Hitler's Quest for Oil: the Impact of Economic
Considerations on Military Strategy, 1941-42
JOEL HAYWARD
When asked by his Allied captors in 1945 to what extent German military
strategy had been influenced at various stages by economic considerations,
Albert Speer, Hitler's outstanding Armaments Minister, replied that in
the case of Operation BARBAROSSA the need for oil was certainly a
prime motive.1 Indeed, even during the initial discussions of his plan to
invade the Soviet Union, Hitler stressed the absolute necessity of seizing
key oilfields, particularly those in the Caucasus region, which accounted
for around 90 per cent of all oil produced in the Soviet Union. For example ,
during a war conference at the Berghof on 31 July 1940, Hitler revealed to
high-ranking commanders his intention to shatter Russia 'to its roots with
one blow'2 After achieving the 'destruction of Russian manpower', he
explained, the German Army must drive on towards the Baku oilfield, by
far the richest of those in the Caucasus and one of the most productive in
the world.
Despite Hitler's optimism, the 1941 campaign - which opened along a
2,000 km front and involved 148 combat divisions - failed to shatter
Russia 'to its roots with one blow'. Consequently, it failed to bring the
huge oil region of the Caucasus under German control. After reverses in
the winter of 1941/42, it was no longer possible for the Wehrmacht to
undertake wide-ranging offensives along the entire front, by then over
2,500 km in length. The summer campaign of 1942, although still immense,
was necessarily less ambitious. It opened along a front of around 725 km,
and involved 68 German and 25 allied combat divisions. Soviet oil
remained a major attraction for Hitler. The offensive's objectives were to
destroy the main Russian forces between the Donets and the Don river,
capture the crossings into the mountainous Caucasus region and then
deliver the rich oilfields into German hands. The perceived importance of
these oilfields to the German economy, and hence the war effort, cannot
be overstated. On 1 June 1942, four weeks to the day before the summer
campaign began , Hitler told the assembled senior officers of Army Group
South that 'If I do not get the oil of Maikop and Grozny then I must end
this war'.3
The purpose of this study is not to provide a narrative description of
the planning of the 1942 campaign, but, rather, to reveal the central role
The Journal of Strategic Studies, Vol.18, No.4 (December 1995), pp.94-135
PUBLISHED BY FRANK CASS, LONDON
HITLER'S QUEST FOR OIL 95
which economic considerations played in the planning of that ill-fated
endeavour. In the following pages I shall appraise Hitler's preoccupation
with the Caucasus region and its oilfields, and describe how Germany's
own oil situation in the first two years of the war led him to believe that
the capture of those oilfields was an essential prerequisite to waging a
prolonged war of economic attrition. I shall then outline and explain the
lengthy planning of the 1942 campaign , which aimed first at protecting the
vulnerable Rumanian oilfields - upon which the German war economy
was already heavily reliant - and secondly (and more importantly) at
possessing the far richer fields in the Caucasus.
I
The immense Caucasus region, larger than Great Britain, is bounded by
the Black Sea on the west and the Caspian on the east, and is traversed by
the Caucasus Mountains. These massive mountains, many of which rise
to over 5,000 m (including Mount Elbrus, at 5,633 m the highest peak in
the range), run from the eastern shore of the Sea of Azov, opposite the
Crimean Kerch Peninsula, 1 ,200 km southeasterly to Baku, the capital of
present-day Azerbaijan.
The mountains separate the North Caucasus from Transcaucasia. The
former, in present-day Russia, comprise mainly steppes, rolling hills and
desert lands. During the Second World War, it was a producer of grain,
cotton and heavy farm machinery, and its two main oilfields - Maikop,
near the Black Sea, and Grozny, near the Caspian - produced about ten
per cent of all Soviet oil.4 In 1942, the British Ministry of Economic
Warfare calculated the annual outputs of these fields to be approximately
2,500,000 tons each.5 A pipeline, running from Makhatchkala (320 km
north of Baku on the Caspian) to Rostov, connected these two fields. This
pipeline was the normal carrier of Caucasus oil to the eastern Ukrainian
industrial area, centred around Kharkov. It extended only as far as
Rostov, from where the oil was taken westward to Kharkov by boat up
the Donets river system, which was, even according to conservative
German calculations, suitable for ships and barges of 1 ,000 tons for much
of the way and of 400 tons the rest.6
South of the Caucasus Mountains lies the densely-populated region of
Transcaucasia, today comprising the nations of Georgia, Azerbaijan and
Armenia. In 1942, this heavily industrialized region had a population
density greater than that of the state of New York.7 Baku, situated on one
of the world's richest oilfields, alone produced 80 per cent of all Soviet oil.
It actually consisted of several fields, including the new Nebit-Dagh 'oil
base' near Krasnovodsk, directly across the Caspian from Baku proper in
96 THE JOURNAL OF STRATEGIC STUDIES
the present-day nation of Turkmenistan. Crude oil from this source,
accounting for about seven per cent of Baku's total yield, was shipped
back to Baku for refining. In 1942, the Ministry of Economic Warfare
calculated the phenomenal annual output of Baku's 8,000 wells to be
approximately 24,000,000 tons.8 A pipeline ran from Baku westward
through Tiflis, capital of Georgia, to Batum, a major oil export port on
the Black Sea. Oil going to Moscow, Gorkii and the main industrial
centres in the west was taken by ship to Astrakhan at the mouth of the
mighty Volga river, then up the Volga to its destinations. Oil bound for
the industrial areas of the Urals and Siberia was shipped up the Caspian to
Gurev, where it travelled by pipeline to Ufa, almost 1,000 km to the
north. From there it was taken to its destinations by rail.9
Hitler's strong desire throughout 1941 and 1942 to capture these oil-
fields was not without precedent. During the last two years of the First
World War, Germany experienced critical oil shortages and had to rely
on Austria-Hungary and, to a far greater degree, Rumania for much of its
supplies. General Ludendorff, whose words reveal the striking similarity
between Germany's oil situation in both World Wars, later wrote that
during the Great War 'Rumanian oil was of decisive importance.'10
Unfortunately, he added, 'the production of oil in Rumaina had increased
to the limits of the possible, but this could not make good the whole
shortage.'11 The German High Command therefore needed to obtain a new
source, and settled on a plan to seize the Baku oilfield, even then recog-
nized as one of the richest in the world. Before they could achieve this
goal, however, the British beat them to it in August 1918 by entering Baku,
which they occupied (except when temporarily ousted by the Turks) until
well after the end of the war.12 This lamented Ludendorff, was 'a serious
blow for us'.
In order to make sense of Hitler's insistence on the capture of the
Caucasus oilfields, 25 years after the first German attempt was abandoned,
it is necessary to outline briefly the origin and significance of the
Wehrmacht's 'Achilles' heel': its lack of oil. German economic strategists
realized in the first years of Nazi rule that the nation's heavy dependency
on imports of crude oil would be a serious problem in the event of war. In
1934 Germany consumed around three million metric tons of gasoline,
fuel oil and various other petroleum products. Around 85 per cent came
from domestic crude production, centred larely in the area around
Hanover, and from a synthetic oil industry still in its infancey.13
Immediately after coming to power the National Socialist government
took steps towards self-sufficiency in fuels and lubricants by seeking new
wells and encouraging the expansion of the synthetic fuel industry. State
subsidies were paid to encourage exploratory drilling within Germany,
HITLER'S QUEST FOR OIL 97
which resulted in domestic crude oil production increasing from 238,000
tons in 1933 to 1,052,000 tons in 1940. u The Bergius hydrogenation and
the Fischer-Tropsch process for the synthetic production of oil had been
perfected only in the late 1920s, and at the time the National Socialists
came to power only three small plants were in operation. Despite the high
cost of producing synthetic fuel, this industry was continuously enlarged
throughout the 1930s, so that in 1938 the production of fuels, lubricants
and other oil products from coal reached an annual rate of roughly
1,600,000 tons, and by September 1939, 2,300,000 tons.15
In August 1936, Hitler had addressed a long and rambling memorandum
to Hermann Goring, who was then Commissioner of Foreign Exchange
and Raw Materials, on the urgent need for Germany to increase its
'defensive capacity' against what he called the Soviet Union's 'will of
aggression'.16 Germany must be 'capable of waging a worthwhile war
against the Soviet Union', he stated, because 'a victory over Germany by
Bolshevism would not lead to a new Versailles Treaty but to the final
destruction, indeed the extermination, of the German people.'
Hitler explained to Goring what he saw as the desperate immediacy of
Germany's economic and military requirements and outlined future steps
to correct perceived deficiencies. The ultimate solution to Germany's
problems, insisted Hitler in terms echoing the views he expounded in
Mein Kampf,11 'lies in expanding the living space [Lebensraum] of our
people; that is, in extending the sources of its raw materials and food-
stuffs.' (in his Weltanschauung, or world view, Lebensraum did not
primarily mean space for settlement, but land and resources for economic
exploitation.) The short term goal, he continued to Goring, must be
an immediate 'economic mobilization' resulting in Germany's quickly
reaching a 'position of political and economic self-sufficiency'. The
production of all raw materials essential for modern warfare must be
increased. German fuel production, he emphasized, must be increased 'at
the fastest pace' and with great determination because 'the future conduct
of war will depend on the completion of this task rather than the stock-
piling of gasoline.' Hitler concluded by setting Goring two clear-cut tasks:
'(1) the German army must be ready for war within four years, and (2) the
German economy must be fit for war within four years.'
Goring responded to the memorandum by having his economic staff
formulate a detailed Tour- Year Plan' for the Reich's economic develop-
ment. This was accepted by the Fuhrer, who announced it publicly on
9 September 1936 at the 'Reich Party Congress of Honour' at Nuremberg,18
and on 18 October he formally placed Goring in charge of its implementa-
tion. The latter instructed his staff to formulate a comprehensive strategy
for increasing Germany's oil production. This plan provided for an
98 THE JOURNAL OF STRATEGIC STUDIES
increase in total production from less than two million tons in 1936 to
4,700,000 tons in 1940. The most important part of this expansion was a
planned increase in the amount of synthetic fuel produced by the Bergius
hydrogenation process (the only synthetic fuel process which could
produce the urgently-needed aviation fuels19) from 620,000 tons in 1936 to
2,730,000 in 1940.20
On 12 July 1938, the Four- Year Plan was superseded by the Karinhall
Plan (named after Goring's imposing manor house in the Schorfheide),
which placed far greater emphasis on economic preparations for war.21
Realizing that Germany's present consumption of oil had risen to about
7,500,00 tons - and this was in peacetime - Goring's economic strategists
resolved to overcome the glaring inadequacy of previous programmes by
providing for an increase in the annual output of finished oil products to
11 million tons by the beginning of 1944.22 These production targets were
soon revealed to be unrealistic. Consequently, several new oil plans were
drawn up, beginning in September 1939 with a revision of the Karinhall
Plan and ending in January 1944 with the Mineralol Plan.23
Regardless of its extremely high costs (synthetic oil costs four to five
times as much as crude to produce), the synthetic oil programme was still
considered in the immediate pre-war period to be the best solution to
Germany's oil problems, and hundreds of millions of Reichsmark were
spent on the construction of production plants. At the outbreak of war in
September 1939 there were 14 hydrogenation and Fischer-Tropsch plants
in operation, with a further six under construction. The output of crude
oil was also continously expanded, and the total yield of oil products from
domestic sources at the time amounted to three million tons.24
Despite these intense efforts to improve Germany's oil situation
rapidly, in 1938 - the last full year of peace - only about a third of the
7,500,000 tons of oil Germany consumed was produced domestically by
synthetic plants and oil refineries. The bulk of the other five million tons
still came from the United States, Venezuela and Iran. A smaller, but
nonetheless significant amount (451,000 tons), came from Rumania.25
Accordingly, Germany's oil situation received a severe blow in September
1939 when its overseas imports ceased with the imposition of the Anglo-
French naval blockade.26
The cessation of oil imports was clearly a major cause of concern
among German economists, although its effects were not immediately
felt. During the pre-war months of 1939 oil imports from overseas reached
an all-time peak, so that despite the blockade from September onwards
imports for the year as a whole amounted to 5,165,000 tons, up 200,000
tons from the previous year.27 However, during the following year imports
dropped dramatically; only 2,075,000 tons managed to enter the Reich in
HITLER'S QUEST FOR OIL 99
1940, and this was only from other countries on the Continent. Just over
one million tons came from Rumania,28 and another 619,600 tons were
imported from the Soviet Union in accordance with the German-Soviet
trade agreements of 1939 and 1940. 29 Naturally, imports from the Soviet
Union ceased immediately when the fury of Operation B ARB AROSSA
was unleashed on 22 June 1941, although 256,300 tons had already been
imported in the first half of that year.30
Rumania, by far the largest oil producer in Europe (excluding the
Soviet Union), was the only nation capable of replacing a significant
portion of the lost overseas imports. In 1938 Rumania exported 451,000
tons of oil products to Germany. On 23 March 1939 it signed an economic
treaty with Germany, and on 27 May 1940 the two nations signed an oil
pact.31 Accordingly, in 1939 it exported 974,000 tons to the Reich. In 1940
this rose to 1 ,007,000 tons.32 In these last two years Rumania continued to
export oil - around 1 ,500 ,000 tons each year - to non- Axis nations, but as
it drew closer to the Axis powers after Germany's victories in the west in
the spring of 1940 these exports dropped off considerably. On 30 August
1940 Rumania participated in the second of the Vienna Awards. On
23 November it acceded to the Tripartite Pact, and on 25 November to the
Anti-Comintern Pact.33 In 1941 Rumania became Germany's strongest
economic and military ally when it joined wholeheartedly in the invasion
of the Soviet Union. In addition to supplying its own troops at the front, it
exported 2,086,000 tons of oil to the Reich that year, much of it going
direct to the Wehrmacht in Russia.
Germany's increasing reliance on Rumanian oil during the first two
years of the war was a major source of anxiety to Hitler, who frequently
expressed his concern that the Ploesti oilfields in Rumania lay within
striking distance of the Soviet Air Force's long-range bombers. 'Now, in
the era of air power', he told his generals on 20 January 1941, 'Russia can
turn the Rumanian oilfields into an expanse of smoking debris . . . and the
very life of the Axis depends on those fields.'34 We shall see below how
Hitler's fear of attacks on Rumanian oilfields by Soviet bombers stationed
on the Crimean Peninsula - a fear shared by several of his top commanders
-led him to conduct a lengthy campaign in 1942 to 'clear up' the Crimea.
