1. HIST2125 Hitler’s Germany Lecture 16: Total War Economy and Total War, 1942-45 6 December 2012

2. NS Economy: 3 Phases NS ‘economic miracle’ & rearmament, 1933- 36 Four Year Plan & early war economy, 1936- 42 Total War economy: Era Speer, 1942-45

3. Total War Economy (1) Albert Speer as minister for total war economy ↓ → Strict centralisation to increase industrial output → Minimum freedom of private industry → ‘Slave work’ by forced labour & camp prisoners = Initially very successful strategy: Speer most powerful Nazi & possible successor of Hitler

4. Albert Speer (1905-81) Hitler’s architect Minister of Armaments and War Production (1942-45) Autobiographical works: Inside the Third Reich (German: 1969, English: 1970) Spandau: The Secret Diaries (German: 1975, English: 1976)

5. Total War Economy (2) Weapon + ammunition + aircraft production (3 x higher) - Tanks production (7 x higher) Limited modernization + rationalization effects Not all industrial capacities fully exploited = Compared to USA: 3 x lower production = General inferiority of Axis powers’ war economy ≠ Allies: Impossible to overcome

6. Foreign policy 4-phase-model Revisionist and high-risk foreign politics, 1933-36 Expansionist foreign politics, 1938/39 Blitz Wars and ideological warfare, 1939-42 Total War and downfall, 1943-45

7. ‘Unconditional Surrender’ Allied GB-US-SU conference in Casablanca, 25 Jan 1943  Strict demand of G’s ‘unconditional surrender’: → Increased popular support for NS regime → Weakened inner-German resistance → Stimulated Goebbels’ Total War propaganda, 18 Feb 1943  Ambivalent effects: Short-term pro NS regime, long-term contra NS

8. Allied air raids Frequent Allied air raids on Germany since end 1943: ↓ Aimed to break ‘moral’ of civilians + destroy important infrastructures Achieved complete air space superiority in early 1944 → Insufficient German air defense: Too few anti-aircraft guns (Flugabwehrkanone = Flak) → 500,000 civilian killed + major cities & 50 % of traffic & industry infrastructures destroyed  Counter-productive influence on moral  No decisive negative impact on total war economy

9. Allied Invasion in France, 6 Jun 1944 (D-Day) Stalin’s continuous request for ‘second frontline’:  Strong fortification of Atlantic coastline from Pyrenees to Holland by Wehrmacht & RAD  Allied attack expected at Channel coast but not in Normandy Decisive break-through of Allies, 30 Jul 1944 Liberation of Paris, 25 Aug 1944  Begin of final phase of WW II

10. Volkssturm (National Storm) All non-serving men 16 to 60 to support Wehrmacht: “Rise of the Masses” (Goebbels) Panzerfaust (anti-tank grenade launcher) only effective weapon → Absolutely irresponsible last attempt of NS regime → High casualties among untrained young & old men → Little effect on Allied warfare

11. Battle of Berlin, Apr-May 1945 Successful operation of SU armies vs. German capital: Marriage of Hitler & Eva Braun followed by joint suicide Last Reich government under Admiral Dönitz arrested by GB forces Successive military capitulations in Italy, 29 Apr 1945, + South & Northwest Germany, 4 May 1945 = Unconditional surrenders in Reims, 7 May 1945 (for West) + Berlin-Karlshorst, 8 May 1945 (for SU) = End of WW II in Europe + downfall of Third Reich