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The Krupp firm is one of the oldest and largest of Germany’s industrial companies, in the forefront of metallurgical development and traditional supplier of armaments to the Germany’s armed forces. Headquartered in the city of Essen in the Ruhr, Friedrich Krupp AG has numerous facilities in that city and throughout the region. In the wake of the Great War, it lost many of its arms manufacturing plants and overseas subsidiaries; in compensation it diversified into new fields, including light metal fabrication, motor vehicles and machine tools.

As part of its diversification efforts in 1919 Krupp organised its Abteilung Kraftwagenfabrik in Essen to undertake the manufacture of motor trucks. This venture was strengthened in 1929 when Krupp acquired the Ratingen works of the Deutsche Last-Automobilfabrik AG. This was followed in 1926 by a venture into the manufacture of business machines through the foundation of Krupp-National-Registerierkassen GmbH in Berlin. The acquisition of the Frankfurt machine tool manufacturer Pokorny und Wittekind KG followed in 1927, and in 1928 Krupp formed a consortium of major German ship and marine engine builders, the Deutsche Schiff und Maschinenbau AG of Bremen, which took control of eight shipyards, including Krupp’s own AG Weser, the leading yard of the consortium.

Further expansion followed the Anschluß. Krupp was able to acquire a controlling interest in Berndorfer Metallwarenfabrik Arthur Krupp AG, a former affiliated firm. In 1934 the firm strengthened its position in steelmaking through the acquisition of Westfalia-Werke AG and a half-interest in the Sächsische Gußstahlwerke Döhlen AG in partnership with the State of Saxony.

Krupp’s Deutsche Schiff und Maschinenbau AG subsidiary in 1935 founded the Weser-Flugzeugbau AG with facilities in Einswarden and Berlin. With the onset of the Government’s programme to develop synthetic oil resources within Germany, Krupp organised Chemische Werke Essener Steinkohle AG in 1936, and in 1938 founded Ruhrbenzol GmbH, Bochum


Manufacturing subsidiaries of the firm include:

Gußstahlfabrik Friedrich Krupp A.G, Essen (steel and steel fabrication, armaments)
Stahlwerk und Maschinenfabrik Friedrich Krupp AG, Essen (specialty steels and machine-building)
Friedrich Krupp Berthawerk AG, Markstädt bei Breslau (armaments)
Friedrich Krupp Germanianwerft AG, Kiel-Gaarden (shipbuilding)
Friedrich Krupp Grusonwerk AG, Magdeburg-Buckau (armaments including tracked vehicles)
Berndorfer Metallwarenfabrik Arthur Krupp AG, Werke Berndorf (specialty steels, machine-building, armaments)
Chemische Werke Essener Steinkohle AG, Essen (synthetic oil and chemicals)
Frankfurter Maschinenbau AG., vormals Pokorny und Wittekind, Frankfurt (machine tools)
Krupp-National-Registerierkassen GmbH, Berlin (business machines)
Norddeutsche Hütte AG., Bremen-Oslebshausen (blast furnaces)
Ruhrbenzol GmbH, Bochum (synthetic oil and chemicals)
Sächsische Gußstahlwerke Döhlen AG (coal, iron and steel)
Westfalia-Werke AG, Rheda-Wiedenbruck (steel and steel fabrication)


Other subsidiaries of the firm include:

Badische Wolframerz GmbH, Söllingen (wolfram mining)
Gewerkschaft Emscher-Lippe, Datteln (coal mining)
Gewerkschaft Schlesische Niekerlwerke, Gläsendorf (coal mining)
Gewerkschaft Verein Constantin der Grosse, Bochum (coal mining)
Gewerkschaft Rossenray der Grubenfelder, Essen (coal mining)
Essener Steinkohlenbergswerks AG, Essen (coal mining)
Harpener Bergbau AG, Dortmund (iron mining)

The present firm of Rheinmetall Borsig AG came into being through the amalgamation in 1930 of the Ruhr steel and munitions firm Rheinische Metallwaren und Maschinenfabrik with the Berlin engineering and locomotive firm A. Borsig Maschinenbau AG. Each brought strengths to the partnership – Rheinmetall its experience in steel, munitions and large-scale manufacturing; Borsig had a century’s worth of experience in the manufacture of locomotives, boilers and heavy machines.

Since that time, Rheinmetall Borsig has continued to expand through acquisitions and through the establishment of new subsidiary companies.

In 1931 it organised the Altmärkische Kettenwerk in Berlin-Tegel to undertake the manufacture of tracked combat vehicles for the Heer. This subsidiary firm has expanded its activities in concert with the expansion of the Heer and presently operates three facilities in the Berlin area.

In 1932 the Deutsche Lieferwagen was acquired, and the production of wheeled tractors was resumed in this subsidiary firm’s Berlin-Schönefeld factory. That same year the defunct Brennabor Werke was acquired and for the production of precision metal goods and munitions components.

