German–Soviet Commercial Agreement (1940)
Encyclopedia
The 1940 German-Soviet Commercial Agreement (also known as Economic Agreement of February 11, 1940, Between the German Reich and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics) was an economic arrangement between the Soviet Union
and Nazi Germany
signed on February 11, 1940 by which the Soviet Union agreed in period from February 11, 1940 to February 11, 1941, in addition to the deliveries under German–Soviet Commercial Agreement, signed on August 19, 1939
deliver the commodities (oil, raw materials and grain) to the value of 420 to 430 million Reichsmarks . In the period February 11, 1941, to August 11, 1941, there shall be delivered to Germany, likewise in addition to the deliveries provided for in the Credit Agreement of August 19, 1939, commodities to the value of 220 to 230 million Reichsmarks.In payment for the Soviet deliveries, Germany shall supply an own products (war materiel; machinery and technologies; raw materials).
Secret amendment to the Agreement suggest a parties negotiations in regards to the purchase by the Soviet Union of metals and other goods in third countries and to the sale of these metals and goods to Germany. Later also was negotiated a policy of the transit through Soviet territory a third countries commodities purchased by Germany.
The countries followed up the agreement and resolved other issues with the January 10, 1941 German–Soviet Border and Commercial Agreement
.
In June 1941, Germany invaded the Soviet Union
in violation of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, and all economic agreements between the two countries were ended.
Between January 1940 and date of the German invasion the total Soviet export to the Germany estimated in 597,9 million Reichsmarks. The German deliveries accounted as 437,1 million Reichsmarks.
The agreements continued Nazi–Soviet economic relations
and resulted in the delivery of large amounts of raw materials to Germany, including over 900,000 tons of oil, 1,600,000 tons of grain and 140,000 tons of manganese ore.
The Soviet Union received the incomplete Hipper class
naval cruiser Lützow, the plans to the battleship Bismarck
, information on German naval testing, "complete machinery for a large destroyer", heavy naval guns other naval gear and samples of thirty of Germany's latest warplanes, including the Me-109 fighters, Me-110 fighters, Ju-88 and Do-215
bombers. The Soviet Union also received oil and electric equipment, locomotives, turbines, generators, diesel engines, ships, machine tools and samples of Germany artillery, tanks, explosives, chemical-warfare equipment and other items.
The German war effort against the Soviet Union was partially supported by raw materials that Germany had obtained from the Soviets through the 1940 Commercial Agreement. In particular, the German stocks of rubber and grain would have been insufficient to support the initial invasion of the USSR if the Soviets had not exported these products to Germany earlier.
Trade with Soviet Union, promoted by the first credit operations, led to a brisk exchange of goods, which reached its highest point in 1931. In the early 1930s, however, Soviet imports decreased as the more isolationist Stalinist regime asserted power and dwindling adherence to the disarmament requirements of the Treaty of Versailles
decreased Germany's reliance on Soviet imports. In addition, the rise to power of the Nazi Party increased tensions between Germany and the Soviet Union.
In the mid-1930s, the Soviet Union made repeated efforts to reestablish closer contacts with Germany. The Soviets chiefly sought to repay debts from earlier trade with raw materials, while Germany sought to rearm, and the countries signed a credit agreement in 1935. the "Fourth Credit Operation, Special Transaction of 1935," was concluded on April 4, 1935. It placed at the disposal of the Soviet Union until June 30, 1937, 200 million Reichsmarks of credits to be repaid during the period from 1940 to 1943. The Soviet Union utilized 183 million Reichsmarksthis of this credit. The preceding credit Operations were liquidated, except for 5 million Reichsmarks, which were to be repaid in 1938.
Tensions increased because of Germany's support for the Fascist Spanish Nationalists in the Spanish Civil War
, while the Soviet Union supported the partially socialist-led Spanish Republic
opposition.
Economic reconciliation was hampered even further by political tension after the Anschluss
in mid-1938 and Hitler's increasing hesitance to deal with the Soviet Union. Soviet exports to Germany fell to 47.4 million Reichsmarks in 1937 (approximately one fifth of the 1934 total) and 52.8 million Reichsmarks in 1938. In short, the important trading relationship between the countries that existed in the 1920s essentially collapsed with Hitler's rise to power.
Throughout these years, the bulk of the imports from the Soviet Union consisted of raw materials equivalent to foreign exchange. For example, in 1937, 95 percent of imports to the Soviet Union were raw materials. Germany lacks natural supplies of several key raw materials needed for economic and military operations. In 1938, two thirds of German oil supply came from the United States and Latin America, while 52 per cent of German steel used imported iron ore originating from Sweden Germany's imports by countries (in Million of Reichsmarks) were as follows:
In August, as Germany planned to invade Poland and prepared for an eventual war with France, German war planners estimated that, with an expected British naval blockade, if the Soviet Union became hostile, Germany would fall short of its war mobilization requirements by 9.9 million tons of oil and 260,000 tons of manganese. At that time, Germany possessed only two to three months of rubber stocks and three to six months of oil stocks. Because of the expected naval blockade, the Soviet Union would become the only potential supplier for many items.
In early August, Germany and the Soviet Union finalized the terms for an economic agreement, but the Soviets delayed executing that agreement until the terms of the political agreement with Germany were finalized. On August 19, Germany and the Soviet Union signed a trade agreement providing for the trade of certain German military and civilian equipment in exchange for Soviet raw materials. The agreement provided that Germany would accept 200 million Reichmarks in new orders over 7 years with an affective interest rate of 4.5 percent and would export 60 million Reichmarks in "current business" (trade covered by earlier agreements), 180 million Reichmarks in "new business" and another 200-300 million Reichmarks in repayment for old and new credits. The credit line was to be used during the next two years for purchase of capital goods (factory equipment, installations, machinery and machine tools, ships, vehicles, and other means of transport) in Germany and was to be paid off by means of Soviet material shipment from 1946 onwards.
Four days later, the Soviet Union and Germany signed the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact
, an agreement of mutual non-aggression between the parties. The Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact contained secret protocols dividing the states of Northern
and Eastern Europe
into German and Soviet "spheres of influence." At the time, Stalin considered the trade agreement to be more important than the non-aggression pact. One week after the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, the partition of Poland commenced with the German invasion
of western Poland.
On September 17, the Red Army
invaded eastern Poland and occupied the Polish territory
which held up to 70 per cent of Poland's pre-war oil production. In October 1939 three German trade partners - Baltic States
– Estonia
, Latvia
, and Lithuania
– were given no choice but to sign a so-called Pact of defense and mutual assistance which permitted the Soviet Union to station troops in them.
restrictions for total war in 1942 or 1943. The German navy was critically short of maritime and military assets and did not achieve full mobilization until 1942. Even Germany's quick victory in Poland strained its 1939 military resources, as Germany possessed only six weeks of munitions supplies and no considerable manpower reserve. Germany's lack of raw materials meant that it had to seek increased supply from outside. However, the British blockade left Germany increasingly desperate for materials. The only remaining state capable of supplying Germany with the oil, rubber, manganese, grains, food fats and platinum it needed was the Soviet Union.
Germany needed more of an economic alliance for raw materials than the economic partnership that the August 19, 1939 agreement provided. At the same time, the Soviet demands for manufactured goods, such as German machines, was increasing while its ability to import those goods decreased because many countries ceased trading relations after the Soviet entry into the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. The Soviet Union could offer precious little technology, while Germany possessed the technology the Soviet Union required to build a blue-water fleet. Accordingly, for the six weeks following the Soviet and German invasions of Poland, Germany pressed hard for an additional agreement.
On September 14 and 15 1939, German foreign minister Joachim von Ribbentrop
outlined a program for his negotiations in Moscow. It included attempting to obtain 180 million additional Reichsmarks in raw material and discovering whether the Soviet Union "could and would compensate for the loss in Imports by sea" following the British blockade. Ribbentrop foresaw the negotiation as "a test of whether and how far Stalin is prepared to draw practical conclusions from the new political course." Ribbentrop concluded that "The raw materials deliveries requested by us can only be carried out, in view of the unsatisfactory domestic supply situation of Russia, at the expense of their own Russian consumption."
The Soviet alliance resulted in a huge military benefit to Germany, which thereafter needed to station only four regular and nine territorial divisions on its eastern border, permitting it to commit the remainder of its forces westward. The pact also avoided at the outset the two front war, or "encirclement", that Germans had feared since the late 19th century, and against which Germany was not then prepared to fight.
However, following the conclusions of the successful Polish invasions by both countries, German planners estimated that, as feared, they lacked the oil and rubber stockpiles necessary for a western offensive. It had imported 140.8 million Reichsmarks in Polish goods in 1938, and half of that territory was now held by the Soviet Union. This included fields amounting to seventy per cent of Poland's oil production. Stalin at the time agreed in vague terms to supply Germany with additional oil equal to that produced by now Soviet-occupied Polish oil fields at Drohobych
and Boryslav
in exchange for hard coal and steel tubing.