The destruction of Rumania's oil industry would indeed have dealt a
catastrophic blow to the German war effort. Oil was by far the most critical
item in Germany's war economy, and, in 1940, the first full year of war,
94 per cent of its oil imports came from Rumania.35 Nonetheless, even
without the benefit of hindsight it is clear that Hitler's concerns were
unfounded, as his own military intelligence should have told him at the
time. During the entire war the Soviet Union had, to quote the airpower
historian Richard Muller, 'only a rudimentary long-range bombing
100 THE JOURNAL OF STRATEGIC STUDIES
capability'.36 The Soviet long-range bomber command had relatively few
aircraft, and none with precision bombing capabilities until late 1943. It
certainly could not assemble a force of sufficient strength to deliver
massed air strikes against the Ploesti installations, which were, in any
event, protected by formidable anti-aircraft defences.37 Many raids by
Soviet twin-engined, medium bombers were attempted throughout the
war, but, as we shall see, these were weak, ineffectual and cost many
aircraft.
A far greater potential threat to the Ploesti refineries and plants was an
air attack by a large strategic force based in the Mediterranean; but,
although Hitler was unaware of it,38 Britain lacked the resources to mount
such an attack in the years 1939 to 1941. The threat of actual attacks on
Ploesti from the Mediterranean increased - as did Hitler's fear of them -
when the United States entered the war. However, although isolated and
impotent attacks were made by the United States Army Air Forces in the
middle of 1942, a heavy and continuous offensive against the Rumanian
oilfields was not begun by the USAAF, assisted by the Royal Air Force,
until April 1944.
Another cause of anxiety for Hitler and his military economists was the
very small size of Germany's accumulated stock of oil. All pre-war
oil planning called for the accumulation of substantial reserve stocks,
particularly of aviation fuel for the Luftwaffe and diesel fuels for the
Kriegsmarine. However, at the outbreak of war the planned level had not
been reached. Germany had no more than 492,000 tons of aviation fuel in
reserve, instead of the planned amount of 1 ,500,000 tons. Similarly, it had
only 1,118,000 tons of diesel and fuel oil instead of the planned figure of
2,800,000 tons.39 Indeed, the total accumulated stock at that point was
only about a quarter of the Reich's, annual consumption in peacetime. The
oil reserves decreased dramatically during the first few months of war and
subsequently never rose above 1,500,000 tons, which proved far from
adequate.
Germany's rapid conquests of Norway, Denmark, the Low Countries
and France actually resulted in slight increases - albeit temporary ones -
in its meagre reserve stocks of oil. During these Blitzkrieg campaigns the
Wehrmacht consumed relatively little oil, mainly because of the small
number of protracted battles and a heavy reliance on horse-drawn supply
columns. According to the writers of one text on oil production and
consumption, German forces 'managed to win their victories [in 1940]
using a mere 12 million barrels of oil products, or about the same as the
United States produced every three days.'40 Additionally, stocks of oil
products captured during the short campaigns, especially that against
France, were larger than the amounts consumed. For instance, 250,000
HITLER'S QUEST FOR OIL 101
tons of aviation fuel alone (the equivalent of five months' production)
were captured during the French campaign.41
Nonetheless, as Cooke and Nesbit point out, these increases were
greatly outweighed by a new, long-term liability. Through its conquests',
they write, 'the Third Reich had made itself responsible for meeting the
oil needs of a whole group of occupied countries, stretching from Norway
to the Spanish border, which could no longer obtain supplies from outside
Europe'.42 When Mussolini bombastically announced Italy's declaration
of war on France and Britain on 10 June 1940, Germany's oil situation
suffered another reverse. Italy had no significant domestic production of
oil and, with the implementation of the Allied blockade which followed
its declaration of war, could obtain only negligible amounts from Albania
(which it had annexed in April 1939). Thus from June 1940 onwards Italy
was almost totally dependent on Germany for oil and, as a result, became
a serious drain on the latter's production and stocks.43
II
Unlike the rapid and startlingly successful German campaigns of 1939 and
1940, Operation B ARB AROSSA, the massive and ultimately unsuccess-
ful offensive launched on 22 June 1941 to conquer the Soviet Union,
seriously damaged the Reich's oil reserves. It was simply beyond
Germany's ability to satisfy the oil requirements of the approximately
3,600,000 German and allied soldiers (Finns, Italians, Rumanians,
Hungarians and Slovakians), about 600,000 vehicles, 3,600 tanks, and
over 2,700 aircraft participating in the offensive.44 Whereas Germany's
war economy was capable of sustaining short Blitzkrieg campaigns it could
not support the drawn-out war of economic attrition which developed
when the Soviet Union did not collapse, as was widely expected by friends
and enemies alike, within a few weeks.
The prolonged campaign in the east quickly began to inflict severe
economic burdens on the Wehrmacht. The production and supply of
urgently needed war materials, including oil products, could not keep
pace with demand. Moreover, during the eastern campaign German units
were unable to utilize captured fuel, as they had during the campaigns of
1939 and 1940. This was because the octane content of Soviet petrol was
too low for German vehicles. It could only be used after the addition of
benzol in complex installations constructed specifically for that task.45
The oil situation of the- eastern armies soon became desperate. For
example, on 6 September 1941 Hitler issued War Directive 35, which
outlined Operation TAIFUN, the resumption of the offensive against
Moscow.46 Five days later, Generaloberst Franz Haider, the German
102 THE JOURNAL OF STRATEGIC STUDIES
Army Chief of Staff, recorded in his war diary that the eastern forces
needed 27 trainloads of fuel per day throughout the rest of September and
29 per day throughout the entire following month if they were to carry out
the new offensive successfully.47 However, wrote Haider, the High
Command of the Armed Forces (OKW) argued that it could not supply
this enormous quantity. It could supply only 22 trainloads daily for the
period of 16 September and, while it could provide the required 27 train-
loads per day for the last two weeks of that month, it could supply only
22 per day (less than 75 per cent of those required) for the whole of
October. For November, when the daily requirements were estimated to
be 20 trainloads, the OKW believed that only three (or 15 per cent of the
required level) could be supplied each day.48 As it turned out, the OKW
failed to supply even these lower quantities to the eastern forces.
Although the German Army had yet to lose a single major battle on
the eastern front, it was already painfully clear to German military
planners by October 1941 that the Blitzkrieg against the Soviet Union had
failed. Moreover, it was also clear by this stage that both German and
Rumanian oil reserves were exhausted, and that current oil production in
both nations was insufficient to satisfy the requirements of the Wehrmacht
and industry (as well, of course, as civilian consumption). Rumania's oil
supplies to the Reich had increased from 150,800 tons in June 1941 to
361,600 tons in August, but this increase was only possible because
Rumania reluctantly supplied Germany with a large portion of the oil
earmarked for its own domestic consumption, which was exhausted by
late September.49 Accordingly, deliveries to the Reich decreased after
that point. They dropped from apeak of 361,600 tons in August to 222,800
in October. In November they dropped further to 213,000 tons and, in
December, when these problems were exacerbated by a short-lived
quarrel between Germany and Rumania over payment , to a mere 104,000.
In January 1942, they rose slightly to 111,000 tons, but fell sharply in
February, when only 73,000 tons were delivered to the Reich.50 Although
deliveries gradually rose again from this low point, the dramatic drop in
the last months of 1941 proved almost disastrous for the German war
effort.
Even before the eastern campaign started, German economists had
been predicting these problems and issuing clear warnings to military
planners. In March 1941, by way of illustration, General der Infanterie
Georg Thomas, head of the War Economy and Armaments Office, had
warned both Goring and Keitel in a detailed report that stocks would be
exhausted by late October.51 From that time onwards, he argued, it would
no longer be possible to offset the significant shortage of oil. The only
possibility of alleviating the desperate shortage in the event of a protracted
HITLER'S QUEST FOR OIL 103
war was for Germany to exploit Soviet oil production. 'It is crucial',
Thomas insisted,
to seize quickly and exploit the Caucasus oilfields, at least the areas
around Maikop and Grozny. In oilfields that have not been com-
pletely destroyed, it will take about a month to resume production,
and another month for its transport; the areas concerned will have
to have been seized by us by no later than the end of the second
month of operation: this includes transport facilities (tankers on the
Black Sea, an operational route from Odessa to Przemysl on a
Russian gauge so as to take advantage of Russian stocks of tank
wagons). If this is not successful, we must expect the most serious
repercussions, with unpredictable consequences for military opera-
tions after 1.9. [1941] and for the survival of the economy.52
Although many members of the German High Command believed in
July that the Soviet armed forces were close to total collapse - for example,
on 3 July the normally cautious Haider jubilantly penned in his diary that
it would probably be no exaggeration to say that the campaign against
Russia has been won within the first fortnight'53 - by late August it was
clear that the eastern campaign was still far from a successful conclusion.
On 26 August Thomas, whose earlier predictions were now proving
correct, submitted to the OKW a new report on the oil situation. He
argued that the small and rapidly diminishing reserve stocks still available
to Germany would be exhausted in the following months (a correct
assessment, as noted above) and that current production levels were
insufficient to satisfy demands. Moreover, he stated, even if production
were 'pushed to its limits it would be impossible to supply all the required
oil. Accordingly, our only option is to cut consumption in accordance
with the availability of supplies.'54 Cuts were to be made in all areas not
directly affecting front-line military operations. The home requirements
of the Wehrmacht, deliveries to Italy and to all other European countries
dependent on Germany, as well as the civilian economy, were affected by
this rationing. Accordingly, warned Thomas, these drastic measures would
result in considerable 'political, military and economic disadvantages'.55
Four days after Thomas submitted this report to the OKW, he attended
a meeting with Generalmajor Eduard Wagner, the Army's Quartermaster
General, who explained that Army Groups South and Centre on the
eastern front were experiencing critical fuel shortages, a situation exacer-
bated by major rail transportation problems.56 Wagner was of the opinion,
nonetheless, that oil requirements for the following months could still be
met if additional reductions were made in the consumption of the civilian
and non-operational miliary sectors, as well as of the occupied territories.
104 THE JOURNAL OF STRATEGIC STUDIES
Despite this encouraging opinion, Wagner's conclusion was bleak: by the
beginning of 1942 oil supplies would be exhausted and 'new oilfields
would have to be captured.'57
In order to satisfy requirements for the campaign in the east, the
oil quota for the civilian economy had, in fact, already been reduced
by around ten per cent in May 1941. The supply of fuel for the civilian
sector is not at all going smoothly', Haider glumly jotted in his diary on
20 May.58 Indeed, a month later Walther Funk, the Economics Minister,
expressed to Jodl, head of the OKW Operations Staff, his deep concern
that the economy was now receiving 'even less than 18 per cent of peace-
time consumption' and that the requirements of the economy had been
'threshed to the limit'.59 However, despite conveying to Jodl his 'gravest
misgivings about any further curbs' , Funk was unable to prevent cuts in
the quota for the civilan sector made during the ensuing period. So
extensive were these cuts that British Air Ministry observers secretly
referred to them early in 1942 as 'the severest form of rationing'.60
On 7 October 1941, even as Generalfeldmarschall von Bock's Panzer
spearheads sealed off massed Soviet forces in the Vyazma and Bryansk
pockets (one of the most devastating double envelopments in military
history), Thomas submitted another lengthy report on the constantly
deteriorating oil situation. It was possible, the report stated, to satisfy
requirements of urgently needed aviation fuel and lubricants until the end
of the year. Nonetheless, this would leave only 31,000 tons of these
products to start off the new year, a dangerously low level and a huge drop
from 1 October, when there had been 181,000 tons.61 Although there
were still 289,000 tons of motor and carburettor fuel available, current
production levels were insufficient to prevent this stock being completely
exhausted by mid November. Accordingly, by the end of that month
there would be a shortfall of 32,000 tons , which would increase to as much
as 97,000 tons by the end of December. These were not the only critical
fuel shortages. On 1 October there were fewer than 250,000 tons of diesel
available, and, at current rates of consumption, shortages of this fuel
would be around 25,000 tons at the end of November, rising to 50,000
tons at the end of December. Similarly, while the heating oil situation was
not yet desperate, production levels remained low and stocks were
rapidly decreasing. It was clearly no longer possible to supply anything
close to the 100,000 tons of heating oil the Italians emphatically stated
that they needed each month. Thomas predicted that only 60,000 tons
could be delivered to Italy in October, and 55,000 tons per month in
November and December.62
To complicate matters, the oil situation of the Kriegsmarine had also
grown slowly worse through 1941 (matching its fortunes against the
HITLER'S QUEST FOR OIL 105
Royal Navy). By late October it had become critical. On 13 November,
Grofiadmiral Erich Raeder provided Hitler with a lengthy situation
report, which contained a detailed analysis of the Navy's 'very difficult oil
situation'.63 The Navy's total stock of diesel oil (106,000 tons) and imports
from Rumania (45 ,000 tons in November) were still sufficient to satisfy its
current requirements. However, its total stock of fuel oil had dropped
considerably to 380,000 tons, of which only about 220,000 tons were
ready for use without additional treatment . Monthly supplies of fuel oil to
the Navy were insufficient to satisfy its requirements, and in November
alone the shortfall for both the German Navy and its Italian counterpart
(supplied by Germany and Rumania) would come to 116,000 tons.64
Despite his grave concerns about his own Navy's terrible oil situation,
Raeder added stoically that he had complied with Keitel's recent order to
transfer a further 30,000 tons of fuel oil to the Italian Navy.
On 12 December, Raeder, who was painfully aware that the Navy's oil
needs were considered by Hitler and his closest military advisers to be far
less important than those of the massive armies on the eastern front,
nonetheless informed the Fiihrer that the Navy's oil situation had now
become 'very critical'.65 Its requirements, he pointed out, 'have been cut
by fifty per cent.' This, he added sharply, was causing *an intolerable
restriction on the mobility of our vessels.' He was clearly disappointed
that, despite this distressing situation and the temporary cessation of oil
deliveries from Rumania, '90,000 tons will have been handed over to the
Italians' by 1 January 1942.
Thus it was clear to Hitler and his economic and military planners
during the closing months of 1941 that the unexpectedly prolonged
campaign on the eastern front had severely weakened Germany's oil
situation. Moreover, they were acutely aware that oil shortages were now
affecting the operational capability of even the troops in the east still
struggling to deliver the final knockout blow to the Soviet armed forces.
