Steel, Coal and the German War Economy

by Jason Long

This is a rough draft mostly consisting of tables of information. I'm putting it up prematurely to win an argument.

Introduction

Iron ore must be smelted and processed in a couple of ways before it becomes steel. The raw ore is smelted in furnaces using coke for fuel to produce pig-iron. The pig-iron is further processed to make ingot steel. The steel is characterized by its level of phosphorus or its method of production. High-phosphorus steel is called Thomas steel and was suited for general uses such as railroad rails, etc. Low-phosphorus steel was called Martin or Bessemer steel and was the best quality for armaments. Electric steel was also of high quality. The table below shows the proportions of German production of these various types of steels.

Year	Thomas	Bessemer	Martin	Electric
1936	42.3		55.5	2.1
1937	41.5		55.7	2.8
1938	41.1	0.8	54.1	3.9
1939	40.8	1.0	53.1	5.0
1940	35.7	1.9	55.6	6.7
1941	37.9	1.8	52.9	7.2
1942	38.4	2.2	51.4	7.9
1943	39.3	2.9	48.2	9.5
1944	37.0	3.5	48.4	11.0

Most German domestic ores were about 30% iron content, but the Salzgitter ores had only 20%.

German records are confusing with relation to information from occupied Europe as they were categorized different ways at different times. Generally Altreich is Germany within its 1937 borders; Reich is Germany plus Austria, Bohemia, Luxemburg and the parts of Poland and France that were German prior to 1919. Occupied Europe means the rest of Europe controlled by the Germans, including the rest of France, and this definition tends to vary the most.

Pig-Iron Production in millions of tons

Year	Altreich	%	Rest of Reich	%	Total Reich	%	Conquered Europe	%	Total
1934	8.7
1935	12.8
1936	15.3
1937	16.0
1938	18.0
1939	17.5	95%	1	5%	18.5				18.5
1940	14	90%	1.5	10%	15.5				15.5
1941	15.4	63%	6	25%	21.4	88%	3	12%	24.4
1942	15.3	61%	6.9	28%	22.2	89%	2.7	11%	24.9
1943	16	58%	8.2	29%	24.2	87%	3.6	13%	27.8
1944	13.4	64%	5.7	27%	19.1	91%	1.8	9%	20.9

Note: From 1941 Bohemia-Moravia, Luxemburg and Lorraine are included in Reich. The rest of France, Belgium and Poland are in Conquered Europe.

Ingot Steel Production in millions of tons

Year	Altreich	%	Rest of Reich	%	Total Reich	%	Conquered Europe	%	Total
1934	11.9
1935	16.5
1936	19.2
1937	19.8
1938	22.7
1939	22.5	95%	1.2	5%	23.7				23.7
1940	19.1	89%	2.4	11%	21.5				21.5
1941	20.8	65%	7.4	23%	28.2	88%	3.9	12%	32.1
1942	20.5	64%	8.2	26%	28.7	90%	3.2	10%	31.9
1943	20.8	60%	9.8	28%	30.6	89%	3.9	11%	34.5
1944	18.3	64%	7.5	26%	25.8	91%	2.6	9%	28.4

Note: See above note.

The comparison with German prewar production in the table below can prove illuminating.

German Production of Ingot Steel

Altreich 1936/39=100

Year	Altreich	Reich	Reich+Conquered Europe
1939	109	115	115
1940	93	105	105
1941	101	137	156
1942	100	140	155
1943	101	149	168
1944	89	125	138

Monthly Production of Ingot Steel in 1944 in millions of tons

Month	Production	Month	Production
Jan	3.0	July	2.8
Feb	3.0	Aug	2.2
March	3.2	Sept	2.0
April	2.9	Oct	1.7
May	2.8	Nov	1.3
Jun	2.7	Dec	1.0

Perusal of the above tables showing production of pig-iron and ingot steel reveals that never once did war-time production in the Altreich exceed that of 1938. However smelting of the low-grade ores like Salzgitter required up to 50% more fuel and blast furnace capacity per ton of pig-iron produced. By 1940 this was already a problem since much of the supply of higher-grade ores had been cut-off by the outbreak of the war.

Scrap iron was required for the production of Martin steel and, to a certain extent, scrap iron and iron ore are interchangeable. Most scrap iron (70-75%) was produced during the manufacture of steel. German steel production used approximately 20% scrap iron and 80% ore so the difficulty of substituting it for iron ore can be seen.

The Net German Supply of Scrap Iron in millions of tons

Year	Domestic	Imports	Exports	Net addition
1938	2.5	1.1		3.5
1939	3.0	0.7		3.7
1940	3.2	0.4		3.6
1941	3.0	1.1	0.2	3.9
1942	-	0.9	0.2	-
1943	4.9	0.3	0.4	4.8

Note: From 1941 imports came mainly from conquered areas in the Soviet Union.