The Deutsche Ölfeuerungswerke of Heilbronn am Neckar, a maker of high quality pistons and precision castings, was acquired in the latter portion of 1933, while a new machine tool subsidiary, Norddeutsche Maschinenfabrik, founded the following year, was established in Berlin to cater to the need for metal presses by the growing aviation industry.

In 1937 the Brandenburger Eisenwerke was founded in Brandenburg an der Havel to undertake the manufacture of iron and steel castings for the automotive industry, and the Spandauer Stahlindustrie in 1938 for the manufacture of precision castings.


Factories owned directly by Rheinmetall Borsig include:

Rheinmetall Borsig AG, Werk Apolda (heavy machinery and artillery components)
Rheinmetall Borsig AG, Werk Breslau (railway equipment and heavy machinery)
Rheinmetall Borsig AG, Werk Düsseldorf-Derendorf (munitions and ordnance)
Rheinmetall Borsig AG, Werk Düsseldorf-Rath (steel and artillery components)
Rheinmetall Borsig AG, Werk Guben (steel and artillery components)
Rheinmetall Borsig AG, Werk Sömmerda (munitions and ordnance)
Rheinmetall-Borsig AG, Werk Berlin-Marienfeld (boilers, stationary and marine engines)
Rheinmetall-Borsig AG, Werk Unterlüß (munitions and ordnance)


Subsidiary companies of the firm include:

In Germany

Altmärkische Kettenwerk GmbH, Berlin-Spandau (armoured vehicle assembly and components)
Altmärkische Kettenwerk GmbH, Berlin-Tegel (armoured vehicle assembly)
Altmärkische Kettenwerk GmbH, Berlin-Wittenau (armoured vehicle components and machinery)
Borsig Maschinenbau GmbH, Hennigsdorf (locomotives and railway equipment)
Brandenburger Eisenwerke AG, Brandenburg an der Havel (iron and steel castings)
Brennabor Werke AG, Brandenburg an der Havel (metal fabricating and munitions)
Deutsche Lieferwagen AG, Berlin-Schönefeld (wheeled tractors and automotive components)
Deutsche Ölfeuerungswerke AG, Heilbronn am Neckar (precision light metal castings)
Norddeutsche Maschinenfabrik GmbH, Berlin-Staaken (metal presses and machinery)
Rohstoffe und waren Einkaufsgesellschaft GmbH, Düsseldorf-Derendorf (trade in iron and steel products)
Spandauer Stahlindustrie GmbH, Berlin-Spandau (precision castings)

Abroad

Waffenfabrik Solothurn AG, Solothurn, Switzerland (ordnance and munitions)

The origin of this firm dates back to 1873 when the firm of Jürgens und Compagnie was established in Magdeburg as a manufacturer of machinery and merchant ironwork. In 1885 it passed into the firm hands of Eugen Polte (1849-1911) under whose leadership it grew into the leading manufacturing works in the city. The firm’s product line expanded into the manufacture of machine tools, pumps, armatures for the expanding electrical industry, aluminium production and fabrication, and, eventually munitions. The firm entered the armaments field in 1889 when the Prussian War Ministry issued it a contract for rifle cartridges, taking advantage of the strides the firm had made in automating the process of manufacturing munitions. In the Great War Polte grew to become the largest single manufacturer of small arms ammunition in Europe.

Following the death of Eugen Polte the firm was organised as a private limited-liability company and adopted its current style. Leadership of the firm continued to be provided by members of the Polte family and its relations.

Prior to the outbreak of the Great War the firm had begun to expand through the acquisition of related firms. In 1912 it acquired the Hirsch Kupfer und Messingwerk AG, Finow, expanding its product line into fabrication of copper and other light metals. In 1913 it acquired and subordinated the works of Louis Strube AG as the Maschinen und Armaturenfabrik Magdeburg-Buckau AG. Strube had long acted in concert with the Polte Works and its formal acquisition gave the firm no fewer than four manufacturing facilities in the city of Madgeburg.

In the wake of the Great War Polte was forced to give up the manufacture of munitions, which, for many years, had been among the most profitable of its products. But concentration on its core products – armatures, hydrants, pumps and industrial machinery – allowed it to weather the economic storms of the post-war period. It expanded into the production of specialist machine tools and larger fabrication machines for the automobile industry. Following the withdrawal of the Inter-Allied Control Commission in the middle 1920s, Polte also re-entered the munitions field, producing small arms ammunition.

It also continued to expand its activities through the acquisition of complimentary firms. In 1931 it acquired the Grüneberger Metallwarenfabrik GmbH of Grüneberg, reorganising it as Polte Metallwarenfabrik GmbH, Werk Grüneberg. The following year it acquired Pollux GmbH of Ludwigshafen am Rhein, a manufacturer of water pumps and turbines. In 1933 it acquired the Metallwerk Wolfenbüttel, which manufactured small arms and ammunition for the German Army. That same year it consolidated its position as a key producer of munitions by acquiring the Metallwerk Odertal GmbH, of Bad Lauterberg im Harz, one of the largest ammunition plants in Germany at that time.