During a meeting between Wagner and the War Economy and Armaments
Office on 22 October, for example, it was revealed that the forces on the
eastern front, still slogging forward with dogged tenacity in clothing
unable to keep out the bitterly cold wind and rain, were consuming far
more fuel than previously calculated.65 This greater consumption was the
result of worn-out engines, difficult terrain and appalling weather (it was
already several weeks into the muddy season in central European
Russia). The army was now able to cover only around 35 to 40 km on the
amount of fuel considered sufficient for 100 km, which naturally meant
that far more fuel had to be supplied. It was estimated that no less than 20
trainloads were needed per day by the troops in the east. However, even
if this quantity of fuel were available (and it was not), increases in
106 THE JOURNAL OF STRATEGIC STUDIES
deliveries could not be made because of transportation problems on the
eastern railways. Dozens of loaded trains were backed up, waiting for
railway pioneer troops and battalions of the Reich Labour Service and
Organization Todt to regauge rail lines, sidings and marshalling areas to
the German width and to organize truck columns connecting rail heads
with the constantly moving troops. This problem was exacerbated by the
activities of Russian partisans, who did considerable damage to railways
used by the Germans. Because the needed increases in fuel deliveries
could not be attained, troop mobility (particularly in Army Group
Centre) began to suffer. As it happened, this logistics problem actually
proved to be a blessing in disguise: when German fuel supplies came close
to total exhaustion in mid November, this backlog of trains (around 120
by then) served as an unexpected reserve and was able - to the relief of
several worried corps commanders - to keep the eastern armies supplied.
On 3 November, while von Bock's exhausted and frozen Army Group
Centre was preparing for its final drive on Moscow, Generalfeldmarschall
Walther von Brauchitsch, the beleaguered and soon-to-be-relieved
Commander-in-Chief of the Army, paid a visit to the headquarters of
Army Group South. This mighty force, commanded by the aloof and
aristocratic Generalfeldmarschall Gerd von Rundstedt, occupied much of
central and eastern Ukraine and most of the Crimea. It was still advancing
slowly eastward towards strategic objectives considered by Hitler to be
more important than Moscow (which he had characterized back in July as
'merely a geographical concept').67 To the dismay and frustration of many
of Hitler's military advisers,68 these objectives (economic rather than
military) included Kharkov, the fourth largest industrial centre in the
Soviet Union; the Donets Basin, famous for its coal and iron industries;
and the oil-rich Caucasus region. For instance, in his supplement to War
Directive 34, dated 21 August 1941, Hitler had stated:
The most important aim to be achieved before the onset of winter is
not the caputre of Moscow but, rather, the occupation of the
Crimea, of the industrial and coalmining area of the Donets basin,
the cutting of the Russian supply routes from the Caucasus oilfields,
and, in the north, the investment of Leningrad and the establish-
ment of contact with the Finns.69
Attacks on the Rumanian oilfields and refineries were clearly still preying
on Hitler's mind, because he emphasized in this supplement that 'the
capture of the Crimean Peninsula is of extreme importance for safe-
guarding our oil supplies from Rumania'. The very next day he returned
to this theme in a different document:
HITLER'S QUEST FOR OIL 107
Apart from the fact that it is important to capture or destroy
Russia's iron, coal and oil reserves, it is of decisive importance for
Germany that the Russian air bases on the Black Sea be eliminated,
above all in the region of Odessa and the Crimea. This measure can
be said to be absolutely essential for Germany. Under present
circumstances no one can guarantee that our only important oil-
producing region is safe from air attack. Such attacks could have
incalculable results for the future conduct of the war.70
Similarly, two days later he explained to Generaloberst Heinz Guderian
the absolute need to neutralize the Crimea, 'that Soviet aircraft carrier for
attacking the Rumanian oilfields'.71 the significance of Hitler's constant
fear of Soviet air attacks on his main source of oil by Crimean-based
bombers will become apparent below, when we discuss the reasons for
the time-consuming 1942 campaign to capture Sevastopol and the Kerch
Peninsula.
When Kharkov fell to von Reichenau's Sixth Army on 24 October,
Hitler was delighted. However, when von Stulpnagel's Seventeenth
Army (on the Sixth Army's right flank) moved into the Donets Basin, it
discovered that much of the industrial machinery was gone. Many plants
had been sabotaged, while hundreds of other industrial enterprises had
been taken apart by Soviet engineers and technicians - in accordance with
the instructions of the Soviet Council for Evacuation - to be reconstructed
at locations in the distant region of the Urals. This outstanding achieve-
ment, which required (in Nikita Khruschev's words) a 'superhuman effort
and total co-operation', has received little scholarly attention, yet it must
rate as one of the Soviet Union's greatest wartime achievements.72
Cheated of his anticipated spoils, Hitler insisted that Army Group
South push on towards his other objectives in southern Russia. During his
visit to this Army Group on 3 November, von Brauchitsch, although
unhappy at being Hitler's mouthpiece, informed its stunned command
staff that the Supreme Command and the High Command of the Army
(OKH) still wanted the areas around Maikop (the northernmost of the
Caucasus oilfields) and Stalingrad to be 'captured at all costs this winter'.
Accordingly, he continued, 'ways and means of attaining these objectives
would have to be found. In the case of Maikop, oil is naturally the
incentive; in the case of Stalingrad [it is] the urgent necessity of destroying
the Russian command's last "major" north-south link.'73
Army Group South continued to claw its way eastward. Almost three
weeks later, on 21 November, units of General der Kavallerie von
Mackensen's ///. Armeekorps (from von Kleist's First Panzer Army)
occupied Rostov, at the mouth of the Don river. Despite intense resistance,
108 THE JOURNAL OF STRATEGIC STUDIES
they even managed to capture intact the main bridge over the Don leading
to the south, towards the Caucasus. Not knowing that these numerically
weak units would soon be driven from the city (it was retaken just eight
days later) and that his Corps would be savagely mauled by the powerful
Soviet Southern Front, von Mackensen believed he had cut the Russian
supply routes from the Caucasus and, accordingly, saw his victory at
Rostov as a major blow against the Soviet war machine. On the day that
he took the city, he issued this Daily Corps Order:
Soldiers of the III. Panzerkorps! The battle for Rostow has been
won! . . . Not icy wind or biting frost, not insufficient winter clothing
or equipment, nor dark, moonless nights, not tanks, mortars, nor
thousands of mines or field installations, which took the enemy
weeks to build and the extent of which we all saw, none of that, and
least of all the Red Army itself, was able to stop your triumphant
march. ... We have finally cut off any effective contact to the
Caucasus for the Russians. Now the task is to hold what we have
captured so that we may open the gate to new victories.74
Hitler, also largely unaware of the coming Soviet counteroffensive,
was just as optimistic as von Mackensen. The Caucasus oilfields, the
nearest of which was now tantalizingly close (just 300 km away), were still
at the forefront of his plans for Army Group South. On the day it took
Rostov, he gave this already overstretched force, together with the First
Panzer Army and the Eleventh Army (the latter commanded by von
Manstein, arguably his most brilliant general), the unachievable task of
cutting off 'even the British and Soviet links over the Caucasus', beginning
with the oilfields around Maikop. The Seventeenth Army was given an
equally unreasonable task: the capture of Stalingrad and its surrounding
industrial areas, in order to 'cut off the enemy's north-south link on the
Volga.'75
The successes of Army Group South, culminating in the capture of
Rostov, had not gone unnoticed by Soviet military strategists, who
recognized the severe threat to their oilfields. 'If Germany succeeds in
taking Moscow', explained Marshal Timoshenko in a secret speech to the
Supreme Defence Council in Moscow,
that is obviously a grave disappointment for us, but it by no means
disrupts our grand strategy Germany would gain accommodation
[that is, shelter from the cruel Russian winter], but that alone will
not win the war. The only thing that matters is oil. As we remember,
Germany kept harping on her own urgent oil problems in her
economic bargaining with us from 1939 to 1941 . So we have to do all
HITLER'S QUEST FOR OIL 109
we can (a) to make Germany increase her oil consumption, and
(b) to keep the German armies out of the Caucasus.
76
The immediate task of the Red Army, he continued, was to throw the
Germans back j ust far enough to destroy the caches of tanks and ammuni-
tion they had built up for their intended offensive into the Caucasus.
The Red Army's offensive in the south, when it finally came, liberated
Rostov and threatened to inflict enormous damage on the units of Army
Group South as it drove them back westward. On 29 November, after
their forces recaptured Rostov, Timoschenko and Khruschev jubilantly
issued an order to the troops of the Southwest Front. 'The armoured
bloodsucker von Kleist', they declared with typical Soviet rhetoric (and
exaggeration),
attacked in the direction of Rostow and the group under Schwedler
moved toward Woroschilowgrad in the devious enemy's attempt to
break the resistance of the units of the Red Army, to capture the
Don basin and Rostow, and to make his way to the grain stores of
the northern Caucasus and the oil wells of Grosnij [sic] and Baku.
. . . [However,] in several days of bloody fighting, the units of the
Red Army . , . have dealt the enemy mighty blows, destroyed his
best regiments and divisions, and plunged the remnants of the
[Panzer] Group von Kleist, the select dogs of the deranged German
fascists, into incurable misery.77
The Soviet recapture of Rostov (the first major defeat suffered by the
German Army in any war theatre up to that time) shattered Hitler's hopes
of capturing and exploiting the Caucasus oilfields for the oil-starved
Reich - or even cutting off the Soviet Union's ability to transport oil from
the Caucasus to its armies and factories - before the end of 1941. On
29 November, even as German troops were hastily evacuating Rostov in
the face of overwhelming Soviet forces, Army Group South reported
that, while its winter line will 'more or less remain the same' (aside from
some inevitable local changes), 'the plan to clear out the Donets bend or
reach Maikop will not now be carried out.'78 The following day, Von
Rundstedt informed the Fuhrer that, because of heavy losses of men and
equipment, the vastly superior strength of the enemy's forces and the
appalling weather, Army Group South was forced to suspend all 'opera-
tional movements'. It was, he wrote, going over to the defence 'on a
tactically-acceptable line' (that is, a withdrawal to the line of Taganrog-
Mius River-Bachmut). Hitler was (in Haider's words) 'in a state of
extreme agitation over the situation' , and angrily forbade this withdrawal.79
Von Rundstedt, whose greatest concern was the safety of his already-
110 THE JOURNAL OF STRATEGIC STUDIES
suffering troops, replied via von Brauchitsch that he could not comply
with Hitler's order and asked that either the order be changed or he be
relieved of his post. Hitler saw this as a direct challenge to his authority
and, on 1 December, stripped von Rundstedt of the command of the
Army Group and replaced him with Generalfeldmarschall von Reichenau
(formerly in command of the Sixth Army).80 As it turned out, von
Reichenau also realized the hopelessness of the situation and pleaded
with Hitler to withdraw his men to the line of the Mius river. This time the
Fiihrer relented, and the hard-pressed forces around Rostov moved back
to more defensible positions. Haider's diary entry for that day reveals his
loathing of Hitler's erratic behaviour: 'Now we are where we could have
been last night. It was a senseless waste of strength and time, and, on top
of that, we also lost von Rundstedt.'81
This withdrawal to the Mius was a bitter pill for Hitler to swallow, who
now realized that the oilfields of the Caucasus had slipped from his grasp,
at least until the following year. He had actually feared this outcome for
some time, despite his renewed optimism in the period immediately
following the German capture of Rostov. On 7 November, when he still
believed B ARB AROSSA could (and craved that it would) be brought to
a successful conclusion in 1941, he complained to the rapidly failing von
Brauchitsch (who suffered a serious heart attack the following day) that
the seizure of the oilfields would have to be delayed until the following
year.82 Similarly, on 19 November he informed his most senior advisers
that the first objective for 1942 would be the Caucasus oilfields, and that
the campaign launched for this purpose in March or April would aim to
take German forces right to the *Russian southern frontier' (that is, the
Soviet-Iranian border).83
In the first week of December, the defeat at Rostov paled into insigni-
ficance against events unfolding along the entire eastern front. In the far
north, the vanguard of von Leeb's Army Group North was on the verge of
encirclement at Tikhvin, east of Leningrad, forcing an angry Hitler to
permit the retreat of these endangered forces towards 'Lenin's city'.
Things were even worse in the region of Army Group Centre. In the
middle of November, the first solid frosts had permitted a renewal of the
offensive against Moscow, and by the end of the month the fall of the city
appeared certain. However, the exhausted Germans were halted within
sight of the Kremlin's glittering towers by a devastating combination of,
on the one hand, diminishing troop strengths, major supply difficulties,
savage frosts (of around -35°C) and paralysing blizzards ; on the other, the
courage and tenacity of warmly-clothed and steadily-reinforced Soviet
troops desperately fighting side by side with terrified Muscovites to save
their capital.
HITLER'S QUEST FOR OIL 111
On 6 December, the Soviets launched their massive counteroffensive
(over 100 Soviet divisions were thrown into battle in the area of Army
Group Centre alone), which lasted until the middle of April 1942 when it
petered out and the Germans were themselves able to prepare a renewed
offensive. Hitler, stunned by events in the east but trying to maintain a
confident air in front of his generals, discussed with Haider the need of
rehabilitation for the troops and argued that, while this was indeed
necessary, he still had objectives to be attained during the winter. The oil
of the Caucasus continued to feature prominently in his far-fetched plans;
as well as eliminating the Ladoga Front near Leningrad and linking up
with the Finns, he said the Donets bend in the south had to be secured, 'as
a jump-off base for Maikop'. The following day, 7 December, Hitler was
sitll talking inanely about renewing the drive to the south. 'We must take
the Maikop oil region', he stated. 'Rostov should not be written off for
this winter. . . . With decent weather we can launch counterattacks.'84
On 8 December, Hitler, apparently resigned at last to the failure of his
Blitz campaign in the east, issued War Directive 39 to the three services.85
In this he acknowledged that the merciless winter, and the consequent
difficulties in bringing up supplies, compelled his forces 'to abandon
immediately all major offensive operations and to go over to the defen-
sive.' Although it outlined steps to be taken towards the rehabilitation of
troops, even a cursory reading reveals that Hitler did not intend there to
be any major withdrawals in the east. Indeed , only two days earlier he had
remarked that 'the Russians have not voluntarily abandoned any ground;
we cannot do it either. In principle, there can be no reduction in the
line.'86 War Directive 39 firmly stated that there could be no withdrawals
unless rear areas had been prepared which offered troops 'better living
conditions and defence possiblities'. Given the difficulty of preparing
such rear areas in the snow-covered Soviet wastelands, where the earth
was frozen solid, very few of the tortured units at the front were able to
move back.
