WesWorld

Repository for focused articles appearing in other magazines in the German news cycle.

There are numerous factors that led, in the fullness of time, to the victory of the Allied Powers in the Great War. Of these none can be of greater importance that the freedom of the seas enjoyed by the merchant vessels of the Allied Powers; despite the best efforts of surface raiders and U-boats to strangle Allied sea lines of communication, Allied vessels, and the vessels of neutral powers in sailing in the service of the Allied powers, carried men and supplies from the far corners of the world to the battle fronts of France, Flanders and the Balkans. The main outline of this story is well known, but often forgotten is the contribution of the shipyards of the United States – shipyards that contributed dozens of merchantmen to the Allied shipping pool and helped make good the losses suffered in the U-boat offensive of 1916.

Prior to the Great War the American mercantile marine was focused mainly on coastal and inter-coastal traffic; save for the haulage of oil and other petroleum products, its ocean-going vessels were small compared to their European contemporaries, and its coastal passenger and cargo vessels were uncompetitive in world trade. Attempts to maintain an American-flag presence on the premier North Atlantic route had foundered on several occasions, and the surviving line was but a part of the American-owned but British registered International Mercantile Marine Company – a creation of the House of Morgan. Likewise the United States Steel Company had built up a substantial fleet of cargo vessels flying the British flag, ships which carried its products around the globe; other American firms had followed, building ships abroad, generally registering them under the British flag and manning them with British crews.

This changed in 1914 with the outbreak of hostilities in Europe. Prompted by the demands of American firms owning ships under foreign flags and the fear that such vessels would be requisitioned for Allied war service, the American Congress passed the Ship Registry Act of 1914, which relaxed the previous restrictions of placing foreign-built ships under the American flag. Overnight dozens of sturdy vessels became American, and quickly took advantage of the rising shipping rates to capture markets in the cross trades or, at war risk rates, hauled cargo from the United States to Britain and France.

The American shipbuilding industry, concentrated for the most part in on the eastern seaboard was, at this time, heavily dependent on naval shipbuilding – the civil demand being far smaller and more prone to boom-and-bust. The establishments were quite capable but their output was in large measure tied up with the United States Navy’s own shipbuilding programme, and prior to the outbreak of the European war there was little reason to invest in merchant shipbuilding. The New York Shipbuilding Company of Camden had been founded at the turn of the century to construct merchantmen along then novel principles – the use of standard forms and components – but had, perforce, turned to construction of battleships and destroyers for the American fleet, or such mundane fare as barges and coastal colliers. Several shipyards, such as the old Delaware River yard at Chester, sat idle for lack of work. This too changed with the coming of war.

Standard Ships for the American Flag

The expanded American merchant fleet found itself making good profits as a neutral carrier, which prompted American owners to invest in considerable new construction. New firms, such as the Munson Line, placed large orders for simple cargo ships, expecting to earn substantial freights or – as happened in several instances – sell the ships on the stocks to other operators at huge profit. By the spring the first of these new ships were sliding down the ways – the freighter William O’Brien, launched at Camden in April 1915. Over the next two and a half years American yards would add a further seventy-eight ships of nearly a half-million registered tons to the American flag fleet – many of them tankers of the largest size – for service on the world’s trade routes.

The more successful shipbuilders adopted a typically American approach to meeting the demand for shipping – creation of a standard design that could be built rapidly, either to order or on builder’s speculation – so-called “stock” freighters. The Bethlehem Steel Company was among the first to offer such a product from its Sparrow’s Point yard at Baltimore. Its “327” design was of 99.9 metres length, 14.3 metres in beam and of 6.7 metres draught, with a gross tonnage of 3,130; powered by simple triple-expansion steam engines the design was capable of making slightly more than eleven knots. The first of these – the Edith for Alexander H. Bull and Company – emerged in June of 1915, and was followed by nine sisters for several American shipowners.

Neutrals: Customers and Speculators

The revived American shipbuilding industry quickly attracted the attention of owners in Denmark and Nordmark, who found their need for tonnage far greater than their home industries could supply, and their traditional alternatives – the Clyde, the Mersey or the Weser – cut off. No fewer than fourteen vessels would be built in the United States for these flags, the first being launched in February 1916 by the newly formed Chester Shipbuilding Company, who had taken over the moribund Delaware River yard. The Scandinavians were the first to tap the shipbuilding resources of the Pacific coast of the United States – where the Todd Shipbuilding and Construction Company of Tacoma, Washington, built no less than five large stock freighters for various owners. The Lyderhorn, for Schoubye's Rederi A/S, was the first – a fast turbine-engined ship of nearly 5,590 tons gross and 8,800 tons deadweight; her twin screws propelled her and her sisters at a speed of thirteen knots. They were designed for the booming freight traffic across the Pacific Ocean between the United States and Japan.

The Allies Enter the Market

The demands of the armies of the Great War for war materials soon outstripped the capacity of the factories of France and Great Britain to supply them, and those same factories were soon dependent on raw materials and intermediate goods from the United States, to say nothing of the food required for the armies and civil populations of both nations. Within months it was seen that the tonnage in the Allied shipping pool was inadequate to the task, prompting varied responses by the Entente powers. While Britain, with its large reserve of mercantile tonnage, considered it unnecessary to take immediate action, and Atlantis, which chose to initiate an emergency programme of construction in its own yards, France turned to the United States for merchantmen.

France did so quickly for several reasons: the sharp increase in the need for imports from North and South America, as well as France’s own colonial empire, rapidly outstripped the tonnage under its own flag; the industrial plants of northeastern France, that might have delivered structural steel and plate, engines and other vital components had fallen to the German Army in 1914, and those plants and shipyards left were choked with naval construction, or diverted to the manufacture of material for the Army; and the menace of the U-boat bit quickly and sharply into France’s foreign trade, particularly in the Mediterranean. Thus it was in the early spring that a French commission surveyed the scene of America’s shipyards to determine how best to close the gap between France’s need and its capabilities. It found most of the shipyards on America’s eastern seaboard booked to full capacity, either constructing warships for the American navy, or merchantmen for American owners.

The commission then turned to overlooked shipbuilding resources offered by yards located on America’s Great Lakes. These yards were quite capable of turning out vessels rapidly, and had yard capacity to spare. The size of ocean-going vessels constructed there was constrained by the narrowness of the canals between the Lakes and the St. Lawrence River, and the length of the locks therein, but such commercial considerations counted for less than the rapidity with which hulls might be delivered. Agreements were quickly reached between the French commission and several builders, and designs agree upon; to conform to American regulations regarding neutrality, the contracts were let in the name of Companies France-Navigation SA, a consortium of French railway and shipping firms.

France would eventually receive forty-three small freighters from this source. Among the firms engaged in the programme were: the American Shipbuilding Company, who built eleven units at its yard in Superior, Wisconsin and nine in its yard at Toledo, Ohio; the Detroit Dry Dock Company, which built twelve; the Globe Iron Works of Cleveland, Ohio and the Great Lakes Engineering Works of Ecorse, Michigan, which each built four units; and the Manitowoc Shipbuilding Company, which contributed five. Most of the vessels constructed were of a standard design drawn up by engineers at the American Shipbuilding Company – an engines-aft design of 2,430 tons gross and 4,170 tons deadweight, measuring 76.2 metres in length, with a beam of 13.2 metres and a draught of 7.4 metres; powered by a triple expansion steam engine with single screw they were designed for a speed of ten knots. The first of these, the Saint Marie, was launched at Ecorse in September 1915, and was rapidly followed by many sisters.

The French authorities continued to seek larger steel steamers from American sources, with some success. From the newly organized Standard Shipbuilding Company of Port Elizabeth, New Jersey it eventually procured a trio of stock freighters of 6,475 tons gross and 10,620 tons deadweight, and from the Sun Shipbuilding Company of Chester, Pennsylvania another three steamers each of 5,780 tons gross. Most of these larger vessels came into service in the latter portion of 1917, where their presence was instrumental in overcoming the final submarine offensive of the Kaiserliche Marine. Overall France obtained sixty four cargo vessels in the United States, totaling more than 215,000 tons gross.

The British Response

By 1916 the British Government realised that efforts must be made to increase the mercantile tonnage available under the British flag. To do so a new department, that of the Shipping Controller, was formed, with the task of central management of construction of merchantmen in Britain’s many shipyards, easing bottlenecks and reducing competition for scare materials by competing shipyards. While its efforts were crowned by bright success, it too turned to the United States for tonnage.

Trailing in the footsteps of the French, the British found it necessary to cultivate a consortium of shipyards on the Pacific Coast of the United States, yards that had been drawn into the shipbuilding trade by the lure of high profits. These included the Columbia River Shipbuilding Company and the Northwest Steel Company of Portland, Oregon; the Ames Shipbuilding Company and the James F. Duthie and Company of Seattle, Washington. Together these four yards constructed no fewer than thirty large steel freighters of 5,780 tons gross and 9,600 tons deadweight, measuring 129 metres in length, 17.1 metres in beam and 7.7 metres draught. The engines for all of them were constructed by the Joshua Hendy Ironworks of San Francisco. Ostensibly constructed for the Cunard Steamship Company, the first of these, the War Baron, was launched in September 1916. Eventually eight of these ships would be transferred to the French under an agreement negotiated early in 1917.

Britain also availed itself of the yards on the American Great Lakes, and on the eastern seaboard – indeed, it advanced sums of money to American builders to assure rapid delivery of the ships needed to move the food, raw materials and ordnance that sustained the British Army on the Western Front. One such yard was opened by the already-established Pusey and Jones firm at Gloucester City, New Jersey, opposite Philadelphia. It built seven vessels for Britain, including the only tankers ordered by the Allies. The fast freighter design ordered from this firm was perhaps one of the finest merchant designs of the period – vessels of 10,650 tons gross and 14,200 tons deadweight, measuring 151.1 metres in length, 20.7 metres in the beam and 8.8 metres draught, powered by geared turbines turning twin screws for a speed of 13 knots. The first of these, the War Serpent, was launched in December 1917. Twelve were ordered by Britain but only four delivered prior to the Armistice in 1917; delivery of the remainder was cancelled but the hulls were snapped up by American buyers and completed in the shipping boom that followed the end of hostilities.

In all, seventy three merchantmen, amounting to more than 340,000 tons gross, would be completed in American shipyards to order of British intermediaries. Of these, thirty-three, totaling more than 160,000 tons gross, were launched in the final six months of the conflict, at the height of the U-boat campaign. Without the tonnage available from the United States it is possible that the scales might have tipped against the Allies; it is certain that without command of the seas and sufficient tonnage to move the necessary cargos, that the Allies would not have obtained victory in the war’s final year.