The Polte concern also expanded its activities through the creation of new subsidiaries, establishing metal fabrication plants in Genthin and in Madgeburg-Neustadt, primarily for the production of artillery components and shell casings, and undertaking to manage construct and manage two ammunition plants on behalf of the Ministry of Defence, at Rudisleben bei Arnstadt and Duderstadt.


Subsidiary companies of the firm include:

Hirsch Kupfer und Messingwerk AG, Finow
Maschinen und Armaturenfabrik Magdeburg-Buckau AG
Metallwerk Odertal GmbH, Bad Lauterberg im Harz
Metallwerk Wolfenbüttel GmbH, Wolfenbüttel
Pollux GmbH, Ludwigshafen am Rhein
Polte Armaturen und Maschinenfabrik AG, Neueswerke, Magdeburg-Wilhelmstadt
Polte Armaturen und Maschinenfabrik AG, Stammwerke, Magdeburg-Sudenstadt
Polte Armaturen und Maschinenfabrik AG, Werk Fichtestraße, Magdeburg-Sudenstadt
Polte Metallwarenfabrik GmbH, Werk Genthin, Genthin
Polte Metallwarenfabrik GmbH, Werk Grüneberg, Grüneberg
Polte Metallwarenfabrik GmbH, Werk Magdeburg-Neustadt, Magdeburg-Neustadt
Polte Patronen und Munitionsmaschinenfabrik GmbH, Werk Arnstadt, Rudisleben bei Arnstadt
Polte Patronen und Munitionsmaschinenfabrik GmbH, Werk Duderstadt, Duderstadt


Affiliated companies of the firm include:

Ambi-Budd Presswerke AG, Berlin-Johannisthal
Sellier und Bellot Patronen und Metallwarenfabrik AG, Schönebeck on the Elbe
Vereinigte Armaturen und Maschinenfabriken AG, Wien

The metalworking firm of Hugo Schneider was founded in the latter part of the Nineteenth Century as a lamp factory in the town of Paunsdorf near Leipzig, in Saxony. In the years leading up to the Great War it diversified into a wide range of metalworking activities and like many industrial firms, enter munitions manufacture during that conflict. It resumed the manufacture of munitions in the early 1930s, specialising in small calibre munitions, hand grenades, land mines and other explosives. A measure of the firm’s reliance on munitions may be seen in its annual turnover – in 1930, prior to resumption of munitions manufacture, its turnover was RM 1,000,000; in 1939 the annual turnover had swollen to RM 22,000,000. However, the firm also maintained a strong position in the market for electrical appliances for the home and for industry.

In 1939 the firm acquired the shares of the Continental Licht und Apparatebau of Frankfurt am Main, strengthening its position in the home appliances market. It also to a half-interest in the firm Vereinigte Kartonnagenfabriken Meyer und Compagnie of Magdeburg, a manufacture of specialist packaging machinery.


The factories of the firm include:

Hugo Schneider AG, Hauptwerk, Leipzig (ordnance, munitions and auto lamps)
Hugo Schneider AG, Nordwerk, Leipzig (ordnance and munitions)
Hugo Schneider AG, Werk Altenburg (electrical appliances)
Hugo Schneider AG, Werk Meuselwitz (ordnance and automotive components)
Hugo Schneider AG, Werk Oberweißbach (ordnance, munitions and components)


Subsidiaries of the firm include:

Continental Licht und Apparatebau GmbH, Frankfurt am Main (lamps and electrical goods)


Affiliates of the firm include:

Vereinigte Kartonnagenfabriken Meyer und Compagnie, Magdeburg (packaging machinery)

The Berlin-Karlsruher Industrie Werke (BERKA) was founded in 1920 as a successor to the Deutsche Waffen und Munitionsfabriken AG, one of Germany’s largest munitions firms of the prewar era. Under the regime of the Versailles treaty the firm was forced to give up the manufacture of armaments, which had been its core business. Most of the facilities that had grown up to meet the needs of war were reduced and BERKA carried on with factories in Berlin and Karlsruhe, manufacturing a variety of light metal goods.

In 1928 the firm passed under the control of Günther Quandt who moved the company into the production of business machines, acquiring typewriter manufacturer Olympia Schreibmaschinen in 1929, and opening a new factory in 1933 at Erfurt to manufacture cash registers and other business machines. Under Herr Quandt’s leadership further acquisitions followed.

In 1938 the firm re-entered the field of munitions production, establishing Metallwarenfabrik Spreewerk to undertake the fabrication of munitions components at the former Berlin-Spandau factory of the defunct Deutsche Waffen und Munitionsfabriken. This was followed in 1939 by the establishment of a modern ammunition loading facility on a forty hectare site near the city of Lübeck by the newly established Maschinen für Massenverpackung GmbH. Early in 1940 the firm strengthened its role in the manufacture of industrial machinery through the acquisition of the Berlin-Anhaltische Maschinenbau of Dessau.