Hitler was furious with commanders who appeared to disobey his
order. On 15 December, for example, after hearing that von Bock was
issuing orders to evacuate positions along Army Group Centre's hard-
pressed front, he sent an angry message to the Field Marshal's headquarters,
requiring him 'to issue the following instructions to the organizations in
his command: "Stand and fight! Not another yard backward!'"87 His
anger at senior commanders culminated in his so-called Haltebefehl (or
'stand-fast order') of 16 December, in which he ordered the 'front to be
defended down to the last man'.88 He even sacked those commanders -
including Guderian, his ablest Panzer commander- who ignored repeated
demands to stand fast.89 As it turned out, however, many of Hitler's
1 12 THE JOURNAL OF STRATEGIC STUDIES
senior commanders, including Generalfeldmarschall Keitel, were later to
admit that his rigid Haltebefehl- which they considered insane at the time
- was the right decision.90
War Directive 39 also sheds considerable light on the topic at hand:
Hitler's pursuit of Soviet oil. It reveals that, even despite the- dreadful
battering his worn-out forces were receiving in the east, he still held fast to
his goal of taking the Caucasus oilfields during 1942. In order to free the
bulk of von Manstein's Eleventh Army for future missions, Sevastopol,
the Soviet Union's main naval base and shipyard on the Black Sea, was to
be captured as soon as possible. Then, 'in spite of all difficulties', Army
Group South
must endeavour to establish conditions which, in favourable weather,
even during this winter, would make it possible to attack and capture
the Lower Don-Donets line. This would provide favourable con-
ditions for operations against the Caucasus in the spring.
The same day that Hitler issued this directive, the Operations Division
of the OKH issued its own instructions to the troops in the east, which
comprised guidelines for 'securing the occupied territories in the most
advantageous, economical defence front' and rehabilitating the army
over the winter months.91 These detailed instructions - entitled 'Directives
for the Tasks of the Eastern Army in the Winter of 1941/42' - were
intended to clarify the nature and purpose of the operations outlined in
Hitler's often-vague directive, and to describe how front-line commanders
should go about implementing Hitler's instructions. As such, they do not
deviate from Hitler's strategy; rather, they support his unpopular views
on the situation in the east and direct the three army groups to undertake
missions in accordance with his strategic ambitions. Army Group North
was to continue its current operation south of Lake Ladoga, link up with
the Finns and thus deprive Leningrad of its supply routes. Army Group
Centre was to discontinue all offensive operations (which it had already
done) and establish a defensive front against Soviet counteroffensives.
Mobile divisions were to be rehabilitated behind the left flank of Army
Group South in order to prepare them for possible intervention in the
event of a Soviet offensive from the Voronezh area. Army Group South,
as well as preventing a Soviet breakthrough between the Donets and the
Sea of Azov, was to hold Kharkov and, in co-operation with units of
Army Group Centre, secure the important Belgorod-Kursk railway.
Moreover, the Crimea would have to be made secure, even after the
capture of Sevastopol by Manstein. Most importantly (for the purposes of
this study), Army Group South was to retake Rostov and the Donets
HITLER'S QUEST FOR OIL 113
Basin to the north-east, in preparation for a future drive down into the
Caucasus to capture the Maikop oilfields.
Ill
It became clear towards the end of the 1941/42 winter that Soviet counter-
offensives, despite the terrible destruction they inflicted, were not going
to dislodge the bulk of the strained and exhausted German forces still
stretched out along an enormous front running from Leningrad to the Sea
of Azov. Accordingly, military planners and intelligence officers on both
sides began making preparations for the coming spring and summer.
Even at his bleakest moments late in that harsh winter, Hitler's
thoughts were with the coming spring offensive. On 3 January 1942, while
the Soviets continued to penetrate German lines along the entire eastern
front, he confided his plans to Oshima Hiroshi, the Japanese ambassador
to Berlin. For the time being, he told Oshima, he would not conduct
another offensive in the centre of the front, but was instead 'determined
to take up again the offensive in the direction of the Caucasus as soon as
the weather is favourable.'92 It was absolutely vital to get first to the
Caucasus oilfields and then to those in Iran and Iraq. Not only would this
greatly improve Germany's oil situation and damage the Soviet Union's,
but it would cause the collapse of the Allied position in the Middle East
and possibly unleash a freedom movement within the Arab world.
Naturally, he added, he would also do everything possible to destroy
Moscow and Leningrad. Two weeks later, on 18 January, Hitler disclosed
these intentions to von Bock before the latter flew to distant Poltava to
take command of Army Group South, following the untimely death of
von Reichenau. Von Bock, whose rebuilt Army Group would carry out
the coming offensive, was given two missions: 'to hold for the present and
attack in the spring.'93
Despite such optimistic-sounding statements about another campaign
in the east, throughout December 1941 and the first four or five weeks of
1942 Hitler was racked with doubts as to whether his eastern armies could
still be saved. Although months later he admitted to close friends and
confidants that during the height of the winter crisis he sometimes
doubted that he could stave off a catastrophe,94 he was careful to keep
these doubts hidden from his generals and, of course, the German public.
In a rousing speech he delivered in the Berliner Sportpalast on 30 January
1942, the ninth anniversary of his election to power, he spoke of his
'unbounded confidence, confidence in my own person, so that nothing,
whatever it may be, can throw me out of the saddle, so that nothing can
shake me.'95 This speech, an inspired Goebbels penned in his diary, was as
1 14 THE JOURNAL OF STRATEGIC STUDIES
successful as those of the early 1930s. It 'charged the whole nation as if it
were a storage battery. ... As long as he lives and is among us in good
health, as long as he can give us the strength of his spirit, no evil can
touch us.'96
By the middle of February, even though Soviet offensives continued to
inflict heavy damage on German forces, Hitler had shaken off the
depression that gripped him in December and January and was regaining
his confidence.97 He was encouraged by the success of Rommel's brilliant
counterattack at El Agheila in Libya on 21 January, which caught the
British Eighth Army off guard and within ten days forced it to abandon all
its recent gains in the Benghazi bulge. On 12 February, he was thrilled by
the escape of the Gneisenau, Scharnhorst and Prinz Eugen, which dashed
from Brest through the English Channel in broad daylight to safer waters
in Norway. He could take personal pride in the success of this daring
operation; the idea of these capital ships dashing through the Channel
under the nose of the British had been his own. He was also heartened on
15 February by the news that the United Kingdom had suffered the worst
military defeat in its history: the fall of Singapore to the Japanese army.
During that same period the Japanese inflicted similar humiliations on the
Americans in the Philippines.
German fortunes on the eastern front also began to look promising.
Repeatedly situations that appeared extremely perilous were, by means
of superior tactics and incredible endurance, stabilized and brought
under control. Some were even transformed into minor successes. Hitler
was especially pleased with the eventual success of Army Group Centre's
attempts to close the gaps in its line and form a new front. Although he
knew that German and Soviet forces would remain locked in bloody
battle for some time yet, and in places his men were only barely holding
on, he felt that the worst was over and that he had accomplished his first
objective; he had arrested the widespread panic among his generals and
prevented a rout similar to Napoleon's in 1812. Moreover, he regarded
his armies' successful resistance to the Soviet winter offensive as further
proof that his *stand-fast' order was the right decision and that the
generals he dismissed were incompetent, cowardly and defeatist. His iron
will had mastered the winter crisis, he believed. Now it would drive the
summer offensive.
The plan for a major offensive into the Caucasus to seize the oilfields
was, to a much greater extent than the previous year's attack on the Soviet
capital, Hitler's own strategic conception. Keitel, who thought the plan
had considerable merit, wrote in his memoirs that the Fuhrer 'conceived
the idea entirely alone'.98 During the height of the winter crisis Hitler had
unfairly but repeatedly cursed the General Staff for having imposed its
HITLER'S QUEST FOR OIL 115
Moscow campaign on him. Now that he had pulled Germany back from
the brink of disaster he was determined to trust his instincts and order a
campaign to attain his own strategic objectives (which were clearly
shaped by his awareness of the Reich's economic problems). Moreover,
he would no longer limit himself to issuing general instructions, but
would, in his new capacity as Commander-in-Chief of the Army (since
von Brauchitsch's resignation on 19 December), take complete and
immediate charge of the direction of operations."
Operation BARBAROSSA had been conceived in basic accordance
with Clausewitz's fundamental rule of warfare that the proper objective
of a campaign is the defeat of the enemy's military forces in the field and
that the seizure of economic and political objectives must follow, not
precede, this. However, Hitler's decision in the winter of 1941/42 to seize
the Caucasus oilfields, rather than force a decisive battle on the Soviet
armed forces, violated Clausewitz's rule. He was certainly not unaware of
Clausewitz's dictum. Indeed, he was well versed in military theory and
has studied most key works in this field, including Clausewitz's master-
piece, Vom Kriege. On occasions he would pompously point this out to
generals who challenged him on matters of strategy. 'There's no need for
you to try to teach me', he lectured Guderian (whose own book on
armoured warfare had greatly impressed him) during one particular
disagreement. 'I've studied Clausewitz and Moltke and read all the
Schlieffen papers. I'm more in the picture than you are!'100 His decision to
avoid a confrontation with the bulk of the Soviet forces and aim instead at
the conquest of the Caucasus in order to exploit its economic resources
was based, not on ignorance of the basic tenets of military theory, but on
deep concern over his struggling economy and the perceived lack of
feasible alternative strategies.
Frightful losses in the winter of 1941/42 meant that the Wehrmachtwas
no longer able to undertake wide-ranging offensives along the entire
eastern front. By 31 January 1942 the armies in the east had suffered
917,985 casualties, including 28,935 officers, and the eastern Luftwaffe
fleets had suffered 18,089. 101 Although large numbers of replacements
were sent in the following months, they were nowhere near enough to
offset the losses inflicted during the height of the winter crisis, let alone
rebuild adequate reserves. The loss of materiel was also a source of grave
concern: 424 tanks were knocked out in the first three weeks of December
alone, a rate of destruction that continued well into January. Various
endeavours were undertaken to replace these tanks, but their effects were
not immediately felt. On 30 March, the OKH reported that the 16 Panzer
divisions deployed in the Soviet Union were left with only 140 operational
tanks between them, which was fewer than the usual complement of
1 16 THE JOURNAL OF STRATEGIC STUDIES
a single division.102 Moreover, the mobility of the eastern armies was
restricted by huge losses of horses and motor vehicles. By the end of
January, 101,529 vehicles had been destroyed, including 42,851 motor-
cycles, 28,942 cars and 41,135 lorries. Again, despite increases in
production, these losses simply could not be offset. Indeed, once the
objectives of the summer campaign were agreed during early spring, the
units of Army Groups North and Centre were deprived of most of their
motor vehicles in order to ensure that Army Group South, which was to
carry out the offensive , regained at least 85 per cent of its former mobility .
The removal of so many motor vehicles naturally led to a significant
reduction in the combat effectiveness of Army Groups North and Centre,
a situation exacerbated by the shortage of horses and fodder. Supply
stocks were almost exhausted, and transportation difficulties held up the
delivery of weapons and equipment already loaded on trains.
As a result of these problems and his realization that the German
economy now had to cope with a prolonged war of economic attrition,
Hitler issued an order on 10 January 1942 for the reorganization of the
armaments industry.103 The long-term objective was still 'the build-up of
the Luftwaffe and Kriegsmarine for the purpose of fighting the Anglo-
Saxon powers', but the 'strategic demands of 1942 make it impossible, for
the time being, to attain this objective through a reduction of armaments
destined for the Army.' On the contrary, the Army would have to be
given a disproportionately large share of manpower and armaments so
that it could accomplish 'the strategic tasks of 1942'. In order to satisfy the
'increased needs of the Army', the order continues, it might be necessary
at times to make cuts in the allocations of armaments to the Air Force and
the Navy. The former was to continue its current programmes, except for
'a temporary curtailment of its ammunition and bomb production in all
classifications where a sufficient supply exists'. Similarly, the latter was
simply to concentrate on the construction and maintenance of U-boats,
and, 'because of the supplies on hand', there was to be a curtailment of
the supply of ammunition in favour of the Army. The Army itself was to
be made ready for offensive commitments by 1 May 1942. As well as
assuring that the Army would have supplies sufficient 'for about four
months' continuous operations', it was necessary to build up a 'backlog of
ammunition (excluding the original allotment) amounting to six times the
average monthly consumption of the eastern campaign ... for the main
weapons.'
Despite the long-term benefits of this reorganization of the armaments
industry, which gave the highest priority to the acquisition of coal and oil,
it could not, of course, immediately change the condition of the German
Army. At the end of March 1942, only eight of the 162 divisions deployed
HITLER'S QUEST FOR OIL 117
on the eastern front were fully operational for the coming offensive.
Three more could be brought up to full offensive capability after a short
rehabilitation period, and 47 could perform limited offensive tasks. The
other 104 divisions could be deployed only for defensive duties.104 Accord-
ingly, in the late winter and spring of 1942, it was clear to Hitler and his
military planners that it was simply no longer possible to conduct a wide-
ranging offensive in the east which would force a decisive battle on the
Soviet armed forces. Therefore if an eastern offensive were to be conduc-
ted at all in 1942, and there exists no evidence that the German High
Command ever seriously considered the eastern forces' adopting an
essentially defensive posture, the one choice left to be made was in which
sector to strike. Only Hitler's proposed drive to the Caucasus offered a
solution to the glaring problems of the war economy, which were growing
worse with every passing month. If the oilfields could be captured, their
output would certainly relieve the terrible shortage of oil products
currently experienced by both Germany and Italy, and also allow their
armed forces to continued the prolonged struggle against the growing list
of nations now at war against them.
Germany's need for oil was certainly great. In 1941, its total supply
had amounted to 8,929,000 tons, which, although up a little from
8,200,000 tons in 1939, was nowhere near enough to meet the needs of
both the civilian economy and the armed forces. Indeed, for the protracted
eastern campaign it had been necessary to withdraw over a million tons
from the nation's meagre reserves, leaving them exhausted by the end of
the year.105 At the beginning of 1942, stocks for all civilian and military
purposes were down to a dangerously low level of 797,000 tons (excluding
marine diesel) , which was around half the reserve amount of the previous
year and barely enough for one month's consumption.106
By early 1942 existing sources were clearly unable to provide Germany
with enough oil to resume offensive operations against the Soviet Union
on the scale of the 1941 campaign, let alone to wage war on the western
powers on a scale sufficient to bring about their defeat. Since the outbreak
of war, only slight gains had been made in the domestic extraction of crude
oil, which never accounted for over 20 per cent of the Reich's total supply.