On September 28, 1939, Germany and the Soviet Union
extended the scope of the German-Soviet Credit Agreement of August 19, 1939 Subsequently, the Soviet Union dispatched a procurement commission to Germany to select German goods for delivery in exchange for Soviet raw materials. Ribbentrop suggested that the Soviet Union should relinquish the oil district of Drohobycz and Boryslaw to Germany because Russia possessed rich oil resources while Germany lacked them. Stalin rejected this, but promised Germany the district's entire annual production, amounting today to 300,000 tons, but which he hoped would increase to 500,000 tons. In return for this, Germany would supply coal and steel tubing. Molotov summarized the results of the negotiations in a letter stating "I have the honor to confirm herewith that the Government of the USSR is willing, on the basis and in the sense of the general political understanding reached by us, to promote by all means the trade relations and the exchange of goods between Germany and the USSR. To this end an economic program will be drawn up by both parties, under which the Soviet Union will supply raw materials to Germany, for which Germany, in turn, will make compensation through deliveries of manufactured goods over a more extended period of time. A confidential amendment to the letter stated that "
and confidential amendment to the letter stated that the Soviet Union would effectuate German transit traffic to and from Romania, followed by agreements for the same to and from Iran, Afghanistan and the Far East.
Within one month, the countries began a regular exchange of goods by rail lines through Poland. At the same time, it was already clear that Germany could not meet the 1940 self-sufficiency targets that it had set forth in Hitler's 1936 Four Year Plan
.
was also instructed to notify Molotov of the German desire for prompt agreement on an immediate program to last about 6 months.
Germany sent an economic delegation of 37 members headed by Ritter and Schnurre to Moscow on October 7. While negotiations proceeded quickly at first, on October 16, German officials reported that "the negotiations are not proceeding as methodically as we are accustomed to" and that Russian tactics were becoming "rather tiresome."
Soviet negotiators stated that any deal must involve massive increases of up to 1.5 billion Reichmarks in German war materiel and technology. Aside from the hulls of the cruisers Seydlitz
and Lützow, the final order list also included the delivery of the cruiser Prinz Eugen
and the plans of the battleship Bismarck
. Stunned German military officials responded that Soviet requests for military technology and hardware were too steep of a price, and would require impossible amounts of iron and steel to produce, while Germany needed such materials for its war in Western Europe. At the same time, Germany accepted an offer by the Soviet Union to provide Germany a naval base, Basis Nord
, at then undeveloped Zapadnaya Litsa
(120 kilometers from Murmansk
) from which they could stage raiding operations.
On November 30, 1939, Soviet officials submitted the final list of the orders to be placed in Germany by the Soviet Union. It included war materiel as well as machinery and industrial installations.
In December, the talks reached a low point as Soviet officials continued to press demands for German military equipment and technology, including the delivery of German Hipper class cruisers
Lützow, Seydlitz
and Prinz Eugen
. German officials noted that Soviet demand for some items by the end of 1940 would be impossible to meet, and would effectively have required three to four years of production. Molotov conceded the difficulties given Germany's ongoing war and the prospects for agreement improved. Tensions were also raised by the unsuccessful Soviet invasion of Finland
, though the unexpected bloodbath that ensued left a Soviet general explaining at the time "[w]e have conquered just enough Finnish territory to allow us to bury our dead." At the same time, that winter, Germany had become concerned about the state and future of their economy.
After a joint meeting of German officials, on 2 December 1939 at Hitler’s residence, the Soviet's demands were rejected, followed by the Soviet commission's resubmission. On 8 December 1939, Hiltler rejected offers to purchase the 'Seydlitz', the 'Prinz Eugen' and turrets of battleships under construction. However, at Hitler’s residence discussed the possible delivery to Soviet a technical plans used in the construction of the 'Bismark.' The German Naval Commander in Chief noted at the time that “only two ships are being built and the Russians need at least six years to copy them."
By then end of December, the talks had deteriorated to the point where they could no longer be resolved by lower level negotiations. As had become typical for Stalin, he intervened into the fray late, playing the "good cop" to reach a compromise. On the 28th of December 1939 in a meeting at the Kremlin with German Minister Schnurre (who headed the German procurement commission), Stalin began to speak of the Soviet wishes in regard to warships and welcomed the fact that Germany was prepared to deliver the cruiser Lützow. He also noted “If Germany declined to deliver other ships in process of construction because she wanted to complete them herself, we could not object to this stand.”
On midnight of December 31, 1939, German negotiators were called to the Kremlin to discuss further trade negotiations. The negotiators primarily discussed the Soviet needs for metal production, naval armament, machine tools and aircraft. Unlike with the 1939 agreement, Stalin used the term "mutual assistance" for the first time and discussed the direct provision of Soviet raw materials to Germany. He stated "the Soviet Union sees this not merely as a normal treaty for the exchange of goods, rather as one of mutual assistance." Stalin also stated "The Soviet Unon wants to learn from Germany, particularly in the field of armaments."
In January, Germany became worried that combatting a potential major French campaign in western Europe or a Soviet failure to deliver allotted good totals would result in German oil stocks evaporating in a few months. Grain reserves that had earlier appeared less tenuous now appeared more dicey, with Germany facing an estimated 1.6 million ton shortfall for 1940 even under optimal conditions. A German foreign office report explained that Soviet raw material exports were "simply irreplaceable" and "the breakdown of a German-Soviet agreement must be avoided at all costs." The Soviets made clear in additional discussions with Soviet Foreign Minister Molotov that they were willing to make raw materials available on an accelerated basis in exchange for extended deliveries of war materiel.
Soviet-German tensions related to prices, terms and schedule of delivery lasted until February 1940. Hitler desired to delay as long as possible delivery of the “industrial goods” mentioned in the list of the orders to be placed, including the transmission of plans for the Bismarck class
and the of the 'Lützow' to Russia in furtherance of his hope that Germany could avoid these altogether if the war developed favorably for it. In February 1940, negotiations neared conclusion, but Germany demanded (by Soviet assessment) unfavourably high prices for their goods. The Soviets deemed as too high the German valuation of the cruiser 'Lutzow' at 150 million RM.
could be included in the war materiel to be provided to the Soviet Union. The final cost of the Lützow, was discounted to 104 million Reichsmarks. Joseph Stalin
noted in discussion with Politburo
members – “ship, which you've bought from expected enemy, is equal to two ships - one more at you and one less at enemy”.
Soviet goods were freighted through Brest-Litovsk
and occupied Polish territories where they were shifted to European gauge track for transport to Germany. The Soviets also granted Germany the right to transit traffic on Soviet-controlled rail lines to and from Romania, Iran, Afghanistan and other countries in the east, while reducing by 50 per cent freight rates to Manchukuo
, which was under Japanese control. The agreement set out periods of operations under which the Soviet Union would send to Germany large quantities of raw materials, including food, oil and metals.
The Soviets were to receive the incomplete Hipper class
naval cruiser Lützow, the plans to the battleship Bismarck
, information on German naval testing, "complete machinery for a large destroyer", heavy naval guns, three 38.1 cm (15 inch) twin turrets to defend ports, preliminary sketches for a 40.6 cm triple turret, working drawings for a 28 cm turret, other naval gear and samples of thirty of Germany's latest warplanes, including the Me-109 fighter, Me-110 fighter and Ju-88 bomber. Stalin believed the Lutzow to be important because of its new 20.3 cm naval guns, along with their performance characteristics. The Soviets would also receive oil and electric equipment, locomotives, turbines, generators, diesel engines, ships, machine tools and samples of Germany artillery, tanks, explosives, chemical-warfare equipment and other items.
The Soviet Union also bought and shipped other materials to Germany, such as rubber from India. The Soviets shipped approximately 800 million deutschmarks of goods. The Soviets also provided Germany with a U-boat
base at Basis Nord
for refueling, maintenance location and a takeoff point for raids and attacks on shipping. Though the German Navy never fully utilized "Basis Nord". In addition, the Soviets provided Germany with access to the Northern Sea Route
for both cargo ships and raiders (though only the raider Komet
used the route before June 1941), which forced Britain to protect sea lanes in both the Atlantic and the Pacific.
Germany, which was provided 27 months to finish delivery of its goods, procrastinated as long as possible on deliveries. On August 11, the Soviet Union had shipped 190 million Reichsmarks of raw materials against just 90 million Reichsmarks of German deliveries. Germany did initially deliver some floating cranes, five aircraft, an electrode shop, several gun turrets (with fire control apparatuses and spare parts), two submarine periscopes and additional ship construction tools. A few months later it delivered a sample of its harvest technology.