The factories of the firm include:

Berlin-Karlsruher Industrie Werke AG, Berlin-Borsigwalde (metal fabrication)
Berlin-Karlsruher Industrie Werke AG, Karlsruhe-Durlach (metal fabrication)


Subsidiaries of the firm include:

Berlin-Anhaltische Maschinenbau AG, Dessau (machine building)
Maschinen für Massenverpackung GmbH, Lübeck-Schlutup (munitions)
Metallwarenfabrik Spreewerk AG, Berlin-Spandau (munitions)
Olympia Büromaschinenwerke AG, Erfurt (business and tabulating machines)
Olympia Schreibmaschinen AG, Berlin-Spandau (typewriters and business machines)
Sächsische Maschinenfabrik AG, Chemnitz (machine building)

Synonymous with German military power, the Mauser Werke AG came into existence in April 1897 through the merger of armaments interests associated with Ludwig Löwe und Compagnie – among which was the original Mauser firearms firm, whose origins dates to 1871. The firm was Germany’s principal manufacturer of military small arms, exporting its products widely abroad. Following the Great War the firm saw near complete diminution of its productive capacity, as reparations stripped it of machine tools and the stocks of armaments left from the Great War depressed demand for armaments world-wide.

It survived by diversification into general manufacturing, specialising in the manufacture of industrial plant equipment for metal fabrication. It was also able to resume limited production of small arms in the later part of the 1920s, and supplemented this with the manufacture of high-quality sporting arms for the civil market. With the expansion of the German armed forces in the 1930s Mauser was slowly able to re-establish itself as Germany’s principal supplier of small arms – even if in some cases the products had been designed elsewhere.

In 1934 it acquired the munitions work of Otto Eberhardt at Hirtenberg, in the Austrian provinces, and in 1936 it acquired the shares of the Metallwerke Schwarzwald, a manufacturer of metal parts.


Subsidiary companies of the firm include:

In Germany

Mauser Werke AG, Werke Karlsruhe, Karlsruhe (small arms and components)
Mauser Werke AG, Werke Köln, Köln -Ehrenfeld (industrial equipment)
Mauser Werke AG, Werke Neuwied, Neuwied (aircraft armaments)
Mauser Werke AG, Stammwerke, Oberndorf am Neckar (small arms and other munitions)
Mauser Werke AG, Jägerwaffenwerke, Waldeck-Kassel (sporting arms)


Affiliated companies of the firm include:

In Germany

Metallwerke Schwarzwald AG, Villingen-Schwenningen (metal fabrication)

Abroad

Ceskoslovenska zbrojovka a.s. Brno, Czechoslovakia (small arms)

This firm was founded in 1891 in an attempt to break the monopoly position of the Nobel-dominated Dynamit AG; the principal backers of the enterprise were Hugo Stinnes, Gustav Poensgen und Hugo von Gahlen, industrialists with significant interests in coal and chemicals and ties to the Prussian War Ministry. The firm rapidly became one of the largest manufacturers of explosives for military and civil uses in Germany, and greatly expanded its output in the years prior to the Great War. During that conflict its productive capacity grew even greater, both through the construction of new plants in Germany and through the exploitation of captured industrial facilities in Belgium and Russian Poland. With Germany’s defeat and the imposition of the Treaty of Versailles WASAG was forced to dismantle many of its facilities for surrender to the Allies as reparations or completely destroyed.

In the wake of the Great War WASAG was lost to the Stinnes industrial empire and came into the orbit of the great German chemicals combine Interessen-Gemeinschaft Farbenindustrie AG. However, as significant blocks of shares were held by financial interests outside of IG Farben, WASAG was treated semi-autonomously. It developed as a general purpose supplier of chemicals and explosives for the mining industry and cooperated with its former rival Dynamit AG and other German explosive manufacturers.

During the 1930s WASAG again became a major supplier of explosives for the German armed forces, providing propellants, shell-fillers and general purpose blasting explosives. Towards this end it organised to affiliated firms to assist in constructing and operating the new factories - Deutsche Sprengchemie GmbH, which concentrates on explosives, and Deutsche Pyrotechnische Fabriken GmbH, which manufactures pyrotechnics and other devices.


Factories operated by the principal firm include:

Westfälisch-Anhaltische Sprengstoff AG, Berlin-Oranienburg (specialist explosives)
Westfälisch-Anhaltische Sprengstoff AG, Coswig (research and development)
Westfälisch-Anhaltische Sprengstoff AG, Elsnig (artillery propellants)
Westfälisch-Anhaltische Sprengstoff AG, Herrenwald (artillery propellants)
Westfälisch-Anhaltische Sprengstoff AG, Reinsdorf (artillery propellants)


Factories operated by the subsidiary firms include:

Deutsche Pyrotechnische Fabriken GmbH, Berlin-Malchow (flares and other pyrotechnic devices)
Deutsche Pyrotechnische Fabriken GmbH, Cleebronn (flares and other pyrotechnic devices)
Deutsche Pyrotechnische Fabriken GmbH, Neumarkt (flares and other pyrotechnic devices)

