Intelligence, the Polish Resistance, and Government-in-Exile The Sabotage of Railways and the Aerial Bombing of Auschwitz (or Lack Thereof)
Intelligence, the Polish Resistance, and Government-in-Exile The Sabotage of Railways and the Aerial Bombing of Auschwitz (or Lack Thereof)

Summary/Abstract: In 1981, Sir Martin Gilbert published his influential work Auschwitz and the Allies, arguing that the West was unaware of the “true nature” of Auschwitz Birkenau until 1944. He wrote about this in the context of whether to bomb railway lines and the camp itself. This did not materialise and has come to symbolise in the popular mind callous indifference to – or even complicity in – the crimes the Nazis committed there. This article contributes to the debate and discipline by focusing on how the Polish resistance, its intelligence operations, and government-in-exile in London provided a constant flow of information from 1942, some of which was made public at the time. Furthermore, this article argues that, on the one hand, the Allies lacked the accurate bombing capability until April 1944. However, on the other hand the viable option of sabotage of railways by the Polish resistance was not even attempted to prevent Jews being taken to their incarceration and death. Could Britain and the Allies, including the Polish resistance, have done more to stop the horrors of Auschwitz? The answer is “yes”.

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