石油！拖垮強大德軍裝甲部隊！為什麼希特勒不攻佔中東地區獲取石油？不缺石油的二戰德國有多可怕? #重返戰場 #二戰 #德國 #虎式坦克 #苏联

We often talk about if Germany had won a particular battle maybe the outcome of World War II would have been reversed but looking at Germany's oil reserves World War II was a war that was already destined to fail because the nature of war is a confrontation of economy and resources Today let's take a look How much did Germany lack oil during World War II and how hard did they try for oil The story begins in pre-war Germany Many people know that Germany was a country rich in resources and with developed industry and agriculture In 1871 Germany had one of the largest land areas in Europe Lübeck region is the best coal producing area in Europe It has the best iron ore resources in Europe In the second half of the 19th century Germany's economy developed rapidly In 1913 it became the first industrial power in Europe However soon after the second industrial revolution centered on petrochemicals erupted simultaneously in the United States and continental Europe But Germany awkwardly discovered that there were almost no oil resources within its own territory and almost all of Europe's land oil resources were concentrated in Romania The Caucasus region of Russia However for a considerable period of time human-powered machinery remained primarily fueled by coal Germany once again took the lead in the power industry In a short time it was not choked by oil resources However after the First World War humanity entered the era of mechanized warfare Germany realized that even with vast coal reserves it could not power airplanes and tanks a problem that became especially evident during World War II when Germany equipped more than 50 000 tanks throughout the war There are over 110 000 aircraft of all types The total number of naval vessels has reached more than 4 500 But once there is no oil What about these weapons They would all turn into lifeless scrap metal The combat power of the German army would drastically shrink so after Hitler came to power in 1933 they began to rearm and prepare for war how to obtain oil resources The combat readiness became the top priority The sources of oil in Germany before the war were mainly from imports In 1939 Germany imported 5.26 million tons of oil Most of it came from Romania In the same year August The Soviet Union and Germany signed the non-aggression pact Germany received 900 000 tons of oil from the Soviet Union The remaining part came from Iran Austria and other countries are also working to develop technology to convert coal into fuel Let's look at the oil production of other major countries in the same year United States 170.94 million tons Soviet Union 33 million tons Oil production in the UK and its colonies was not outstanding But the British used their substantial capital and influence to penetrate the major oil fields around the world and their presence can be seen in oil extraction transportation and sales so they should not be underestimated in the oil industry It can be seen from the data that the Allies' oil supply crippled Germany It could be said that in the later stages of World War II Americans flooded Germany and Japan with oil In normal circumstances Germany should not start a war at this time because the strategic oil reserve is only 2.4 million tons which is just enough to maintain current operations in Germany Hitler counted on his fingers and calculated the cost of the invasion of Poland would be 500 000 tons of oil but the Blitzkrieg went very smoothly It took only 100 000 tons to take down Poland and some of Poland's oil reserves were captured Hitler saw potential in it They immediately attacked France Belgium Luxembourg and the Netherlands He estimated that 1.5 million tons of oil would be consumed The Manstein Plan was very successful This war cost less than 500 000 tons of oil Oil reserves were not consumed Instead over 8.8 million tons of oil were captured The 40-year-old British oil reserve The total amount of oil Germany has obtained reached 15 million tons After domestic consumption of 10 million tons There is still 5 million tons of surplus Hitler tasted the sweetness of war but reality gave him a crushing blow Germany wanted to rule Europe The minimum standard should have a production of 20 million tons of oil while Germany's actual production capacity is around 13 million tons Including the current surplus there is a deficit of 2 million tons If we do not launch an attack on the Soviet Union the deficit will further increase The German war machine would gradually shrink which was not what Hitler wanted so he once again began to plunder oil on a global scale He identified three possible paths for Germany the first being Romania nearby From a geographical perspective Romania is Germany's best source of oil although it does not border Germany but is separated by small Central European countries that are generally weak It was easy to be absorbed by Germany Romania had rich oil resources and good quality In the 1930s Romania was still an agricultural country Most of its oil could only be used for export At that time Britain and the United States had already invested heavily in oil projects in Romania Seeing Germany's strong demand for Romanian oil they naturally took it very seriously Before the official outbreak of war in 1939 Britain used money as a weapon trying every means to seize oil from the Germans Britain not only bought large quantities of oil Moreover various measures were taken to prevent German oil