Deutsche Sprengchemie GmbH, Klietz (artillery powders and shell-filling)
Deutsche Sprengchemie GmbH, Moschweig (artillery powders and shell-filling)
Deutsche Sprengchemie GmbH, Oderberg (artillery powders and shell-filling)

The history of this concern dates to June of 1865 when the Nordish industrialist and entrepreneur Alfred Nobel founded in Hamburg the firm Alfred Nobel und Compagnie. Throughout the latter part of the Nineteenth Century the firm was a part of the international Nobel enterprise, which had affiliated companies throughout Europe, all of which were engaged in the manufacture of dynamite and other explosives for commercial and military use. This situation continued to prevail up to the outbreak of the Great War, which saw elements of the Nobel cartel ranged on opposite sides of the battle lines. Germany’s defeat in that conflict led to a fundamental shift in the company’s ownership and outlook. Control of the firm came into the hands of the Interessen-Gemeinschaft Farbenindustrie, while many of the firm’s wartime factories were closed down and demolished at the insistence of the victorious Allies. The primary business of the firm shifted to production of nitrogen-based fertilizers and other chemicals, though production of commercial blasting explosives continued.

From the mid-1920s the concern slowly pursued a policy of expansion, at first acquiring firms already in the orbit of IG Farben. In 1925 it acquired control of the Lindener Zündhütchen und Thoonwaarenfabrik, a manufacturer of primers and detonators, and in 1927 it absorbed the Chemische Werke Lothringen. In 1930 is re-entered the munitions field through its purchase of the Siegener Dynamitfabrik, and in the same year it acquired the Rheinische Spritzguß-Werk and entered the field of plastics manufacture.

1931 saw a major expansion of the firm’s commitment to explosives, as distinct from chemicals, when it took ownership of another IG Farben subsidiary, Rheinisch-Westfälischen Sprengstoff AG, a firm with several plants engaged in producing material for the expanding German military.


Factories operated by the principal firm include:

Dynamit AG, Lignosewerke, Idar-Oberstein (commercial blasting explosives)
Dynamit AG, Stammwerke, Troisdorf (munitions and explosives)
Dynamit AG, Werke Kriewald, Allendorf (munitions and explosives)
Dynamit AG, Werke Krümmel, Geesthacht (fertilizers and industrial chemicals)
Dynamit AG, Werke Kunigunde, Empelde (fertilizers and industrial chemicals)


Factories operated by the subsidiary firms include:

Chemische Werke Lothringen GmbH, Gerthe bei Bochum (fertilizers and industrial chemicals)
Rheinische Spritzguß-Werk GmbH, Köln-Mulheim (plastics)
Rheinisch-Westfälischen Sprengstoff AG, Durlach (munitions and explosives)
Rheinisch-Westfälischen Sprengstoff AG, Liebenau (munitions and explosives)
Rheinisch-Westfälischen Sprengstoff AG, Nürnberg-Langwasser (munitions and explosives)
Siegener Dynamitfabrik AG, Köln-Porz (munitions and explosives)

This concern was founded in 1856 by the brothers Löb and Moses Simson to operate a steel hammer works in the town of Suhl. In the following years the firm undertook to manufacture crucible steel and sold finished goods such as guns and gun barrels, steam engines and, in 1896, the production of bicycles. Its success with bicycles led the firm to commence the manufacture of automobiles in 1907, and in the years before the Great War the firm was renowned for its success on the racing circuit. The firm was heavily engaged in the manufacture of armaments during the Great War and, in its aftermath, was supported by the Government by receipt of contracts to manufacture the famous Pistole 08 ‘Luger’ for Germany’s postwar requirements.

During the 1920s the concern restructured as a family holding company with the manufacturing activities of the firm organised as subsidiary companies. Manufacture of motorcycles was undertaken by Fahrzeug und Gerätewerk Simson AG, while the firm’s continuing armament interests were concentrated in Waffenwerk Suhl AG. In the 1930s the firm utilized family connections to expand its interests in the Austrian provinces following their incorporation into the Reich. In 1934 it acquired the venerable Otto Eberhardt ammunition firm in Meinigen and with it its Austrian subsidiary, the Hirtenberger armaments works. The following year it purchased the works of Pitschmann und Kompagnie in Innsbruck, a manufacturer of flares and other pyrotechnic devices, and, in 1936, took control of the Nesseldorfer wagon works in Vienna. In 1938 it acquired the assets of the ironworks of Teichert und Sohn at Liegnitz, and expanded its capacity to produce metal castings for the automotive industry.