Synthetic production, on the other hand, had risen to 4,116,000 tons in
1941 (up from 2,220,000 in 1939) and would continue to rise steadily for
another two years, until the synthetic fuel plants began to be targeted by
Allied bombers.107 However, these gains in synthetic production were
offset slightly by the declining output of the Rumanian oilfields. For
various reasons, including the gradually decreasing productivity of the
wells, their yield had dropped from 8,701 ,000 tons in 1937 to 5,577,000 in
1941. m Much of this amount was needed by Rumania itself, whose own
118 THE JOURNAL OF STRATEGIC STUDIES
economy was straining to cope with the demands of war. Also, as noted
above, Rumanian deliveries to Germany had dropped off sharply in the
last months of 1941, mainly as a result of depleted reserves and a quarrel
with Germany over payment. At the beginning of December 1941,
Marshal Antonescu had personally warned Hitler by telegram that, while
he would do everything he could to increase deliveries, 'in the last five
months we exported to Germany and Italy amounts greater than the
monthly output of 125,000 tons fuel oil, which exhausted our available
reserves'. m Despite repeated assurances by Rumanian leaders that
their nation 'would do everything possible to increase her deliveries to
Germany',110 it appeared unlikely in the first months of 1942 that supplies
of Rumanian oil would ever return to the levels of mid 1941. Indeed, on
12 February Antonescu informed von Ribbentrop that 'as for crude oil,
Rumania has contributed the maximum which it is in her power to contri-
bute. She can give no more.' Alluding to the much discussed drive on the
Caucasus, Antonescu added that 'the only way out of the situation would
be to seize territories rich in oil.'111
This was certainly a compelling argument to use with the Navy. As
noted above, Raeder was complaining as early as October 1941 to Hitler
about the Navy's oil situation and had warned him on 12 December that it
was now 'very critical'. By early 1942, the situation had deteriorated con-
siderably, so that the Navy was, in the words of one writer, living 'hand to
mouth'. m For example, the naval base in Piraeus had a stock of almost
11,000,000 litres of heating oil at the beginning of August 1941, but it had
all gone by the end of the year.113 The dash of the Brest group through the
English Channel and on to Norway had consumed 20,000 tons of fuel oil
alone, and by 1 April the Navy's oil reserves had dropped to 150,000
tons.114 Fortunately for Raeder, the shortage of fuel did not greatly
hamper the operations of Donitz's U-boats - which were still coming far
nearer than any other Axis force to strangling the Allied war effort -
because they operated on diesel oil and that was still in adequate supply.
The oil shortage virtially immobilized not only the German surface
fleet, but also that of the Italians. In December 1941 the Italian Navy had
received 29,600 tons of fuel oil, instead of the 40,000 promised, and only
13,500 in January 1942. 'There is only one dark spot - the lack of oil',
Ciano jotted in his diary on 8 February 1942. Just now we have barely a
hundred thousand tons, and only a negligible quantity gets through to us
from abroad. This immobilizes the Navy, particularly the large ships,
which otherwise would enjoy total supremacy in the Mediterranean'.115
Part of the problem, he had claimed a month earlier, was that the Germans
were (in Mussolini's words) 'highway robbers', taking for themselves 'the
oil which was meant for us.'116
HITLER'S QUEST FOR OIL 119
The Luftwaffe was not quite as hard hit by the crisis as the other
services, although in 1941 it had been forced to draw upon its reserves for
more than 25 per cent of its consumption. As a result, the Luftwaffe's
reserves of aviation fuel at the end of 1941 amounted to only 254,000 tons,
which was a huge drop from the reserves of 613,000 tons at the end of the
previous year.117 During the winter of 1941/42, when it became apparent
that the Blitzkrieg had failed and that a prolonged war of attrition
was inevitable, worried Luftwaffe planners (including Goring himself)
urgently insisted that far larger amounts of aviation fuel would be needed.
Accordingly, attempts were made to expand the output of existing syn-
thetic fuel facilities - still the principal source of aviation fuel - and begin
the construction of additional plants.118 Despite these efforts, increases in
synthetic fuel production could not be achieved overnight, and by the
spring of 1942 the shortage of refined aviation fuel was significantly restrict-
ing the Luftwaffe's training programme and preventing the renewal of an
air offensive on anywhere near the scale of the Battle of Britain.
The Luftwaffe's oil situation did not go unnoticed by Allied intelligence
agencies. The British Air Ministry, by way of illustration, stated in a
February 1942 intelligence report that, while there was little chance at
present of the Luftwaffe 'being grounded for want of fuel and oil', there
was every reason to believe that shortages of fuel would become 'more
and more acute.'119 Furthermore, despite German efforts to reduce oil
consumption in order 'to stave off disaster . . . without the Caucasus oil
fields all this must be in vain so long as the Russian armies remain in
being.' This was not the only mention of German's urgent need to seize
the Caucasus oilfields. The report also stated that:
the Russian campaign, which so greatly exceeded in scale any
previous mechanized battles, has run down even the considerable
stocks which Germany had last June to a level which is uncomfort-
. ably low, and the 'oil export' can at last lay his hand on his heart and
say the Germans are likely to run out of oil before very long - unless
they get the Caucasus without delay.
Considering the potentially disastrous impact of these shortages on
Germany's continued war effort, Hitler's plan to seize the Caucasus oil-
fields made perfect sense. These accounted for 'about 90% of oil produced
in the Soviet Union'.120 In the light of the fact that the Soviet Union had
extracted a staggering 34,200,000 tons of crude oil in 1940121 (more than
the combined totals of Iran, Iraq, Rumania, Mexico and Indonesia122), it
is clear that these oilfields had an immense output. Their total yield was
no secret to the oil-hungry Hitler, who, in his ominiscient manner, told his
120 THE JOURNAL OF STRATEGIC STUDIES
dinner guests one evening that: 'statistics show that the Russians until
quite recently obtained 92 per cent of their oil from the Caucasus.'123
Early in 1942, Hitler argued persuasively that the seizure of these
extremely rich oilfields would relieve Germany's critical shortages and
enable it , if necessary, to continue fighting in a drawn-out war of attrition.
The seizure of these geographically distant oilfields, although still within
reach of British bombers based in Iraq (which were not, in any event,
a danger in 1942), would also greatly offset the constant danger of Allied
air attacks against the Ploesti plants in Rumania and its own synthetic
fuel plants within the Reich itself. More importantly, Hitler declared,
the severance of the various north-south railways between the oil
and industrial regions and Moscow, the capture of the oilfields themselves
and the blocking of the vital Volga river system (which carried not only
oil but armaments and lend-lease supplies from Archangel) would be
a massive, and probably mortal blow to the Soviet economy and war
effort.124
The surviving documentation reveals that few OKW and OKH officers
openly expressed doubts about the proposed campaign to seize the
Caucasus oilfield, and that none actually challenged Hitler on the feasi-
bility of the plan. It may be, of course, that after the dismissal of von
Brauchitsch and von Rundstedt, none were brave enough to risk the
Fuhrer's wrath. It appears more likely, however, that Hitler's military
advisers were in general agreement that, within the limited range of
options available, his plan contained the most merit. Even Haider, who
personally thought (but never made a strong case to the High Command125)
that the eastern armies should maintain an essentially defensive posture
for the time being, was apparently won over to the general plan. In
response to the Navy's 'Suez Memorandum' of 3 April, which advocated
the urgent capture of the Suez Canal by Rommel's forces, Haider
emphatically stated to the OKH Naval Liaison Officer, Kapitdn zur
See Konrad Weygold, that the conquest of the Caucasus was 'absolutely
vital' for Germany's continued war effort.126 If the oilfield were not
captured, 'the Reich will not survive long'. The Caucasus, he explained
'has more or less the same importance as Silesia once had for Prussia.'
Having doubtless carefully studied the detailed briefings of the War
Economy and Armaments Office, he knew that Germany's oil situation
was critical. On 16 February, by way of illustration, this office had grimly
warned, in its conclusion to a 16-page report on Germany's fuel situation
that:
One thing is now clear: without Russian oil we simply cannot utilize
fully the regions of Russia we now occupy. But above all, without
HITLER'S QUEST FOR OIL 121
Russian oil the German war machine must from now on become
increasingly more impotent.127
Indeed, as the year progressed it became increasingly evident to senior
German planners that Hitler's emphasis on the capture of oil resources
was well-founded. For example, on 6 June (three weeks before the start
of the campaign), the OKW glumly reported that oil supplies throughout
the rest of 1942 would be 'one of the weakest points in our defensive capa-
bilities'. The significance of this comment is obvious; defensive actions
require far less oil than offensive ones, so the situation must certainly
have looked black. Because oil shortages were so critical, the report con-
tinued, 'the operational freedom of all three services will be restricted,
and the armaments industry will also suffer. Reserves have been reduced
almost to nothing, so we are now forced to rely on production.'128
It appears that during this period there was little discussion between
Hitler and his military advisers over the important question of how
Caucasus oil was to be transported to the Reich. A quarter of a century
earlier, this problem had also vexed Ludendorff and the German High
Command, who never arrived at an adequate solution.129 The overworked
Ftirher may not even have realized the importance of this matter, consider-
ing it best simply to cross that bridge when he came to it. He had almost
certainly not read the March 1941 report by Generalleutnant Hermann
von Hanneken of the War Economy and War Armaments Office, which
was appended to a letter sent by Keitel to the OKH. This report warned
that, even if the Caucasus oilfields could be captured intact, very little oil
(only 10,000 tons per month) could be carried overland to Germany.130
Moreover, even if the Black Sea could be made safe for shipping, there
would be no ships available for the transport of Caucasus oil up the
Danube because its river tankers were already working to capacity
transporting Rumanian oil.131 The only remaining route was across the
Black Sea, through the Dardenelles, and on to Mediterranean ports.
Accordingly, the report concluded, 'the opening of the sea routes and the
security of the tankers in the Black Sea is the prerequisite for the use of
Russian supply sources in sufficient quantity to support the further
continuation of the war.' Clearly, to attain this prerequisite was virtually
impossible by early 1942; the Germans would have had to wipe out the
powerful Soviet Black Sea Fleet (which still had, according to Raeder,
'naval supremacy . . . [allowing] great freedom of movement'132) and
eliminate British air and sea power from the eastern Mediterranean.
Despite not considering how best to solve this logistics nightmare -
which never occurred, because the German Army captured only the
already-destroyed Maikop oilfield - Hitler was well aware of the need to
122 THE JOURNAL OF STRATEGIC STUDIES
make the Black Sea safe for German shipping. However, both he and
Raeder appear to have worried more about supplying German armies via
the Black Sea than of shipping Caucasus oil back to the Reich or
Rumanian refineries.133
When planning the forthcoming campaign, both Hitler and the
German High Command placed considerable emphasis on the need to
advance on the Caucasus oilfields so rapidly that the Soviets would not
have time to destroy the oil wells and refineries permanently. If the latter
were destroyed, the bulk of the oil would have to be refined elsewhere
until new refineries could be constructed. Only Rumanian refineries,
which still had a considerable surplus refinement capacity,134 could handle
large quantities of additional crude, but (for the reasons mentioned
above) it would be extremely difficult to ship significant amounts of oil
from the Caucasus to Rumania.
An 'Oil Detachment Caucaus' had been formed a year earlier, in the
spring of 1941 , when the capture of the oilfields was still a principal objec-
tive of the forthcoming attack on the Soviet Union. Its purpose was to
repair damaged wells and refineries quickly so that exploitation of the
oilfields could be commenced as soon as possible. In early 1942, when the
capture of the oilfield became the objective of the forthcoming attack, this
detachment was expanded considerably and renamed the 'Oil Brigade
Caucasus'. The expansion was necessary because recent experiences in
Ukraine and the Donets Basin indicated that the Caucaus oilfields would
probably not be captured before at least some attempts were made to
destroy existing wells and refineries. As a result, this unusual paramilitary
force was brought to a strength of 10,794, issued with 1,142 vehicles and
six aircraft and ordered to stand by, ready to move into the Caucaus
oilfield immediately behind the combat troops.135
IV
On 28 March, after a lengthy period of discussion, the OKH presented
Hitler with a plan for the Caucasus offensive - to be code-named Fall
Blau, or Case BLUE - which closely paralleled his wishes.136 Hitler gave
his endorsement to the basic concepts of the plan, and turned it over to
the OKW operations staff to write an implementing directive. After he
'drastically amended' the draft Jodl submitted to him,137 War Directive 41
was finally issued on 5 April.
'The winter battle in Russia', Hitler proudly stated in the preamble, 'is
approaching its end. Through the unequalled courage and self-sacrificing
devotion of our soldiers on the Eastern Front, a defensive success of the
greatest scale has been achieved for German arms.138 While this was
HITLER'S QUEST FOR OIL 123
certainly a fair and accurate appraisal, the following passage shows that
he either misunderstood or deliberately misrepresented the fighting
capability of the Soviet armed forces. The enemy', he wrote, 'has
suffered the severest losses in men and materiel. In an effort to exploit
apparent initial successes, he has expended during the winter the bulk of
his reserves earmarked for later operations.'
Spelling out the aim of the new offensive, he declared that 'as soon as the
weather and the state of the terrain provide the necessary prerequisites',
it was important once again to seize the strategic initiative and, through
German military superiority, 'force our will upon the enemy'. The
objective this time was not only to wipe out the remaining Soviet military
potential, but also to 'deprive them of their most important military-
economic sources of strength.'
The general plan involved Army Group Centre holding fast, while an
effort would be made to 'bring about the fall of Leningrad and link up
with the Finns north of the city', and, in the region of Army Group South,
a major campaign would be launched into the Caucasus. Nothing was said
about Moscow. Clearly it could wait. Because of the damage inflicted
upon the eastern army in the winter months, these objectives (Leningrad
and the Caucasus) would 'have to be achieved only one at a time.' Initially,
therefore,
all available forces are to be assembled for the main operation in
the southern sector, with the objective of destroying the enemy
forward of the Don, in order to secure the oil regions of the Caucasus
and the passes through the Caucasus [mountain range] itself.
Before the major offensive into the Caucasus could commence, the
directive stated, it would be necessary 'to clear the Kerch Peninsula in the
Crimea and to bring about the fall of Sevastopol.' In preparation for this
campaign, the Luftwaffe and later the Kriegsmarine would have the task
of 'energetically hindering enemy supply traffic in the Black Sea and the
Kerch Straits.' The insistence on these time-consuming preliminary
operations in the Crimea reveals that Hitler still believed that the Crimea
would have to be 'neutralized' entirely in order to protect Rumanian
oilfields permanently from Soviet bombers. This view, it should be noted,
was not only shared by General-oberst von Manstein,139 whose battered
Eleventh Army would have to do the fighting in the Crimea, but also by
General-oberst Alexander Lohr, whose air fleet (Luftflotte IV) would have
to support von Manstein's ground assault.140. Perhaps more importantly,
it was also shared by Marshal Antonescu, whose oilfields and refineries
had been attacked as many as 95 times since 22 June 1941 by Soviet twin-
engined bombers based around Odessa.141 These attacks were generally
124 THE JOURNAL OF STRATEGIC STUDIES
weak and ineffectual, thanks to substantial German air defences around
the oilfields and refineries (when BARBAROSSA began there were no
less fewer than 24 heavy and numerous light Flak batteries around Ploesti
alone142). The presence and quantity of these forces, which included
strong fighter units, reflects Hitler's deep concern over the safety of his
main source of oil.