Aftermath

The Allied victory in the autumn of 1917 did not immediately impact the American shipbuilding industry. Britain and France cancelled their orders for ships on the stocks and for vessels not yet laid down, but such was the demand for shipping in the postwar period that most of the vessels under construction would be completed, if only for new owners, most of them American. By 1919 shipyards in Britain had returned to their peacetime business and were quite capable of meeting the demands of the British shipping industry; by 1920 yards in Germany had begun their slow recovery. In the United States, the great merchant-building consortium on the Pacific Coast collapsed in 1920, with only the long-established Todd yard at Tacoma surviving. The yards of the Great Lakes returned to constructing large Lakers to move ore and grain cargos. The hot-house yards on the eastern seaboard – Standard Shipbuilding, Staten Island Shipbuilding, Chester Shipbuilding and others – closed their doors forever. The Sun Shipbuilding Company, owned by a petroleum company, survived the lean times by constructing tankers.

The American merchant marine fared somewhat better. Overall, the ships built in wartime significantly expanded its size and capabilities. The newly founded Isthmian Steamship Company – a creature of United States Steel Company – would operate a fleet of twenty-one freighters on services around the globe, carrying the firm’s steel products to market and returning home with raw materials. From the ashes of the International Mercantile Marine Company would arise United States Lines, which remains a premier operator of both passenger and cargo ships on the North Atlantic. The growth of huge tanker fleets under the American flag – those of Standard Oil in particular – is a major development of the postwar period.

There can be no question that the Mexican Canal, completed nearly a year ago, is an engineering marvel of the age, or any age. Its thirteen massive locks join two great ocean basins through mountainous terrain long thought impossible to traverse. What remains at this point is the question of the economic viability of the Mexican Canal, given the cost of construction. Only time will tell if the millions sunk into the project will see a commercial return, yet the evidence so far suggests that the project provides economic benefits to be reaped by firms willing to venture on the new trade route.

Response of American Ocean Shipping

American flag operators enjoy the benefit of preferential tolls on the Mexican Canal thanks to the contributions of the United States to the cost of the project. This has led to its use by many American lines sailing overseas to switch to the Mexican Canal in preference to the older Panama Canal. A prime example of this trend is the round-the-world service of the Isthmian Steamship Company, whose ships would depart the port of New York and call at Los Angeles and San Francisco before sailing westward across the Pacific. By using the Mexican Canal in preference to that in Panama, the Isthmian steamers are able to shave three days off the sailing time between New York and Los Angeles – it taking twenty days via Panama versus only seventeen via the Mexican Canal, even allowing for the lengthy transit time of the latter. In contrast the firm of William R. Grace and Company continues to route its ships sailing from New York and other ports on American’s eastern seaboard via Panama, the Mexican route offering no significant savings compared with the detour off a natural trade route.

The Mississippi Steamship Company, based in New Orleans, has responded to the opportunities presented by establishing a new direct service from the Louisiana port to ports on the western coast of Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Chile via the Mexican Canal. Advertised as the Gulf and South America Line, the new service has led the company to construct three modern passenger cargo vessels for the route, and it has recently placed orders for the construction of four modern cargoliners to replace a mixed fleet of steamers constructed during the Great War. The Mississippi Steamship Company’s service to the west coast of South America complements its existing Gulf, Brazil and River Plate Line, which services the eastern coast of South America.

Response of Foreign Ocean Shipping

Relatively few non-US shipping lines have availed themselves of the Mexican Canal to date. For most traffic sailing to the western ports of South America, the Panama Canal remains a shorter route. The HAPAG has re-routed its North American services to take advantage of the new route and has added the port of New Orleans to both outward and homeward voyages. The Chilean Compañía Sudamericana de Vapores was quick to avail itself of the Mexican route, as the Chilean flag also benefits from the preferential tolls when using the Mexican Canal. Compañía Sudamericana has introduced a new northbound service to the Gulf ports of the United States, tapping fresh markets for Chilean exports. Tramp steamers of a number of nations have also used the Mexican route when due to load or unload at New Orleans or other ports of the Gulf of Mexico.

Response of American Inter-coastal Shipping

Those American firms engaged in the protected traffic between the eastern coasts of the United States and its Pacific coast have seen the greatest benefit from the opening of the Mexican Canal, and have been quick to route their ships through it.

The American-Hawaiian Steamship Company of New York is typical of these firms. Since the latter years of the Nineteenth Century it has operated a large fleet of steel steamers hauling cargo from New York, Boston and Philadelphia to ports between Los Angeles and Seattle, and thence on to Hawaii – first sailing through the Strait of Magellan, and then using the Panama Canal. The aforementioned three days saved on the westward or eastward voyage – fifteen percent of the voyage time – has boosted the firm’s competitive position. Other firms operating on the west-bound inter-coastal route include the Luckenbach Steamship Company of New York and the Baltimore Mail Line, an affiliate of the Roosevelt Steamship Company.

American inter-coastal shipping firms based in San Francisco or Seattle have perhaps reaped the greatest benefit from the Canal’s completion. Long involved in shipping construction materials to the Canal Zone, they were among the first to switch their sailings from ports on the Eastern Seaboard to the Gulf Coast, opening up lucrative direct services to New Orleans, Mobile and Galveston. Pope, Talbot and Company of San Francisco now operates the California Eastern Line – a service between San Francisco, Los Angeles and New Orleans, with sailings in either direction every three weeks; Swayne, Hoyt and Company, also of San Francisco, operates the Gulf Pacific Line, linking San Francisco with New Orleans and the port of Mobile, Alabama. Use of the Mexican Canal has reduced sailing time between New Orleans and Los Angeles to little more than twelve days, as compared with the nearly eighteen days previously required.

Inter-coastal operators based in the Gulf Coast have also been quick to shift to the Mexican route. The Lykes Brothers Steamship Company of New Orleans and John B. Waterman and Company of Mobile have both abandoned the use of the Panama Canal. It is also reported that both firms are contemplating establishing routes to serve foreign ports in South America and/or the Pacific; however, no definitive announcements to this effect have been published in the shipping press.

Port Developments, New Ideas

The port of New Orleans at the mouth of the Mississippi river has entered a boom period, as it now stands as the gateway between the farms and industry of the American heartland and its overseas markets – routes now shortened substantially by completion of the Mexican Canal. The port has seen substantial public and private investment, including new fueling facilities, transit sheds for incoming and outgoing cargo, inland rail connections, and construction of new wharves. The port of Mobile has seen increased traffic and local authorities are pressuring the Federal Government to invest in dredging of the approaches to the port. The growing prosperity has even spread to smaller ports, such as Galveston and Houston in Texas, from which much cotton is shipped to Japan, and Tampa, Florida.

Of particular interest is the recent decision of the Gulf, Mobile and Ohio Railroad Company to initiate an experimental service to ship its rail cars by sea to the Pacific Coast. Seatrain Lines of Hoboken, New Jersey, presently employs several large train ferries to ship rail cars by sea from New York and Philadelphia to Florida and to New Orleans, avoiding many bottle-necks in the American railway system. The Seatrain New Orleans has been chartered to the GM&O Railroad for a period of twelve months, and she has made two transits to Los Angeles thus far. It is far too soon to determine the long-term viability of such a service, but the early results are promising.

Summary

In its first year of its operations the Mexican Canal has contributed significantly to the growth of trade between North and South America as well as facilitating the continuing economic growth of the United States. The revenue derived from canal tolls is rising; how soon it continues to do so without provoking some change in the toll regime on the Panama Canal remains to be seen. The increase in ship traffic has led some American-flag operators to invest in new tonnage better suited to modern trading conditions. Whether the Mexican Canal proves to be the Eighth Wonder of the World or a white elephant of gigantic proportions remains to be seen; in any event, American ship owners seem pleased with the current situation.

The introduction of the reaction-jet engine has wrought a profound change in the world aviation scene – one whose ultimate ramifications have yet to unfold; yet even in these early stages of the so-called "reaction-jet age” it is clear that old assumptions can no longer be relied upon. Once improvements to aircraft performance relied squarely upon higher horsepower coaxed from the internal combustion engine; today a whole host of metallurgical and other technological barriers must be overcome if the promise of the reaction-jet engine is to be fulfilled.

The initial experimental work on reaction-jet engines was undertaken by Doctor Hans von Ohain of the University of Göttingen. On 10 November 1935 he filed patent 317/38, Process and Apparatus for Producing Airstreams for Propelling Airplanes, and in 1936 entered into collaboration with the aircraft manufacturer Ernst Heinkel to undertake development of a practical aircraft engine embodying the principles laid down in his patent. This resulted in the development of the Heinkel-Strahltriebwerk 1 (HeS1) engine. Constructed over the latter portion of 1936 and completed in March 1937 the HeS 1 demonstrated the practicality of the reaction-jet concept, though it was crude and made largely of sheet metal. There followed the Heinkel-Strahltriebwerk 3 (HeS 3) – the world’s first operational reaction-jet engine to power an aircraft. The relatively poor performance obtained by the HeS 3 confirmed the need for much basic research to address the needs of this new type of aircraft powerplant.

New Materials for a New Age

The reaction-jet engine, not unlike its internal combustion predecessor, has many component parts – but the demands placed upon them are far different than the familiar radial or inline aero-engine. The principal components of the reaction-jet engine are the turbine, the compressor and the combustor, each of which offers challenges to the design engineer and metallurgist. These challenges include the need for great strength combined with the lightest possible weight and the ability to withstand the intense heat generated by the engine itself. The like all aircraft engines it must withstand the rigours of flight, and, to be practical, it must be reliable.

Much basic research into high-strength metals has been necessary to provide the materials necessary to create the modern reaction-jet engine. The Metallwerk Plansee has been in the forefront of this work, which has seen development of high-strength, high-temperature aluminium alloys composed of aluminium, copper and titanium as well as nickel-based high-temperature superalloys composed of nickel, chrome and cobalt. To produce these materials in the requisite quantity it has been necessary for many of Germany’s metal plants retool and adopt new production processes. An example of this is the way in which compressor discs – the heart of the compressor unit of the reaction-jet engine – are manufactured. Initially such components were machined from solid forgings; using technology developed by the Plansee concern these are now created using powder metallurgy, resulting in a stronger, more reliable and more lightweight component; and one requiring less effort to produce.

The stresses placed upon the airframes of aircraft powered by reaction-jet engines have required development of new aluminium alloys for the frame and skin of the aircraft – offering great strength and lighter weight. Such alloys can be heat-treated and can be welded. Subsidiaries of Vereinigte Deutsche Metallwerke, specifically Vereinigte Deutsche Nickelwerke and Vereinigte Leichtmetallwerke have been in the forefront of these developments.

Reliability

These factors have been cause for many of the delays in the development of the reaction-jet engine despite the considerable investment of the aircraft industry and the Ministry of Defence. Even with the availability of suitable materials, designers have had to make many tests to eliminate new found problems, such as the tendencies of the first engine designs to surge or otherwise deliver their thrust in an inconsistent or uncontrolled manner.

The reliability of the first reaction-jet engine designs left much to be desired – the Heinkel-Strahltriebwerk 8 (HeS engine which powered the Heinkel He280 fighter aircraft had a time-between-overhaul of less than twenty hours. Until suitable alloys became available the Junkers Jumo 004 reaction-jet engine suffered from similar limitations – though now it is reported that the time-between-overhaul of that engine new exceeds one hundred fifty hours.