Subsidiaries of the firm include:

Erste Alpenländische Pyrotechnikfabrik Pitschmann und Kompagnie, Innsbruck (military pyrotechnics)
Fahrzeug und Gerätewerk Simson AG, Suhl (motorcycles and automotive components)
Hirtenberger Patronen Züundhütchen und Metallwarenfabrik AG, Hirtenberg, Niederdonau (ammunition)
Liegnitzer Eisengiesserei und Maschinenfabrik vormals Teichert und Sohn AG, Liegnitz (castings and machined parts)
Nesselsdorfer Wagenbau Fabriksgesellschaft, Wien (railway and transportation equipment)
Otto Eberhardt Patronenfabrik AG, Meinigen (ammunition and munitions components)
Waffenwerk Suhl AG, Suhl (small arms and munitions components)

In 1844 Emil Albrecht Kuntze and Christian Friedrich Pottharst founded the Eisenwerke Weserhütte in the town of Rehme on the Weser River; at the time the workshop manufactured pots, stoves and agricultural implements, and prospered. In 1859 the firm acquired a machine factory in nearby Bad Oeynhausen, and relocated its operations there. In 1865, following the death of Pottharst, Kuntze’s nephews Egbert Schuster and Julius Krutemeyer took control of the business, which operated as Eisenwerk Weserhütte Schuster und Krutemeyer. The firm closed its iron foundry and concentrated on the manufacture of lattice towers, bridges, brick-making machines and excavators; by 1900 it employed more than two hundred workers. In 1913 it was converted into a joint-stock company and adopted its current style.

In 1920 the firm acquired additional manufacturing facilities in Neunkirchen and Neustrelitz, and developed as a manufacturer of bridge components, construction machinery and industrial machinery. In the 1930s the firm was quick to move into production of defence equipment, manufacturing the hulls for armoured cars and armoured infantry carriers, components for gun carriages, and bridging equipment for the expanding Deutsches Heer. This remains a significant element of the firm’s activities, employing more than half of the firm’s four thousand workers, which are divided between the main factory in Bad Oeynhausen, Neunkirchen and Neustrelitz.

The origins of this firm lie in the machine and metal-fabricating works of Maximillian Müller, which had been founded in 1879 in Oldenburg and relocated to Hannover-Hainholz in 1889. Upon the death of the elder Brinker in 1912 the business was carried on by his sons Max and Gustav. In the era following the Great War the repair of locomotives became one of the main sources of income, developing innovative welding techniques to repair existing locomotives and railway equipment and to fabricate parts for new equipment. The firm’s patented techniques were licenced to Britain, Switzerland, Poland, Denmark and the Netherlands.

From 1934 the firm entered the production of munitions at the invitation of the Defence Ministry, establishing a factory in Halberstadt for the production of artillery ammunition. The engineer Hermann Wohlenberg was placed in charge of this unit. In 1935, in response to a request from the (late) Aviation Ministry the firm established an aircraft repair works at Hamburg-Wandsbech. From 1937 the main facility at Hannover-Hainholz began the manufacture of armaments, including the production of trench mortars for the Heer and light antiaircraft artillery for the Kriegsmarine. A new machine shop and press-work was established in 1938 to undertake the manufacture of machine tools and special machines.

The firm employs more than twelve hundred workers at its two facilities in Hannover-Hainholz and Hannover-Brink; the aircraft repair facility in Hamburg-Wandsbech employs more than eight hundred, and the munitions plant in Halberstadt seven hundred.

This firm was founded in 1902 by Heinrich Diehl, who opened a factory for the production of decorative fittings and iron work in the city of Nürnberg. Its product line soon expanded to include brass rods and other semi-finished items, and, in the Great War, its production was turned to the manufacture of artillery shells and other munitions; during this period the firm constructed a second factory in Nürnberg, dedicated to shell and related cast metal production. Both factories survived the economic disruption of the immediate postwar period and concentrated on the production of general builders’ hardware and semi-finished items for the automotive and railway industries.

Under the leadership of Karl Diehl, son of the founder, the firm began to shift away from unsophisticated semi-finished products to a new range of mechanical precision products, such as watch and clock movements. A third factory in Nürnberg was set up exclusively for such production in 1924. As the economic situation in Germany improved the firm took the opportunity to acquire shares in a number of complementary metalworking companies.

In 1928 the firm acquired a majority interest in the Metallwerke Silberhütte, a manufacturer of brass and zinc semi-finished products in the Harz. Two years later the firm acquired control of the Stolberger Metallwerke, an important firm in the production of cylinder blocks for the automotive industry. The precision metal works of August Baumgart in Rathenow became affiliated with the firm in 1932.

In 1933 the firm re-entered the defence products sector, opening a new factory in Nürnberg-Röthenbach for the manufacture of mechanical clock fuses for artillery shells. It subsequently acquired shares in three small firms engaged in the producing small arms under contract to the Heer – the firm of Carl Eickhorn in Solingen, the firm of Höller in Solingen and the Krieghoff firm in Suhl – providing the capital required to permit these firms to expand and increase their production capacity. The firm also continued to diversify in non-defence production, acquiring in 1938 the shares of the Mercedes-Büromaschinenwerke, a manufacturer of mechanical calculating and other office machines.

