The Waterbury Democrat., 1945-06-27
By LYLE c. WILSON

By LYLE c. WlLSON
 Copyright, 1945, by United Press)
 Inside Germany, June 27-(UP) -One of the great untold stories Of World War II is the Battle for Oil"
 It was a top secret operation which began May 12, 1914 and con- tinued for exactly 12 months. En- raged in it were more than 500,000 American Air Force men and their 5,700 planes.
 The most significant aspect of the fantastic story is that it is being repeated now in general outline against Japan. The same Strate- gical considerations and the same methods of operation which were unbelievably successful against Germany already are being devel- oped in the Pacific theater.
 There is one notable difference. American airmen in Europe h- ouidated the German oil industry with bombs dropped from Flying Fortresses. A fort can carry 4,0OO or so pounds of bombs The big four-motored craft already are be- coming obsolete. The spearhead of the strategic air attack against Japan will be the giant B-29 bomb CTS which fly higher and faster than the Forts and carry more than twice their bomb load.
 Japanese industrial targets will ot as targets did in Germany.
 The complex story of the Battle for Oil' begins in February l944, when the United States Strategic Air Force commanded by Gen. Carl A. Spaatz and the Royal Air Force Bomber Command hit the German Luftwaffe a stunning blow. In six days, Feb 20-26, the entire Allied air force for concentrated on the German aircraft industry. Our air. men had determined that deep day. light penetrations into Germany were not feasible until the German airforce had been knocked out. Those six days stopped German plane construction for a time, The time was long enough for the AL lied ar forces to obtain mastery ot the air-and they never lost it.
 With the way cleared for eco- nomical long range, precision bomb- ing" says the official report on the Battle for Oil, ''the air forces start surod would bring them the victory ed on the campaign they felt as- they sought. They had concluded that oil was the most important and most vulnerable item in the Ger man war economy. Oil was used everywhere. It was necessary to all industry. Oil alredy was in short supply. Oil plants were large, com- plex, vulnerable to attack. There was no alternative source"
 The storm broke over Germany's $ refineries in May, 1944. It contin- ued in terrible blasts of high eXplo- 2 sive and incendiary bombs until the Germans quit. I have just returned from visiting some of Germany's greatest refining areas. The great installations in the port of Ham, burg are masses of twisted pipe, broken retorts and rubble. The enormous Leuna plant in central Germany simply does not exist any more.
 Brux, Politiz, Schloven, Blech- hammer-all are blasted to bits. There were 36 prime refinery or synthetic manufacturing targets in all. In May, 1914, those plants pro- duced 1,344 .000 metric tons of gaso- inc and lubricants each month. By January, 1945. production had been cut to 36 per cent of normal. It was down to 24 per cent in Febru- ary. Late last March under the precision bombing of the United States Strategic Air Force produc- ton had increased to 29 per cent The Germans are sturdy folk and they were repairing their plants as the flyers knocked them out.
 But 1t was an uneven contest. Re- pair materials were short. Man. power was shorter. By mid-April of this year as the great German war machine was running down production was cut to ' 1-2 per cent of the 1,344,0 metric tons month of which the plants had been capa- ble.
 Germany's refineries by ther were producing only per cent o1 their gasoline capacity, per cent of their kerosene capacity. pel cent of their Diesel capacity.
 Germany was through. She tried to go underground with her retin- cries as she had with her airplane industry. At Ebensee great un- derground refinery was built. Il actually had produced 24,O0O tons of synthetic oil when the wal ended. The plant was built into a mountain with elaborate air con- ditioning equipment. But the jot was too great for the enemy. Put ting the whole industry under ground was an impossible task.
 Plant managers became discour- aged as the American developed their attack on oil. As plants were knocked out they were put under almost daily photo reconnaissance Time after time German workers would repair the great reflneries untangle the twistings of pipe patch the retorts, get steam under the boilers. This could be done sometimes in a matter of weeks Il no effort was made to repair the buildings themselves.
 Tt is not necessary to work with : a roof over our heads" plant manager told us at the Rhenania plant at Harburg across the Elbe from Hamburg.
 But time after time on the very first day of production in rebuilt plant, the American bombers would come over again and blast it.
 At Rhenania and elswhere tht refineries actually kept and-by crews of repair workers in barrack! near the plants. They sometime: were more numerous than tht workers in the refineries them. selves. When the Americans cam, over. repairs were begun befor' they had returned to their base