The Production and Importation of Iron Ore

The Prewar German Supply of Iron Ore

(in thousands of tons of iron content)

	Domestic Production				Imports
Year	Altreich	%	Reich	%	Sweden	%	Others	%	Totals	%	Grand Totals
1935	1849	22.4	1849	22.4	3305	40.1	3098	37.5	6403	77.6	8252
1936	2259	21.1	2259	21.1	4949	46.1	3518	32.8	8467	78.9	10,726
1937	2759	23.0	2759	23.0	5450	45.5	3767	31.5	9217	77.0	11,976
1938	3360	24.5	3360	24.5	5395	39.3	4970	36.2	10,365	75.5	13,725
1939	3928	26.0	4781	31.7	6226	41.2	4092	27.1	10,318	68.3	15,099

Prewar German Imports of Iron Ore

(in thousands of tons of iron content)

Year	Sweden	%	Norway	%	France	%	Luxemburg	%	Spain	%	Others	%	Total
1935	3305	52%	308	5%	1684	26%	110	2%	661	10%	335	5%	6403
1936	4949	58%	316	4%	2058	24%	170	2%	534	6%	441	5%	8467
1937	5450	59%	306	3%	1722	19%	461	5%	156	2%	1122	12%	9217
1938	5395	52%	671	6%	1517	15%	533	5%	542	5%	1707	16%	10,365
1939	6226	60%	619	6%	829	8%	470	5%	369	4%	1805	17%	10,318

Note: Others includes French and Spanish North Africa, Newfoundland, and unspecified others. The conversion of iron ore into tons of iron has been made using the following calculations of the average iron content: Sweden and Norway 60%, France and Luxemburg 30%, Spain 50%, French North Africa 45%, Spanish North Africa 55%, and others 40%.

Iron Ore Mined in Conquered Europe and Used in Reich

(in thousands of tons of iron)

Year	France	Fr. North Africa	Slovakia	USSR	Norway	Others	Totals
1941	2216	65	54		267	62	2664
1942	2483	120	62	26	304	31	3026
1943	2664		132	516	252	72	3636
1944	983		72		119	56	1230

Note: Statistics for total iron ore production in Conquered Europe are very unreliable, but one estimate is that only half of the production in Conquered Europe was sent to steel works in the Reich.

Imports of Iron Ore

(in thousands of tons of iron)

Year	Sweden	Norway	France/Luxemburg	Spain	Others	Total
1940	5339	74	281		311	6005
1941	5027			126	172	5325
1942	4205			359	447	5011
1943	5568			192	72	5832
1944	2628			53	30	2711

German records only rarely distinguish low-phosphorus ore, however it is know that almost all of Norwegian, Spanish and Soviet ores were low-phosphorus types. In addition just under half of Sweden's exports were of low-phosphorus ores.

Germany's Supply of Iron Ore

(in thousands of tons of iron)

	Domestic Production								Imports
Year	Altreich	%	Rest of Reich	%	Conq Eur	%	Total	%	Sweden	%	Others	%	Total	%	Total
1940	5019	38%	2354	18%			7373	55%	5339	40%	666	5%	6005	45%	13,378
1941	4755	25%	5960	32%	2664	14%	13,379	72%	5027	27%	298	2%	5325	28%	18,704
1942	4137	23%	5979	33%	3026	17%	13,142	72%	4205	23%	806	4%	5011	28%	18,153
1943	4080	20%	6702	33%	3636	18%	14,418	71%	5568	27%	264	1%	5832	29%	20,250
1944	2636	24%	4403	40%	1230	11%	8269	75%	2628	24%	83	1%	2711	25%	10,980

Iron Ore Supplies in Late '44-Early '45

(in thousands of tons of iron)

	Production	Imports
Month	Reich	Sweden	Other	Stocks on Hand at Month's End
Oct	415	34	32	2681
Nov	389	52	15	2371
Dec	320	22	18	2204
Jan	300			?

The Germans didn't forsee a major shortfall until mid-1945 given the sizeable stocks on hand.

Stocks of Iron Ore 1938-1944

(in millions of tons of iron)

Date	Quantity	Date	Quantity
4th Qtr 1938	2.5	30/6/42	3.7
31/12/39	3.0	31/12/42	4.6
30/6/40	1.6	30/6/43	5.3
31/12/40	3.1	31/12/43	5.7
30/6/41	3.0	Sep 44	3.0
31/12/41	4.8	31/12/44	2.0

Note: The quantity for 31 Dec 44 in this table doesn't quite match that of the previous table.

Transportation

Shipments from Narvik in thousands of tons of ore

Previous Year's Shipments in brackets

1939			1940
Sept	165	[462]	Jan	511	[609]
Oct	227	[418]	Feb	290	[587]
Nov	249	[418]	March	376	[724]
Dec	294	[464]	April	168	[687]

1939 Shipments from Luleå in thousands of tons of ore

Previous Year's Shipments in brackets

Sept	592	[374]
Oct	579	[230]
Nov	514	[155]
Dec	186	[-]

Shipments from Oxelösund were almost twice as high in Sep-Dec 1939 (519,000 tons) as they were a year previously (286,000). So the decreasing availabity of Narvik was more than compensated by the increase of the Baltic ports.