In the Summer of 1940, Germany grew even more dependent on Soviet imports. German occupations of France
, the Netherlands
, and Belgium
created additional demand while decreasing avenues for indirect supply. Compared to 1938 figures, the expanded "Greater Germany" and its sphere of influence lacked, among other items, 500,000 tons of manganese, 3.3 million tons of raw phosphate, 200,000 tons of rubber and 9.5 million tons of oil. Hitler believed that an eventual invasion of the Soviet Union increasingly looked like the only way in which Germany could solve its resource crisis. The Soviet invasion of Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia in June 1940 resulted in the Soviet occupation of states on which Germany had relied for 96.7 million Reichsmarks of imports in 1938. While no concrete plans were yet made, Hitler told one of his generals in June that the victories in western Europe "finally freed his hands for his important real task: the showdown with Bolshevism", though German generals told Hitler that occupying Western Russia would create "more of a drain than a relief for Germany's economic situation."
In August 1940, the Soviet Union briefly suspended its deliveries after their relations were strained following disagreement over policy in the Balkans, the Soviet Union's war with Finland
(from which Germany had imported 88.9 million Reichsmarks in goods in 1938), Germany falling behind in its deliveries of goods under the pact and with Stalin worried that Hitler's war with the West might end quickly after France signed an armistice
. By the end of August, relations improved again as the countries had redrawn the Hungarian and Romanian borders, settled Bulgarian claims and Stalin was again convinced that Germany would face a long war in the west with Britain's improvement in its air battle with Germany
and the execution of an agreement between the United States and Britain regarding destroyers and bases
. Soviet raw material deliveries increased well over prior figures.
Germany delayed its delivery of the Hipper cruiser Lützow and the plans for the Bismarck as long as possible, hoping to avoid delivery altogether if the war developed favorably. The incomplete Lützow was towed to Leningrad in mid-1940 in a less complete state than the Soviets had anticipated. In response to later Soviet orders, Germany did deliver eight 38.1 cm guns and six 40 cm guns for which the Soviets had requested drawings. The Lützow, which was not yet completed, was towed to Leningrad
, where German engineers worked on the vessel until June 22, 1941.
In October 1940, German officials estimated that their raw material supplies could only comfortably last only though the summer of 1941. The situation was much more dire for rubber, the use for which in boots and tires was vital for any mobile army. German stocks had fallen to only 1,500 tons.
Hitler had been considering war with the Soviet Union since July 1940. Regarding a potential Soviet Axis entry, Ribbentrop wrote a letter promising Stalin that "in the opinion of the Führer … it appears to be the historical mission of the Four Powers-the Soviet Union, Italy, Japan and Germany-to adopt a long range-policy and to direct the future development of their peoples into the right channels by delimitation of their interests in a worldwide scale." On November 12, 1940, Hitler issued secret "Instruction No. 18", directing his forces to prepare for war in the east "irrespective of the results yielded by these discussions", while Hitler, Molotov and Ribbentrop conferenced in Berlin to discuss a potential Soviet entry as a fourth
Axis Power. Hitler wanted an additional economic deal to get what he could from the Soviet Union before the invasion, while other German officials wanted such a deal in the hopes that it could change the current anti-Soviet direction of German policy. In November, Germany and the Soviet Union began negotiations on enlarging the 1940 German–Soviet Commercial Agreement, and discussed border disputes and other issues, culminating in the execution of the January 10, 1941 German–Soviet Border and Commercial Agreement
.
, to administer the economic blockade of Germany, the British Ministry of Economic Warfare
was established on September 3, 1939 By April 1940 Britain realized that blockade appeared not to be working because of "leaks" in blockade with two major "holes" at the Black Sea and Mediterranean provided by several neutral countries, including Italy.
Reaction of neutral states to new Anglo-French blockade measures imposed against Germany tinder in late November 1939 - that all German goods of German origin or German ownership found on neutral ships would be seized in retaliation for illegal German use of mines - were harsh.
All neutrals affected by the measures had protested and Germany was urging them to take joint countermeasures. Belgium, Holland, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Japan, and Iran have lodged protests with England.
Furthermore, a spokesman of the Japanese Foreign Ministry threatened countermeasures in case the British action should damage important Japanese interests. The Brazilian Foreign Minister has stated that in all probability the Inter- American Neutrality Commission, which is meeting shortly in Rio, will decide to protest against the tightening of British blockade regulations.
The Britain attempts "to starve" Germany same as during blockade of Germany in World War I
failed. In 1937/38 Germany own supply from domestic source constitute 89 % of grain, 90 percent of milk and dairy products 95% of meat
74 %in fish and 79 % of eggs. Germany agriculture was fully developed and later was able to maintain the per capita foodstuff before and during World War II.
Large amounts of crude oil were delivered, with German documents in 1940 already indicating that the Soviets had delivered crude oil at a rate of 150,000 tons a month for five months in 900 German tank cars exclusively reserved for it.
, the invasion of the Soviet Union through the territories that the two countries had previously divided. Despite fears causing the Soviet Union to enter deals with Germany in 1939, that Germany came so close to destroying the Soviet Union was due, in large part, to Soviet actions taken from 1939 to 1941. Without Soviet imports, German stocks would have run out in several key products by October 1941, only three and a half months into the invasion. Germany would have already run through their stocks of rubber and grain before the first day of the invasion were it not for Soviet imports:
Without Soviet deliveries of these four major items, Germany could barely have attacked the Soviet Union, let alone come close to victory, even with more intense rationing. At the time of the invasion, the Lützow was still not yet complete enough for sea travel, but four 20.3 cm turrets had been installed. The Soviets used her as a floating gun battery against German invaders.
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
and Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
signed on February 11, 1940 by which the Soviet Union agreed in period from February 11, 1940 to February 11, 1941, in addition to the deliveries under German–Soviet Commercial Agreement, signed on August 19, 1939
deliver the commodities (oil, raw materials and grain) to the value of 420 to 430 million Reichsmarks . In the period February 11, 1941, to August 11, 1941, there shall be delivered to Germany, likewise in addition to the deliveries provided for in the Credit Agreement of August 19, 1939, commodities to the value of 220 to 230 million Reichsmarks.In payment for the Soviet deliveries, Germany shall supply an own products (war materiel; machinery and technologies; raw materials).
Secret amendment to the Agreement suggest a parties negotiations in regards to the purchase by the Soviet Union of metals and other goods in third countries and to the sale of these metals and goods to Germany. Later also was negotiated a policy of the transit through Soviet territory a third countries commodities purchased by Germany.
The countries followed up the agreement and resolved other issues with the January 10, 1941 German–Soviet Border and Commercial Agreement
German–Soviet Border and Commercial Agreement
The German–Soviet Border and Commercial Agreement, signed on January 10, 1941, was a broad agreement settling border disputes and continuing raw materials and war machine trade between the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany...
.
In June 1941, Germany invaded the Soviet Union
Operation Barbarossa
Operation Barbarossa was the code name for Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union during World War II that began on 22 June 1941. Over 4.5 million troops of the Axis powers invaded the USSR along a front., the largest invasion in the history of warfare...
in violation of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, and all economic agreements between the two countries were ended.
Between January 1940 and date of the German invasion the total Soviet export to the Germany estimated in 597,9 million Reichsmarks. The German deliveries accounted as 437,1 million Reichsmarks.
The agreements continued Nazi–Soviet economic relations
Nazi–Soviet economic relations
After the Nazis rose to power in Germany in 1933, relations between Germany and the Soviet Union began to deteriorate rapidly, and trade between the two countries decreased. Following several years of high tension and rivalry, Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union began to improve relations in 1939...
and resulted in the delivery of large amounts of raw materials to Germany, including over 900,000 tons of oil, 1,600,000 tons of grain and 140,000 tons of manganese ore.
The Soviet Union received the incomplete Hipper class
Admiral Hipper class cruiser
The Admiral Hipper-class was a group of five heavy cruisers built by the German Kriegsmarine in the mid 1930s. The class comprised Admiral Hipper, the lead ship, Blücher, Prinz Eugen, Seydlitz, and Lützow. Only the first three ships of the class were completed to see action during World War II...
naval cruiser Lützow, the plans to the battleship Bismarck
German battleship Bismarck
Bismarck was the first of two s built for the German Kriegsmarine during World War II. Named after Chancellor Otto von Bismarck, the primary force behind the German unification in 1871, the ship was laid down at the Blohm & Voss shipyard in Hamburg in July 1936 and launched nearly three years later...
, information on German naval testing, "complete machinery for a large destroyer", heavy naval guns other naval gear and samples of thirty of Germany's latest warplanes, including the Me-109 fighters, Me-110 fighters, Ju-88 and Do-215
Dornier Do 215
|-See also:-Bibliography:* Dressel, Joachim and Manfred Griehl. Bombers of the Luftwaffe. London: DAG Publications, 1994. ISBN 1-85409-140-9....
bombers. The Soviet Union also received oil and electric equipment, locomotives, turbines, generators, diesel engines, ships, machine tools and samples of Germany artillery, tanks, explosives, chemical-warfare equipment and other items.
