War for Oil: The Nazi Quest for an Oil Empire

[smudgersmith218]

Gents,

I have just ordered ths book, well worth a read in MHO to anyone interested in the importance of oil to Germany in WW.II


Hardcover: 168 pages
Publisher: Potomac Books Inc (28 Jun 2012)
Language English
ISBN-10: 1597977217
ISBN-13: 978-1597977210

This title connects oil, war, and power in a historical context that has contemporary resonance. It offers a critical interpretation of primary and secondary sources to shed new light on oil's role in World War II. It shows the Nazi quest for oil as a primary German war aim. As Hitler's Einsatzgruppen (mobile SS killing units) marched into the Soviet Union directly behind the advancing Wehrmacht to murder Jews and others, less well-known units were also following in the footsteps of the German armed forces. They were called, among other things, petroleum units, petroleum commissions, or technical brigades. Their mission was to seize and exploit the oil-producing areas of the conquered territories. Following the pillaging of oil in Poland, France, and the Low Countries, these predatory units were the latest examples of Nazi Germany's relentless efforts before and during World War II to achieve self-sufficiency in fuel. But only in the East - first in the Soviet Union and then in the Middle East - could Hitler find sufficient quantities of oil to free Germany of all external dependency and to provide the resources he needed to wage war indefinitely. In this prodigiously researched study, Dietrich Eichholtz tells the story of Nazi Germany's plans to establish a global oil empire, from the plan's inception in 1938 to its collapse in 1943.
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[K4KittyCrew]

I tend to think and maybe history will show, that to win a war, oil supplies of the enemy must be curtailed in the short term ................ which in turn allows the victor supplies for the long term.
John

[smudgersmith218]

John,

Attacks on Germany’s oil targets were priority in 1940, we understood then the importance of oil and the vital role it played with Germany’s means to wage war. Then for some inexplicable reason we shifted away from these attacks, operational demands and pressure from other quarters let Germany continue to store and produce synthetics oil both in Germany and Romania, Hungary and Austria. It was not until 1944 with the help of the 8th and 15th Air Forces along with No.205 Group (both of which attacked Ploesti with great losses) that a renewed and coordinated campaign against oil targets began to affect the capability Germany. It was for some 2 years too late. !

Steve