Although one author recently stated that oil production was 'unaffected'
by these air attacks,143 on several occasions they caused significant damage
and heightened fears for the fields' safety. On 13 July 1941, for example,
a raid left 17 oil tanks ablaze at Ploesti's Orion refinery. Although the fires
were extinguished within 24 hours and around 12,000 tons of oil were
saved, this attack caused considerable damage and losses and claimed the
lives of seven firemen. In total, 9,000 tons of oil and 17 Kesselwagen were
destroyed in various raids against the Orion refinery alone.144 Ploesti's
Vega refinery was another frequent target and on one occasion, the night
of 18 July 1941, an attack resulted in the loss of around 2,000 tons of
much-needed motor fuel.145 These attacks would have greatly reinforced
Hitler's belief that the Rumanian oilfields were highly vulnerable to air
attack and that the Crimea - the only feasible base for Soviet long-range
bomber fleets after the loss of Ukraine - would have to be 'neutralized'
entirely in order to protect those oilfields from possible destruction.
After neutralizing the Crimea, Hitler's War Directive 41 stated, the
main campaign could begin. Curiously, in the light of the fact that the
campaign has come to be associated with the name of that city, the
capture of Stalingrad was actually not a major objective. It was certainly
considered by Hitler to be far less important than the oilfields. The
directive stated only that an attempt should be made 'to reach' Stalingrad,
'or at least to subject this city to the bombardment of our heavy weapons
to such an extent that it is eliminated as an armament and transportation
centre in the future.' As the historian Gerhard Weinberg points out, it is
ironic that 'the place whose name will always be associated with one of the
great battles of World War II was largely ignored by the Germans before-
hand and renamed Volgograd by the Soviet Union afterwards.'146
Hitler was optimistic about the coming offensive and, although he
could give away none of his plans, was determined to inspire the German
people and his Axis partners into supporting another major drive to the
east. On 26 April 1942, three weeks after issuing the directive for the
campaign, he confidently announced before the Reichstag that 'a world
struggle was decided during the winter', and, contrasting at length his
own persistence and Napoleon's disastrous retreat from Moscow in 1812,
boasted that 'we have mastered the destiny that broke another man 130
years ago.'147 The Wehrmacht, he added, had passed its terrible trial in
HITLER'S QUEST FOR OIL 125
Russia and was ready to move forward again. This year Stalin's evil
regime would be destroyed once and for all.
This widely-transmitted speech to the Reichstag was well received by
most sections of German society. It also had a positive effect on the
Hungarians and Rumanians, who were, for reasons of national prestige,
still enthusiastic about participating in the struggle to destroy Bolshevism.
The war-weary Italians, whose military successes had been few and
relatively insigificant, were generally unimpressed. It had 'a depressing
effect in Italy', noted Ciano, who personally felt its tone was 'not very
optimistic'. Mussolini, on the other hand, was inspired by the speech,
privately calling it 'excellent and strong'.148
Three days after Hitler gave this speech, he met both Ciano and
Mussolini at Klessheim Castle in Salzburg. Ciano was struck by how old
Hitler appeared, and noted in his diary that 'He is strong, determined,
and talkative; but he is tired. The winter months in Russia have weighed
heavily upon him. I see for the first time that he has many grey hairs.'
While the Fuhrer talked privately to Mussolini ('Hitler talks, talks, talks,
talks - Mussolini suffers'), it was left to Ribbentrop to explain to Ciano
the nature of the campaign outlined in Hitler's directive of 5 April.
Ribbentrop, pointing out the great economic gains to be made, stressed
the campaign's 'politico-military objective' and insisted that 'When
Russia's sources of oil are exhausted she will be brought to her knees.'149
During a top-level military conference held at the Berghof the following
day, Hitler made the same point to Mussolini.150 German forces, he said,
already occupy the Soviets' main agricultural areas. As a result 'the
Russians in the central regions must have terrible nourishment difficulties,
a problem exacerbated by the confiscation of tractors for military
purposes.' The strangulation of the civilian sector of Soviet society', he
continued,
must directly influence the military sector. To start with, based on
existing supplies the Russian must have adequate nourishment to
survive another five months. But his harvest this year cannot be
brought in and distributed before October.
This, he told Mussolini, was the decisive factor: 'If we now succeed in
cutting him off from his oil, his traffic must grind to a standstill.'
Conclusion
The preliminary campaign (to clear the Crimea of Soviet forces) com-
menced on 8 May and was brought to a successful conclusion on 3 July.
126 THE JOURNAL OF STRATEGIC STUDIES
Hitler breathed a sigh of relief; the Crimea was entirely in German hands
and the Rumanian oilfields, his major source of oil, were safe from air
attack for at least the near future.
Meanwhile, on 28 June the main campaign to seize the Caucasus
oilfields had been launched and initially, to Hitler's great delight, made
startling progress. The Volga river north of Stalingrad was reached by
soldiers of the Northern Army Group on 23 August, allowing them to
sever the Soviet's main north-south supply and communication route.
Stalingrad, not as yet a main objective, seemed certain to fall within a
month. On 9 August, German troops of the Southern Army Group had
even overrun Maikop, the closest of the Caucasus oilfields. Although it had
been badly damaged by retreating Soviets, some wells were reparable.151
By late October, Hitler seemed very close to victory. However, his
Southern Army Group's attempts to push past Pyatigorsk and secure the
passes through the main Caucausus range to the far richer oilfields in the
south were repeatedly thwarted. He had men while become obsessed with
the capture of Stalingrad, and the success of a massive Soviet counter-
attack there in November placed the encircled German Sixth Army and
elements of the Fourth Panzer Army in grave danger of destruction. In
December the Soviet Transcaucasus Front also went over to the offensive
and throughout January and February the German troops still in the
Caucasus were forced to conduct a perilous and difficult withdrawal
through Rostov in order to avoid encirclement. Even Maikop, the only
oilfield captured by the Germans, had to be abandoned. Except for the
Seventeenth Army's defensive line on the Taman Peninsula, which was
successfully stormed by the Soviets in September 1943, there were now no
Germans in the Caucasus. The Caucasus oilfield had slipped from Hitler's
grip and would never again be in direct danger. Things were much worse
for the Sixth Army at Stalingrad. Attempts to supply it from the air failed
and, at the end of January 1943, the commander of this once mighty army
ordered his frost-bitten and starving men to lay down their arms. Almost
140,000 Germans had perished at Stalingrad, and of approximately
91,000 taken prisoner only 6,000 or so survived captivity.
This analysis reveals that the disastrous campaign was, from its very
conception, the result of perceived economic necessity. Its planning was,
to a far greater degree than that of any other German military undertaking
of the Second World War, significantly influenced by economic considera-
tions. The Fuhrer's directive of 5 April 1942 committed the German
armed forces for the first time to a massive offensive with economic
objectives taking precedence over strictly military ones. Hitler was well
aware that his strategy was a departure from traditional military theory,
but reasoned that, unlike Clausewitz, who wrote his most influential
HITLER'S QUEST FOR OIL 127
works on military theory in the 1820s, he commanded mechanized armies
in a war between major industrialized nations. He knew that the
economic resources (including manpower, raw materials and fuel) of the
growing list of nations he now faced greatly exceeded Germany's. The
Reich's economic potential for waging prolonged warfare had never been
high, but now, after two years of war, it had deteriorated significantly. As
his economic advisers constantly pointed out, the campaign against the
Soviet Union had cost Germany dearly in terms of manpower and raw
materials and had consumed massive amounts of oil. Unless he succeeded
in both defending his main existing source of oil from Soviet air attack and
in capturing new and substantial sources he was incapable of waging a
protracted war of economic attrition. On the other hand, he believed, if
his campaign succeeded it would not only relieve the terrible shortage of
oil products currently experienced but also deliver a massive, possibly
mortal, blow to the Soviet war economy.
It needs to be said, of course, that the dire predictions of Hitler and his
economic advisers in 1941 and 1942 about the certain collapse of the
German war machine if no new sources of oil were obtained proved to
be exaggerated. The German war effort did not grind to a halt when the
campaign to capture the Caucasus oilfields failed. Although Germany's
oil situation remained acute, and became desperate after the Allied air
offensive against its synthetic fuel plants and the Rumanian oilfields
began, the Reich continued fighting until May 1945.
In fact, despite the total failure of the 1942 campaign, events in 1943
actually led to a slight improvement in the oil situation. First, when Italy
defected from the Axis in September it ceased to be a drain on Germany's
near-exhausted reserves. Secondly, when German forces in Italy responded
to this defection and rapidly disarmed their former allies they captured
surprisingly large stocks of oil. Thirdly, Germany's synthetic fuel industry,
not yet targeted by Allied bombers, reached a production peak.152
Accordingly, the oil shortages which had bedevilled the Wehrmachfs
efforts throughout the previous two years appeared far less critical. The
Luftwaffe was even able to build up its meagre reserves slightly for the
first time since the beginning of the Russian campaign.153
In May 1944, however, the USAAFs strategic bombing force began
concentrating its efforts against both the German synthetic fuel plants
and the Rumanian oilfields and refineries. Raids on the latter targets were
greatly facilitated by the use of bases in southern Italy. Despite high
aircraft and crew losses, these efforts paid off handsomely for the Allies,
who learned from 'Ultra' decrypts that many plants suffered production
decreases or were put out of action altogether. By late summer Germany's
oil supplies were seriously depleted. In May, by way of illustration,
128 THE JOURNAL OF STRATEGIC STUDIES
316,000 tons of synthetic fuel were produced in Germany. The following
month production fell to 107,000 tons, and in September it plummeted
to a mere 17,000. As a result, the Luftwaffe received only 30,000 tons
of petrol that month, instead of its normal 180,000 tons.154 Its training
programmes suffered terribly, with many pilot-training schools shutting
down for lack of fuel. The mobility of the mechanized forces was
also significantly curtailed. For the Ardennes campaign in December,
Germany's last major offensive action of the war, the armoured formations
had very meagre fuel reserves (and these were created only by robbing
fuel from forces not involved). Hitler was gambling on their ability to
capture American stocks. With the failure of this endeavour and powerful
Allied armies pressing in from west, east and south it was clear that
Germany would not survive much longer.
Thus Germany's ability to wage war did not dissolve with the failure of
the Caucasus campaign, as the Ftihrer and his economists had previously
believed. Having said that, it should also be noted that neither Hitler nor
his military planners could forecast with certainty the future course of the
war nor, therefore, accurately calculate the future oil consumption of
Germany's armed forces. Frequent evaluations in 1941 and 1942 by
the War Economy and Armaments Office, based on careful and detailed
analyses of past production, import and consumption rates, clearly
revealed that once oil reserve stocks were exhausted it would no longer be
possible to offset the significant shortage of oil. Germany's war machine
would rapidly grind to a halt. These grim conclusions were repeatedly
presented to Hitler and the High Command in the form of detailed
reports. Their claims, we saw above, were seemingly corroborated by
commanders in the field and even senior service chiefs such as Raeder,
who complained constantly that the mobility or operational capability of
their forces had deteriorated because of decreases in their oil supplies.
History has exposed the inaccurancy of the warnings the Nazi leader
received from his economists, but at that time they seemed both credible
and compelling. Hitler, aware by December 1941 that he now faced a
prolonged war against the world's two economic giants the Soviet Union
and the United States, felt that he had no real option but to embark on
a campaign which would, if successful, greatly enhance his ability to
continue waging that war.
NOTES
1. United States Air Force Historical Research Agency (hereafter USAFHRA) 506.
619A: SHAEF, Office of Assistant Chief of Staff, G2. Subject: Interrogation of Albert
Speer, Former Reich Minister of Armaments and War Production. 5th Session, 10.30
to 12.30 hrs, 30 May 1945.
HITLER'S QUEST FOR OIL 129
2. F. Haider (Generaloberst), Kriegstagebuch: Tagliche Aufzeichnungen des Chefs des
Generalstabes des Heeres, 1939-1942 Band II: Von dergeplanten Landung in England
bis zum Beginn des Ostfeldzuges (1.7.1940-21.6.1941) ed. by H.-A, Jacobson (Stutt-
gart: Kohlhammer, 1965), p.50; Cf. also W. Warlimont, Im Hauptquartier der deutschen
Wehrmacht, 1939 bis 1945 Band I: September 1939-November 1942 (Ausburg: Weltbild,
1990. First published by Bernard und Graefe, 1962) , pp. 126-9.
3. Der Prozefi gegen die Hauptkriegsverbrecher vor dem Internationalen Militargerichts-
hof, Niirnberg, 14. Nov. 1945-1. Okt. 7946 (Niirnberg: Internationales Militartribunal
in Niirnberg, 1947-1949), Vol. VII, p.290.
4. USAFHRA 142.0372: 'Strategic Value of the Caucasus', (US) Air Forces General
Information Bulletin, No.3 (12 Aug. 1942), p.14.
5. USAFHRA 512.607: 'Caucasus Oil', (British) Air Ministry Weekly Intelligence Sum-
mary [these once 'Secret' reports are hereafter cited as AM WIS] No. 156, Up to
1200-26 August 1942, p.3 (on microfilm 32770); See also USAFHRA 512.607: 'The
Grozny Oil District', AMWIS No.159, Up to 1200-18 September 1942, p.24 (on the
same microfilm). For similar German estimates, see USAFHRA K113. 106-153 Vol. 11:
Der Oberbefehlshaber der Luftwaffe, Fuhrungsstab Ic/ IV Nr. 3500/41 Geheim! Orientie-
rungsheft: Union der Sozialistischen Sowjetrepubliken (U.d.S.S.R.), Stand 1.2.1941,
pp.88-93; USAFHRA K113.106-153 Vol.11: Der Chef des Wehrwirtschaft- undRus-
tungsamts beim OKW, an den Chef des Generalstabes der Luftwaffe, Herrn General-
oberst Jeschonnek, Berlin, den 3 1.3. 1942, pp.10, 11.
6. Cf. National Archives, Washington, DC (hereafter NARS) T321/1 11/763-5: Wasser-
strafien S.U. (Europ. Teil) - Wolgasystem. Stand: Juni 1942 (File of Lw Fu Stb lei
See-Genst.5.Abt./II).
1. USAFHRA 142.0372: 'Strategic Value . . .', p. 14. For the population statistics of Baku
(809,347 citizens in 1939) and the other major Transcaucasian cities, see USAFHRA
K113. 106.153: Der Oberbefehlshaber der Luftwaffe, Fuhrungsstab Ic/Iv Nr. 3500/41
Geheim! Orientierungsheft: Union der Sozialistischen Sowjetrepubliken (U.d.S.S.R.)
Stand 1.2.1941, pp.9, 10.
8. USAFHRA 512.607: 'Caucasus Oil', p.3.
9. USAFHRA 142.0372: 'Strategic Value . . .', p. 15.
10. E. Ludendorff, My War Memoirs: 1914-1918 (London: Hutchinson, n.d.), Vol.1,
p.347.