The German war effort against the Soviet Union was partially supported by raw materials that Germany had obtained from the Soviets through the 1940 Commercial Agreement. In particular, the German stocks of rubber and grain would have been insufficient to support the initial invasion of the USSR if the Soviets had not exported these products to Germany earlier.
Prior to 1939
The German-Soviet Economic Agreement of October 12, 1925, formed the contractual basis for trade relations with the Soviet Union. In addition to the normal exchange of goods, German exports to the Soviet Union from the very beginning utilized a system negotiated by the Soviet Trade Mission in Berlin by which the Soviet Union was granted credits for the financing of additional orders in Germany, for which the Trade Mission had to negotiate bills of exchange payable in Reichsmarks.Trade with Soviet Union, promoted by the first credit operations, led to a brisk exchange of goods, which reached its highest point in 1931. In the early 1930s, however, Soviet imports decreased as the more isolationist Stalinist regime asserted power and dwindling adherence to the disarmament requirements of the Treaty of Versailles
Treaty of Versailles
The Treaty of Versailles was one of the peace treaties at the end of World War I. It ended the state of war between Germany and the Allied Powers. It was signed on 28 June 1919, exactly five years after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. The other Central Powers on the German side of...
decreased Germany's reliance on Soviet imports. In addition, the rise to power of the Nazi Party increased tensions between Germany and the Soviet Union.
In the mid-1930s, the Soviet Union made repeated efforts to reestablish closer contacts with Germany. The Soviets chiefly sought to repay debts from earlier trade with raw materials, while Germany sought to rearm, and the countries signed a credit agreement in 1935. the "Fourth Credit Operation, Special Transaction of 1935," was concluded on April 4, 1935. It placed at the disposal of the Soviet Union until June 30, 1937, 200 million Reichsmarks of credits to be repaid during the period from 1940 to 1943. The Soviet Union utilized 183 million Reichsmarksthis of this credit. The preceding credit Operations were liquidated, except for 5 million Reichsmarks, which were to be repaid in 1938.
Tensions increased because of Germany's support for the Fascist Spanish Nationalists in the Spanish Civil War
Spanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil WarAlso known as The Crusade among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War among Carlists, and The Rebellion or Uprising among Republicans. was a major conflict fought in Spain from 17 July 1936 to 1 April 1939...
, while the Soviet Union supported the partially socialist-led Spanish Republic
Second Spanish Republic
The Second Spanish Republic was the government of Spain between April 14 1931, and its destruction by a military rebellion, led by General Francisco Franco....
opposition.
Economic reconciliation was hampered even further by political tension after the Anschluss
Anschluss
The Anschluss , also known as the ', was the occupation and annexation of Austria into Nazi Germany in 1938....
in mid-1938 and Hitler's increasing hesitance to deal with the Soviet Union. Soviet exports to Germany fell to 47.4 million Reichsmarks in 1937 (approximately one fifth of the 1934 total) and 52.8 million Reichsmarks in 1938. In short, the important trading relationship between the countries that existed in the 1920s essentially collapsed with Hitler's rise to power.
Throughout these years, the bulk of the imports from the Soviet Union consisted of raw materials equivalent to foreign exchange. For example, in 1937, 95 percent of imports to the Soviet Union were raw materials. Germany lacks natural supplies of several key raw materials needed for economic and military operations. In 1938, two thirds of German oil supply came from the United States and Latin America, while 52 per cent of German steel used imported iron ore originating from Sweden Germany's imports by countries (in Million of Reichsmarks) were as follows:
| Soviet Soviet Union The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991.... Union Soviet Union The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991.... |
Poland Poland Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north... &Danzig |
Finland Finland Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside... |
Estonia Estonia Estonia , officially the Republic of Estonia , is a state in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea, to the south by Latvia , and to the east by Lake Peipsi and the Russian Federation . Across the Baltic Sea lies... |
Latvia Latvia Latvia , officially the Republic of Latvia , is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by Estonia , to the south by Lithuania , to the east by the Russian Federation , to the southeast by Belarus and shares maritime borders to the west with Sweden... |
Lithuania Lithuania Lithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the biggest of the three Baltic states. It is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, whereby to the west lie Sweden and Denmark... |
USA | United Kingdom United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages... |
South America South America South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east... countries |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1936 | 93.2 | 74.0 | 46.1 | 13.8 | 33.2 | 9.1 | 232.2 | N/A | 536.5 |
| 1937 | 65.1 | 80.7 | 70.1 | 23.7 | 45.7 | 17.2 | 281.9 | 308.6 | 850.3 |
| 1938 | 47.4 | 109.4 | 88.6 | 24.0 | 43.5 | 27.6 | 404.6 | 282.7 | 809.7 |
Resource requirements
Because of the lack of German natural resources, German planners in May 1939 feared that a cessation of Swedish trade would cut key iron ore supplies. In addition, were Russian supplies cut off, German planners estimated that they would need to find substitutes for approximately 165,000 tons of manganese and almost 2 million tons of oil per year. Germany already faced severe rubber shortages because of British and Dutch refusals to trade with Germany. On May 8, German officials produced new planning figures estimating that Germany possessed oil stocks totaling only 3.1 months of usage.In August, as Germany planned to invade Poland and prepared for an eventual war with France, German war planners estimated that, with an expected British naval blockade, if the Soviet Union became hostile, Germany would fall short of its war mobilization requirements by 9.9 million tons of oil and 260,000 tons of manganese. At that time, Germany possessed only two to three months of rubber stocks and three to six months of oil stocks. Because of the expected naval blockade, the Soviet Union would become the only potential supplier for many items.
Events leading up the negotiations
During the summer of 1939, the Soviet Union discussed the entry of a political and military pact with contingents representing France and Britain, while also discussing a potential deal with Germany.In early August, Germany and the Soviet Union finalized the terms for an economic agreement, but the Soviets delayed executing that agreement until the terms of the political agreement with Germany were finalized. On August 19, Germany and the Soviet Union signed a trade agreement providing for the trade of certain German military and civilian equipment in exchange for Soviet raw materials. The agreement provided that Germany would accept 200 million Reichmarks in new orders over 7 years with an affective interest rate of 4.5 percent and would export 60 million Reichmarks in "current business" (trade covered by earlier agreements), 180 million Reichmarks in "new business" and another 200-300 million Reichmarks in repayment for old and new credits. The credit line was to be used during the next two years for purchase of capital goods (factory equipment, installations, machinery and machine tools, ships, vehicles, and other means of transport) in Germany and was to be paid off by means of Soviet material shipment from 1946 onwards.
Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact
The Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, named after the Soviet foreign minister Vyacheslav Molotov and the German foreign minister Joachim von Ribbentrop, was an agreement officially titled the Treaty of Non-Aggression between Germany and the Soviet Union and signed in Moscow in the late hours of 23 August 1939...
, an agreement of mutual non-aggression between the parties. The Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact contained secret protocols dividing the states of Northern
Northern Europe
Northern Europe is the northern part or region of Europe. Northern Europe typically refers to the seven countries in the northern part of the European subcontinent which includes Denmark, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Finland and Sweden...
and Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe is the eastern part of Europe. The term has widely disparate geopolitical, geographical, cultural and socioeconomic readings, which makes it highly context-dependent and even volatile, and there are "almost as many definitions of Eastern Europe as there are scholars of the region"...
into German and Soviet "spheres of influence." At the time, Stalin considered the trade agreement to be more important than the non-aggression pact. One week after the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, the partition of Poland commenced with the German invasion
Invasion of Poland (1939)
The Invasion of Poland, also known as the September Campaign or 1939 Defensive War in Poland and the Poland Campaign in Germany, was an invasion of Poland by Germany, the Soviet Union, and a small Slovak contingent that marked the start of World War II in Europe...
of western Poland.
On September 17, the Red Army
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to...
invaded eastern Poland and occupied the Polish territory
Soviet invasion of Poland
Soviet invasion of Poland can refer to:* the second phase of the Polish-Soviet War of 1920 when Soviet armies marched on Warsaw, Poland* Soviet invasion of Poland of 1939 when Soviet Union allied with Nazi Germany attacked Second Polish Republic...
which held up to 70 per cent of Poland's pre-war oil production. In October 1939 three German trade partners - Baltic States
Baltic states
The term Baltic states refers to the Baltic territories which gained independence from the Russian Empire in the wake of World War I: primarily the contiguous trio of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania ; Finland also fell within the scope of the term after initially gaining independence in the 1920s.The...
– Estonia
Estonia
Estonia , officially the Republic of Estonia , is a state in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea, to the south by Latvia , and to the east by Lake Peipsi and the Russian Federation . Across the Baltic Sea lies...
, Latvia
Latvia
Latvia , officially the Republic of Latvia , is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by Estonia , to the south by Lithuania , to the east by the Russian Federation , to the southeast by Belarus and shares maritime borders to the west with Sweden...
, and Lithuania
Lithuania
Lithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the biggest of the three Baltic states. It is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, whereby to the west lie Sweden and Denmark...
