chapter twenty two

Question 1

germany had been preparing for war since the launch for the four year okay in

Answer 1

1936

Question 2

but the German economy was not full mobilised for war until 1942 , this failure to mobilise resulted in shortages of

Answer 2

weapons and equipment for the German armed forces

Question 3

reasons for problems in supplying weapons and equipment for the armed forces
- hitler had not expected the war to begin in 1939 , the four year plan was based on the assumption that a general war would start in 1941 and the emphasis in the

Answer 3

early stages of the plan was on developing germanys productive capacity not on the production of armaments

Question 4

reasons for problems in supplying weapons and equipment for the armed forces
- hitler was so confident that the war would be over quickly that he rejected a

Answer 4

‘total war’ effort which would include the conscription of women into the labour force

Question 5

reasons for problems in supplying weapons and equipment for the armed forces
- different branches of the armed forces demanded highly specialised equipment built to a

Answer 5

high standard , this was expensive and inefficient

Question 6

reasons for problems in supplying weapons and equipment for the armed forces
- the nazi regime did not establish a clear unified direction of the war economy alongside Goerings office of the four year plan there were overlapping and competitive directions from the

Answer 6

defence , economy and armaments office , the minstry for armaments and munitions and the economic ministry

Question 7

reasons for problems in supplying weapons and equipment for the armed forces
- Goering lacked the technical and economic knowledge to do his job effectively he had poor relations with

Answer 7

military leaders and with industrialists and concentrated on building with his own economic empire

Question 8

Albert super was appointed Minster for armaments in

Answer 8

February 1942

Question 9

Albert Speer replaced

Answer 9

fritz rode who had been killed in an air crash

Question 10

speer who had hitlers full support set up a

Answer 10

central planning agency which led to impressive results

Question 11

the central planning agency co ordinated and rationalised the production of armaments through :

Answer 11

• the allocation of labour and materials to armaments factories
• the concentration of production in fewer factories
• the production of a narrower range of standardised products
• the greater use of mass production methods
• shift working to keep factories running 24 hours a day
• preventing the military conscription of skilled armaments

Question 12

this led to the production miracle :

Answer 12

• between 1942-44 German war production trebled ; air craft production increased by 200% between 1941 and 1943 while tank production increased by 250% in the same period
• productivity per worker in munitions factories increased by 60%

Question 13

from 1942 until the end of the war in 1945 the British and Americans bombed German cities in an effort to

Answer 13

disrupt industrial production and damage civilian morale

Question 14

spears efforts to increase production were hampered by the

Answer 14

bombing

Question 15

the bombing damaged factories and disrupted supply lines , factories had to be

Answer 15

rebuilt and dispersed and resources were diverted to repair damage to infrastructure

Question 16

in January 1945 the minstry of armaments calculated that the bombing had resulted in

Answer 16

35% fewer tanks being produced
31% fewer aircraft
42% fewer lorries

Question 17

from January to may 1945 the bombing intensified resulting in an actual

Answer 17

reduction in the production of armaments

Question 18

after war was declared more men were conscripted in to the armed forces , at the same time there was increased

Answer 18

demand for labour in the armaments industries

Question 19

in order to increase armaments production labour had to be used more efficiently :

Answer 19

the number of workers making consumer good reduced
while the numbers making munitions increased

Question 20

however the full scale conscription of labour for war work was not

Answer 20

implemented in the early stages of the war

Question 21

the defeat of German forces in Stalingrad in early 1943 was a profound

Answer 21

shock to the nazi regime and brought about a re evaluation of policies and priorities

Question 22

this led to a speech by Goebbels in February 1943 calling on the German people to participate in a

Answer 22

total war effort

Question 23

all businesses deemed non essential for the war closed , and more conscription of labour was introduced :

Answer 23

• all men aged 16-65 all women aged 17-45 had to register for work
• small businesses in non essential trades were closed and their employees transferred to war work
• a ‘comb-through’ exercise idenditifed men who could be released from employment and conscripted into the armed forces
• agter the invasion of the USSR in June 1941 there was an increase in use of POW and hitler decreed in October 1941 that Russian POW could be used as slave labour
• in march 1942 hitler appointed fritz suckle to head the plenipotentiary general department for labour allocation whose job was to increase the number of foreign workers which he did by rounding up transporting 2.8million forced labourers from Eastern Europe

Question 24

by 1944 there was 7 million foreign workers in gemrnay and another

Answer 24

7 million in occupied countries doing work for germans

Question 25

concentration camp inmates were also used as

Answer 25

slave labour

Question 26

foreign labourers made up x of the total German labour force

Answer 26

25%

Question 27

there was a class system of foreign workers with those from Western Europe at the tip receiving wages similar to those paid to German workers while

Answer 27

forced labourers from the east were paid around half as as much

Question 28

concentration camp inmates and POW from the east recieved

Answer 28

no payments and their living conditions were extremely harsh

Question 29

malnourishment of slave labourers caused them to be

Answer 29

significantly less productive than German workers

Question 30

from 1940 until spring 1942 volunteer foreign workers were recruited from

Answer 30

occupied countries in Western Europe