North African and European Campaigns

Not for Ourselves, but for Others

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The SAAF squadron which found and then photographed Auschwitz concentration camp.
Mosquito XVI of No. 60 Squadron South African Air Force at the dispersal on San Sever Airfield, Foggia Airfield Complex, Southern Italy, 1944.
From San Severo the Squadron, equipped with photo-recce Mosquitoes, carried out detailed large-scale photographic surveys of German held areas, eventually ranging over the Alps and deep into Germany.
During one of these missions in Spring 1944, a 60 Squadron’s plane piloted by Lieut. C.H.H Barry and his navigator Lieut. I McIntyre photographed Auschwitz when they went to photograph the rubber refinery plant next to the camp.
When the photos were analyzed, they found rows of people lining up in the camp. The photos also showed chimneys and all the other characteristics of a camp for prisoners. This, with other intelligence, brought them to the conclusions that extermination camps existed.