Bergius won a Nobel Prize for his work. The Germans began building synthetic plants using the Bergius process (from coal), the Fischer�Tropsch process (water gas), and other methods (Zeitz used the TTH and MTH processes). He then proceeded to chase the routed enemy some 1500 miles across the desert. As oil became more importahnt, this development put Germany at a serious disadvantage, both economically and stratgically. WW2 Binoculars. That was to force Spain into the Axis and then seize Gubraltaer--Operation Felix. [Schroeder] It was used by the South Africanswhen anti-Aparthaid embargoes made it difficult to import oil. The French, however, stopped the Germans at the Marne. By 1938, Germany’s total oil supply had risen to approximately 44 million ∴ barrels. [Intelligence] Of course after launching a war, Germany woul require much greater fuel resources to support the mobile war operations contemplated by the rapidly expading Wehrmacht and Luftwaffe. United States Strategic Bombing Survey (USSBS). When Hitler launched the Panzers across tge Polish frontier (September 1939), Germany had stockpiled 15 million barrels of fuel. 196.] The country had abundant coal resources, especially in the Ruhr. Beck, 2003, pp. Oil was a problem for Germany from the first day of the War. But, this is a question about ifs) who knows where it would have led? With Rommel driving on Egypt and the British pushed out of Greece, a sudden pro-Nazi coup d’état in Iraq lay rich oil fields and more at Germany’s feet. The German Bulge had separated The British in the North and the Americans in the south by about 40 km. These deliveries temprarily alieviated one of the most serious problems faced by the Wehermacht. Thus the NAZIs well before the War gave considerable attention to developing a synthetic oil indutry. The Rhine was a substantial barrier and could have stopped the Allied invasion of Germany if the Wehrmacht had the mobility to concentrate forces and heavy weapons at crossing points and bridgeheads, but without fuel and air power this was not possible. and Egypt a Modest 500,000 tonnes the Indian Army was Given the Job to protect the Iranian Oil fields and 150 Mile Pipe line and all this Oil was Going to the British Throughout WW2 Other minerals found in … Petzina, Dieter. Third, Germany had access to Italian ports. Hitler with aeries of impressive victories was convinced he could destroy the Soviet Union in a short summer campaign. With the signing of the Pact of Steel (May 1939), German diplomats began working to bring the countries in the region into the Axis Alliance. From the rail heads one source reports that it was not unusual for German tanks to drive or be towed to the battlefield using flammable gas made from wood. 196.]. He did not, however, expct the Allies to declare war over Poland. Recommended: Russia's Next Big Military Sale - To Mexico? Ploesti would be the only important oil fields that Germany could utilize. Tomberg, W. "Wehrwirtschaftliche Erkenntnisse von 5 Kriegsjahren," (November 1944). 143-44. The advance to meet the Russians would be resisted by small units in towns an villages, but there would be no coordinated effort to stop the Allied advance. In this section you will find our range of Shovels, Bread Bags, A-Frames and more. First, they imported both crude and finished petroleum products from abroad. Rather than consuming their stockpile, the Germans actually increased it by seizing the stockpiles of the defeated nations: Denmark and Norway (April 1940) and then the Netherlands, Belgium, and France May 1940). And while the bombers were shifted primarilt to France to support the Normandy landings, attaks on the Reich continued and one of the principal targetswas tghe synthetic fuel plants as they were located. This was just part of the vast quantity of critical materils the Soviets delivered to the Germans. These processes provided away for Germany to become energy independent. These companies came to be called the Seven Sisters oil companies. Here the Romanianswere not overly cooperaive. The German synthetic fuel industry using the various processes developed was by 1944 the principal source of oil for what was left of the Wehrmacht. To do this he had to split his forces. The 8th Air Force had sustanined substantial losses on targets in western Germany during 1943. (May 19, 1944) Thus much of the fuel landed had to be used to transport fuel and supplie to the front. A subcamp of the Stutthof concentration camp was located in P�litz itself. The Americans crossed the Rhine and surronded his immobile forces. It is a major producer of bituminous coal and brown coal (lignite), the principal fields of the latter being west of Cologne, east of Halle, south and southwest of Leipzig, and in Lower Lusatia in Brandenburg. More has been written about the German U-boats than the Allied naval blockade, but the U-boats failed and the Allied blockade suceeded. [Return to Main German strategic materials page] The product was then refined to create a synthetic liquid fuel. Second, the Germans had some small domestic oil fields. 