– were given no choice but to sign a so-called Pact of defense and mutual assistance which permitted the Soviet Union to station troops in them.
German plans and expectations
Hitler's pressing for a German invasion of Poland in 1939 placed tremendous strain on the German war machine, which had been gradually gearing up after the Treaty of VersaillesTreaty of Versailles
The Treaty of Versailles was one of the peace treaties at the end of World War I. It ended the state of war between Germany and the Allied Powers. It was signed on 28 June 1919, exactly five years after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. The other Central Powers on the German side of...
restrictions for total war in 1942 or 1943. The German navy was critically short of maritime and military assets and did not achieve full mobilization until 1942. Even Germany's quick victory in Poland strained its 1939 military resources, as Germany possessed only six weeks of munitions supplies and no considerable manpower reserve. Germany's lack of raw materials meant that it had to seek increased supply from outside. However, the British blockade left Germany increasingly desperate for materials. The only remaining state capable of supplying Germany with the oil, rubber, manganese, grains, food fats and platinum it needed was the Soviet Union.
Germany needed more of an economic alliance for raw materials than the economic partnership that the August 19, 1939 agreement provided. At the same time, the Soviet demands for manufactured goods, such as German machines, was increasing while its ability to import those goods decreased because many countries ceased trading relations after the Soviet entry into the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. The Soviet Union could offer precious little technology, while Germany possessed the technology the Soviet Union required to build a blue-water fleet. Accordingly, for the six weeks following the Soviet and German invasions of Poland, Germany pressed hard for an additional agreement.
On September 14 and 15 1939, German foreign minister Joachim von Ribbentrop
Joachim von Ribbentrop
Ulrich Friedrich Wilhelm Joachim von Ribbentrop was Foreign Minister of Germany from 1938 until 1945. He was later hanged for war crimes after the Nuremberg Trials.-Early life:...
outlined a program for his negotiations in Moscow. It included attempting to obtain 180 million additional Reichsmarks in raw material and discovering whether the Soviet Union "could and would compensate for the loss in Imports by sea" following the British blockade. Ribbentrop foresaw the negotiation as "a test of whether and how far Stalin is prepared to draw practical conclusions from the new political course." Ribbentrop concluded that "The raw materials deliveries requested by us can only be carried out, in view of the unsatisfactory domestic supply situation of Russia, at the expense of their own Russian consumption."
Events following the division of Poland
However, following the conclusions of the successful Polish invasions by both countries, German planners estimated that, as feared, they lacked the oil and rubber stockpiles necessary for a western offensive. It had imported 140.8 million Reichsmarks in Polish goods in 1938, and half of that territory was now held by the Soviet Union. This included fields amounting to seventy per cent of Poland's oil production. Stalin at the time agreed in vague terms to supply Germany with additional oil equal to that produced by now Soviet-occupied Polish oil fields at Drohobych
Drohobych
Drohobych is a city located at the confluence of the Tysmenytsia River and Seret, a tributary of the former, in the Lviv Oblast , in western Ukraine...
and Boryslav
Boryslav
Boryslav is a city located on the Tysmenytsia River , in the Lviv Oblast of western Ukraine. The city is designated as a separate raion within the oblast....
in exchange for hard coal and steel tubing.
On September 28, 1939, Germany and the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
extended the scope of the German-Soviet Credit Agreement of August 19, 1939 Subsequently, the Soviet Union dispatched a procurement commission to Germany to select German goods for delivery in exchange for Soviet raw materials. Ribbentrop suggested that the Soviet Union should relinquish the oil district of Drohobycz and Boryslaw to Germany because Russia possessed rich oil resources while Germany lacked them. Stalin rejected this, but promised Germany the district's entire annual production, amounting today to 300,000 tons, but which he hoped would increase to 500,000 tons. In return for this, Germany would supply coal and steel tubing. Molotov summarized the results of the negotiations in a letter stating "I have the honor to confirm herewith that the Government of the USSR is willing, on the basis and in the sense of the general political understanding reached by us, to promote by all means the trade relations and the exchange of goods between Germany and the USSR. To this end an economic program will be drawn up by both parties, under which the Soviet Union will supply raw materials to Germany, for which Germany, in turn, will make compensation through deliveries of manufactured goods over a more extended period of time. A confidential amendment to the letter stated that "
and confidential amendment to the letter stated that the Soviet Union would effectuate German transit traffic to and from Romania, followed by agreements for the same to and from Iran, Afghanistan and the Far East.
Within one month, the countries began a regular exchange of goods by rail lines through Poland. At the same time, it was already clear that Germany could not meet the 1940 self-sufficiency targets that it had set forth in Hitler's 1936 Four Year Plan
Four year plan
The Four Year Plan was a series of economic reforms created by the Nazi Party. The main aim of the four year plan was to prepare Germany for war in four years...
.
German October demands
In early October, German officials proposed a deal that would have increased Soviet raw material exports (oil, iron ore, rubber, tin, etc.) to Germany over the next year from 180 million to over 1.3 billion Reichsmarks, for which Germany would pay 810 million Reichmarks the first year and capital goods in the second year. The raw materials were to include oil, industrial materials (including iron and chromium), food, lumber and "Non-Russian raw materials to be bought via Russia in other countries (tin, copper, nickel, cobalt, tungsten, rubber, etc.)" As well, the proposal would include "Joint German-Soviet economic planning. German technical assistance in raw material production and industrial expansion, agricultural conversion (soybeans), forest leases, fisheries at Murmansk, etc." SchulenburgFriedrich Werner von der Schulenburg
Friedrich-Werner Graf von der Schulenburg was a German diplomat who served as the last German ambassador to the Soviet Union before Operation Barbarossa. He began his diplomatic career before World War I, serving as consul and ambassador in several countries...
was also instructed to notify Molotov of the German desire for prompt agreement on an immediate program to last about 6 months.
Germany sent an economic delegation of 37 members headed by Ritter and Schnurre to Moscow on October 7. While negotiations proceeded quickly at first, on October 16, German officials reported that "the negotiations are not proceeding as methodically as we are accustomed to" and that Russian tactics were becoming "rather tiresome."
Soviet negotiators stated that any deal must involve massive increases of up to 1.5 billion Reichmarks in German war materiel and technology. Aside from the hulls of the cruisers Seydlitz
German cruiser Seydlitz
Seydlitz was a heavy cruiser of the German Kriegsmarine, fourth in the , but was never completed. The ship was laid down in December 1936 and launched in January 1939, but the outbreak of World War II interrupted her completion at approximately 95 percent...
and Lützow, the final order list also included the delivery of the cruiser Prinz Eugen
German cruiser Prinz Eugen
Prinz Eugen was an Admiral Hipper-class heavy cruiser, the third member of the class of five vessels. She served with the German Kriegsmarine during World War II. The ship was laid down in April 1936 and launched August 1938; Prinz Eugen entered service after the outbreak of war, in August 1940...
and the plans of the battleship Bismarck
German battleship Bismarck
Bismarck was the first of two s built for the German Kriegsmarine during World War II. Named after Chancellor Otto von Bismarck, the primary force behind the German unification in 1871, the ship was laid down at the Blohm & Voss shipyard in Hamburg in July 1936 and launched nearly three years later...
. Stunned German military officials responded that Soviet requests for military technology and hardware were too steep of a price, and would require impossible amounts of iron and steel to produce, while Germany needed such materials for its war in Western Europe. At the same time, Germany accepted an offer by the Soviet Union to provide Germany a naval base, Basis Nord
Basis Nord
Basis Nord was a proposed secret German naval base in Zapadnaya Litsa Bay, west of Murmansk provided by the Soviet Union. The base was part of a partnership that developed between Germany and the Soviet Union following German-Soviet Non-Aggression treaty of 1939, along with a broad economic...
, at then undeveloped Zapadnaya Litsa
Zapadnaya Litsa
Zapadnaya Litsa is the largest and most important Russian naval base built for the Northern Fleet. The base is located far in the north of Russia, on the Litsa Fjord at the westernmost point of the Kola Peninsula...
(120 kilometers from Murmansk
Murmansk
Murmansk is a city and the administrative center of Murmansk Oblast, Russia. It serves as a seaport and is located in the extreme northwest part of Russia, on the Kola Bay, from the Barents Sea on the northern shore of the Kola Peninsula, not far from Russia's borders with Norway and Finland...
) from which they could stage raiding operations.
On November 30, 1939, Soviet officials submitted the final list of the orders to be placed in Germany by the Soviet Union. It included war materiel as well as machinery and industrial installations.
Soviet-German tensions
Admiral Hipper class cruiser
The Admiral Hipper-class was a group of five heavy cruisers built by the German Kriegsmarine in the mid 1930s. The class comprised Admiral Hipper, the lead ship, Blücher, Prinz Eugen, Seydlitz, and Lützow. Only the first three ships of the class were completed to see action during World War II...