shipments the lower Danube region where Romania is located land transportation is difficult but the Danube's shipping capacity is very strong So the wealthy British people simply bought all 182 tankers in the Danube at that time even though their capacity far exceeded their needs They also firmly prevented Germany from using it while Britain and France were also courting Romania on a political level hoping that it would take a stance after the war broke out It was able to cut off oil supplies to Germany but after Germany occupied Poland in 1939 it was already adjacent to Romania making it almost impossible for Britain and France to do so Stopping Germany from obtaining Romanian oil Of the 2.07 million tons of oil Germany imported in 1940 Romania accounted for 970 000 tons However what neither Britain nor France could have anticipated was the Soviet Union's decisive intervention Romania was fully pushed into Germany's arms June 1940 The Soviet Union invaded and annexed Romania Northern Bukovina and Bessarabia The same year Antonescu came to power Leading Romania towards the Axis Supplies about five million tons of high-quality oil to Germany annually By 1941 Germany imported 2.37 million tons of oil Romania's oil imports reached as high as 2.09 million tons After the outbreak of the German-Soviet war in 1941 The Soviet Air Force bombed Romanian oil facilities But the Germans had already anticipated this move The bombing yielded no results On the night of June 11 1942 the Allies ' first bombing of Romanian oil fields prompted the Germans to further expand the air defense forces in the area For the next two years Romania supplied one -third of Germany's oil and all of Italy' s oil To the Central Powers Romania's oil fields made the Germans' tanks unstoppable Just as the Germans thought they could rest easy the US bomber forces joined the European theater on August 1 1943 177 American B-24 bombers departed from Benghazi Airport The first large-scale bombing of the Ploiesti oil fields in Romania Although they faced strong resistance from the German Air Force and anti-aircraft units the bombs dropped by the US forces damaged the oil field destroying a quarter of its capacity From April to June 1944 the Allied forces launched 24 high- altitude bombing raids dropping approximately 130 000 tons of bombs The Proyești oil field was finally completely destroyed When the Soviet Army entered Romania in August 1944 The oil field's production was already negligible But Hitler did not place all his hopes in Romania The place on Earth that produces the most oil is undoubtedly the Middle East and Hitler also set his sights on the Middle East's oil but throughout the entire World War II Why haven't Germans set foot in the Middle East Let's look at this issue from two aspects: first opening the route to the Middle East and second defeating the rivals who seize Middle Eastern oil First can Germany open a route to Middle Eastern oil Geographically Germany has two routes to the Middle East The closest route is to go through Turkey directly to the Middle East Or to open up the Soviet Union's western advance to the Middle East Let's analyze these two routes one by one Turkey as the gateway from Europe to the Middle East is the necessary route for Germany to reach the Middle East However when it came to Turkey Germany had a hard time Germany could not fight Turkey Why Because in the early stages of World War II Turkey was not only very friendly towards Germany but also remained neutral Germany had no justification for attacking Turkey and Turkey's attitude was very pragmatic If the Allies forced me to fight Germany I would surrender to Germany If Germany forced me to fight the Allies I would I surrendered to the Allied forces This ensured Turkey's neutrality Then could Germany use Turkey to attack the Middle East The answer was still no Turkey's neutrality policy at the time Let all countries be unable to pass through its territory Forcing passage can only lead to war Therefore Germany's path through Turkey is completely unworkable Fortunately Turkey has also declared They did not participate in World War II to help the Allies so both sides were pleased with Turkey 's neutral stance However after Germany launched a surprise attack on the Soviet Union in June 1941 Opened another door When Germany was advancing rapidly in the Soviet Union Iran also became one of Germany's options Northern Iran borders the Soviet Union It was also connected to the German-occupied areas and at that time Middle Eastern countries such as Saudi Arabia were under British control The only channel through which Britain aided the Soviet Union was Iran With this in mind Iran became a battleground for the three parties However the actions of Britain and the Soviet Union were much faster than Germany's August 25 1941 British and Soviet forces separately occupied Iran from the north and south January 29 1942 Under the pressure from Britain and the Soviet Union The UK Soviet Union and Iran signed a treaty of alliance This treaty effectively closed Iran's door to Germany In fact at first Iran didn't want to get involved in this world war after all Iran was no longer the former Persian Empire and its international status was also getting worse day by day This great war once involved would be a catastrophe for all living beings However neutrality of a small country is not something you can maintain just by wanting to Britain and the Soviet Union used war measures to forcibly drag Iran into the conflict