Allied bombers wipe out Nazi oil plant near Magdeburg.

Allied bombers wipe out Nazi oil plant near Magdeburg. The Nazi synthetic oil plant operated by the Braunkohle Benzine A.G. at Rothensee, a suburb of Magdeburg, Germany, lies a twisted mass of wreckage following a series of strategic bombing attacks on enemy oil resources by planes of the RAF and the Eighth U.S. Air Force during the Spring of 1945. In 13 daylight operations, 1,246 Eighth Air Force heavy bombers dropped 5,954,000 pounds of bombs on the plant. About 36,000,000 pounds of gasoline and diesel engine fuel oil per month flowed from the refinery - four per cent of Germany's synthetic oil output. The huge plant was operated by 2,300 employees, of whom 40 per cent were foreigners or forced laborers.