73.] Finally the 8th Ar Force went for the German jugular--th synthetic fuel plants deep in the Reich. Hitler ordered Model to create a fortress enclave and was done in eastern Germany and Poland. [Countries] The British Ambassador, Sir Kinahan Cornwallis, was held hostage in the embassy. By this time the Luftwaffe defenses had been largely depleted. (United States Bureau of Mines, Office of Synthetic Liquid Fuels. Then once the Mediterranean was in Axis hands, the Germans could proceed to drive on British-held Suez from Italian Libya. Larry Collins and Dominique Lapierre have described Glubb Pasha in 0, Jerusalem, their account of the birth of Israel, in 1948. “Yet of all the long line of British Arabists that had followed the master [Lawrence] east, he was indisputably the greatest. For Rommel, the possibility of a pro-Axis ruler in oil-rich Iraq was a dream come true. The Austrian Anscluss added more fields (1938). Finally the 8th Ar Force went for the German synthetic fuel plants. The Allies once they had the bombers and bases in Libya made a major effort to destroy the Ploesti airfields. [Resistance] Moreover Stalin could at any time stop the oil deliveries. As it worked out, the Sovies immediately began delivering large quntities of critically needed raw materials to the Germans. At the beginning of WWII, German troops supported their field equipment via a system of aluminum belt hooks attached to canvas suspenders that were worn inside their tunics. Stranges, Anthony N. "Friedrich Bergius and the rise of the German synthetic fuel industry," Isis Vol. This included Romania which had fought with the Allies in World War I. Romania was critical because of the vital Ploesti oil fields. OKW analists calculated that with monthly military requirements of 7.25 million barrels and imports and home production of only 5.35 million barrels, German oil stocks would be exhausted by August 1941. With Gibraltar in their hands, the Mediteranean would be essetially an Axis lake. Autarkiepolitik im Dritten Reich: Der nationalsozialistische Vierjahresplan (Stuttgart, 1968), pp. After another month of bombing he writes that he sent a memorandum to Hitler. Somerset de Chair has left an ominous picture of what was going on inside neighboring Persia. And they wre easily surronded and cut off. Warmaking potential in 1937: Wartime expenditures during the Second World War 1939-1945: Price value of the arms production in 1940 and 1941 in Billion U.S. dollars (for prices in 1944: $1 = c.£0.21 = c.RM 2.22): Military Arms Production Index of Germany: Value and ind… The German fields were primarily located in northwestern Germany. 193ff. And Tunisia, Algeria, and Morocco were cotrolled by Vihy France, intent on collaborating with the Germans. Showing slide {CURRENT_SLIDE} of {TOTAL_SLIDES} - Best Selling. Also in April, the German Twelfth Army would overrun Greece in a lightning three-week campaign, forcing a wholesale evacuation of British forces to the island of Crete only to be ejected once again by a German airborne invasion. Soviet forces in the Caucauses managed to stop the German drive in the moutanous terraine short of Grozny. [Economics] At the most recent maneuvers the Persian Army had displayed ninety tanks; and we could not rule out the possibility that Germany was going to ‘borrow’ these from Persia to reinforce the Iraqis.”. The Germans took elborate measures to camouflage the plants. Actual industrial productiion was adifferent matter. Seven major oil compnies dominated the production and export of oil at the time Hitler and Stalin launched World War II. The Germans incresed fuel imports in the months leading up to the War to build up stockpiles, knowing that maritime sources would soon be severed by the British Royal Navy. 254-77. Fuel was so short in Germany that some of the gasoline being stockpiled for the offenive had to be trasportd by horse and cart. Gen. Jacob E. Smart, a four-star general who conceived the strategy for the daring World War II bombing raid on the oil refineries at Ploiesti, Romania, and went on to help shape the postwar Air Force, died Sunday in Ridgeland, S.C., in the house in which he was born.He was 97.The cause was congestive heart failure, his son, William, said. Ploesti would be the only important oil fields that Germany would have access to during the War. The Germans did what they could to maximize output from their domestic oil fields. Romanian deliveries still totaled 7 million barrels in the first 6 months of 1944. One of his generals