What happened after the occupation of Iran The UK opened the supply route to the Soviet Union Throughout World War II The supplies delivered by the Allies to the Soviet Union through Iran totaled 5.5 million tons Iran is more renowned as the bridge to victory in World War II At this point someone is definitely going to say that the North African theater was the third route to the Middle East oil fields Just looking at the geography alone That's correct but war has never been composed of a single element Initially the German army entered the North African battlefield to help Italy Rommel became the desert lion in North Africa and it was then that Guderian seemed to see a crack in the door to the Middle East but from the previous videos of the soldiers It is also clear that Rommel's defeat at El Alamein was due to the serious problem of supply shortages The North African theater was like a microcosm of the entire World War II The Germans were crippled by the oil issue Rommel's victory was just a fleeting moment From the beginning it was destined that he would not reach the Middle East Why Because he didn't have enough fuel to drive the tank through That's getting off track Let's go back to the previous question Let's make a bold assumption If there are two routes through Turkey and Iran One of them was penetrated by the Germans Could they overcome their rivals in seizing Middle Eastern oil The answer was also no At that time the Middle East was under British influence Wanting to enter the Middle East would mean breaking the existence of Britain but Hitler focused on the German-Soviet front if it led to the collapse of his strategic plan because of the Middle East that would be a loss outweighing the gain Hitler was also unable to turn his guns for a large-scale attack Therefore provocation became the most important strategy 1939 German General Wilhelm Canaris gifted 4000 rifles to Palestine in an effort to establish a fifth column supporting Germany This became one of the beginnings of Germany's incitement of the Arabs Germany's spy network began to spread throughout the Saudi Arabian state Hitler even sent his most trusted foreign minister Ribbentrop to meet specifically with Saudi representatives to offer substantial military aid Including 8 000 rifles and 8 million weapons and ammunition Germany became the largest arms dealer in the Middle East If Middle Eastern countries come to request weapons Welcome all who come Germany's generosity soon attracted the attention of Middle Eastern opportunists early 1941 at that time pro-German elements in Iraq al-Gilani He secretly told Germany that if Germany gave him weapons he would rise up and fight Britain and when Hitler heard this news he immediately decided to send weapons to Iraq Iraq not only has an extremely abundant oil production but is also close to Iran if Iraq really became a pawn of the Germans then it could cut off the British-Soviet supply line The plan to attack the Soviet Union was a huge advantage but Hitler didn't realize he had underestimated the British as he intended to take a secret route The Vichy French government mediated with Iraq to avoid Germany's direct involvement which might have alerted the British The Vichy regime also carefully communicated with Iraq but despite this The British intelligence agencies still had firsthand information Churchill immediately ordered to stop the Kilarney coup and sent troops to France the Lebanon and Syria regions The meticulously planned German operation was a complete failure Frustrated Hitler in June and September 1943 The Germans repeatedly bombed Iranian oil fields to force Iran to withdraw from World War II but at this time Iran was being choked by a hundred thousand British and Soviet troops Don't say it was bombed by Germany unless German tanks appear on the streets of Tehran otherwise Iran is still continuing as an ally did Hitler want the oil in the Middle East that's definitely true But the problem was that in the Middle East he could neither commit large forces nor defeat the oil barons of the Middle East so Hitler had to recklessly take the third path After the outbreak of World War II in 1939 Britain and France imposed an oil embargo on Germany but the Soviet Union did so because The Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact signed with Germany Exported 900 000 tons of oil to Germany that year 1940 Germany again imported 650 000 tons of oil from the Soviet Union It could be said that before the outbreak of the German-Soviet War Germany's oil reserves reached their peak But Hitler believed that the Soviet Union would eventually clash with Germany and therefore it was necessary to completely eliminate the Soviet Union through a swift decisive battle 1941 Germany again imported 280 000 tons of oil from the Soviet Union but the German-Soviet war broke out in full scale in June meaning that Germany's oil imports from the Soviet Union came to a complete stop But Hitler overestimated the rapid offensive capability of the German armored forces he seemed not to have seriously calculated the distance from the current border line to the Soviet oil fields By the end of 1941 when the Germans suffered a disastrous defeat in Moscow the southern German forces were still fighting desperately in Ukraine meaning that within half a year they had not managed to seize a single drop of oil from the Soviet Union Oil reserves had fallen to 790 000 tons and with the full-scale offensive the German army also suffered heavy losses