11. Ibid., Vol.1, p.659.
12. A useful introduction to this subject is L. Fischer, Oil Imperialism: The International
Struggle for Petroleum (London: Allen & Unwin, 1926; reprinted 1976), especially
Ch.l,TheWarforBaku\
13. The United States Strategic Bombing Survey: Over-all Report (European War) Sep-
tember 30, 1945, p. 39; B.H. Klein, Germany's Economic Preparations for War (Cam-
bridge, MA: Harvard UP, 1959), p.32.
14. Over-all Report, p.39.
15. The United States Strategic Bombing Survey: The Effects of Strategic Bombing on the
German War Economy. Overall Economic Effects Division, October31, 1945, p. 73.
16. W. Treue, 'Hitlers Denkschrift zum Vierjahresplan, 1936', Vierteljahrshefte fiir
Zeitgeschichte, Vol.3 (April 1955), pp. 184-210.
17. For Hitler's views on the need for Lebensraum in the east, cf. Mein KampfZv/ei
Bande in einem Band. Ungekurzte Ausgabe (Munchen: Zentralverlag der NSDAP.,
Frz. EherNachf., 1943ed.), pp.1, 143-50, 153, 154.
18. M. Domarus, Hitler: Reden und Proklamationen 1932-1945 (Leonberg: Pamminger,
1988; first published by SuddeutscherVerlag, Munich, 1965), Vol.11, p.637.
19. Over-all Report, p.39; USAFHRA 512.607: 'The Fuel Position of the German Air
Force', AMWIS No. 129, Up to 1200-18th February 1942, p. 20.
20. R.C. Cooke and R.C. Nesbit, Target: Hitler's Oil: Allied Attacks on German Oil
Supplies, 1939-1945 (London: Kimber, 1985), p.16.
21 . Effects of Strategic Bombing, pp.73, 74.
22. Ibid., Over-all Report, p.39.
130 THE JOURNAL OF STRATEGIC STUDIES
23. Cf., for example, the projected totals for 1939-44 in Bundesarchiv-Militararchiv ;
Freiburg, Germany [hereafter cited as BA/MA] RW 19/202: Az 66 b 2134 WStb/W
Ro III, Vortragsnotiz fiir Generalfeldmarschall Goring uber Zielsetzung und Forde-
rungen fiir die Weiterfiihrung des Mineralol- Bauprogramms, 31 Januar 1939, in Aus-
zilgeauKTB, WiRii Amt/Stab (nur Mineralol betreffend) .
24. Effects of Strategic Bombing, p. 74.
25. Cooke and Nesbit, p.16; Effects of Strategic Bombing, p.74.
26. Ibid.,p.73.
27. Ibid.,p.74.
28. Ibid.,p.75.
29. BA/MA RW 19/202: Wi Ru Amt Stab Z/SR, den 16. Februar 1942: 'Die deutsche
Treibstoffversorgung im Kriege. Abgeschlossen um die Jahreswende 1941/42', in Aus-
ziige aits KTB, WiRUAmt/Stab (nur Mineralol betreffend) t Beginn 1.5.1940. See also
W. Deist, M. Messerschmidt, H.-E. Volkman, W. Wette, Germany and the Second
World War Void: The Build-up of German Aggression (Oxford: Clarendon, 1990),
p.361.
30. BA/MA RW 19/202: Wi Ru Amt Stab Z/SR, den 16. Februar 1942: 'Die deutsche
Treibstoffversorgung im Kriege. Abgeschlossen um die Jahreswende 1941/42', in Aus-
zuge aus KTB, Wi Ru Amt/ Stab (nur Mineralol betreffend), Beginn 1.5. 1940.
31. N. Rich, Hitler's War Aims: Ideology, the Nazi State, and the Course of Expansion
(New York/London: Norton, 1992; first published 1973), p. 188.
32. BA/MA RW 19/202: Wi Ru Amt Stab Z/SR, den 16. Februar 1942: 'Die deutsche
Treibstoffversorgung im Kriege. Abgeschlossen um die Jahreswende 1941/42', in Aus-
zixge aus KTB, Wi Ru Amt/Stab (nur Mineralol betreffend), Beginn 1.5.1940. See also
Effects of Strategic Bombing, p.74.
33. Rich, pp.189, 190.
34. Document 134-C: 'OKW/WFSt. Nr. 8/41 gKdos. Chefs. Ausfuhrungen des Fuhrers
am 20.1.194V , IMT, Vol.XXXIV, p.469. See also Hitler's earlier comments to Ciano
on the danger to the Ploesti refineries: 'Conversation with the Fuehrer in the Presence
of the Reich Foreign Minister, von Ribbentrop, Salzburg, 18th November 1940\ in
G. Ciano, Ciano's Diplomatic Papers Ed. M. Muggeridge; trans, by S. Hood (London:
Odhams,1948),p.408.
35. CookeandNesbit,p.64.
36. R. Muller, The German Air War in Russia (Baltimore, MD: Nautical & Aviation
Publishing, 1992), p.69.
37. Cf. Von Hardesty, Red Phoenix: the Rise of Soviet Air Power, 1941-1945 Smithsonian
History of Aviation (Washington, DC and London: Smithsonian Institution Press,
1982), p.217; R.A. Kilmarx, A History of Soviet Air Power (NY: Praeger, 1962),
p.177.
38. W ailimont, Im Hauptquartier, Vol.1, p.146.
39. Over-all Report, p. 39.
40. C. Tugendhat and A. Hamilton, Oil: the Biggest Business (London: Eyre Methuen,
1968), p.114; BA/MA RW 19/202: Wi Ru Amt Stab Z/SR, den 16. Februar 1942: 'Die
deutsche Treibstoffversorgung im Kriege. Abgeschlossen um die Jahreswende 1941/42',
in Auszuge aus KTB, Wi Ru Amt/Stab (nur Mineralol betreffend), Beginn 1.5.1940.
41. Over-all Report, p. 40; Effects of Strategic Bombing, p. 76; Tugendhat and Hamilton,
0*7,p.ll4.
42. CookeandNesbit,p.l7.
43. F.W. Deakin, The Brutal Friendship: Mussolini, Hitler and the Fall of Italian Fascism
(London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1962), pp.164, 180; cf. Haider, Kriegstagebuch,
Vol.11, p.421 (entry for 20 May 1941).
44. B. Wegner, The Road to Defeat: the German Campaigns in Russia 1941-43', Journal
of Strategic Studies, Vol.13, No.l (March 1990), p.110.
45. Haider, Kriegstagebuch, Vol.11, p.422.
46. W. Hubatsch (ed.), Hitlers Weisungen fur die Kriegfiihrung 1939-1945: Dokumente
des Oberkommandos der Wehrmacht (Frankfurt am Main: Bernard und Graefe, 1962),
HITLER'S QUEST FOR OIL 131
pp. 150-3. The code-name Taifun was given to the offensive two weeks later, in an
order of 19 Sept. 1941.
47. F. Haider, Kriegstagebuch: Tdgliche Aufzeichnungen des Chefs des Generalstabes
des Heeres, 1939-1942 Band HI: Der Rufilandfeldzug bis zum Marsch auf Stalingrad
(22.6.1941-24.9.1942), p.222.
48. Ibid.
49. Cf. BA/MA RW 19/199 for the Wi Ru Amt"% monthly situation reports, which detail
Rumania's supply problem. See especially Wi Ru Amt Stab ZISR Nr. 86/42 gKdos,
Berlin, den 9. Januar 1942: Kriegswirtschaftlicher Lagebericht Nr. 28, Dezember 1941;
and Wi Ru Amt Stab Z/SR, Nr. 686/42 gKdos, Berlin, den 13. Marz 1942: Kriegswirt-
schaf dicker Lagebericht Nr. 30, Februar 1942. Also, for a detailed analysis of the
German-Rumanian oil situation in 1941, see BA/MA RW 19/178: Deutsche Wehrwirt-
schaftmission in Rumanien, Ch.d. St. Tagb. Nr. 226/41 gKdos, Bukarest, den 8.
Dezember 1941: An das OKW/Wi Ru Amt, Berlin, Bericht Nr. 15, uber die Tatigkeit
der Deutschen Wehrwirtschaftmission in Rumanien vom 20. September 1941 bis 20.
November 1941 .
50. BA/MA RW 19/202: Wi Ru Amt Stab ZISR, den 16. Februar 1942: 'Die deutsche
Treibstoffversorgung in Kriege. Abgeschlossen um die Jahreswende 1941/42', in Aus-
ziige aus KTB, Wi Ru Amt/ Stab (nur Mineralol betreffend), Beginn 1.5.1940. Cf. also
the detailed monthly statistical reports sent by the Reichstelle fur Mineralol to Kapitan
zur See Gabriel, OKW/Wi Ru Amt (in BA/MA RW 19/2695). See the source cited in
note 56 for GrofSadmiral Raeder's comments about the squabble over payment between
Rumania and Germany.
51. Quoted in K. Reinhardt, Die Wende vorf Moskau: Das Scheitern der Strategic Hitlers
im Winter 1941/2 Beitrage zur Militar- und Kriegsgeschichte, Band 13 (Stuttgart:
Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, 1972), p.117.
52. Ibid.,pp.ll7-18.
53. Haider, Kriegstagebuch, Vol. Ill, p. 38.
54. Quoted in Reinhardt, p. 118; and H. Boog, et a/., Der Angriff auf die Sowietunion
(Frankfurt am Main: Fischer Taschenbuch, 1991. First published as Vol.4 of Das
Deutsche Reich und der Zweite Weltkrieg by Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, Stuttgart,
1983),p.ll31.
55. Reinhardt, p. 118.
56. BA/MA RW 19/177; Adjutant Amtchef Wi Ru Amt, Akten-Notiz uber Besprechung
beiGen. Qu. am30.8.1941.
57. Ibid.
58. Haider, Kriegstagebuch, Vol.11, p.421.
59. Reinhardt, p.H8,n.95.
60. US AFHRA 512.607: 'The Fuel Position of the German Air Force' , AMW1S No. 129,
Up to 1200-18th February 1942, p. 19.
61. BA/MA RW 19/177: WiRuAmtAz. 11 k2209Ro Vs., Nr. 3241/41 gKdos, Berlin, den
7. Oktober 1941: Stand der Mineralolversorgung im 4. Vierteljahr 1941 ausgehend von
der Lage am 1.10.1941.
62. Ibid.
63. Report of the C.-in-C, Navy, to the Fuehrer at Wolfsschanze in the Afternoon of
November 13, 1941, published in H.G. Thursfleld (ed.), 'Fuehrer Conferences on
Naval Affairs, 1942\ Brassey's Naval Annual, 1948 (London: Clowes and New York,
Macmillan, 1948),pp.235-43.
64. Ibid.
65. Report of the C.-in-C, Navy, to the Fuehrer in Berlin on December 12, 1941, in ibid.,
pp.244-6.
66. BA/MA RW 19/177: Wi Ru Amt/ Chef des Stabes, gKdos, Berlin, den 24. Oktober
1941, Ergebnis der Besprechung beiGen. Qu. am22. 10.1941.
67. Warlimont, Im Hauptquartier, Vol.1, p.200.
68. Cf. Haider's comments and criticisms on 4, 6, 7 and (in particular) 22 Aug. 1941
(Kriegstagebuch, Vol. Ill, pp.153, 158, 159, 193); and Warlimont's comments, Im
132 THE JOURNAL OF STRATEGIC STUDIES
Hauptquartier, Vol.1, pp. 198-205.
69. WFStLNr. 441412/41 , text in Haider, Kriegstagebuch, Vol.III, p. 192.
70. OKW ChefWFSt., Studien 1 (C5), allg. 15, Bd. 3, in Kriegstagebuch OKW, Vol.1,
pp. 1063-8.
71. H. Guderian, Erinnerungen eines Soldaten (Heidelberg: Vowinckel, 1951), p. 182.
72. N. Khrushchev, Khrushchev Remembers with an Introduction, Commentary and
Notes by Edward Crankshaw (London: Deutsch, 1971), p. 169. An excellent intro-
duction to this topic is S.R. Lieberman's, 'The Evacuation of Industry in the Soviet
Union during World War II', Soviet Studies, Vol.XXXV (1983), pp.90-102. Cf. also
M. Harrison, Soviet Planning in Peace and War, 1938-1945 Soviet and East European
Studies (London: CUP, 1985), pp.63-81.
73. Quoted in Reinhardt, Die Wende vorMoskau, p. 177.
74. Document in R. Lehmann, The Leibstandarte: 1 SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte
Adolf Hitler Vol.11 (Winnipeg: Fedorowicz, 1988),p.l69.
75. Reinhardt, p.177.
76. Kriegstagebuch, First Panzer Army, Annex N63/53, quoted in D. Irving, Hitler's War
(London: Focal Point, 1991); first published in 1976), p. 437.
77. Quoted in Lehmann, Leibstandarte Vol.11, p. 180.
78. Reinhardt, p. 178.
79. Haider, Kriegstagebuch, Vol.III, p.319.
80. Ibid.,p.32L
81. Ibid.,p.322.
82. Ibid.,p.283.
83. Ibid.,p.295.
84. Ibid., pp.328, 330.
85. WeisungNr. 39, inHubatsch (ed.), Hitler's Weisungen, pp. 171-4.
86. Haider, Kriegstagebuch, Vol.III, p.330. On 16 Dec, Haider also noted that Hitler
emphatically ordered: 'There can be no talk of withdrawal. The enemy has made
substantial inroads in only a few places. [The idea of] preparing rear positions is just
crazy. [Ruckwartige Linien aufzubauen, istPhantasie]. ibid., p. 350.
87. A.W. Turney, Disaster at Moscow: Von Bock's Campaigns 1941-1942 (Univ. of New
Mexico, 1970, p. 158). To see how various front-line commanders responded through-
out the winter months to Hitler's often-reiterated Haltebefehl, cf. Reinhardt, Die
Wende vorMoskau, pp.l97ff.
88. USAFHRA Kl 13.309-3 Vol.1: Der Fuhrer und Oberste Befehlshaber der Wehrmacht
Nr. 442182/41 gKdos. Chefs./WFSt./Abt. L (lop.), F.HQu., den 16.12.1941.
89. For Guderian's dismissal, see his own account: Erinnerungen eines Soldaten, pp.235-46.
90. W. Keitel, Keitel: Verbrecher oder Offizier. Erinnerungen, Brief e, Dokumente des
Chefs OKW edited by W. Gdrlitz (Gottingen/Berlin/Frankfurt: Musterschmidt, 1961),
pp.290-3. Similarly, cf. Jodl's IMT testimony, in which he admits he 'really marvelled'
at Hitler's success in stabilizing the eastern front and saving the German Army from an
'imminent catastrophe' similar to that experienced in 1812 by France (IMT, Vol.XV,
p. 302). See Ribbentrop's praise, in G. Ciano, Ciano's Diary 1939-1943; ed. by
M. Muggeridge (London/Toronto: Heinemann, 1947) (entry for 29 April 1942). Many
prominent historians also agree that Hitler's 'no retreat' decision was the right one. Cf .