Factories of the firm include:

Diehl und Compagnie, Nürnberg-Dürrenhof (non-ferrous metals products)
Diehl und Compagnie, Nürnberg-Mögeldorf (automotive components)
Diehl und Compagnie, Nürnberg-Röthenbach (artillery fuses)
Diehl und Compagnie, Nürnberg-Sündersbühl (builders hardware)


Affiliated companies of the firm include:

August Baumgart Feinmechanik und Maschinenbau AG, Rathenow (precision metal parts)
Mercedes-Büromaschinenwerke AG, Zella-Mehlis (business machines)
Metallwerke Silberhütte GmbH, Andreasberg (metal fabricating)
Stolberger Metallwerke AG, Stolberg (precision metal castings)
Waffenfabrik Carl Eickhorn AG, Solingen (small arms and munitions components)
Waffenfabrik Heinrich Krieghoff AG, Suhl (small arms and munitions components)
Waffenfabrik Höller AG, Solingen (small arms and munitions components)

Mühlenbau und Industrie Aktiengesellschaft (MIAG) came into being in 1925 through the fusion of several of Germany largest manufacturers of industrial milling machines - Gebrüder Seck, of Dresden; C.G.W. Kapler und Compagnie, of Berlin; the Luther Werke, of Brunswick; Amme, Giesecke und Konegen, also of Brunswick; and Hugo Greffenius AG of Frankfurt am Main. Through amalgamation these firms were able to weather the economic turmoil of the postwar period and emerged at the end of the 1920s in a position to take advantage of the growth of the German economy during the 1930s.

With the increasing domestic and foreign demand for machine tools and plant equipment MIAG soon found itself capable of expanding itself through the acquisition of related firms. First among these was the long-established Becker crane factory in Berlin – whose shares MIAG purchased in 1931. The following year it acquired and revived a manufacturer of trams and railway equipment in Wismar and purchased the Magdeburger Werkzeugmaschinenfabrik.

To meet the needs of the expanding Heer and Luftwaffe MIAG formed a number of defence-related firms. The first of these was an aircraft assembly plant at Brunswick-Waggum, founded in 1935. The following year it founded the Lower Saxon Motor Works to manufacture aircraft engines under licence. The Regensburg Steel Works was founded in 1936 to manufacture components for artillery, and in 1939 MIAG opened a second factory for the production of tracked vehicles in Hamburg.


Subsidiary companies of the firm include:

Becker Kranfabrik AG, Berlin-Reinickendorf (industrial cranes)
Hanseatisches Kettenwerk AG, Hamburg-Langenhorn (defence equipment)
Magdeburger Werkzeugmaschinenfabrik AG, Halberstadt (automotive equipment)
Mühlenbau und Industrie AG, Brunswick-Waggum (aircraft manufacture)
Mühlenbauanstalt und Maschinenfabrik Braunschweig AG, Braunschweig-Amme (defence equipment)
Mühlenbauanstalt und Maschinenfabrik Greffenius AG, Frankfurt-Sachsenhausen (industrial plant equipment)
Mühlenbauanstalt und Maschinenfabrik Kapler AG, Berlin-Tegel (machine tools and industrial plant equipment)
Mühlenbauanstalt und Maschinenfabrik Seck AG, Dresden-Zschachwitz (machine tools and industrial plant equipment)
Niedersachsische Motorenwerke AG, Hannover-Langenhagen (aero engine manufacture)
Regensburger Stahl und Maschinenbau AG, Regensburg-Eckmühl (defence equipment)
Triebwagen und Waggonfabrik Wismar AG, Wismar (tramway equipment)

Stahl und Maschinengesellschaft mbH (STAMAG) emerged from the wreck of the Stinnes industrial empire in the latter part of the 1920s. The unexpected death of Hugo Stinnes, and the precarious financial situation of his many enterprises, brought about their rapid dispersal among competing industrial and financial groups. Commerzbank AG was able to take control of a number of heavy engineering and metalworking firms that had previously been part of the Stinnes firm and organised STAMAG to provide financial support and direction for them.

Among the properties acquired by STAMAG were the Deutsche Eisenwerke in Mühlheim, and the Deutsche Röhrenwerke in Düsseldorf – manufacturers of specialty steels and steel products, and the Stahlwerke Brüninghaus, an integrated steel manufacturing firm. Together with rolling mills of the Trierer Walzwerke these units formed a compact if subordinate combine. The firm also held the copper and light metals firm of Wielandwerke, and, somewhat surprisingly, a shipyard – the Stettiner Oderwerke.

During the period 1928-1932 the firm grew through the acquisition of smaller metallurgical and mechanical engineering enterprises – some of which had previous ties with Stinnes. These included the Eisenwerk Brühl, a small specialty steel firm in the Ruhr; the Pittler Werkzeugmaschinenfabrik in Leipzig, a manufacturer of machine tools and steel mill equipment; and the Metallwerke Zöblitz, a copper fabricator.