had a plan to do just that. On June 22, nine-tenths of the production of airplane fuel was knocked out." [Campaigns] The Germans had expected Soviet demolition of the oil fields and refineries and rushed speialists to Maikop to repair the damage. Now was his opportunity to seize it. History of the Raid on the German Oil Supply in Ploesti The oil fields and eight massive refineries that surrounded Ploesti, Romania, spread over about eighteen square miles. And pciou American carriers badly neeed in the Pacific were deverted to make sure that aircraft and supplies (especially oil) got through to Malta. An with the invasion of Italy (September 1943), Allied air attacks intensified. Oil played a key role in the destruction of the Afrika Korps in the Western Desert. There were about 25 such plants scattered throughout the Reich, but many were in eastern Germany and thus difficult targets for the bombers as long as the Lufwaffe remained an effective force. What had been a problem was now close to immobilizing the entire Germany Army. Military preparadnes became increasingly important and overrode commercial concerns. With sufficient support from Hitler (which, good for the Western Allies, never materialized, owing in no small part to the Führer’s preoccupation with the coming attack on the Soviet Union), Rommel saw the Afrika Korps striking through the Middle East to seize the oil fields and then, with plenty of fuel for his panzers, be poised to strike, if needed, the underbelly of Russia. Nearly 70 percent of the town were destroyed. 10. Production did not begin until after the War (1919). [FAQs] The Americans had huge supply dumps stockpiled with gasoline (petrol) for their highly mechanized army. Soviet production at these fields wasimmense: Maikop (19 million barrels), Grozny (32 million barrels). After the War cost became important and neither of the two main processes were competitive with imported oil. After the turn-of-the 20th century, however, industrial energy requirements began to change. [Return to Main World War II page] And getting water tothe troops mean huge quantities of fuel also had to be expended. They were stalled stopped short of the Meuse River. And while Soviet oil deliveries helped, the oil situation remained precarious. [Stranges] The other great powers had sources of oil. Larry Collins and Dominique Lapierre have described Glubb Pasha in, Imagine a U.S. Air Force That Never Built the B-52 Bomber. Whoever controlled Iraq sat astride the crucial overland route between Egypt and India, the most precious jewel in England’s Imperial Crown. 217.] The Americans made a terrible mistake fighting in the Hertgen Forrest. It is a certainty that the German offensive in Summer '42 could have been expanded to include other objectives that lack of … 59 (summer 1985), pp. Thus maritime oil imports would be ended. Birkenfield, Wolfgang. The first step was hitting Ploesti and edin Germany's major accss t natural petroleum. German oil production: 1,920,000 tons/yeare, some 8-900,000 came from the Austrian fields, 6-700,000 tons/year from the Hanover district, 2000,000 tons/year from Heide and the remainder from Baden and the Polish frontier area. See All - Best Selling. An OKW study made aiquiting assessment (May 1941). When Barbarossa failed before Moscow (December 1941), Hitler designed the 1942 Summer offensive to seize the Soviet Caucasan oil fields. Schroeder, W.C. R. Holroyd, R.. ed. Ultimately the flow of oil was cut off by American bombing. The problem continues to be the cost of the process. The worlds Biggest Refinery was in Abadan could Process 14 Million Tonnes of Crude per year. A ship was moored on the Oder River was used as another camp (Umschulungslager Bremerhaven). It was just the beginning. The labor force came from camps (Pommernlager, Nordlager, Tobruklager, Wullenwever-Lager, Arbeitserziehungslager H�gerwelle, D�rrfeld Lager) located nearby. [Gallien, and Stutz, p. 503] Speer describes he process. [Return to Main strategic bombing campaign page] “We soon noticed how the stream of German armaments to Persia, by way of Turkey, had been increasing in recent months.… We examined closely the set-up of the German Fifth Column in Persia, where 4,000 Germans in commercial occupations were organized under Gauleiters [Nazi Party leaders] and could be mobilized on the telephone. [Return to Main war essay page], Strategic Bombing Campaign: The Oil Campaign, Main World War II strategic materials oil page, Main World War II strategic materials page. When the fighting moved to Egypt the supply problem escalted. Converting aaboratory process into actualindustrial production proved complicated. The Germans were able to extract about 4.7 million barrels from other Soviet sources. 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