A. Clark, Barbarossa: the Russian-German Conflict, 1941-45 (NY: Quill, 1985, first
published in 1965), p. 182; Irving, Hitler's War, pp.448-9; Reinhardt, Die Wende vor
Moskau, p.221; A. Bullock, Hitler: a Study in Tyranny (London: Pelican, 1965, first
published in 1952), p.664.
91. 'Weisung fiir die Aufgaben des Ostheeres im Winter 1941-2\ in P.E. Schramm (ed.),
Kriegstagebuch des Oberkommandos der Wehrmacht (Wehrmachtfiihsrungsstab)
1940-1945 (Frankfurt am Main: Bernard & Graefe, 1961) hereafter Kriegstagebuch
OKW, Vol.1, pp.1076-82.
92. H.-A. Jacobsen, 1939-1945: Der Zweite Weltkrieg in Chronik und Dokumenten
(Darmstadt: Wehr und Wissen, 1961), p.288.
93. Ziemke and Bauer, Moscow to Stalingrad, p.286.
HITLER'S QUEST FOR OIL 133
94. For example, see Goebbels's diary entry for 20 March 1942, in R.G. Reuth (ed.),
Joseph Goebbels - Tagebucher, Band 4: 1940-1942 (Miinchen/Zurich: Serie Piper,
1992),pp.l767ff.
95. Domarus, Hitler: Reden und Proklamationen, Vol.11, p. 1826.
96. Joseph Goebbels -Tagebucher, Band 4, p. 1750 (entry for 3 1 Jan. 1942).
97. For Hitler's despondency and declining physical health during this period, see
Reinhardt, Die Wende vor Moskau, pp. 262-4.
98. Gorlitz (ed.), Keitel: Verbrecher oder Offizier, p.298.
99. Cf.Warlimont,/m, Hauptquartier, Vol.1, p.241.
100. Guderian, Erinnerungen, p. 343; On Hitler's departure from 'Clauzewitzian' doctrine,
see also R. Gehlen, The Service: the Memoirs of General Reinhard Gehlentrans. David
Irving with an Introduction by George Bailey (NY: Popular Library, 1972), pp. 74-7.
101. Reinhardt, Die Wende vorMoskau, pp.256-7.
102. Jacobsen, 1939-1945: DerZweite Weltkrieg, p.690.
103. 'Der Fuhrer und Oberste Befehlshaber der Wehrmacht Nr.: 1/42 gKdos OKW/WFSt/
Org.-WLRu Chefs', in Kriegstagebuch OKW, Vol.11, pp.1265-7.
104. Jacobsen, 1939-1945: Der Zweite Weltkrieg, p.690.
105 . Figures from Table 37 in Effects of Strategic Bombing, p .75 .
106. Figures from Table 39, ibid. , p.77.
107. Figures from Table 37, ibid. , p. 75.
108. Figures from Tabelle Nr. 3, in A. Hillgruber, Hitler, Konig Carol und Marschall
Antonescu: die deutsch-rumanischen Beziehungen 1938-1944 Veroffentlichungen des
Instituts fiir europaische Geschichte, Mainz, Band 5 (Wiesbaden: Steiner, 1965),
p. 249. See also Antonescu's telegram cited below in the following footnote. These
figures differ only slightly from those compiled in the authoritative The Science of
Petroleum: Vol.V, Part I: Crude Oils, ed. B.T. Brooks and A.E. Dunstan (London/
New York/Toronto: OUP, 1950), pp, 44, 45.
109. Telegram, Marshal Antonescu to Adolf Hitler, December 5, 1941', published as
Document No. 549 in Documents on German Foreign Policy, 1918-1945 Series D
VoLXIH: The War Years June 23, 1941-December 11, 1941 (London: HMSO, 1964),
pp.963-4.
110. 'Record of the Conversation between the Reich Foreign Minister [Ribbentrop] and
Rumanian Deputy Minister President Antonescu in Berlin on November 28, 1941',
published as Doc. No. 513, ibid., p. 873; see also Docs. 505, 519.
111. 'Record of Ion Antonescu's Conference with Ribbentrop , 12 February 1942' (Document
USSR-233),IMT,Vol.VII,p.326.
112. W. Meier-Dornberg, Die Olversorgung der Kriegsmarine 1935 bis 1945 (Freiburg:
1973),pp.68-71.
113. BA/MA RM 35 111/30: Bestande Lager Piraus vom 10.7.41-10.5.42, in Anlage zum
Kriegstagebuch Marine-Gruppenkommando Siid. Cf. also the rapidly plummeting
amounts of oil which reached German naval bases in the Aegean Sea and Black Sea in
the last months of 1941 and the first months of 1942 (same BA/MA file).
1 14. Editor's commentary in 'Fuehrer Conferences on Naval Affairs, 1942', p. 274.
115. Ciano's Diary 1939-1943, p,431 . A useful introduction to the Italian Navy's 'paralysing'
oil shortages can be found in J.J. Sadkovich, The Italian Navy in World War II, Con-
tributions in Military Studies, No. 149 (Westport, CT/London: Greenwood, 1994),
esp. pp.39, 78, 79, 240, 286, 287.
116. Ciano's Diary 1939-1943,pA20(entryfoT6 Jan. 1942).
117. BA/MA RW 19/177: WiRuAmtAz. 11 k2209Ro Vs., Nr. 3241 141 gKdos, Berlin, den
7. Oktober 1941: Stand der Mineralolversorgung im 4. Vierteljahr 1941 ausgehend von
der Lage am 1.10.1 941 ; and figures from Table 39 in Effects of Strategic Bombing, p . 77.
118. Over-all Report, p.40.
119. USAFHRA 512.607: 'The Fuel Position of the German Air Force', AMWIS No. 129,
Up to 1200- 18th February 1942 (on microfilm 32769).
120. USAFHRA 142.0372: 'Strategic Value ...', p.14; B.T. Brooks, Peace, Plenty and
Petroleum (Lancaster, PA: Cattell, 1944; Hyperion reprint edition, 1976), p. 84.
134 THE JOURNAL OF STRATEGIC STUDIES
121. A. Nazaroff, 'The Soviet Oil Industry', The Russian Review, Vol.1, No.l (Nov. 1941),
p.89. Nazaroff bases this figure on Soviet 'official data* which, sadly, he does not
cite. In 1942, German intelligence estimated that the Soviet production total for that
year would be 33,000,000 tons (USAFHRA K113. 106-153 V. 11: Der Chef des
Wehrwirtschaft-und Riistungsamts beim OKW an den Chef des Generalstabes der
Luftwaffe Herrn Generaloberst Jeschonnek, Berlin, den 31.3. 1942, p. 10). In Table IV
of The Science of Petroleum, Vol. V, Part I: Crude Oils, W.L. Nelson gives a lower, but
still tremendous, 1940 production total of 31,000,000 tons, surpassed only by the
United States. On p. 22 of his book The Enigma of Soviet Petroleum: Half-Full or Half
Empty? (London/Boston/Sydney: Allen & Unwin, 1980), M.I. Goldman gives a similar
figureof 31, 121,000 tonsfor 1940.
122. Brooks and Dunstan, The Science of Petroleum, p.44.
123. Hitler's Table Talk, 1941-1944 (London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1953), p.615
(entry for5 Aug. 1942).
124. Cf. Gorlitz (ed.), Keitel: Verbrecher oder Offizier, pp.298, 299; W. Jochmann
(ed.), Hitler, Monologe im Fuhrerhauptquartier, 1941-1944 (Hamburg: Knaus, 1980),
pp.328, 329.
125. After the war, Haider dishonestly claimed that he openly criticized the Caucasus plan.
See his Hitler als Feldherr (Munich: Dom, 1949), pp.48ff. Adolf Heusinger, Chief of
Operations in the Army General Staff and, in the post-war period, Inspector-General
of the Bundeswehr and Chairman of the NATO armed forces, makes similar claims in
his self-serving memoir, Befehlim Widerstreit (Tubingen/Stuttgart: Rainer Wunder-
lich,1950),p.l76.
126. BA/MA RM 7/259: Mar. Verb. Offz. zum OKH (Genst. d.H.) B. Nr. 29/42 gKdos.
Chefs. An das Oberkommando der Kriegsmarine - 1 Abt. Ski. - Berlin. Betr.:
'Unternehmen Suez',
127. BA/MA RFW 19/202: Wi Ru Amt Stab Z/SR, den 16. Februar 1942: 'Die deutsche
Treibstoffversorgung im Kriege. Abgeschlossen um die Jahreswende 1941142*, in Aus-
ziigeausKTB, WiRUAmt/ Stab (nurMineralolbetref fend), Beginn 1.5. 1940.
128. OKW/F.H.Qu., den 6. Juni 1942, 'Wehrkrafi der Wehrmacht im Fruhjahr 1942',
reproduced in Jacobsen, 1939-1945: DerZweite Weltkrieg, p.309ff .
129. Cf. Ludendorff , My War Memoirs, Vol.11, pp.658-60.
130. Quoted in B.A. Leach, German Strategy against Russia, 1939-1941 (Oxford:
Clarendon , 1973) , p , 146. Also see the document cited in note 55 .
131. An OKM memorandum of 9 May 1941 makes the same point about there being no
available transport ships because all oil tankers were fully occupied with the transport
of Rumanian oil up the Danube. Cited in N. Rich, Hitler's War Aims: the Establish-
ment of the New Order (London: Deutsch, 1974), p.498.
132. USAFHRA 180.642A Vol.2: The Commander in Chief, Navy, and Chief, Naval Staff,
to Naval Group South: 1/Skl 1 m 275/42 gKdos. Chefs. 23 February 1942. Subject:
Operations in the Black Sea (note: this transl. document is from Vol.11 of the unpub-
lished Fuehrer Directives and other Top-Level Directives of the German Armed Forces,
compiled by the US AF) .
133. Cf. Report to the Fuehrer made by the C.-in-C, Navy, on the Afternoon of February,
13 February 1942, in 'Fuehrer Conferences on Naval Affairs, 1942*, pp.261-5.
134. The surplus refinement capacity of the plants at Ploesti was no secret. For example,
in early 1942, British Air Ministry intelligence staff accurately calculated it to be
4,000,000 tons per year. While they noted that Germany did not have a tanker fleet
sufficient to transport the oil from the Caucasus to Rumania, they did warn that it
could probably also use part of Vichy France's large fleet in the Mediterranean.
USAFHRA 512.607: 'German Plans for Russian Oil', AMWIS No.134, Up to 1200-
25 March 1942 (on microfilm 32769).
135. G.E. Blau, The German Campaign in Russia: Planning and Operations (1940-42)
Department of the Army, Study No.20-261a (Washington, DC: Department of the
Army, 1955), pp.109, 130.
136. Haider, Kriegstagebuch, Vol.III, pp.420, 421.
HITLER'S QUEST FOR OIL 135
137. Warlimont, Im Hauptquartier, Vol. I, p.243.
138. WeisungNr. 41, in Hubatsch (ed.), Hitlers Weisungen, p. 183-8.
139. Manstein, Verlorene Siege , pp.214, 217.
140. Letter from Ldhr to von Reichenau, dated 5 Jan. 1942, in NARS T971/18/856-883;
Erfahrungen und Auswirkung beim Einsdtze der Luftwaffe im Kdmpfe urn Festungen
(Erlautert an dem Beispeil des Kampfes um Sevastopol im Juni 1942) (OKL, Chef
Genstb. 8. Abt., Anlage zu Br. B. Nr. 1803/44 Geheim! Wien, am 16. Juni 1944) .
141. USAFHRAK113.309-3 Vol.3: Deutsche Luftwaffenmission Rumanien I a Nr. 17142
gKdos. laop3 (LS), Bukarest, den7. 1.1942, ' Einsatz der deutschen Luftstschutzkrdfte
in Rumanien 194 V ,Boog, etal., Der Angriff auf die Sowjetunion, pp.1052, 1053.
142. NARS T405/49/4888179: Deutsche Luftwaffenmission Rumanien Qu.Br. Bericht Nr.
1572 gKdos. HI. Ang., den 18. Juli 1941: 'Belegungsubersichte Rumanien, Stand:
18.7.194V.
143. R. Muller, 'Germany's Satellite Air Forces: Coalition Air Warfare on the Eastern
Front, 1941-1944', paper presented to the Conference of the Society for Military
History, Kingston, Ontario, May 1993.
144. BA/MA RL 9/62: Deutsche Luftwaffenmission Rumanien FiXhr. Abt. la Nr. 1841/41,
gKdos, Bukarest, den 14.12.1941. Betr.: Bericht uber Luftverteidigung Olgebiet
Rumanien.
145. USAFHRAK1 13.309-3 Vol.3: Deutsche Luftwaffenmission Rumanien la Nr. 17/42, la
op 3 (LS), gKdos, Bukarest, den 7.1.1942: 'Einsatz der deutschen Luftstschutzkrdfte in
Rumanien 194V ,p. 153.
146. Weinberg,/! World at Arms, p All.
147. Domarus, Hitler: Reden und Proklamationen, Vol. IV, pp. 1865-77, (esp. pp.1872,
1873).
148. Gano's Diary, pA60 (entry for 27 April 1942).
149. Ibid. ,p.462 (entry for 29 April 1942).
150. BA/MA RM 7/259: Bericht uber Besprechung am 30.4.1942. Ort: Berghof Dienst-
tuender Adjutant: Generalmajor Schmundt. gKdos. Gegenstand: Der Fuhrer bespricht
die militdrische Lage.
151. USAFHRA K113.106-153: Derlnspekteurdes Luftschutzes Az. 41 Nr. 2099/42 g., den
21.8.1942, 'Schaden auf den Olfeldern von Maikop und Krasnodar*, gez. Knipfer.
Although most wells at Maikop were permanently destroyed when concrete was poured
down the bores, two were *capable of further use* and another, after the fires were
extinguished, also looked hopeful.
152. W. Murray, Strategy for Defeat: the Luftwaffe, 1933-1945 (Air University, Maxwell
AFB: Airpower Research Institute, 1983), pp.272-3.
153. M. Cooper, The German Air Force, 1933-1945: an Anatomy of Failure (London:
Jane's, 1981), p.349.
154. K. Bartz, Swastika in the Air: the Struggle and Defeat of the German Air Force,
1939-1945 (London: Kimber, 1956), p.184.
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