The Current State of Affairs

The Junkers engine has been developed to power the Luftwaffe’s current generation of reaction-jet engine aircraft, the Bf262 interceptor and the Ar234 light reconnaissance bomber. Production of engines had been a limiting factor in the deployment of both aircraft but these have been overcome – the Junkers works at Kothen has completed its retooling and is the centre for assembly and manufacture of the Jumo 004; the Pommersche Motorenbau at Neubrandenburg has been contracted to undertake manufacture of the 004 engine and is expected to commence production late this year.

The present version of the engine – the Jumo 004B – weighs 745 kg and produces a thrust of 897 kilograms at 8,800 revolutions per minute. The relatively low thrust available necessitates the use of two engines on the Bf262 design; while work continues to increase the engine’s power output, more hope is held out for the BMW 003 engine.

This powerplant has been under development for many years, and it is expected to be the engine around which the Luftwaffe’s next generation of combat aircraft will be designed. The BMW centre at Eisenach-Dürrerhof is presently testing the latest version of the 003, which has recorded a thrust of more than 800 kilograms; the immediate goal of the development program is for an engine capable of more than 1,300 kilograms of thrust. Engineers at BMW have been quoted as saying that given time and the materials, the basic design of the 003 is capable yielding thrust in excess of 3,000 kilograms; this lofty goal, if attainable, is years away.

The Heinkel-Strahltriebwerk 11 (HeS 011), also in development, features a unique compressor arrangement, combining a three-stage axial compressor with a diagonal stage similar to a centrifugal compressor, along with a low-compression impeller in the intake to smooth out airflow. Initial bench tests of the HeS 011 have produced results comparable with the BMW003 engine; however, the complexities inherent in the design and manufacture of the reaction-jet engine have resulted in several test failures and the HeS 011 has yet to be flight tested.

Besides its work on the Jumo 004 the Junkers firm is also investigating the development of the so-called “turbine-propeller” engine, which uses a reaction-jet engine to spin a propeller, looking much like a conventional aero engine to the observer. This work is under the direction of Doctor Ferdinand Brandner. This type of engine holds out great promise for commercial aviation, where high horsepower is required for the large passenger and cargo transport aircraft now in service. Conventional engine technology is reaching its limits, and the turbine-propeller seems the natural successor in this field.

Other manufacturers have also entered the field. Both Daimler Benz and Hirth-Motoren have announced that they have begun development work on reaction-jet engines though little information has been disclosed to date on the nature of their designs. Unconfirmed reports in the popular press have described the Daimler project as a zweistromstrahltriebwerk – or twin-flow reaction-jet engine supposedly offering greater engine efficiency. The Hirth firm is believed to be adapting reaction-jet principles to lower power engines suitable for commercial or sporting use.

Background

Possessed of one of the more developed economies in the Danubian basin the Kingdom of Hungary is a major trading partner; it is a source for agricultural produce and raw materials required for continued economic development at home; it is an outlet for capital and consumer goods on a large scale; and its role in the transit trade throughout Southeastern Europe provides excellent commercial opportunities for both short and long term investment.

As a result of the Treaty of Trianon Hungary lost a considerable portion of its territory, its resources and its outlet to the sea. Before the war Hungary depended upon the Austrian and Czech parts of the empire for the import of up to eighty percent of Hungary’s raw materials and a market accepting an equal percentage of Hungarian exports; the end of the Austro-Hungarian Empire left the new Hungarian state with few raw materials and much reduced markets, all adding to the devastation wrought on Hungary’s economy by three years of war. These factors have conditioned the process of transition and reconstruction that the Hungarian economy has undergone since the Great War.

The Agricultural Sector

The Hungarian economy retains a strong rural component. Wheat is the principal grain crop – with more than thirty million quintals being harvested. Maize is the second major crop, with more than twenty-six million quintals grown. Other major grain crops include barley, rye and oats. Considerable quantities of livestock are marketed – with more than 180,000 head of cattle being slaughtered in the past year; however, hogs form a far larger proportion of production – with more than 1,500,000 hogs coming to the market annually.

The Financial Sector

Hungarian finance is dominated by five large banks based in the city of Budapest – the Hungarian General Credit Bank, the Hungarian Commercial Bank of Pest, the Hungarian Discount and Exchange Bank, the Hungarian Bank and Commercial Company and the First Hungarian Savings Bank of Pest. These institutions dominate many of the major industrial concerns. Local laws do not permit German banks to establish branches within Hungary, though many have correspondent relationships with Hungarian banks.

Germany is a source for long and short-term credits to finance commercial transactions, and is a provider of many loans to the state. These roles have increased as investment capital formerly provided by French, British or Netherlandish financial institutions has been attracted to development projects in their respective colonial empires.

The Industrial Sector

Though disrupted by the aftermath of the Great War the Hungarian industrial sector is relatively developed. The electrical goods industry is particularly well developed in Hungary, though there has been expansion of the automotive and metals industry in recent years.

The Mining Sector

Commodity metals mined in Hungary include bauxite, manganese and copper. Industrial minerals produced comprise clays and kaolin, lime, perlite, sand and gravel. Brown coal and lignite are the principal mineral fuels mined, though petroleum and natural gas form an expanding part of the energy supply.

Foreign Trade Opportunities

In general, Hungary is able to maintain an overall positive balance in foreign trade, which enable it to service the nation’s external debt – which amounts to more than three milliard Reichsmarks. Of its exports, more than fifty-five percent comprise foodstuffs, principally grain; thirty-two percent comprise raw or semi-finished products, principally mineral ores and timber; and only thirteen percent comprise industrial goods of any sort. In contrast, of its imports, more than thirty percent comprise industrial goods, and sixty-one percent raw or semi-finished products; Hungary is mostly self-sufficient in foodstuffs, with imports comprising only nine percent of total imports.

With the union of the Austrian provinces with the rest of the Reich Germany inherited the traditional trading role of the Cisleithian provinces of the old Hapsburg monarchy. This, reinforced by the commercial accord of 1934, has given Hungary a preferential position vis-à-vis its neighbours in the German market. In 1929 Germany took but 11.7% of Hungary’s total exports – by 1939 it had risen to 52.4%; in 1929 Germany had provided Hungary with 20% of its imports – in 1939 it supplied 52.5% of its imports. While much of this change reflects the growth of the German economy as a whole it is due to the privileged position granted to Hungary in the German customs system – Hungarian products are able to enter Germany on nearly the same basis as those from PETA members.

For Germany Hungary is a source for wheat, corn fodder (chiefly barley and maize), beef cattle, pork and poultry products, fruits, fats and vegetable oils. Hungary also supplies considerable quantities of bauxite, copper and manganese ore and increasing quantities of petroleum. In exchange Germany supplies the Hungarian market with consumer durables, a wide variety of manufactures, artificial fibres, iron and steel products, motor vehicles and coke and chemicals. Hungary is one of Germany’s largest export markets for capital goods.

Investment in Industrial Enterprises

The recent appointment of industrialist Friedrich Thyssen to a directorship of the Ganz works is but the latest sign of growing German influence in Hungarian industry.

The relations between the Österreichisch-Alpine Montangesellschaft and Hungarian National Iron and Steel Company date back many years, surviving from the pre-war era. Holding a fifth-share of the Hungarian firm’s capital the Montangesellschaft has long provided technical assistance and short-term credits to MAVAG. The firm of Osram AG has long been a substantial shareholder in the United Incandescent Lamp and Electrical Company, the largest Hungarian manufacturer of light bulbs and lamps.

In the wake of the 1940 economic agreement between our two nations German capital was permitted to participate in three Hungarian firms that have since made significant contribution to the Hungarian economy: the Aluminium Mining and Industrial Company, which has established bauxite mines in the Bakony District (Vereinigte Deutsche Metallwerke); the Iron and Metal Commercial Company, which mines and processes manganese mining at Urkut (Klockner-Deutz); and Hungarian Oil and Gas Company, which has recently discovered exploitable oil resources near Szeged (Kontinentale Öl). These ventures have opened up resources of great value to both nations.

This trend has continued over the subsequent years. The Deschimag engineering concern now holds shares in the Hungarian General Machine Works, a manufacturer of vehicles and automotive equipment. The First Hungarian Agricultural Equipment Company, which manufactures tractors and other agricultural equipment, is owned in part by the Mannheim-based firm of Heinrich Lanz. The Siemens concern has developed the Standard Electric Company of Budapest as a major manufacturer of telephone equipment.

While the traditional position of the great banks of Wien in financing Hungarian industry was usurped in the aftermath of the Great War, several Hungarian industrial concerns remain affiliated with them. The Österreichische Creditanstalt holds shares of the Rimamurany Salgorarian Iron Works, one of Hungary’s principal iron and steel works, and names one director to that firm’s board. The recently reorganised Hungarian Shipyard and Cranebuilding Works at Angyalfold is associated with the Wiener Bankverein, and the Allgemeine Bodencreditanstalt owns a quarter-share of the Femaru Arms and Machine Manufacturing Company, one of Hungary’s premier ordnance works.

Investment in Financial Enterprises

The recent acquisition an interest in the Hungarian General Insurance Company by the Allianz Versicherungs is but the latest in a series of investments made by German banks and financial institutions in Hungarian banks. The Österreichische Creditanstalt has re-established its links with the Hungarian General Credit Bank, which in turn increases its influence in the firms under the control of that bank. The Commerzbank has been actively purchasing the shares of the Hungarian Discount and Exchange Bank, though it has not formally announced its intention to take a stake in it.

Investment in Transportation Enterprises

While rail transportation in the Kingdom of Hungary is under the aegis of the state railways (Magyar Kiralyi Allamvasutak) German capital is involved in other transportation enterprises. The Hungarian Air Transport Company has long enjoyed affiliation with the Junkers concern, though today the airline operates machines from several other manufacturers. Of more direct interest is the recent acquisition of shares in the Hungarian River and Sea Navigation Company by the shipping firm Süddeutsche Donau-Schiffahrtsgesellschaft.

Potential for the Future

There are considerable opportunities for German firms to invest in existing Hungarian enterprises and to further expand sales of German products on the Hungarian domestic market. The Hungarian government is clearly interested in the construction of motor roads that would link to the National Motorways system; this work would lead to a natural increase in demand for road construction equipment, to expansion of the output of cement plants and a host of economic linkages of benefit to both nations. The maturing of the Hungarian industrial scene favours construction of processing plants for the country’s available minerals. Discussions are already underway regarding investment in a light-metals refinery that would produce alumina and raw aluminium for domestic consumption and for export.

Militärwissenschaftliche Mitteilungen is a publication of the Harrassowitz Verlag of Wiesbaden, and covers military topics of interest to the general public.



Background

The Kommando Spezialkräfte dates its existence from December 1939 with the decision of the Defence Ministry to create a body of professional troops capable for instant employment in any part of the globe where German national interests were threatened. The first elements of the command, then known as Lehr Abteilung zbV 800, were activated at Baden bei Wien in the spring of 1940, under the command of Oberst Theodor von Hippel.

