Chapter 22- Wartime economy and work of Speer Flashcards
Why did Germany have supply problems
Nazi war machine stretched out in Mediterranean
Barbarossa in 1941, June
Germany had too many fronts
Hitler’s war economy act (name) and Date
3 Sept 1939
Decree for the conversion of the whole German economy onto a war footing
Albert Speer
architect for Nazis since 1931
He designed the furherbunker
Appointed minister of Armaments in 1942
Why Four year plan didnt (fully) work
Hitler expected the west to accept the invasion of Poland just as they did with Austria and Czechoslovakia
They thought war would start in 1941 with Barbarossa
Economic an military plan was based on these assumption
When was Luftwaffe expansion due to be complete by
1942
structural issue of German production
Different branches of army wanted highly specific equipment
SS wanted certain tanks
Army wanted certain bullets
% of labour force increased from ? to ? between what dates
21% to 55% between 1939 and Jan 1941
Weakness of Goring
he lacked the technical and economic knowledge
He was in charge of 4 year plan but didnt really understand it
he had poor relations with military generals, leaders of large companies an of banks
Why was Goring’s weakness not noticed?
early successes of German army
in austria, Sudetenland and Czecholsovakia
by 1941, goring weakness couldn’t be ignored
Speer’s quote about Goring
“era of incompetence, arrogance and egoism”
Fritz Todt and his warning
Armaments minister in 1941. complained to Hitler about lack of vital equipment and supplies on eastern front. Hitler ignored him
Todt dies in plane crash in 1942 and is replaced by Speer
Rationalisation of production
This involved:
greater use of mass production
keep factories open 24/7
production in fewer factories and narrower range of products
central coordination of all of this
the “production miracle”
Between 1941-43:
Aircraft production instead by 200%
tank production increased by 250%
Production of Messerschmitt Bf 109 increased from 180 per month to 1000 per month
Allied bombing
1942-May 1945
British would bomb in the day
American would bomb at night
Economic impact of allied bombing
Speer’s production gains in 1943 and 44 happened despite bombing
bombings damaged supply lines, factories and morale
% of production allied bombing had impacted
Jan 1945, Speer calculated bombing resulted in 35% less tanks
31% less aircrafts
effect of conscription
the outbreak of war meant men left to go fight
with limited workers, Germany either had to use the available workers in Germany very efficiently, or use foreign labour
Soviet counter offensive impact on labour force
it was in Dec 1941
more work was needed for armaments, this frustrated Gauleiters
Hitler was opposed to women in work force, shortage of labour posed a threat to German success in soviet territory
Decree for the comprehensive deployment of men and women for reich defence tasks
13th Jan 1943
this established a small committee to oversee the mobilisation of the work force
all women 17-45 and men 16-65 had to register for work with their local labour office
“comb through” exercise
tried to find any last men who could work as ideological considerations meant women couldn’t work
October 1941 Hitler action on Soviet POWs
hitler said they could be used for slave labour
Amount of foreign workers by dec 1941
4 million
amount of workers transported to Germany
from where
by who
2.8million
from eastern europe
by Sauckel
By 1944 how many foreign workers in Germany vs in occupied territory
7 million in Germany
7 million in occupied territory
Conditions of foreign labour
harsh
low wages
discipline severe
By 1944, what percentage of German workers were foreign labourers
25%