Distribution of Iron Ore Shipments Between Scandanavian Ports

Year	Narvik	Luleå	Oxelösund	Others
1938	54	21	16	9
1939	44	27	18	11
1940	13	53	17	17
1941	8	49	22	21
1942	13	43	21	21
1943	19	43	20	18
1944	24	31	22	23

Coal and Coke

Coal Production in millions of tons

(excludes coal used to produce coke and consumed at the mines themselves)

Year	Ruhr	Silesia	Others	Czech	Poland	Neth	Belgium	France	Altreich	Total
37/38	151.4	25.4	11.3	17.0	37.0	14.3	29.9	44.3	188.1	330.6
38/39	149.0	26.9	11.6	14.1	41.6	13.5	29.6	46.5	187.5	332.8
39/40	148.6	44.6	11.6	9.8	22.0	12.9	29.8	49.2	182.6	328.5
40/41	149.5	86.4	11.5	10.1		12.1	25.6	39.3	185.6	334.6
41/42	151.1	83.7	11.1	9.4		12.9	25.9	44.1	184.9	338.2
42/43	154.2	94.0	11.2	9.9		12.5	24.9	46.9	190.8	353.6
43/44	149.0	101.5	11.0	9.8		12.3	22.5	46.6	187.5	352.7

Notes: The years are coal-years from 1 April to 31 March. From Oct. 38 Others includes Austria and the Sudetenland. The data for Czechoslovakia, Belgium, France, Poland and the Netherlands before their conquest use calendar years. Czech data after 15 March 39 is for the Protectorate of Bohemia-Moravia. Polish data is included with that for Silesia from October 39.

Coke Production in millions of tons

Year	Ruhr	Silesia	Others	Czech	Poland	Neth	Belgium	France	Altreich	Total
37/38	35.4	2.0	3.3	3.3	2.1	3.4	5.5	7.8	41.7	62.8
38/39	39.1	2.0	3.3	2.4	2.5	3.1	5.2	7.6	44.4	65.2
39/40	39.3	3.7	3.3	2.3	2.2	3.0	5.7	8.4	44.8	67.9
40/41	39.9	6.1	4.3	2.4		2.4	4.0	5.3	46.3	64.4
41/42	39.6	6.4	5.3	2.3		1.9	4.4	4.9	46.7	64.8
42/43	40.0	6.7	6.1	2.4		1.8	4.5	5.2	47.3	66.7
43/44	40.4	6.9	6.0	2.9		1.7	4.3	4.9	47.3	67.1

German Consumption of Coal and Coke 1942/43

	Coal		Coke
	Mill. tons	%	Mill. tons	%
Coking	76	28
Mines	24	9	2.4	5
Industry	42	16	36	66
Communications	31	11	0.5	1
Electricity and gas	26	10
Households	27	10	11	20
Deliveries Conq. Eur.	25	10	2.1	4
Exports	17	6	2.2	4
Stocks	1

German Exports of Coal in millions of tons

Year	Italy	%	Finland	%	Sweden	%	Switzerland	%	Others	%	Total
1937	8	48%	0.2	1%	0.6	4%	0.9	5%	7.1	42%	16.8
1938	7.4	52%	0.1	1%	0.7	5%	1	7%	4.9	35%	14.1
1939	6.8	56%	0.1	1%	0.8	7%	0.9	7%	3.5	29%	12.1
1940	11	60%	0.6	3%	3.5	19%	0.8	4%	2.4	13%	18.3
1941	11.2	60%	1.1	6%	3.3	18%	1.2	6%	2	11%	18.8
1942	10.4	65%	0.9	6%	2.7	17%	1.2	7%	0.9	6%	16.1
1943	8.3	53%	1.2	8%	3.7	24%	1.1	7%	1.4	9%	15.7
1944	2.5	40%	0.6	10%	1.7	27%	0.7	11%	0.7	11%	6.2

Note: 1944 data is only the first six months.

Bottlenecks

The major bottlenecks in expansion of steel production were the supplies of coal and coke, despite the great resources available, primarily because of the necessary exports to France and Italy, insufficient capacity for the transportation of coal, coke and iron ore by rail, and the supply of labor, since POWs were only about as half as productive as skilled workers.

Deliveries to Italy had previously taken place by ship, but had to go by rail after Italy entered the war. Delivery of a million tons of coal a month placed a severe burden on the German rail capacity, especially since Italy was unable to contribute much in the way of rail cars and engines.

Sources:

Fritz, Martin. German Steel and Swedish Iron Ore 1939-1945; Göteborg, 1974
Olsson, Sven-Olof. German Coal and Swedish Fuel 1939-1945; Göteborg, 1975

Return to The Sinews of War.