Spezialkräfte soldiers are trained to work closely together and rely on one another for long periods of time, both during deployments and in garrison. Oberst von Hippel described his ideal requirements for the Spezialkräfte volunteer thusly: "Agility and fast responsiveness, the ability to maintain a high degree of personal initiative, combined with team spirit case; tact in dealing with foreign nations and of course physical stamina.”

From the outset the force sought to recruit personnel with experience abroad, either through emigration (Auslandsdeutsche) or foreign birth (Volksdeutsche), or with service in expeditionary forces. Despite the persistent rumours to the contrary, the Spezialkräfte has made no special effort to recruit Germans who have served in the French Foreign Legion. Spezialkräfte personnel qualify both in advanced military skills and the regional languages and cultures of defined parts of the world. All personnel are trained parachutists and are cross-trained in a variety of military skill sets. Units have direct action capability, though their primary missions are to carry out covert direct actions, intelligence gathering, long range reconnaissance, and strategic advisory activities.

Structure

The basic element of the Spezialkräfte is the gruppe of twelve officers and non-commissioned officers. The gruppe is commanded by a hauptmann, seconded by an oberleutnant as assistant gruppe commander. The gruppe also comprises: an oberfeldwebel who acts as operations NCO; a feldwebel who acts as assistant operations NCO and is a trained intelligence specialist; two NCOs skilled in the use of all manner of infantry weapons, two trained in pionier skills, two trained in use of wireless communications equipment and two with advanced first aid and medical training. All such NCOs are of unteroffiziere, unterfeldwebel or feldwebel rank. This organization facilitates 6-man halb-gruppe operations, redundancy, and mentoring between a senior NCO and his junior assistant.

The organizational element of the Spezialkräfte is the abteilung, which consists of six operational gruppen and one stabsgruppe of eighteen officers and NCOs. The abteilung provides support for its subordinate gruppen in the field and in garrison. The stabsgruppe is normally commanded by a majore assisted by an executive officer, normally of the rank of hauptmann. Subordinate to the executive officer is a stabsfeldwebel, who assists in the direction of the organization, training, intelligence, counter-intelligence, and operations for the abteilung and its subordinate gruppen. The detachment commander is assisted by an oberfeldwebel and feldwebel who together assist the detachment commander in carrying out its operational duties. The remainder of the non-commissioned personnel are specialists in communications, intelligence, engineering and medicine; one oberfeldwebel is authorised as the detachment’s logistics specialist in charge of supply.

Selection and Training

Heer personnel seeking to join the Kommando Spezialkräfte are subjected to an intensive selection process and undergo rigorous training before receiving a posting to one of the operational abteilungen. All volunteers, officers and non-commissioned officers, attend a three-week assessment course to determine their suitability for service in the Spezialkräfte – this tests the volunteer’s individual stamina and aptitude as well as their ability to work as part of a team. Some potential candidates voluntarily withdraw during the course of the assessment; a few are found medically unfit for the arduous tasks the are expected to perform; many are deemed good soldiers but not good enough for the high standards of the Spezialkräfte – all such are returned to their former units without official prejudice on their records. It is said that less than five percent of the volunteers will survive the initial assessment process, and many of those will not complete the next phase of training.

The training of the Spezialkräfte soldier is intense. In the first seven weeks of training all volunteers receive instruction in the operational and strategic context under which they will train for the remainder of the their qualification course; the history, organization and attributes of the Spezialkräfte and the core tasks that relate to their mission; parachute refresher training – all Spezialkräfte personnel must be so qualified; and an introduction to the planning process standardised for all Spezialkräfte operations.

There follows a twenty-five week course is foreign language and culture; if a volunteer is already proficient in a foreign language, he will receive training in another. All Spezialkräfte soldiers are expected to be able to speak at least one foreign language and be familiar with the history and culture of those who speak it. The next phase of training is a thirteen-week course of small unit tactics with emphasis on survival, escape and evasion; Spezialkräfte soldiers are expected to carry out their missions behind enemy lines with little or no outside support.

The fourth phase of training lasts fourteen weeks for non-commissioned officers and up to twenty-five weeks for officers, and is focused on specific roles each fulfils within the operational gruppe. Officers receive advanced instruction on mission analysis and planning, adaptive thinking, doctrine associated with special reconnaissance and the duties, responsibilities, and capabilities of the individual members of an operational gruppe. During this phase of training non-commissioned officers will receive training in the use of foreign weapons and improvised equipment, advanced techniques in their military specialty, and cross-training in other military specialty.

The Spezialkräfte Today

To date Heer has not acknowledged the participation of any units of the Spezialkräfte in missions abroad. There exist a total of eight abteilungen, each with specific military and geographic orientation. In command of the Spezialkräfte is Oberst Otto Skorzeny, and its headquarters remains in Baden bei Wien.

Militärwissenschaftliche Mitteilungen is a publication of the Harrassowitz Verlag of Wiesbaden, and covers military topics of interest to the general public.



The proverb “An army marches on its stomach” is sometimes attributed to Friedrich der Große and sometimes to Napoleon Bonaparte; what is unquestioned is that the soldier must be fed in order to march and fight. The Deutsches Heer is quite cognizant of this need, and has gone to great lengths to provide its personnel with a balanced and nutritional diet whether in garrison or in the field. The Provisions Office of the Army Services Centre (Proviantamt der Dienstleistungszentrum des Heeres) assures that the soldier is properly fed under all conditions.

Background

The provision of rations to the soldier in the field has always been in the forefront of the minds of intelligent commanders. Following the travails of the Thirty Years War, when armies were turned into ravaging bands of foragers each of the armies of Europe worked out systems for maintaining magazines in strategic locations and were chained to these or constrained by the services of their provision contractors. The great English commander, the Duke of Marlborough, on his march from Flanders to the Donau in 1704 was only able to execute this feat due to his careful preparations for the feeding of his troops and the efforts of his commissary, Sir Solomon Medina.

In the latter portion of the Eighteenth Century the question of feeding large numbers of soldiers efficiently and in a cost effective manner was studied by Benjamin Thompson, Reichsgraf von Rumford, in Bavaria. There, in 1795, he introduced what has since become known as Rumford Soup (Rumfordsuppe), a thick soup of peas, barley and potatoes often cooked in stale beer – supplemented with bread rations and meat such as bacon, or salted herring, it gave, for the time, a near optimum mix of protein and carbohydrates in the diet.

Progress through Science

Scientific progress in the matter of feeding troops progressed during the Nineteenth Century. The prize won by Nicolas Appert for his development of the process of canning is well known, as is the invention in England of the so-called “tin-can”. Study by Prussian officers of the logistics efforts of the Union Army during the American Civil War highlighted such developments as the issue of desiccated vegetables and the invention of condensed milk by Gail Borden. These prompted Johann Heinrich Grüneberg to develop the famous Erbswurst concentrated soup, an item which today remains in the ration of the German soldier.

Advances in Equipment

The invention of the mobile field bakery (backofenwagen) in 1890 gave flexibility to the divisional trains supporting units of the Imperial Army, and the design has remained relatively unchanged until today. The field bakery comprises a wagon or, today, a trailer, upon which are mounted baking ovens, bins for ingredients, surfaces for preparation and the all-important loaf pans for baking Kommißbrot, the standard ration loaf of rye and wheat flours. A single field bakery is capable of producing up to 9,600 loaves of bread per day.

While field kitchens of various sorts had been improvised before the modern field kitchen (feldkochherd) was invented in 1892 by Karl Rudolf Fissler of Idar-Oberstein, which was rapidly adopted by the Imperial Army and known affectionately by soldiers as the Gulaschkanone. The important advance introduced by the Fissler field kitchen was its ability to cook of keep food warm while on the march. It greatly reduced the time required to feed troops at the end of a day’s movement. The addition of a pressure cooking boiler (dampfkochtopf) also facilitated the rapid preparation of soups and stews.

Legacy of the Great War

The preparations of the Imperial Army served it well during the initial advances at the outbreak of the conflict. The advent of trench warfare, combined with the shortages imposed by England’s naval blockade, created progressive problems at the front, which contributed to the eventual defeat of the Imperial Army. While all possible efforts were made to cook rations in the immediate rear of fighting positions all too often the frontline troops were reduced to a monotonous diet of iron rations if fortunate, or whatever food they might find by forage. Shortages reduced the flour content of the ration loaf and even potatoes for soup or stew became rare. Ration parties bringing food to forward positions often fell casualty to shell fire or poison gas.

As it reorganised in the years following the Great War the Heer has placed great emphasis on assuring that the situation that arose in the war years would not be repeated. The need for adequate rations to sustain the morale of the troops at the front, and to assure their good health and fighting ability was recognised at all levels.

The Heer Today

The feeding of troops today is organised on three levels – In Garrison; In Field; and on Active Duty.

Troops at their home stations are fed in permanent mess halls fully equipped to provide three meals per day. These are based upon the standard ration plan and include 750 grams of bread, 400 grams of meat or 200 grams of bacon, 800 grams of potatoes, 600 grams of vegetables, 100 grams of fruit and 100 grams of butter or margarine. Insofar as possible all food provided is fresh, or in the case of meat, frozen.

Field kitchen and field bakery troops are organic to all formations of the Heer, and great efforts are made to maintain the standard ration while in the field. Some substitutions, of course, must be made. Instead of fresh meat, resort is made to canned or dried meats – sausages being particularly popular in the latter category. Canned vegetables are also used, though to a lesser degree.

The greatest change in a soldier’s ration in the last ten years are those intended for use when on active duty, where access to field kitchens is not possible. For these circumstances several sets of rations have been developed, including the Individual Ration (Einmannpackung) and the Squad Ration (Gruppepackung). These have completely replaced the older Iron Ration and are far better balanced nutritionally.

The Individual Ration includes a 300-gram tin of meat, a 150-gram unit of hard bread (hartkeks or hartzweiback) and a 150-gram tin of processed cheese designed for a long shelf life. It also includes such amenities as coffee, sugar, salt, hard candy, cigarettes and matches. This is intended to provide one meal for one soldier, but is not intended for use in an extended period. Should this prove to be necessary due to the exigencies of service, a Supplemental Ration (Zusätzlichepackung) is issued to the soldier, which includes such additional items as coffee, Erbstwurst, crackers and chocolate.

The Squad Ration, issued whenever possible, offers greater variety for the soldier. It is intended to feed up to ten men for a single day, and does not require any particularly high level of culinary skill on the part of the soldier to prepare the contents. The squad ration includes coffee, tinned meat and vegetable stew, tinned beef stew, dehydrated eggs, Maggi-cubes, Früchtebrot, oatmeal, hartzweiback, condensed milk, condensed soup, margarine, cooking oil, chocolate and much else. Originally intended for use by motorised troops, it has now seen more general issue in many of the Heer’s field exercises.

