albrecht told American correspondents of some of the difficulties in trying to maintain a prewar production of 220,000 tons of finished products - mostly lubricating oil and gasoline - with bombs dropping at such short intervals. Besides its production capacity, the refinery had 235,000 tons of tank storage capacity. Here, carrying a haversack as he leaves the plant, Dr. Albrecht glances at the bombed-out boiler plant which furnished steam for turbines generating electricity for the entire refinery.