Resources

Raw material supply was a motivator for World War II, but shortages proved critical only for Germany and Japan towards the end of the war, under the combined pressure of naval blockade and bombing. Due to pre-war preparations, trading and stockpiling that are unable to be simulated adequately in HoI, the raw material supplies should be closer to the needs of the nation than otherwise would be historically justified.

Resources - all nations should have a fairly close to balanced supply of raw materials to starting IC with the following exceptions:

 

France - should initially be selling rubber for coal on world market; set up event for England to ship a coal shipment to France in Sept 1939? (initial support of England for France knowing that France can no longer get coal from Germany) France was a major exporter of iron (should have over twice the iron Germany does).

Germany - exported Coal and Steel to Italy; Germany imported iron. Germany gained oil from Romania, bauxite (aluminum) from Yugoslavia and Greece, coal from Poland, manganese from USSR, and iron ore from France. Due to this expansion supplies of coal were increased by 60% and iron ore was increased by 140%.

German synthetic rubber production was mostly at Schkopau (Halle) and Huels (Koln).

Germany has "modest oil deposits in the north German plain" (per US Library of Congress); Germany had oil refineries in Hamburg; half the German oil production was via synthetics. Germany's 1940 oil breakdown:

  • 8% Germany domestic production
  • 9% Austria domestic production
  • 6% Poland and Czechoslovakia domestic production
  • 26% imported from Romania
  • 9% imported from Hungary
  • 43% synthetic production (70% war total)

Italy - Italy has a serious raw material shortage. Italy was heavily dependent upon foriegn trade with huge shortages of Coal, Steel, Oil and Rubber. During the War Italy was unable to get enough of any of these key resources. Italy exported agricultural products.

  • Coal - domestic production was only 13% of needs; imports provided 70% of requirements; shortages of imports left Italy 16% short. Italy imported 7 million tons of coal from Germany in 1936, this was increased to 9 million tons in 1938.
  • Steel - domestic production was 50% of needs; imports were only one third of needed imports; leaving Italy 33% short of needs.
  • Oil - domestic production was 1.5% of needs; imports provided 13% of needs; leaving Italy 85% short.
  • Rubber - domestic production was zero; imports were 64% of needs; leaving Italy 36% short.

Japan - steel production of Manchuria was three to five times that of Korea and mainland Japan was greater than ten times that of Manchuria. Japan's military production was slightly limited by a shortage of steel. Roughly 10% of Japan's coal was imported. Coal producing areas of Japan were Kyushu in the west and Hokkaido in the north. Transportation was a serious problem. The Netherlands was supplying Japan with oil until July 1941. Prior to Japan entering the war Japan was basically isolated from the world market, thus prompting Japan to conclude they were better off going to war. Imported 90% of it's iron ore and 66% of it's oil.

Japan gained rubber, cobalt and bauxite from the Netherland's East Indies; tin and rubber from Malaya and French Indo-China; copper from the Philippines; oilfields in the Dutch territories supplied nine times the oil Japan had from their mainland and China (the oil from the Dutch territories was critical).

Romania - exports oil to Italy and Germany

USA - Steel & Rubber would be the tightest of USA resources. Export surpluses of Coal, Steel and Oil; imported Rubber; USA Steel should be roughly double Germany. USA should have virtually no resource limitations, historically they were dependent upon foriegn sources for nickel, chrome, manganese and rubber.

USSR - steel should be 36% of Germany's; USSR virtually self supplied for all resources (until overrun by Germany). Germany was able to quickly exploit the Soviet sources of Manganese but gained little of coal, iron ore and other metals. Russia's needs were mostly met via lend lease.

 

Germany had 38 Panzer divisions total and roughly 14 Motorized/Mechanized divisions at roughly peak. At HoI rates of 8 oil per armored division and an average of 4 oil Mot/Mech this equates to roughly 360 points of oil.

The 1941 scenario starts with Germany using 121 oil per day, assuming this is at rest then it would be 242 oil when moving plus maybe another 20 for naval units plus some for air. In the 1941 scenario Germany is producing 3153 coal with an IC level of 734, thus indicating an excess of 1685 coal which at a 1:2 ratio could generate 840 oil. Domestic oil production is 31. In the 1941 scenario Germany starts with 24 armored divisions and 17 motorized (theoretical usage while all moving of 236 oil).

Plan for German oil situation circa late 1940 to 1941 (France, Poland, Yugo, etc conquered):

Bordeaux (948) has oil?

Rubber - 98% of American needs and 87% of British needs were imported from SE Asia initially, but synthetic production in the USA exceeded needs very quickly (but there was a brief period of shortage in 1942 - largely handled by consuming stockpiles and nationwide recycling collection). In 1943 USA produced 730,000 tons of synthetic rubber vs Germany's production of 121,000 tons of synthetic rubber.

Iquitos (city) - Peru or Ecuador? significant rubber source from 1880 to 1912 - what happenned then?

Coal - In 2001 only 12% of the worldwide total consumption of coal was traded on the world market. (i.e. most coal is locally produced and consumed) Note: review South America as Colombia should have a large amount of all South American coal ("60%").

Geological Survey Links: http://www.mccullyweb.com/geologicalsurvey/

In 2001, the leading suppliers of imported coal to Europe were South Africa (29 percent), Australia (19 percent), South America (13 percent), and the United States (10 percent). Over the forecast period, low-cost coal from South America (primarily from Colombia and Venezuela) is projected to meet an increasing share of European coal import demand, displacing some coal from such higher cost suppliers as the United States and Poland.

Africa - Africa’s coal production and consumption are concentrated heavily in South Africa. In 2001, South Africa produced 250 million tons of coal, representing 97 percent of Africa’s total coal production for the year.

Asia - Industrialized Asia consists of Australia, New Zealand, and Japan. Australia is the world’s leading coal exporter and Japan is the leading coal importer in the world in 2001.

Central and South America - Historically, coal has not been a major source of energy in Central and South America. In 2001, coal accounted for about 3.8 percent of the region’s total energy consumption, and in years past its share has never exceeded 5 percent.

Europe - In Eastern Europe, Poland is the largest producer and consumer of coal; in fact, it is the second largest coal producer and consumer in all of Europe, outranked only by Germany. The three main coal-producing countries of the Former Soviet Union are - Russia, Ukraine, and Kazakhstan. Following the closure of the last remaining coal mines in Belgium in 1992 and Portugal in 1994, only four member states of the European Union (the United Kingdom, Germany, Spain, and France) continue to produce hard coal, and all have seen their output of hard coal decline since 1990.

Quality vs tonnage- the average heat content of lignite from major producers in countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) varied from a low of 4.7 million Btu per ton in Greece to a high of 12.3 million Btu per ton in Canada. In comparison, premium coal supplied to United States coke plants is estimated to have a content of 27.4 million Btu per ton.