The Future

The Provisions Office has begun experimentation with pre-packaged “Ready Meals” or Fertiggerichte. These are envisioned as a sealed, compartmented tray – each compartment holding one item of the meal - a cut of meat, usually beef or pork; with a vegetable, such as peas, carrots, corn, or potatoes; and sometimes a dessert. The contents would be pre-cooked in a factory setting and would only require heating prior to serving. Limited trials of these units were carried out during winter exercises late last year with some success, and the Provisions Office has indicated that it will continue investigation of such to potentially replace the venerable Gulaschkanone.

The recently commissioned inspection ships Roter Löwe and Goldener Löwe and the new aircraft carrier Großer Kurfürst should remind the careful reader that Germany has a long and distinguished maritime history. Indeed, the present Kriegsmarine owes its existence to the Great Elector as much as it does to Admiral von Tirpitz. It is therefore worthwhile to recall the history of the fleet of Brandenburg-Prussia in the Seventeenth Century in this the dawning of a new era for Germany.

For Elector Friedrich Wilhelm the period after the Thirty Years War was a time of danger. The state was impoverished after the constant marching of armies; a predatory Sweden was already in possession of sally-ports in Pomerania and ducal Prussia; its continual conflict with Poland was a ready source of renewed invasion. Friedrich Wilhelm had to use all the skill of the diplomat and all the strength of a monarch to wend his way between the rocks of far more powerful neighbors – and in this regard the establishment of strength at sea was high upon his list of actions.

During the Second Nordic War (1655-1660) the Elector built up a substantial force around Pillau in Prussia, which eventually comprised seven major warships, three gun sloops and twenty armed boats, which were used successfully on the Vistula against Swedish ships and fortifications ashore. Adroit diplomatic maneuvers during the course of this conflict saw the Elector rewarded with full sovereignty in Prussia and possession of the ports of Pillau and Memel, which had heretofore been under the control of Sweden.

While lack of funds forced Friedrich Wilhelm to reduce his war fleet the outbreak of the Scanian War in 1675 quickly reversed the situation. While victory at the Battle of Fehrbellin blunted the Swedish invasion of Brandenburg only command of the sea would assure the safety of the state. To command the growing naval force of Brandenburg-Prussia the Elector called upon Benjamin Raule (1634-1707), the noted privateer.

In command of ships hired for the purpose as well as those constructed for the Elector carried on a significant naval campaign against Swedish merchant shipping and supported Friedrich Wilhelm’s land offensives against Swedish forces in the siege of Stettin (27 December 1677), the siege of Stralsund (25 October 1678), the conquest of Rügen (26 September 1678) and the conquest of Greifswald (16 November 1678). Amongst other maritime activities, Raule would found Brandenburg-Prussia’s first Court of Admiralty at Kolberg (1676) and in 1680 was appointed Generaldirecteur de Marine with the rank of Oberst and placed in overall command of the Elector’s naval force.

Claus von Bevern was also a noted naval commander in the service of the Great Elector. After proving himself during the Scanian War von Bevern was selected to command a flotilla of six vessels that carried on a short-lived commercial war against Spain, which had refused to make good the subsidy payments due Brandenburg from the Scanian War. Among his actions were the capture in 1680 of the Spanish treasure ship Carolus Secundus, and a cruise to the Caribbean with six ships which, while not as profitable as the capture of the Carolus Secundus, nevertheless brought sufficient pressure to bear upon the Spanish to confirm their commitments to Brandenburg, and others, to whom they owed payment.

The conclusion of the Scanian War saw the formation of the Brandenburgisch-Afrikanische Compagnie, which in 1682 sent forth an expedition to West Africa, where under Otto Friedrich von der Groeben a trading post was established at Fort Groß Friedrichsburg, and later, posts at Fort Dorothea and Fort Louise, in what is now known as the French colony of Cote d’Or. For many years the armed trading ships of the company, often on lease from the Elector, plied the route to West Africa and to the Caribbean in search of profit in the triangular trade.

The acquisition of the port of Emden by Elector Friedrich Wilhelm in 1683 prompted the formal establishment of the Kurbrandenburgische Marine, which at the time comprised nine warships with 176 heavy cannon. In later years ships for the fleet would be built at Emden, or at Havelberg and subsequently towed to Hamburg for completion. By the death of the Great Elector in 1688 Admiralty offices would be operating in Berlin, Emden and Pillau. In addition to maintaining a substantial fleet Elector Friedrich Wilhelm established, in 1684, the Marinier-Corps, a body of naval infantry who would outlast the fleet itself until disbanded in 1744.

In January 1701 the naval forces of Brandenburg-Prussia were renamed the Königlich Preußische Marine, or Royal Prussian Navy. While it would remain in being for a few more years, with the arrival of the soldier-king Friedrich Wilhelm the last of the ships in service were sold off and a chapter closed on Germany’s long maritime history.

Among the many ships that served in the Kurbrandenburgische Marine the more notable included:

The Berlin, a frigate, constructed in 1674, measuring 80 feet (22.65 metres) long and 22 feet (6.23 metres) in the beam. Armed with sixteen cannon she distinguished herself in many combats against Swedish vessels during the Scanian War and ended her career in 1690 after several voyages to Africa.

The Derfflinger, a full rigged ship, measuring 110 feet (33.5 metres) long, 23 feet (7 metres) in the beam and rated at 340 tons. Taken into service in 1681 she would last until 1695, having long served in the West African trade.

The Goldener Löwe, a frigate built at Kolberg in 1679, approximately 38 meters in length and 10 metres in the beam, carrying forty-four cannon. Having served under Claus von Bevern in the taking of the Carolus Secundus and under Thomas Alders at the Battle of Cape St. Vincent (1681), she was eventually wrecked in 1692 attempting to make her way into Emden on the end of a homeward voyage from the West Indies.

The Friedrich Wilhelm zu Pferde, a two-deck warship constructed in 1681, flagship of the Kurbrandenburgische Marine between 1684 and 1693. Built at a cost of 70,000 gulden she could carry up to sixty cannon when equipped for war.

The Roter Löwe, a frigate of twenty-two guns acquired in the Netherlands in 1678. Flagship of Claus von Bevern in his voyages to the West Indies, she fought at Cape St. Vincent under Jakob Raule, the brother of Benjamin Raule, and later, under Cornelis Reers, made many voyages to Fort Groß Friedrichsburg. She was broken up at Emden in 1690.

The Versorgungsverband (Supply and Service Force) of the Kriegsmarine is among the service’s most recent creations. It is intended to carry afloat the fuel and supplies necessary to maintain the fleet at sea; for this reason it has specialist replenishment ships, tankers and store carriers. Yet even these vessels cannot meet a fleet’s needs without further support, whether from merchantmen to carry supplies forward to where the fleet is operating or to arrange the supply of material at some friendly port when ships of the Kriegsmarine call. These services, and many more, are performed by the Etappendienst, a special section of the Admiralty Staff, whose world-wide activities are often overlooked.

Background

The development of the Kaiserliche Marine as a major naval force in the later portion of the Nineteenth Century was greatly constrained by Germany’s lack of coaling stations abroad; even with the acquisition of colonies in some parts of Africa and the Pacific basin the nation’s interests demanded a naval presence in areas devoid of forward operating bases. Working with commercial firms, such as the Hamburg-Amerika and Norddeutsche Lloyd steamship lines, the overseas squadrons of the Kaiserliche Marine were able to obtain, on an ad hoc basis, the coal and other supplies needed to conduct their operations abroad.

The difficulties encountered by Admiral Rozhestvensky and the Second Pacific Squadron of the Imperial Russian Navy on its fateful voyage in 1904/05 convinced the Kaiserliche Marine that half-measures and ad hoc arrangements were not to be relied upon in a crisis. In consultation with the Foreign Ministry naval staff officers were stationed in key German embassies in the Americas and the Far East; these officers would coordinate the provision of supplies for ships of the Kaiserliche Marine, in concert with local German consuls and commercial firms.

Communications

Before the Great War the navies of the world were far more dependent upon the telegraph than they are today. As many of the commercial cable companies of the world were under the control of Germany’s potential enemies this put communication with naval forces abroad at risk. While German-owned cables could be used in some cases, it was the development of wireless telegraphy that offered the means to circumvent the possible loss of contact between the Admiralty in Berlin and its squadrons around the world. The Telefunken firm, which pioneered international wireless telegraphy, made its technical resources available and together with consular and naval authorities worked out a system of wireless telegraphy communication that would stand the test of the Great War. From 1911 this system was brought together with the nascent supply system create the Etappendienst as it is today.

The Stress of War

The nature of the naval conflict during the Great War was not in accordance with the expectations of the Kaiserliche Marine. Once the ships of Admiral von Spee’s Ostasiatische Kreuzergeschwader had been hunted down the U-boat arm became the primary means of carrying the war to the Allies. The ability of the Etappendienst to support the U-boats was extremely limited; a few supply ships made the dangerous voyage from Iberian ports to rendezvous with U-boats at sea, and the risks of interception by Allied naval forces ended such ventures in late 1916. Those surface raiders that sailed broke through the blockade of the North Sea led a solitary life, subsisting on coal and other supplies taken from their many prizes.

The communications aspect of the Etappendienst proved vital though, as it was only by wireless telegraphy that German diplomats abroad could maintain contact with the Foreign Office in Berlin, lest their cables be blocked by the Allies. Even when the telegraphic networks of neutral nations were available it was often preferable to entrust messages to wireless means. Unfortunately, as many post-war revelations were to show, such precautions were insufficient to protect Germany’s overseas communications from Allied interception, much to the nation’s detriment and eventual defeat.

The Modern Etappendienst

In the latter part of the 1930s, as the Kriegsmarine began to rebuild its strength, the Etappendienst again became an important part of the naval logistic support system. Supply officers were again posted abroad as naval attaches, with the mission of arranging, through consular and commercial contacts, supplies for German vessels as they made port calls on an ever-increasing basis. In contrast however, the Etappendienst of the post-war period was not called upon to support the communications needs of the Foreign Office. The latter, learning of the compromised communications that had plagued its wartime activities, took overseas communications into its own hands, developing its own codes and ciphers to meet its particular needs.

With the gradual development of the Versorgungsverband the role of the Etappendienst expanded. They were called upon to assemble supplies, principally bunker fuel oil, for transport by German-flag merchant vessels that would be transferred at sea to the Kriegsmarine’s regular supply ships. The first major test of the system was effected during the exercise Rösselsprung in the spring of 1941. Though generally successful, several important lessons were drawn from this operation, including:

* That is was necessary to stockpile, in cooperation with German commercial firms abroad, fuel stores that could be drawn upon as necessary to support the demands of deployed units

* That communications between ships employed by the Etappendienst and regular units of the Kriegsmarine required improvement

These lessons have since led to the adoption of standing agreements with German commercial firms operating strategic ports whereby the firms agree to maintain fuel and other consumable stores at pre-determined levels in return for annual subventions. Of course, such stocks would only fulfil in part the needs of a squadron requiring resupply, but they are sufficient to assure that its needs might be met with a minimum of delay. Likewise, the Kriegsmarine has adopted a program to subsidise the installation of more powerful wireless equipment on many the vessels of the Handelsmarine, and many of the wireless officers employed on German merchant vessels now hold reserve commissions.