In 1935 STAMAG acquired the assets of the Theodor Bergmann industrial combine from the heirs of the founder, and entered the field of defence products.


Subsidiary companies of the firm include:

Deutsche Eisenwerke AG, Mühlheim (steel castings and ferroalloys)
Deutsche Röhrenwerke AG, Düsseldorf-Lierenfeld (steel and alloy tubes)
Eisenwerk Brühl AG, Brühl (specialty steels)
Metallwerke Zöblitz AG, Zöblitz (copper and light metals fabrication)
Pittler Werkzeugmaschinenfabrik AG, Leipzig (machine tools and industrial plant equipment)
Stahlwerke Brüninghaus AG, Werdohl (iron and steel products)
Stahlwerke Brüninghaus AG, Westhofen (iron and steel products)
Stettiner Oderwerke AG, Stettin (shipbuilding)
Theodor Bergmann AG, Abteilung Automaten und Metallwarenfabrikation, Hamburg-Altona (metal fabrication)
Theodor Bergmann AG, Abteilung Waffen und Munitionsfabrikation, Berlin-Bernau (munitions)
Theodor Bergmann AG, Abteilung Waffen und Munitionsfabrikation, Velten am Main (munitions)
Trierer Walzwerk AG, Magdeburg (steel rolling mill)
Trierer Walzwerk AG, Wuppertal-Langerfeld (steel rolling mill)
Wielandwerke AG, Ulm (copper and light metals fabrication)

The concern’s roots date to 1902 when engineer Robert Ardelt established the engineering firm Robert Ardelt und Söhne Maschinenfabrik in the town of Eberswalde. By 1911 the sons of the founder had taken charge of the firm, and it was known the world over for manufacturing foundry equipment; in addition, cranes, suction draught and dust collection systems, locomotives and road-making machines were produced. In 1918 the firm employed more than two thousand workers at two locations in Eberswalde.

In 1921 a separate crane construction department was established, as this had become one of the concern’s primary lines of product. The so-called “double-jib” crane was patented by the firm in 1932. Between 1927 and 1934 the firm was the prime contractor for construction of the Niederfinow ship lift.

Since the mid-1930s the firm has become a major subcontractor in the manufacture of artillery and munitions for the Heer, producing anti-tank guns, components for tracked vehicles, armoured cupolas for coastal artillery, light-alloy parts for aircraft, torpedo tubes, grenade bodies, naval mines, casings for aerial bombs and pontoons for the construction of pioneer bridges. A branch factory was opened in Breslau-Masselwitz in 1937 and a subsidiary, Märkischen Stahlformwerk, was organised in 1940 to produce steel castings.

This firm was founded in 1934 as a defence contractor by a syndicate of investors led by the VESTAG. Using the Badenstedt facilities of the former Eisenwerks Wülfel as a basis, the concern engaged in the manufacture of fabricated armoured superstructures for wheeled combat vehicles, most notably the light and heavy armoured cars constructed for the Heer during the latter part of the 1930s. In 1940 the firm opened a second facility in Laatzen for the production of rolled and cast armour to be used in the manufacture of tracked armoured vehicles. At the present time more than two thousand five hundred workers are engaged in defence-related activities at both facilities.

This firm was founded on 20 April 1934 as a subsidiary of the Swiss company Oerlikon-Bührle. The factory in the town of Velten in the northern portion of the province of Brandenburg was completed in 1935 and was immediately engaged in construction of aircraft sub-assemblies for the expanding Luftwaffe.

The works specialised in the design and construction of rigid and flexible mountings for aircraft machineguns and cannon of all calibres and aircraft grazing made of specially-formed plexiglass. Its products would serve on many of the Luftwaffe’s aircraft including the Heinkel He111, the Heinkel He177, and the Heinkel 219. It also manufactured a licenced variant of the Oerlikon FF autocannon to order of the Luftwaffe and, when the Oerlikon FF had been supplemented in service by the Mauser-designed MG 151, the Ikaria factory became a second source for that weapon.

The history of the company can be traced to 1852, when Louis Kleinknecht established a pyrotechnic factory in Meimsheim. This was acquired in 1883 by the merchant Wilhelm Fischer and relocated to Cleebronn the following year. Operations there flourished, and by 1900 the facilities had expanded six times, with fifty employees engaged in production of fireworks; by 1913 that number had increased to one hundred. During the Great War the firm engaged in the production of signal flares and illuminating ammunition, with a daily production of 25,000 cartridges. In 1916 the firm became a joint stock company, operating as Wilhelm Fischer AG, Pyrotechnische Fabrik.

In the 1920s it bought up several competitors, including the Berliner Kunstfeuerwerkerei Deichmann & Compagnie and the Pyrotechnische Fabrik Weiffenbach KG. In 1937 the firm reorganised under its present style and moved its corporate headquarters to Berlin. It continues to be a major supplier of military grade pyrotechnics for signal and illuminating purposes as well as a manufacture of commercial fireworks.