Lützow, Seydlitz
German cruiser Seydlitz
Seydlitz was a heavy cruiser of the German Kriegsmarine, fourth in the , but was never completed. The ship was laid down in December 1936 and launched in January 1939, but the outbreak of World War II interrupted her completion at approximately 95 percent...
and Prinz Eugen
German cruiser Prinz Eugen
Prinz Eugen was an Admiral Hipper-class heavy cruiser, the third member of the class of five vessels. She served with the German Kriegsmarine during World War II. The ship was laid down in April 1936 and launched August 1938; Prinz Eugen entered service after the outbreak of war, in August 1940...
. German officials noted that Soviet demand for some items by the end of 1940 would be impossible to meet, and would effectively have required three to four years of production. Molotov conceded the difficulties given Germany's ongoing war and the prospects for agreement improved. Tensions were also raised by the unsuccessful Soviet invasion of Finland
Winter War
The Winter War was a military conflict between the Soviet Union and Finland. It began with a Soviet offensive on 30 November 1939 – three months after the start of World War II and the Soviet invasion of Poland – and ended on 13 March 1940 with the Moscow Peace Treaty...
, though the unexpected bloodbath that ensued left a Soviet general explaining at the time "[w]e have conquered just enough Finnish territory to allow us to bury our dead." At the same time, that winter, Germany had become concerned about the state and future of their economy.
After a joint meeting of German officials, on 2 December 1939 at Hitler’s residence, the Soviet's demands were rejected, followed by the Soviet commission's resubmission. On 8 December 1939, Hiltler rejected offers to purchase the 'Seydlitz', the 'Prinz Eugen' and turrets of battleships under construction. However, at Hitler’s residence discussed the possible delivery to Soviet a technical plans used in the construction of the 'Bismark.' The German Naval Commander in Chief noted at the time that “only two ships are being built and the Russians need at least six years to copy them."
By then end of December, the talks had deteriorated to the point where they could no longer be resolved by lower level negotiations. As had become typical for Stalin, he intervened into the fray late, playing the "good cop" to reach a compromise. On the 28th of December 1939 in a meeting at the Kremlin with German Minister Schnurre (who headed the German procurement commission), Stalin began to speak of the Soviet wishes in regard to warships and welcomed the fact that Germany was prepared to deliver the cruiser Lützow. He also noted “If Germany declined to deliver other ships in process of construction because she wanted to complete them herself, we could not object to this stand.”
On midnight of December 31, 1939, German negotiators were called to the Kremlin to discuss further trade negotiations. The negotiators primarily discussed the Soviet needs for metal production, naval armament, machine tools and aircraft. Unlike with the 1939 agreement, Stalin used the term "mutual assistance" for the first time and discussed the direct provision of Soviet raw materials to Germany. He stated "the Soviet Union sees this not merely as a normal treaty for the exchange of goods, rather as one of mutual assistance." Stalin also stated "The Soviet Unon wants to learn from Germany, particularly in the field of armaments."
In January, Germany became worried that combatting a potential major French campaign in western Europe or a Soviet failure to deliver allotted good totals would result in German oil stocks evaporating in a few months. Grain reserves that had earlier appeared less tenuous now appeared more dicey, with Germany facing an estimated 1.6 million ton shortfall for 1940 even under optimal conditions. A German foreign office report explained that Soviet raw material exports were "simply irreplaceable" and "the breakdown of a German-Soviet agreement must be avoided at all costs." The Soviets made clear in additional discussions with Soviet Foreign Minister Molotov that they were willing to make raw materials available on an accelerated basis in exchange for extended deliveries of war materiel.
Soviet-German tensions related to prices, terms and schedule of delivery lasted until February 1940. Hitler desired to delay as long as possible delivery of the “industrial goods” mentioned in the list of the orders to be placed, including the transmission of plans for the Bismarck class
Bismarck class battleship
The Bismarck class was a pair of battleships built by the German Kriegsmarine shortly before the outbreak of World War II. The ships were the largest warships built by the German Navy and the heaviest capital ships ever completed in Europe...
and the of the 'Lützow' to Russia in furtherance of his hope that Germany could avoid these altogether if the war developed favorably for it. In February 1940, negotiations neared conclusion, but Germany demanded (by Soviet assessment) unfavourably high prices for their goods. The Soviets deemed as too high the German valuation of the cruiser 'Lutzow' at 150 million RM.
Talks approach finality
Further discussions took place in Moscow in early February regarding the specifics of German military equipment to be provided. Both sides made concessions after a letter from Ribbentrop to Stalin convinced him that a deal must be completed. Stalin was involved with the details of the discussion, with Hitler noting that he was impressed by Stalin's technical knowledge when he chaired a meeting of experts discussing the ordinance of gun turrets to be included on a cruiser the Germans would deliver to the Soviets under an agreement. Germany agreed that the plans for the battleship BismarckGerman battleship Bismarck
Bismarck was the first of two s built for the German Kriegsmarine during World War II. Named after Chancellor Otto von Bismarck, the primary force behind the German unification in 1871, the ship was laid down at the Blohm & Voss shipyard in Hamburg in July 1936 and launched nearly three years later...
could be included in the war materiel to be provided to the Soviet Union. The final cost of the Lützow, was discounted to 104 million Reichsmarks. Joseph Stalin
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was the Premier of the Soviet Union from 6 May 1941 to 5 March 1953. He was among the Bolshevik revolutionaries who brought about the October Revolution and had held the position of first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee...
noted in discussion with Politburo
Politburo
Politburo , literally "Political Bureau [of the Central Committee]," is the executive committee for a number of communist political parties.-Marxist-Leninist states:...
members – “ship, which you've bought from expected enemy, is equal to two ships - one more at you and one less at enemy”.
The Agreement
On February 11, 1940, Germany and the Soviet Union entered into an intricate trade pact in which the Soviet Union would send Germany 650 million Reichsmarks in raw materials in exchange for 650 million Reichmarks in machinery, manufactured goods and technology. The trade pact helped Germany to surmount the British blockade. The main raw materials specified in the agreement were one million tons of grain, 900,000 tons of oil and more than 500,000 tons of various metal ores (mostly iron ore) in exchange for synthetic material plants, ships, turrets, machine tools and coal. The first stipulation of the agreement provided that the Soviet Union must deliver its requisite goods within 18 months while Germany was to deliver its required goods within 27 months. The agreement also contained a "Confidential Protocol" providing the Soviet Union would undertake purchases from third party countries of "metals and other goods" on behalf of Germany.Brest, Belarus
Brest , formerly also Brest-on-the-Bug and Brest-Litovsk , is a city in Belarus at the border with Poland opposite the city of Terespol, where the Bug River and Mukhavets rivers meet...
and occupied Polish territories where they were shifted to European gauge track for transport to Germany. The Soviets also granted Germany the right to transit traffic on Soviet-controlled rail lines to and from Romania, Iran, Afghanistan and other countries in the east, while reducing by 50 per cent freight rates to Manchukuo
Manchukuo
Manchukuo or Manshū-koku was a puppet state in Manchuria and eastern Inner Mongolia, governed under a form of constitutional monarchy. The region was the historical homeland of the Manchus, who founded the Qing Empire in China...
, which was under Japanese control. The agreement set out periods of operations under which the Soviet Union would send to Germany large quantities of raw materials, including food, oil and metals.
The Soviets were to receive the incomplete Hipper class
Admiral Hipper class cruiser
The Admiral Hipper-class was a group of five heavy cruisers built by the German Kriegsmarine in the mid 1930s. The class comprised Admiral Hipper, the lead ship, Blücher, Prinz Eugen, Seydlitz, and Lützow. Only the first three ships of the class were completed to see action during World War II...
naval cruiser Lützow, the plans to the battleship Bismarck
German battleship Bismarck
Bismarck was the first of two s built for the German Kriegsmarine during World War II. Named after Chancellor Otto von Bismarck, the primary force behind the German unification in 1871, the ship was laid down at the Blohm & Voss shipyard in Hamburg in July 1936 and launched nearly three years later...
, information on German naval testing, "complete machinery for a large destroyer", heavy naval guns, three 38.1 cm (15 inch) twin turrets to defend ports, preliminary sketches for a 40.6 cm triple turret, working drawings for a 28 cm turret, other naval gear and samples of thirty of Germany's latest warplanes, including the Me-109 fighter, Me-110 fighter and Ju-88 bomber. Stalin believed the Lutzow to be important because of its new 20.3 cm naval guns, along with their performance characteristics. The Soviets would also receive oil and electric equipment, locomotives, turbines, generators, diesel engines, ships, machine tools and samples of Germany artillery, tanks, explosives, chemical-warfare equipment and other items.