The improved arrangements were tested during exercise Frühlingswind in 1943, and were found more than adequate to support the much-enlarged fleet train of the Versorgungsverband. The Etappendienst was also called upon to support the response to the emergency occasioned by last year’s San Luis earthquake, where its services were called upon to provide emergency stocks of aviation fuel for the airlift of supplies ferried from Germany to the disaster zone.

The System in Operation

The recent deployment of the First Cruiser Squadron to the Far East may be taken as an example of the manner in which the Etappendienst provides support to the Kriegsmarine abroad. When Admiral Langsdorff’s ships arrived in Guanabara Bay, Brazil, they found adequate preparation made for their needs – water, provisions and perishable stores had been contracted for and were available once clearances had been obtained from their Brazilian hosts. The commercial tanker Parnassos, which had taken on a load of bunker fuel in Trinidad, made rendezvous to refill the tanks of the squadron’s own replenishment ship before Admiral Langsdorff departed for Chile. At Panama the squadron took on fuel and supplies from other German merchantmen. When the squadron called in Hawaii, it was met by barges chartered from local firms by the resident Etappendienst officer. The extended deployment of the First Cruiser Squadron will no doubt call forth additional efforts in the part of the Etappendienst.

Background

In the middle years of the Nineteenth Century the Royal Prussian Navy acquired a number of vessels from shipbuilders abroad, including the ironclad Kronprinz from Samuda Brothers of Poplar and the armoured frigate König Wilhelm from the Thames Iron Works. None, however, had as interesting a history as the corvettes Augusta and Victoria.

The ships were born of the efforts of James Dunwoody Bulloch, naval agent of the Confederates States of America in Europe. Early in 1863 the Confederacy received from Emperor Napoleon III certain assurances that they would be permitted to construct warships in French shipyards to sail the seas in imitation of the British-built Confederate cruisers Florida and Alabama. Bulloch entered into negotiations with Lucien Arman, a shipbuilder in Bordeaux and noted naval architect for the construction of several composite-hulled cruising vessels to fulfil this role.

As it was not possible to construct the vessels openly for the Confederate States Navy, it was put about that the ships were intended to sail the waters of the China Seas as commercial steam packets; this led to the vessels being recorded as the Yeddo and Osacca respectively in their builder’s books. That the vessels were to be fitted with powerful armament was explained that such was necessary to defend them in the pirate-infested Eastern seas. Ordered at a time when the hopes of the Confederate States were at their highest, the changing military and political fortunes soon caused the French Government to reconsider its policy of turning a blind eye towards procurement activities of Bulloch and in 1864, as the two cruisers neared completion, the builder was refused permission to deliver them to the Confederates and ordered to sell them elsewhere.

Fortunately for Lucien Arman, the Second Schleswig War was raging, and he found the Royal Prussian Navy a ready customer for the Yeddo and Osacca, though their delivery would perforce be delayed until the conclusion of hostilities in the autumn of 1864.

The Ships Themselves



The Augusta (formerly Yeddo) and Victoria (formerly Osacca) were classed by the Royal Prussian Navy as hölzerne glattdeckskorvetten (wooden flush-decked corvettes). They displaced 1,825 measurement tons, and 2,236 tons fully loaded; at the waterline they were 75.2 metres in length and 81.5 metres overall. Their beam measured 11.1 metres and they were of 5.62 metres draught. Their machinery comprised four fire-tube boilers supplying steam to a simple two-cylinder engine of 400 horsepower. They were fitted with a single propeller and were capable of steaming at 13.5 knots. Though fully rigged, in service they proved to be better steamers than they were sailers. Their crews numbered 230 officers and seamen.

They were originally armed with eight 24-pound and six 12-pound steel breech-loading rifled cannon supplied by Krupp of Essen. In 1872 their armament was changed to four 15cm Ringkanone L/22 (with 440 rounds of ammunition), six 12cm Ringkanone L/23 (with 660 rounds of ammunition) and one 8cm Ringkanone L/23 (with 110 rounds of ammunition).

The Augusta was named in honor of Princess Augusta von Sachsen-Weimar-Eisenach, wife of Prince Wilhelm of Prussia – the later Emperor Wilhelm I. The Victoria was named in honor of Victoria Adelaide Marie Luise, Princess Royal of Great Britain and Ireland, wife of Prince Friedrich – the later Emperor Friedrich III.

Service Careers

The Augusta

Delivered following the conclusion of the Second Schleswig War the Augusta was commissioned as part of the squadron of Konteradmiral Jachmann in anticipation of the outbreak of the German War in 1866. She saw no action during that short conflict and soon exchanged her Prussian colours for those of the North German Confederation, the second of the flags she would fly. In 1867 she was sent to the West Indies station where she represented interests of the Confederation for the next two years.

Recalled to Wilhelmshaven before the outbreak of hostilities with France she sortied in November 1870 under the command of Korvettenkapitän Johannes Weickhmann to embark upon a successful cruise against the French. The Augusta eluded French patrols in the English Channel and by December was operating off the river Gironde, where she captured two merchant vessels and sowed panic among the members of the Provisional Government, then installed in Bordeaux. Weickhmann caused further annoyance to the French by intercepting several provisions transports and making unopposed landings – well-staged propaganda coups – on France’s western shores. Low on coal and pursued by avenging French warships the Augusta took refuge in the Spanish port of Vigo; she did not return to Germany until March 1871, following the conclusion of hostilities. There she hoisted the colours of the Kaiserliche Marine, her third and final flag.

In 1872-73 the Augusta, in consort with the corvettes Nautilus and Albatros, patrolled the coast of Spain to protect German interests there, and she subsequently returned to the West Indies station in 1874-75. The following year she sailed to the Pacific, rounding the Cape of Good Hope and arriving in Apia, Samoa, in March 1877. She returned to Europe via the Suez Canal in 1878 and underwent an overhaul at Wilhelmshaven. After several years on the Home Station she was again sent to the Far East via Suez, and was last seen on 3 June 1885 upon departure from the Isle of Perrin in the Bab el Mandeb, en route to Australia. She was never seen from again and was presumed to have been lost in a cyclone.

The Victoria

Deployed to the West Indies station in 1868-69 the Victoria was in home waters at the outbreak of hostilities with France in 1870; she remained there to defend the coast against potential French landings. From 1872 to 1875 she was on the South American station, where her duties involved upholding German interests and – generally – showing the flag. Following a refit she was deployed to the Mediterranean in 1877 and remained there during the Balkan crisis of 1878.

In 1881, under Korvettenkapitän Victor Valois she visited West Africa. In the vicinity of the old Kurbrandenburg colony Groß Friedrichsburg, where she was called upon to send a landing party ashore to punish natives for attacks on a stranded German merchant vessel and her crew. She thereafter went to the South Atlantic station. Following her return to European waters in 1885, she was used as a school and fishery protection vessel. 14 April 1891 she was deleted from the Navy List and sold. She was scrapped in Hamburg the following year.

This is the first of an occasional series of articles on Russian subjects written in concert with the Economic Institute of Moscow University.

Background

The South Russian Industrial Region stretches across the steppe-lands of the Donets and Dnieper rivers and stretches southward from Kharkov to the Sea of Azov; it has within its boundaries the rich iron ore deposits of the Krivoi Rog and the seemingly inexhaustible coal reserves of the Donets Basin. In the last two decades the government of the Russian Federation has invested hundreds of millions of roubles in developing its industrial infrastructure and it is one of the economic powerhouses of the Federation. Often overlooked however is the three decades of pioneering work by private investors – many of whom were foreigners – during the pre-Revolutionary era that laid the foundation for the progress being made today.

Before the coming of the railways the open steppe was home to the Cossack hosts and peasant farming communities, and commerce flowed along the great rivers as it had since the days of the Varangians. With the linking of the region with the markets of central Russia new impulses flowed and urban centres began a period of growth; this coincided with a change in pre-Revolutionary policy towards protection of domestic manufacturers. This nexus would bring about a period of entrepreneurial activity that would continue until the Great War, would change the face of the region from agricultural backwater to a new industrial frontier and set the pace for industrial development for all of pre-Revolutionary Russia.

The Welsh ironmaster John Hughes (1814-1889), founder of the New Russia Works in Donetsk, was but the first of a series of foreign investors who brought new methods, modern technology and financial capital to the region. By 1900 no less than forty-four percent of all foreign investment in Russia was concentrated in the Southern Industrial Region. Under the guiding hand of the Federation government investment in the region has brought about industrial growth undreamt of in pre-Revolutionary days. This subject can best be examined by a review of the chief sectors of the economy.

Extractive Industries

The Krivoi Rog iron ore basin, lying to the west of the Dnieper River, was first exploited in the early 1880s when Russian entrepreneur Alexander Pol enlisted French capital to form the Krivoi-Rog Iron Company, the first of several iron-mining firms to enter the region. By 1896 no less than one million tonnes of high grade iron ore was being shipped to metallurgical plants across Russia, not only to plants within the Southern Industrial Region, but as far away as Moscow and St. Petersburg. The ore mined here is prized for its rich iron content, and, in some cases, is mixed with such minerals as manganese and nickel – a ready-made combination for production of ferroalloys.

The Krivoi Rog State Mining and Metallurgical Combine is one of the principal mine operators in the basin, operating several open-pit mines and ore beneficiation plants. Other iron ore sources include the underground mines of the Krivorozhskiy Iron Ore Enterprise and the Zaporozhe Iron Ore Enterprise. The total iron ore production in the Krivoi Rog region amounts to more than twenty-one million tons, or more than sixty percent of the iron ore produced in the entire Federation.

The coal mines of the Donetsk Basin yield bituminous coal in massive quantities – more than forty million tonnes per annum on average – from more than one hundred surface and underground mines. The industry supports not only the great metallurgical enterprises of the region but also thermal power stations in the principal cities and quantities are shipped by river and rail to the industrial centres of central Russia. The estimated coal reserves in the Donets Basin amount to more than 125,800 million tonnes.

Exploitation of the coal resources of the region was begun in the pre-Revolutionary period when the entrepreneur Samuel Poliakov opened the Korsun mines near Gorlovka, founding the South Russian Coal Company. Its lineal descendant, the South Russian State Coal Mining Combine, continues to be the principal enterprise operating in this industry. Other mining entities include the Almaznaia Coal Mining Enterprise and the Irmino Coal Mining Enterprise, and there are numerous smaller mines directly associated with many of the metallurgical firms located in the region.

Other mineral deposits exploited include manganese and nickel – as previously noted – but also magnesium and mercury. Manganese production – principally in the area near Nikopol – exceeds one million tonnes per annum, or nearly one third of the total production of the Federation.

