Germany's largest refinery wrecked by U.S. bombs.

Germany's largest refinery wrecked by U.S. bombs. Hugo Echorn, former personnel director of the Rhenania oil refinery, Germany's largest, looks over the cracking plant, which was completely destroyed in seven daylight raids by 732 heavy bombers of the Eighth U.S. Air Force. After the raids started, German production experts decided to disporse what was left of the refinery to minimize the target for Allied bombings with 40 per cent of the plant to go to Osterade and 60 per cent to Hamburg. Storage tanks already were at Hildesheim and equipment was assembled at new sites but the war ended before operations could start, according to Echorn. The Rhenania plant, which was located at Hamburg, was capable of producing 46,000 tons of refined petroleum products monthly but the 1,800 tons of bombs dropped by the Americans put a complete stop to production. Approximately 1,000 workers, mostly Germans, had been employed at the plant.