Trade and assistance during the Agreement's operation
While some slowdowns and negotiations occurred especially during the early negotiations of specific orders, the Soviet Union met most of its requirements under the agreement. It became a major supplier of vital materials to Germany, including petroleum, manganese, copper, nickel, chrome, platinum, lumber and grain.The Soviet Union also bought and shipped other materials to Germany, such as rubber from India. The Soviets shipped approximately 800 million deutschmarks of goods. The Soviets also provided Germany with a U-boat
U-boat
U-boat is the anglicized version of the German word U-Boot , itself an abbreviation of Unterseeboot , and refers to military submarines operated by Germany, particularly in World War I and World War II...
base at Basis Nord
Basis Nord
Basis Nord was a proposed secret German naval base in Zapadnaya Litsa Bay, west of Murmansk provided by the Soviet Union. The base was part of a partnership that developed between Germany and the Soviet Union following German-Soviet Non-Aggression treaty of 1939, along with a broad economic...
for refueling, maintenance location and a takeoff point for raids and attacks on shipping. Though the German Navy never fully utilized "Basis Nord". In addition, the Soviets provided Germany with access to the Northern Sea Route
Northern Sea Route
The Northern Sea Route is a shipping lane officially defined by Russian legislation from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean specifically running along the Russian Arctic coast from Murmansk on the Barents Sea, along Siberia, to the Bering Strait and Far East. The entire route lies in Arctic...
for both cargo ships and raiders (though only the raider Komet
German auxiliary cruiser Komet
Komet was an auxiliary cruiser of the German Kriegsmarine in the Second World War, intended for service as a commerce raider...
used the route before June 1941), which forced Britain to protect sea lanes in both the Atlantic and the Pacific.
Germany, which was provided 27 months to finish delivery of its goods, procrastinated as long as possible on deliveries. On August 11, the Soviet Union had shipped 190 million Reichsmarks of raw materials against just 90 million Reichsmarks of German deliveries. Germany did initially deliver some floating cranes, five aircraft, an electrode shop, several gun turrets (with fire control apparatuses and spare parts), two submarine periscopes and additional ship construction tools. A few months later it delivered a sample of its harvest technology.
Battle of France
In the Second World War, the Battle of France was the German invasion of France and the Low Countries, beginning on 10 May 1940, which ended the Phoney War. The battle consisted of two main operations. In the first, Fall Gelb , German armoured units pushed through the Ardennes, to cut off and...
, the Netherlands
Battle of the Netherlands
The Battle of the Netherlands was part of Case Yellow , the German invasion of the Low Countries and France during World War II. The battle lasted from 10 May 1940 until 14 May 1940 when the main Dutch forces surrendered...
, and Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
created additional demand while decreasing avenues for indirect supply. Compared to 1938 figures, the expanded "Greater Germany" and its sphere of influence lacked, among other items, 500,000 tons of manganese, 3.3 million tons of raw phosphate, 200,000 tons of rubber and 9.5 million tons of oil. Hitler believed that an eventual invasion of the Soviet Union increasingly looked like the only way in which Germany could solve its resource crisis. The Soviet invasion of Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia in June 1940 resulted in the Soviet occupation of states on which Germany had relied for 96.7 million Reichsmarks of imports in 1938. While no concrete plans were yet made, Hitler told one of his generals in June that the victories in western Europe "finally freed his hands for his important real task: the showdown with Bolshevism", though German generals told Hitler that occupying Western Russia would create "more of a drain than a relief for Germany's economic situation."
In August 1940, the Soviet Union briefly suspended its deliveries after their relations were strained following disagreement over policy in the Balkans, the Soviet Union's war with Finland
Winter War
The Winter War was a military conflict between the Soviet Union and Finland. It began with a Soviet offensive on 30 November 1939 – three months after the start of World War II and the Soviet invasion of Poland – and ended on 13 March 1940 with the Moscow Peace Treaty...
(from which Germany had imported 88.9 million Reichsmarks in goods in 1938), Germany falling behind in its deliveries of goods under the pact and with Stalin worried that Hitler's war with the West might end quickly after France signed an armistice
Armistice with France (Second Compiègne)
The Second Armistice at Compiègne was signed at 18:50 on 22 June 1940 near Compiègne, in the department of Oise, between Nazi Germany and France...
. By the end of August, relations improved again as the countries had redrawn the Hungarian and Romanian borders, settled Bulgarian claims and Stalin was again convinced that Germany would face a long war in the west with Britain's improvement in its air battle with Germany
Battle of Britain
The Battle of Britain is the name given to the World War II air campaign waged by the German Air Force against the United Kingdom during the summer and autumn of 1940...
and the execution of an agreement between the United States and Britain regarding destroyers and bases
Destroyers for Bases Agreement
The Destroyers for Bases Agreement between the United States and the United Kingdom, September 2, 1940, transferred fifty mothballed destroyers from the United States Navy in exchange for land rights on British possessions...
. Soviet raw material deliveries increased well over prior figures.
Germany delayed its delivery of the Hipper cruiser Lützow and the plans for the Bismarck as long as possible, hoping to avoid delivery altogether if the war developed favorably. The incomplete Lützow was towed to Leningrad in mid-1940 in a less complete state than the Soviets had anticipated. In response to later Soviet orders, Germany did deliver eight 38.1 cm guns and six 40 cm guns for which the Soviets had requested drawings. The Lützow, which was not yet completed, was towed to Leningrad
Leningrad
Leningrad is the former name of Saint Petersburg, Russia.Leningrad may also refer to:- Places :* Leningrad Oblast, a federal subject of Russia, around Saint Petersburg* Leningrad, Tajikistan, capital of Muminobod district in Khatlon Province...
, where German engineers worked on the vessel until June 22, 1941.
In October 1940, German officials estimated that their raw material supplies could only comfortably last only though the summer of 1941. The situation was much more dire for rubber, the use for which in boots and tires was vital for any mobile army. German stocks had fallen to only 1,500 tons.
Hitler had been considering war with the Soviet Union since July 1940. Regarding a potential Soviet Axis entry, Ribbentrop wrote a letter promising Stalin that "in the opinion of the Führer … it appears to be the historical mission of the Four Powers-the Soviet Union, Italy, Japan and Germany-to adopt a long range-policy and to direct the future development of their peoples into the right channels by delimitation of their interests in a worldwide scale." On November 12, 1940, Hitler issued secret "Instruction No. 18", directing his forces to prepare for war in the east "irrespective of the results yielded by these discussions", while Hitler, Molotov and Ribbentrop conferenced in Berlin to discuss a potential Soviet entry as a fourth
German–Soviet Axis talks
In October and November 1940, German–Soviet Axis talks occurred concerning the Soviet Union's potential entry as a fourth Axis Power. The negotiations included a two day Berlin conference between Soviet Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov, Adolf Hitler and German Foreign Minister Joachim von...
Axis Power. Hitler wanted an additional economic deal to get what he could from the Soviet Union before the invasion, while other German officials wanted such a deal in the hopes that it could change the current anti-Soviet direction of German policy. In November, Germany and the Soviet Union began negotiations on enlarging the 1940 German–Soviet Commercial Agreement, and discussed border disputes and other issues, culminating in the execution of the January 10, 1941 German–Soviet Border and Commercial Agreement
German–Soviet Border and Commercial Agreement
The German–Soviet Border and Commercial Agreement, signed on January 10, 1941, was a broad agreement settling border disputes and continuing raw materials and war machine trade between the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany...
.
British blockade failure
After the German invasionInvasion of Poland (1939)
The Invasion of Poland, also known as the September Campaign or 1939 Defensive War in Poland and the Poland Campaign in Germany, was an invasion of Poland by Germany, the Soviet Union, and a small Slovak contingent that marked the start of World War II in Europe...
, to administer the economic blockade of Germany, the British Ministry of Economic Warfare
Minister of Economic Warfare
The Minister of Economic Warfare was a British government position which existed during the Second World War. The minister was in charge of the Special Operations Executive.-Ministers of Economic Warfare 1939-1945:...
was established on September 3, 1939 By April 1940 Britain realized that blockade appeared not to be working because of "leaks" in blockade with two major "holes" at the Black Sea and Mediterranean provided by several neutral countries, including Italy.
Reaction of neutral states to new Anglo-French blockade measures imposed against Germany tinder in late November 1939 - that all German goods of German origin or German ownership found on neutral ships would be seized in retaliation for illegal German use of mines - were harsh.
All neutrals affected by the measures had protested and Germany was urging them to take joint countermeasures. Belgium, Holland, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Japan, and Iran have lodged protests with England.