Hydroelectric Power

No examination of the South Russian Industrial Region can be complete without a discussion of this Dneprostroi Dam and the great Dnieper Hydroelectric Station. Throughout the pre-Revolutionary era engineers had dreamt of eliminating the rapids the impeded river traffic on the middle reaches of the Dnieper and harness the power of the river for the benefit of society. In 1926 a plan developed by Engineer Ivan Gavrilovich Alexandrov was adopted with construction commencing the following year. With herculean efforts the dam was completed within five years and the first set of electro-turbines began generating power in 1932. While the first set of turbines were imported from the United States, the second set, completed in 1938, were the product of the Petrograd Metal Works. When completed the dam was the largest in the world and at 560 megawatts the Dnieper Hydroelectric Station remains one of the largest such installations of all time.

Iron and Steel

The iron and steel plants of the South Russian Industrial Region are one of its greatest contributions to the economy of the Russian Federation. According to the most recent published data, no less than sixty percent of the total output of iron and steel products of the entire Federation derive from plants located in this Donets region. While much of this output comprises rails, beams, rods and sections for construction or ordinary steel plate, it also includes high-quality rolled steel for machine-building, special alloy steels, steel sheet and ferroalloys. Production is undertaken in a number of centres, among which are:

Dnepropetrovsk – known as Ekaterinoslav in the pre-Revolutionary period, it was even at that time a metallurgical centre, home to several steel plants among which the Aleksandrovski Iron and Steel Plant was the largest; a position that enterprise maintains unto today. The city is also home to smaller steel works that specialise in the production of steel tube, and pipe, rolled steel items such as railway tyres, steel wire and cable and sheet steel.

Kamianske – home of the South Russian Dnieper Metallurgical Plant, which was one of the greatest metallurgical works on the pre-Revolutionary period and remains one of the largest steel works in the Federation, with four blast furnaces supplying conversion iron to both Siemens-Martin and Bessemer steel shops.

Zaporozhe – this recently developed centre is home to both the Zaporozhe Metallurgical Enterprise and the Dnieper Specialty Steel Plant. The former possesses four blast furnaces each of 1,300 cubic metres capacity – among the largest such furnaces in the world – and is one of the most modern steel works in the Federation, with a slab mill, a continuous sheet mill, cold rolling mills and a wide variety of finishing mills of modern construction. The Dnieper Specialty Steel Plant utilises power from the Dnieper Hydroelectric Station in two electric steel shops where it manufactures ferroalloys and special steels for machine-building and defence purposes.

Donetsk is the home of the Donetsk Metallurgical Plant, the successor to the aforementioned New Russia Company. Located directly across the Kalmius River from Donetsk is the Makeevka Metallurgical Plant, which had been established in 1896 as the Societe des Hauts Fourneaux, Forges et Acieries en Russe a'Makeevka by French financial interests. Other metallurgical plants with pre-Revolutionary antecedents include the works at Kerch, Konstantinovka, Mariupol and Taganrog.

Machine Building

The construction of industrial plant equipment is a primary measure of the maturity of a nation’s economy – and the Southern Industrial Region contributes in no small measure to the output of industrial equipment and machine tools in the Russian Federation.

The Kramatorsk Heavy Machinery Plant, constructed in the early 1930s, is the source for much of the Federation’s steel mill equipment. It is presently estimated that this works can produce the equipment required for a complete steel mill – blast furnaces, open hearth furnaces, blooming and rolling mills, etc. – during the course of a single year. Machinery produced here has been used to equip metallurgical plants across the Federation.

The South Russian Mechanical Engineering Plant at Dnepropetrovsk has pre-Revolutionary roots but was thoroughly reconstructed between 1928 and 1930 and today manufactures lathes, milling machines and other machine tools for a host of applications.

Transport Equipment

The Kharkov Locomotive Works was established in 1895 and remains a major producer of steam locomotives for the State Railways. It is also a major contributor to the defence forces of the Russian Federation, for since the 1920s it has been involved in the manufacture of armoured vehicles and other defence equipment. The nearby Kharkov Diesel Engine Factory produces power plants for heavy tractors and lorries, for armoured vehicles and for marine applications.

The Lugansk Locomotive Works, founded as the Russische Maschinenbaugesellschaft Hartmann in 1896, is also a major manufacturer of locomotives, including diesel shunting units of German design constructed in newly-expanded workshops.

Agricultural Equipment

In the Nineteenth Century the mechanisation of agriculture prompted the establishment of many factories and workshops in the region to produce implements and farm equipment; in the post-Revolutionary period this trend has accelerated and a number of major suppliers of agricultural machinery are located in the region.

In the far southern reaches of the region is the Kherson Machine-Building Plant; this factory was established in 1887 to assemble imported agricultural equipment of American origin. Today it manufactures self-propelled combine harvesters that are adapted to local conditions. The Zaporozhe Machine Building Plant was founded in 1868 by the Mennonite entrepreneur Abraham Koop to manufacture reapers and threshing equipment. Constructed in the depths of the Great War the Taganrog Machine-Building Plant was originally intended to manufacture munitions; in the 1920s it was reconstructed to manufacture tractors and combine harvesters.

Summary

The South Russian Industrial Region plays a vital role in the economy of the Russian Federation, supplying much of its coal, iron and steel; machine-building and the construction of transport equipment is also important. Often overlooked is the contribution of the South Russian region to the defence needs of the Russian Federation – many of its factories have sections manufacturing military equipment or components thereof; the Kharkov Locomotive Works is a major supplier of armoured vehicles to the Russian Army.

Despite moves to greater liberalisation, direct foreign investment by German firms is difficult at this point in time; however, this does not mean that the region is devoid of opportunity. The Russian Federation as a whole, and the South Russian Region in particular, remains a large market for both capital goods and consumer products.

Adoption of the latest steelmaking methods, such as the Linz-Donawitz-Verfahren process, would significantly increase the productivity of the many steelworks of the region. A move in this direction would create much demand for the necessary equipment from German firms. The continued expansion of the Russian Federation’s railway network will continue to stimulate orders for machine tools and railway equipment as it has for the last several years. As the Russian economy matures the demand for consumer goods will fuel continued imports or provide a market for local manufacture of consumer goods, and the South Russian Industrial Region is well placed take the lead providing a home for such factories. German firms in such fields may benefit from increased foreign sales, from licensing of local firms, or – if the recent trend of reform continues – from joint ventures with local partners.

Not long after the turn of the century the Imperial Army began a series of developments to address the issue of landing troops over undefended beaches. This interest was prompted by the growing tensions between Germany and Tsarist Russia as much as by the ongoing naval rivalry between Germany and Great Britain. The first tests were begun in 1903 near the East Frisian island of Mellum with limited success (1) but were followed up over the next several years which saw development of a standard transport craft capable of use in extended river crossings or in ship-to-shore landings.

Known as the Pferdetransportboote – or Horse Transport Boat – the army craft was non-motorised and intended to be hauled ashore on a cable connection, a so-called Landungstrossen, or towed by a motor boat. The decision to use the cable connection stemmed from several factors – the familiarity of Army pionier troops with such equipment being the stated reason – but many have speculated that the true reason was the poor reaction of the Army’s horses to the noise and fumes of the engines available at the time.

The craft itself was 10.5 metres long and 3.4 metres wide; to keep the draft as low as possible, the bottom of the boat was manufactured from a series of sealed cells. The Pferdetransportboote weighed 10 tons and could accommodate ten tons of cargo, which corresponded to eight to ten horses, two field guns, a field howitzer with limber, a motor truck, or seventy fully-equipped infantrymen. The first examples were supplied to pionier units attached to the I Army Corps of the Prussian Army in 1908.



Continued experimentation led to joint efforts with the Kaiserliche Marine, which had a minor interest in such vessels due to its need for naval landing parties and securing coaling stations abroad. Efforts focused on the design of a steel-hulled, self-propelled craft of larger capacity, derived initially from flat-bottomed river barges. The first prototypes of such a craft were constructed by Gebrüder Sachsenberg of Roßlau and were first tested at Mellum in 1910 (2).

Designated Marine Nachschub Leichter – or Naval Supply Barge – the prototypes were followed up by a small series of craft employed by the Kaiserliche Marine chiefly as supply craft between naval stations on the shallow Kurisches Haff. The craft were 42.7 metres long at the waterline, but 54.7 metres long overall, with a beam of 6.6 metres and a draught of only 1.2 metres. They were powered by Germaniawerft diesel engines of 100 PS, each connected to a separate shaft, and were capable of a speed of five knots. Displacing 225 tonnes, the craft were intended to carry up to five hundred troops over a short distance, or the equivalent cargo. When employed as landing craft, egress was via bow ramp lowered with the help of a pair of booms at the bow.

At the outbreak of hostilities in August 1914 the Pferdetransportboot was in regular service with many of the Imperial Army’s pionier units, though they saw little employment during the opening moves in the West. The small number of naval supply barges – numbering only seven units – were stationed in East Prussia and used initially as coal barges, there being little call for landing craft at that stage of the war. By mid-1915 however, this situation had changed. The involvement of German units in support of the Austro-Hungarian Army in the Balkans saw the Army’s Pferdetransportboot in regular use as ferries on the Danube, while operations against Russian forces saw numerous river crossings made possible by the now-ubiquitous craft. Once Russian forces were cleared from Courland by the advance if the Imperial Army the Kaiserliche Marine found itself called upon to ferry supplies to the small ports of Libau and Windau, and discovered that the Marine Nachschub Leichter, with its shallow draft and ability to unload without use of port facilities, was quite useful in this role, and an additional series of twelve craft was ordered from the Schichau works in the autumn of 1915.

This role of supplying the advancing armies on the Eastern Front would cause the Kaiserliche Marine to create a third type of landing vessel – an adaptation of a coastal cargo ship, known as the Mehrzweck Tross-schiff, or Multi-purpose Supply Ship. Displacing more than 1,000 tons, these steamers were more than 74 metres long, 10.4 metres in the beam and drew 1.8 metres of water when fully loaded. Their steam engines could propel them at 10 knots, and their four commodious holds could hold men, equipment or supplies for a short journey. While not intended for beaching operations, they could land troops by means of two 7-metre gangplanks carried at the bow and deployed by means of a bowsprit boom.




These strands came together in the autumn of 1916 during Unternehmen Albion, the capture of the Russian-held Baltic islands of Ösel, Moon, and Dagö. This strategic coup was carried out by the reinforced 42nd Division supported by all the landing craft both the Imperial Army and the Kaiserliche Marine could muster, together with requisitioned civilian steamers. On the morning of 12 October 1916 troops were landed at Tagga Bay, quickly over-running Ösel; subsequent landings cleared remaining Russian forces from Moon and Dagö, opening the Gulf of Riga. This in turn allowed the Imperial Army to break through Russian defences along the river Düna and begin its drive on St. Petersburg.



With Germany’ defeat in the Great War the amphibious landing capability built up by both services was perforce lost. This did not, of course, mean that interest in amphibious landing was totally lost. Several staff officers of the former Imperial Army were retained as part of the Truppenamt in the immediate aftermath of hostilities, charged with historical research. Together with their naval counterparts they kept alive the memory of what had been accomplished. They also began the study of foreign developments in the amphibious arts, particularly in Russia and in France. In the late 1930s Germany would again begin development of specialist craft and accompanying vessels that would again give the Heer and the Kriegsmarine the ability to carry out landings on a far more sophisticated scale.



