Ruins of Magdeburg synthetic oil refinery.

Ruins of Magdeburg synthetic oil refinery. Smoke from an uncontrolled fire (top center) rises into the air from the well-bombed Braunkohle Benzin A.G. synthetic oil refinery at Magdeburg, Germany, now in ruins after attacks by the Eight U.S. Air Force and the RAF. This low-level aerial photograph shows the widespread damage to the plant, which once produced four per cent of all of Germany's synthetic oil. In the upper right corner, a power house has been flattened, only the smoke-stack remaining. The pipeline running across the top of the picture from left to right has had three sections blown out. At one time, the plant employed 2,300. The Eight U.S. Air Force made 13 daylight attacks on this target, with 1,246 planes dropping 5,945,000 pounds of bombs and incondiaries. The plant was designed to produce 36,000,000 pounds per month of gasoline and diesel engine fuel oils. Magdeburg was the heaviest-hit target in Saxony.