so by early 1942 Hitler had to redraw his battle plan and shift the focus of the attack entirely to the southern front with the goal of capturing the oil fields in the Caucasus region of the Soviet Union For this he ordered the reinforcement of the Southern Army Group Split again into two parts Army Group A Launches a full-scale attack southward into the Caucasus region Army Group B Operates on the eastern side to cover its flank At the beginning of the campaign The Army Group has been victorious in consecutive battles August 9 1942 The Germans occupied the destroyed Maikop oil fields despite German technical personnel We are fully repairing the damaged production facilities But until April 1943 we could only achieve an oil production of 80 barrels per day This was also the only oil field in the Soviet Union that Germany occupied Just when the German forces were only one step away from the largest oil fields of the Soviet Union Hitler once again changed the focus of the attack directing the B Group Army to assault Stalingrad The main priority of the German army became the A Army Group resulting in a sharp reduction in supplies to the A Army Group despite the already strained logistics capabilities German tanks failed to capture the Baku oil fields due to lack of fuel and what Hitler could not have imagined was that the fully supported Army Group B ultimately suffered defeat at Stalingrad To prevent being surrounded by the Soviet Army Army Group A had to abandon the hard-won oil fields and retreat hastily After that the German forces continuously retreated deeper into Soviet territory We could no longer obtain oil resources from the Soviet Union In fact besides these three oil routes the Germans also pointed out the oil potential in technology In 1913 German scientist Bergius first invented a method for producing liquid fuel by coal liquefaction under high temperature and pressure In 1921 Germany built an experimental facility with a coal processing capacity of 5 tons per day In 1927 the world's first industrial-scale coal direct liquefaction plant was established Germany had built and put into operation 12 coal direct liquefaction units when World War II broke out in 1939 by 1944 Oil production capacity can reach 4.23 million tons per year which can provide two-thirds of the fuel for the German army and 50% of the automotive fuel but coal-to-oil is equivalent to The high cost of imported oil 40 times more expensive At this point Germany was already at its last gasp Even at such a high cost it had to be endured However this was not the worst problem yet The actual production capacity of synthetic fuel in Germany could only meet 40% of the military 's requirements By the end of 1943 the German army had lost the initiative on the battlefield The Allied forces began bombing Germany Starting in May 1944 Heavy bombers focused on Germany's coal chemical facilities and oil tanks By September of the same year each German fuel plant had been bombed at least twice and the daily production of aviation oil dropped to 3 000 barrels just a fraction of what it had been in 1944 6 percent of the four-month average production a minimum supply of 160 000 tons of oil per month dropped sharply to 10 000 tons in September As a result the German navy was forced to reduce the number of submarine attacks which also allowed the Allies to transport more resources leading to the D-Day landings in 1944 It was due to this that the German Air Force reduced pilots' training time significantly in order to save fuel leading to a rapid decline in the overall combat effectiveness of the German Air Force By the end of 1944 The Allied forces easily gained full air superiority the German army reverted from mechanization to a Romanized state and the infantry divisions abandoned all vehicles The size of the German armored divisions was rapidly shrinking In early 1945 all the artillery of the German armored divisions could only be pulled by horses leading to further collapse on the German land battlefield In November 1944 Hitler decided to launch the Battle of the Bulge hoping to recreate the glory of the armored surge but found that their remaining fuel was insufficient It was only enough to allow the German tanks to advance less than 100 kilometers For this Hitler had to take the Allied oil depots as an important objective of this campaign But due to a major intelligence failure the oil captured by the German forces in the early stages of the campaign was still not enough to meet their own consumption making the entire campaign like throwing people to the slaughter especially in the later stages The heavily armored tank that emerged unscathed from the initial battles was abandoned by the soldiers merely because it had no fuel highlighting the German armored forces' struggles during the Battle of the Bulge The already meager fuel supplies were further worsened by the situation By early 1945 Germany's oil resources had run out and its war machine completely collapsed By May when Germany made its final surrender Germany no longer has any operational mechanized equipment The reasons for Germany's defeat were many but the shortage of oil was certainly one of the important reasons Oil is the blood of the war machine of every country This statement is still very accurate whether applied to Germany at that time or to the world today Brothers what do you think Would the outcome of World War II have changed if the Germans had 20 million tons of oil I'm a soldier see you in the next video