(1) These developments were observed and reported upon by the British intelligence services at the time but their importance was not fully understood. A fictionalised account of these activities appeared in print as The Riddle of the Sands by the novelist-cum-intelligence agent Erskine Childers.

(2) The testing of landing craft at Mellum were noted and reported by Captain Bernard Trench RM and Lieutenant Vivian Brandon RN, who were cruising the area while posing as amateur yachtsmen. Both would later join British naval intelligence’s unit Room 40.

Background

The river Danube, crossing much of central and south-eastern Europe, plays a vital part in the economies of the nations which border it, and indeed the economy of all of Europe by virtue of the international status of commerce upon it. The Treaty of Paris (1856), which brought to conclusion the Crimean War, ended a long period of contention between Russia, which sought political control of the mouths of the Danube, the riparian principalities (chiefly Romania and Bulgaria) that bordered upon it, Turkey, the nominal suzerain of the region and the major maritime powers – Great Britain and France. To assure unfettered access to the lower reaches of the river, to carry out the necessary works to maintain navigation, and to enforce maritime law, the treaty provided for the creation of the European Commission of the Danube, better known as the Commission Européenne du Danube (CED). The CED was invested with authority over the three mouths of the river — the Chilia in the north, the Sulina in the middle, and the St. George in the south – while it was originally intended to exist for but two years – it has continued its work until the present day.

While the principle of freedom of navigation was gradually accepted for the entire length of the river, the authority of the CED was not extended beyond its original remit. Instead a separate mixed commission – which would become known as the International Danube Commission (IDC) – was first proposed at the Berlin Conference of 1878, further provided for in the Treaty of London of 1883 and finally imposed in the aftermath of the Great War. Since that time the IDC and CED, working in concert, and in coordination with the riparian nations, have done much to improve the navigation on the Danube and its tributaries, deepening shipping channels, standardising and raising bridge heights to permit larger vessels to ascend the river, and contributing to other public works.

Commerce upon the River

In the course of the Nineteenth Century private merchants and joint-stock companies offered a variety of shipping services along the length of the Danube, using tow-boats and barges for cargo and small, fast packet steamers for passengers. The Austrian Erste Donau Dampfschiffahrts Gesellschaft, founded in 1829, came to dominate the scene – in 1880 operating more than two hundred steamers and tow-boats and more than one thousand barges. In the years immediately prior to the Great War the Hungarian Royal Danube Sea Navigation Company rose to challenge the leading position of the Austrian firm; yet both firms suffered heavily during the period of hostilities, losing their positions of dominance on the river to competitors.

The imposition of an international regime of control in 1918 also saw the entry of foreign capital in large amounts. Dutch financiers took the lead in reviving the Hungarian Royal Danube Sea Navigation Company while the British Furness Withy combine backed the formation of the Anglo-Romanian Danube Navigation Company which in the 1920s dominated traffic on the Danube. The late 1920s was marked by the appearance of the Russian Black Sea Danube Navigation Company and a revival of national carriers under the Romanian, Bulgarian and Yugoslav flags.

Recognition of the importance of the Danube to the economy of Europe led to efforts by the German Government to strengthen the position of national carriers operating along the river. The support granted to the Bayerische Lloyd and the Süddeutsche Donau Schiffahrts Gesellschaft, and, after 1933, the Erste Donau Dampfschiffahrts Gesellschaft, have allowed these firms to successfully compete with the British and Dutch-backed firms.

Recent Developments

Improving political conditions in south-eastern Europe have fostered the growth of commerce, with a general reduction of customs tariffs spurring industrial development and the export of agricultural surpluses. The opening up of wider trade relations between Germany and the Russian Federation have seen the burgeoning of traffic between the ports of the upper Danube and Russian ports on the Black Sea, and, via the extensive Russian river and canal system, ports well inland across Southern Russia.

Improvements to navigation along the river have allowed for the construction of larger river-sea cargo vessels, which are not only capable of sailing the length of the river but of venturing out into the open sea. The Hungarian Royal Danube Sea Navigation Company pioneered this trade in the middle 1920s, opening a service as far as Alexandria. Today it is quite common to see large river-sea vessels flying the flags of many riparian nations in ports across the Levant, and the opening of such direct links have been important in economic development in both regions. In this regard the most ambitious commercial venture to utilise the river is the Danube Intercontinental Navigation and Transport Company, a joint venture of Bulgarian, Romanian, and Yugoslav interests. From 1939 this firm has operated direct sailings from the inland ports of the Danube right across the Mediterranean and the Atlantic to South America, where the handy size of the vessels employed allows them to reach the river ports in Brazil, Gran Uruguay, and Argentina.



The establishment of free ports in such centres as Linz, Bratislava, Csepel (Budapest), and Novi Sad has done much to stimulate commerce and industrial development. Factories in the free ports benefit from duty-free imports of raw materials, which are processed and turned into finished products that are again exported. Workers in the factories of the free ports in turn contribute to the domestic economy though increased purchasing power and taxes.

Challenges

The Danube, as all rivers, is hostage to weather in various forms. Low water in summer can made navigation difficult, while high water in spring – caused by the winter thaw – can bring flooding that halts navigation over much of the river. On the upper reaches of the river winter ice brings an early end to navigation, though in the lower reaches of the river vessels can usually operate year round. In the lower course of the river the fight against silt in the channels is constant. The CED, in conjunction with the Romanian Government, maintains a small fleet of dredges that keep the main routes open.

The greatest challenge to navigation is the strength of the river itself. Where it narrows a vessel may find itself carried away by the current; in the days before the work of the CED and IDC such occurrences were far more frequent than today. The Iron Gates, on the border between Romania and Yugoslavia, remain the most dangerous and difficult of the river’s narrows. Despite the blasting of the Sip Channel (completed in 1896) vessels ascending the river require the assistance of towing locomotives to fight against the might of the river’s seaward flow.

The port of Memel is a vital and vibrant element of Germany’s economy. The nation’s northernmost city, blessed with a spacious and normally ice-free port, it remains a portal to the timber resources of the Eastern Baltic and is developing an industrial base to balance its historical reliance on overseas commerce.

The Port of Memel

Since the retrocession of Memel to the Reich the port has seen much investment for modernisation and expansion. No less than four separate terminals operate within the port, all under the aegis of the Memelländische Hafenbehörde. Lying on the eastern shore of the Kurisches Haff they are, from south to north:

The Passenger and Ferry Terminal

One of older portions of the present port, it covers an area of 1.2 hectares and can accommodate vessels of up to 150 metres in length, 45 metres in width and 8.6 metres in draft. In addition to local services the Seedienst Ostpreußen provides frequent connections to German Baltic ports while the Danish firm Det Forenede Dampskibs-Selskab has recently established a direct service between Memel and Copenhagen.

The Bulk Grain Terminal

Recently constructed this facility covers an area of 2.5 hectares with direct rail connections inland. Three piers are operational, and can accommodate vessels up to 180 metres in length, 45 metres in width, and 10.5 metres in draft. Pierside facilities include six grain storage elevators each of 4,500 tonnes capacity and four smaller storage silos each of 1,000 tonnes capacity.

The Cargo Terminal

The largest of the terminal facilities of the port its quays can accommodate up to six vessels of up to 200 metres in length at any one time. The maximum draft alongside is 11.8 metres. Within the terminal there is open storage areas totalling 36,000 square metres and transit sheds covering a further 38,000 square metres. Shore-side cranes are employed to directly transfer cargo to and from freight wagons or trucks.

The Oil Terminal

Located at the northern end of the city the oil port was constructed by the Minol Mineralölhandel AG and only recently completed. Deep sea tankers of up to 220 metres length and 13.8 metres draft can be accommodated at its four piers. The associated tank farm has a storage capacity of 80,000 tonnes of oil and petroleum products. Proposals have been brought forward to connect this facility by pipeline with Russia, permitting oil exports from its western regions on a year round basis.

Inland Connections

Railways

Memel is the ocean terminal for the Vilnius – Memel Railway. This railway was constructed in the latter portion of the Nineteenth Century in competition with the Libau-Romney railway, to better serve the export of grain from the central regions of Russia. Once order was restored following the conclusion of the Lithuanian Civil War reconstruction of this vital link was a priority. Presently its length of 376 kilometres links Memel to the great Russian railway system and as a consequences the gauge employed is the 1520mm Russian Gauge.

Memel is also linked to the Reichsbahn railway network through the standard gauge Tilsit – Memel line, constructed between 1875 and 1880.

Inland Navigation

The River Nieman, which flows into the Kurisches Haff, has long been a gateway for commercial traffic from Poland and Belorussia, and with such man-made improvements such as the Augustów-Kanal (built 1821-1839) extends Memel’s reach even further. Barges carry timber and grain cargos to Memel and return with manufactured goods and bulk cargos of coal.

Roads

Memel is linked to the excellent road system of East Prussia, permitting easy travel by autobus as an alternative to passenger ferry. Unfortunately there are few direct motor road connections with Lithuanian territory, though there are plans to construct such when more essential reconstruction tasks have been completed.

Air Transport

Presently the military airfield Fliegerhorst Memel, located seven kilometres east of the city, is used by civil traffic on a limited basis. It has two runways – a grass airstrip of 600 x 40 metres and an all-weather runway in asphalt concrete of 500 x21 metres. Proposals have been made to construct a new civil aerodrome to serve the city but no decision has yet been reached on its location.

Industrial Development

The principal industrial establishment in the city is the Memel shipyard of the Schichau Maschinen und Lokomotivfabrik, Schiffswerft und Eisengießerei AG. Upon retrocession of the Memel District the Schichau firm was invited by the Government to take on the management of the former Lithuanian naval facilities and presently operates a dry dock and three building slips on the Kurisches Haff between the Passenger and Ferry Terminal and the new Bulk Grain Terminal. While occasional commercial ship repair work is undertaken here, most of the work is performed on behalf of the Kriegsmarine.

Other significant industrial firms located in the city and its environs include:

Aktiengesellschaft für Zellstoff-und-Papierfabrikation Memel – manufacturer of paper, cardboard, and hardboard for packaging and construction.

Memelländische Apparatebau GmbH – maker of telephone and communications equipment.

Memelländische Baumwollspinnerei AG – producer of textiles, employing more than two thousand workers to operate some four thousand looms and 240,000 spindles.

Memelländische Gesellschaft für Holzbearbeitung KG – manufacturer of timber products including plywood, boxboard, and veneers.

Smaller concerns are engaged in the manufacture of ready-made garments, furniture, and food processing, including several bakeries, breweries, and dairies.

The Westlitauische Aktiengesellschaft für Industrie und Finanzen, a joint government and private partnership, has been very active in providing start-up financing, business counselling, and management services to numerous companies in the district.