Furthermore, a spokesman of the Japanese Foreign Ministry threatened countermeasures in case the British action should damage important Japanese interests. The Brazilian Foreign Minister has stated that in all probability the Inter- American Neutrality Commission, which is meeting shortly in Rio, will decide to protest against the tightening of British blockade regulations.
| Soviet Soviet Union The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991.... Union Soviet Union The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991.... |
Poland Poland Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north... &Danzig |
Finland Finland Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside... |
Estonia Estonia Estonia , officially the Republic of Estonia , is a state in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea, to the south by Latvia , and to the east by Lake Peipsi and the Russian Federation . Across the Baltic Sea lies... |
Latvia Latvia Latvia , officially the Republic of Latvia , is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by Estonia , to the south by Lithuania , to the east by the Russian Federation , to the southeast by Belarus and shares maritime borders to the west with Sweden... |
Lithuania Lithuania Lithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the biggest of the three Baltic states. It is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, whereby to the west lie Sweden and Denmark... |
|||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1939 | 52.8 | 140.8 | 88.9 | 24.3 | 43.6 | 27.8 | ||||||
| *German Imports in millions of Reichsmarks | ||||||||||||
| Soviet Soviet Union The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991.... Union Soviet Union The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991.... |
General Government General Government The General Government was an area of Second Republic of Poland under Nazi German rule during World War II; designated as a separate region of the Third Reich between 1939–1945... (Poland Poland Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north... ) |
Finland Finland Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside... |
Estonia Estonia Estonia , officially the Republic of Estonia , is a state in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea, to the south by Latvia , and to the east by Lake Peipsi and the Russian Federation . Across the Baltic Sea lies... |
Latvia Latvia Latvia , officially the Republic of Latvia , is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by Estonia , to the south by Lithuania , to the east by the Russian Federation , to the southeast by Belarus and shares maritime borders to the west with Sweden... |
Lithuania Lithuania Lithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the biggest of the three Baltic states. It is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, whereby to the west lie Sweden and Denmark... |
Belgium Belgium Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many... |
Denmark Denmark Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark... |
Sweden Sweden Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund.... |
Italy Italy Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and... |
Romania Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea... |
Netherlands Netherlands The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders... |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1940 | 395.7 | 91.4 | 79.6 | 29.0 | 68.5 | 54.7 | 227.1 | 494.5 | 345.9 | 508.0 | 427.1 | 406.1 |
| *German Imports in millions of Reichsmarks | ||||||||||||
| Soviet Soviet Union The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991.... Union Soviet Union The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991.... |
General Government General Government The General Government was an area of Second Republic of Poland under Nazi German rule during World War II; designated as a separate region of the Third Reich between 1939–1945... (Poland Poland Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north... ) |
Finland Finland Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside... |
France France The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France... |
Hungary Hungary Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The... |
Norway Norway Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million... |
Belgium Belgium Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many... |
Denmark Denmark Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark... |
Sweden Sweden Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund.... |
Italy Italy Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and... |
Romania Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea... |
Netherlands Netherlands The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders... |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1941 | 325.5 | 87.5 | 144.9 | 751.8 | 351.1 | 280.4 | 561.6 | 410.2 | 476.9 | 930.8 | 346.9 | 640.1 |
| *German Imports in millions of Reichsmarks | ||||||||||||
The Britain attempts "to starve" Germany same as during blockade of Germany in World War I
Blockade of Germany
The Blockade of Germany, or the Blockade of Europe, occurred from 1914-1919 and was a prolonged naval operation conducted by the Allied Powers during and after World War I in an effort to restrict the maritime supply of raw materials and foodstuffs to the Central Powers, which included Germany,...
failed. In 1937/38 Germany own supply from domestic source constitute 89 % of grain, 90 percent of milk and dairy products 95% of meat
74 %in fish and 79 % of eggs. Germany agriculture was fully developed and later was able to maintain the per capita foodstuff before and during World War II.
Total Trade
During both the first period of the 1940 agreement (February 11, 1940 to February 11, 1941) and the second (February 11, 1940 until the Pact was broken), Germany received massive quantities of raw materials, including over:- 1,600,000 tons of grains
- 900,000 tons of oil
- 200,000 tons of cotton
- 140,000 tons of manganese
- 200,000 tons of phosphates
- 20,000 tons of chrome ore
- 18,000 tons of rubber
- 100,000 tons of soybeans
- 500,000 tons of iron ores
- 300,000 tons of scrap metal and pig iron
- 2,000 kilograms of platinum
Large amounts of crude oil were delivered, with German documents in 1940 already indicating that the Soviets had delivered crude oil at a rate of 150,000 tons a month for five months in 900 German tank cars exclusively reserved for it.
Hitler breaks the Pact
On June 22, 1941, Germany began Operation BarbarossaOperation Barbarossa
Operation Barbarossa was the code name for Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union during World War II that began on 22 June 1941. Over 4.5 million troops of the Axis powers invaded the USSR along a front., the largest invasion in the history of warfare...
, the invasion of the Soviet Union through the territories that the two countries had previously divided. Despite fears causing the Soviet Union to enter deals with Germany in 1939, that Germany came so close to destroying the Soviet Union was due, in large part, to Soviet actions taken from 1939 to 1941. Without Soviet imports, German stocks would have run out in several key products by October 1941, only three and a half months into the invasion. Germany would have already run through their stocks of rubber and grain before the first day of the invasion were it not for Soviet imports:
| Tot USSR imports |
June 1941 German Stocks |
June 1941 (w/o USSR imports) |
Oct 1941 German Stocks |
Oct 1941 (w/o USSR imports) |
||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oil Products | 912 | 1350 | 438 | 905 | -7 | |||||||
| Rubber Rubber Natural rubber, also called India rubber or caoutchouc, is an elastomer that was originally derived from latex, a milky colloid produced by some plants. The plants would be ‘tapped’, that is, an incision made into the bark of the tree and the sticky, milk colored latex sap collected and refined... |
18.8 | 13.8 | -4.9 | 12.1 | -6.7 | |||||||
| Manganese Manganese Manganese is a chemical element, designated by the symbol Mn. It has the atomic number 25. It is found as a free element in nature , and in many minerals... |
189.5 | 205 | 15.5 | 170 | -19.5 | |||||||
| Grain GRAIN GRAIN is a small international non-profit organisation that works to support small farmers and social movements in their struggles for community-controlled and biodiversity-based food systems. Our support takes the form of independent research and analysis, networking at local, regional and... |
1637.1 | 1381 | -256.1 | 761 | -876.1 | |||||||
| *German stocks in thousands of tons (with and without USSR imports-Oct 1941 aggregate) | ||||||||||||
Without Soviet deliveries of these four major items, Germany could barely have attacked the Soviet Union, let alone come close to victory, even with more intense rationing. At the time of the invasion, the Lützow was still not yet complete enough for sea travel, but four 20.3 cm turrets had been installed. The Soviets used her as a floating gun battery against German invaders.
See also
- Nazi–Soviet economic relationsNazi–Soviet economic relationsAfter the Nazis rose to power in Germany in 1933, relations between Germany and the Soviet Union began to deteriorate rapidly, and trade between the two countries decreased. Following several years of high tension and rivalry, Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union began to improve relations in 1939...
- Basis NordBasis NordBasis Nord was a proposed secret German naval base in Zapadnaya Litsa Bay, west of Murmansk provided by the Soviet Union. The base was part of a partnership that developed between Germany and the Soviet Union following German-Soviet Non-Aggression treaty of 1939, along with a broad economic...
- German–Soviet Border and Commercial AgreementGerman–Soviet Border and Commercial AgreementThe German–Soviet Border and Commercial Agreement, signed on January 10, 1941, was a broad agreement settling border disputes and continuing raw materials and war machine trade between the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany...
- German–Soviet Commercial Agreement (1939)
- Invasion of Poland (1939)Invasion of Poland (1939)The Invasion of Poland, also known as the September Campaign or 1939 Defensive War in Poland and the Poland Campaign in Germany, was an invasion of Poland by Germany, the Soviet Union, and a small Slovak contingent that marked the start of World War II in Europe...
- Molotov-Ribbentrop PactMolotov-Ribbentrop PactThe Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, named after the Soviet foreign minister Vyacheslav Molotov and the German foreign minister Joachim von Ribbentrop, was an agreement officially titled the Treaty of Non-Aggression between Germany and the Soviet Union and signed in Moscow in the late hours of 23 August 1939...
- Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact negotiationsMolotov–Ribbentrop Pact negotiationsThe Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact was an August 23, 1939 agreement between the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany colloquially named after Soviet foreign minister Vyacheslav Molotov and German foreign minister Joachim von Ribbentrop. The treaty renounced warfare between the two countries...
- Operation BarbarossaOperation BarbarossaOperation Barbarossa was the code name for Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union during World War II that began on 22 June 1941. Over 4.5 million troops of the Axis powers invaded the USSR along a front., the largest invasion in the history of warfare...
- Soviet invasion of PolandSoviet invasion of PolandSoviet invasion of Poland can refer to:* the second phase of the Polish-Soviet War of 1920 when Soviet armies marched on Warsaw, Poland* Soviet invasion of Poland of 1939 when Soviet Union allied with Nazi Germany attacked Second Polish Republic...
- Soviet–German relations before 1941
External links
- February 26, 1940 "MEMORANDUM ON THE GERMAN–SOVIET COMMERCIAL AGREEMENT" by Dr. Karl Schnurre, Head of the Eastern European and Baltic Section of the Commercial Policy Division of the German Foreign Office.