How crucial was Sweden?

Discussions on the economic history of the nations taking part in WW2, from the recovery after the depression until the economy at war.
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Sam H.
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How crucial was Sweden?

#1

Post by Sam H. » 12 Aug 2003, 20:30

How crucial was Sweden and her imports of Iron Ore to Germany? I've heard many times how Hitler constantly justified military action to safe guard the flow of iron ore and other raw materials (invasion of Denmark and Norway), but was the materials worth the effort? Did Germany's war effort (economy) depend upon Sweden?
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Qvist
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#2

Post by Qvist » 14 Aug 2003, 09:39

Apparently German dependence on Swedish ore was strongly reduced after the conquest of France (who possessed ample ore). Don't have any details though, I am sorry to say.

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alsaco
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Iron ore and Germany

#3

Post by alsaco » 14 Aug 2003, 22:55

The quality of french iron ore did not permit the elaboration of special steel needed for bearings and similar precision parts

The importance of swedish ore remained therefore essential, not so much for panzers, but for motors and roller bearing transmissons
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Sam H.
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Re: Iron ore and Germany

#4

Post by Sam H. » 14 Aug 2003, 23:05

alsaco wrote:The quality of french iron ore did not permit the elaboration of special steel needed for bearings and similar precision parts

The importance of swedish ore remained therefore essential, not so much for panzers, but for motors and roller bearing transmissons
Could Germany find alternative sources of the ore? Basically, was Sweden crucial or just a luxury to the German war machine?
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varjag
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#5

Post by varjag » 19 Aug 2003, 13:09

My tuppence worth is that the German mills had for decades been specially designed to handle the Swedish ore which had a very high iron content (60 - 65%) but also a high sulphur percentage which appearently presented a problem that the German mills were designed to overcome. Sweden crucial - don't know - but the Lapland ore certainly was essential.
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Foelkersam
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#6

Post by Foelkersam » 23 Feb 2004, 15:23

Here is an interesting list:

German imports of Swedish iron ore (all figures are in millions of tons)

The columns:
1) Year
2) German domestic production of Iron
3) Total German iron ore imports
4) German iron ore imports from Sweden


1939 14,7 19,6 10,0
1940 19,2 9,9 8,4
1941 18,1 17,4 9,2
1942 15,3 17,8 7,9
1943 15,2 19,6 9,6
1944 - 8,2 3,4


Source: The oxford companion to World War II
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John T
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Re: How crucial was Sweden?

#7

Post by John T » 25 Feb 2004, 23:06

Sam H. wrote:How crucial was Sweden and her imports of Iron Ore to Germany? I've heard many times how Hitler constantly justified military action to safe guard the flow of iron ore and other raw materials (invasion of Denmark and Norway), but was the materials worth the effort? Did Germany's war effort (economy) depend upon Sweden?
A lot of statistics here:
http://members.tripod.com/~Sturmvogel/SteelCoal.html

It basically says the same thing as the previous speakers
but with some more detail.


Cheers
/John T.
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