Tungsten; Wolfram
Tungsten; Wolfram
Did Germany import tungsten from Portugal during WWII? Who was the individual in Germany that was over this area? Tungsten was used in the shell heads to harden them for better armor penetration. After the war have there been any questions as to Portugal and Salazar’s involvement with the Third Reich.
Al Carter
Al Carter
>Did Germany import tungsten from Portugal during WWII? Who was the individual in Germany that was over this area? Tungsten was used in the shell heads to harden them for better armor penetration. After the war have there been any questions as to Portugal and Salazar’s involvement with the Third Reich. <
I am not to sure who was the supplier of the tungsten.
But on the point of the tungsten being used in shells is only partially true. The majority of tungesten was required for the machining tools. This was why it was not used in German shells after a point.
I am not to sure who was the supplier of the tungsten.
But on the point of the tungsten being used in shells is only partially true. The majority of tungesten was required for the machining tools. This was why it was not used in German shells after a point.
- Ebusitanus
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Portugal did produce much of Europe's Wolfram. The Allies did their best to "outbuy" the Axis of all available stocks in Portugal. Even then Salazar was wise enough to keep a good batch ready to ship to Germany every month. This went on till mid 1943 when Portugal felt sure enough about Allied ultimate victory and the possibility of German-Spanish invasion had all but evaporated. This is the same time when Portugal finally allowed the Allied airfields on the Azores islands to be build. Up until then only Allied ships could dock under the excuse of the ages old English-Portugese friendship pact. Wolfram came also from Spain but in 1/10 of quantities to the Portuguese mines.
Good Post
Good post, I did not know this about Portugal.
Ebusitanus wrote:Portugal did produce much of Europe's Wolfram. The Allies did their best to "outbuy" the Axis of all available stocks in Portugal. Even then Salazar was wise enough to keep a good batch ready to ship to Germany every month. This went on till mid 1943 when Portugal felt sure enough about Allied ultimate victory and the possibility of German-Spanish invasion had all but evaporated. This is the same time when Portugal finally allowed the Allied airfields on the Azores islands to be build. Up until then only Allied ships could dock under the excuse of the ages old English-Portugese friendship pact. Wolfram came also from Spain but in 1/10 of quantities to the Portuguese mines.
- Scott Smith
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URAN
Uranium armor-piercing-incendiaries were also developed to reduce the need for tungsten in AP ammunition. Machine tools were worth their weight in gold, as were all nonferrous metals.
good posts
Hey now
What am I a sandwich?
You guys the meat?
All kidding off thanks for the info gents.
What am I a sandwich?
You guys the meat?
All kidding off thanks for the info gents.
- Y Ddraig Goch
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Wolframite
In Albert Speers 'Inside the Third Reich'. He mentions Wolframite imports from Portugal and them being cut. Instead of Wolframite being used in anti-tank projectiles he suggested using Uranium stocks.
/ Mike
"That which does not kill us makes us stronger"
Friedrich Nietzsche
"That which does not kill us makes us stronger"
Friedrich Nietzsche
Tungsten was first discovered in Sweden (the name literally means means "heavy stone" in Swedish). There is still some mining of it in Sweden. I saw a table stating that the US imports less than half a ton a year from Sweden, out of 10 000 tons total world wide. Maybe there was a Swedish Tungsten export to Germany during the war.
Russia & China
Didn't Germany also import tungsten from Russia and Chine before they broke the non-aggression pact with Russia?
Al Carter
Al Carter
- Scott Smith
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Re: Russia & China
I don't know but they imported chromium from Turkey, which was vital to the war-effort, and it was cutoff when the Soviets seized the Balkans in 1944-45. That was a big fear that helped precipitate the Barbarossa invasion in 1941.Al Carter wrote:Didn't Germany also import tungsten from Russia and Chine before they broke the non-aggression pact with Russia?
Re: Russia & China
mostly from China before 1939Al Carter wrote:Didn't Germany also import tungsten from Russia and Chine before they broke the non-aggression pact with Russia?
Al Carter
an interesting article:
Sino-German cooperation 1911-1941
and
http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?t=94984
PS, Germany intended to help China build a tungsten refining factory in Jiangxi province in 1936
best
Fausto and Juan Jose de Elhuyar are usually credited for the discovery of tungsten in Spain in 1783, although Karl Wilhelm Scheele and Torbern Bergman (who both worked in Sweden) hypothesized of the existance of this metal a couple of years earlier.Pumpkin wrote:Tungsten was first discovered in Sweden (the name literally means means "heavy stone" in Swedish). There is still some mining of it in Sweden. I saw a table stating that the US imports less than half a ton a year from Sweden, out of 10 000 tons total world wide. Maybe there was a Swedish Tungsten export to Germany during the war.
There is a usefull article concerning Portugals wolfram exports during WWII here:
http://www.questia.com/PM.qst;jsessioni ... 5001286099
(it will have to be pasted into the adress bar as it contains ! marks)
best regards
- Denim Demon
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Tungsten is a classic Non Ferrous Metal. It was Imported from both Spain and Portugal by the German Reich.
Germany only had 3 Smelting plants for non Ferrous Metals available to them. Antwerp, Hamburg and Mansfeld.
1942 611 tons were Imported from Portugal
1943 463 tons Imported from Portugal
1944 895 tons Imported from Portugal
The responsible German Was Dipl.- Ing Dr. Stoffregen ( or Soffregen ) in Speers Industry he controlled raw material stocks and planning as well as processing. He really is the big guy. the dipl ing thing means dr of engineering
Dr. Schultheis in the Planning department was responsible for foreign trade - he planned what was needed from foreign suppliers
Hope that starts you - the portugese thing was interesting in that the USA was engaged in a fierce battle to strip the germans of their tungsten supply - ultimately resulting in the purchase of large quantities of Portugese and Spanish ores at a loss to deprive the germans of it. Point was of course moot after anvil of course.
Tungsten was a critical element of the german war industry and its shortage caused the scapping of many excellent weapons systems.
the germans were forced to use creative measures such as larger calibres, rifling and sabot shot to increase velocity to make up for tungsten. this of course resulted in greater barrel wear forcing the germans to mify their barrels into sections to replace the worn ones more easily.
remember the 57mm US at gun gun using tungsten ammo was more feared by the germans than russian 90 - 120mm tank and at guns and drastically outperformed the 76mm.
Germany only had 3 Smelting plants for non Ferrous Metals available to them. Antwerp, Hamburg and Mansfeld.
1942 611 tons were Imported from Portugal
1943 463 tons Imported from Portugal
1944 895 tons Imported from Portugal
The responsible German Was Dipl.- Ing Dr. Stoffregen ( or Soffregen ) in Speers Industry he controlled raw material stocks and planning as well as processing. He really is the big guy. the dipl ing thing means dr of engineering
Dr. Schultheis in the Planning department was responsible for foreign trade - he planned what was needed from foreign suppliers
Hope that starts you - the portugese thing was interesting in that the USA was engaged in a fierce battle to strip the germans of their tungsten supply - ultimately resulting in the purchase of large quantities of Portugese and Spanish ores at a loss to deprive the germans of it. Point was of course moot after anvil of course.
Tungsten was a critical element of the german war industry and its shortage caused the scapping of many excellent weapons systems.
the germans were forced to use creative measures such as larger calibres, rifling and sabot shot to increase velocity to make up for tungsten. this of course resulted in greater barrel wear forcing the germans to mify their barrels into sections to replace the worn ones more easily.
remember the 57mm US at gun gun using tungsten ammo was more feared by the germans than russian 90 - 120mm tank and at guns and drastically outperformed the 76mm.