Chapter 424 Caucasus (End)

"What's the situation with our oil supply? Has the trend of drawing down reserves stopped?"

Speer sighed: "How to put this question? We have to look at it in two parts: In the field of production, the production capacity of natural crude oil and synthetic oil can exceed at least 20 million tons this year, and with better luck it can reach 24-25 million tons. tons, which means that we can get 2 million tons of oil every month. Compared with the 16 million tons in 1942, this is a very remarkable increase. But in terms of consumption, the scale of the air force and armored forces will be larger than last year. An increase of 150%, and the navy will increase by at least 100%. In addition, we have paid a lot for the Italian Navy and the Japanese Navy. The Italian Navy alone now consumes more than 200,000 tons of oil per month. Fortunately, we have obtained a batch of oil in Egypt and the Middle East. In addition, the battlefield on the Eastern Front was relatively calm in the first three months, and the fuel consumption was very low. After a comprehensive balance, it could barely be maintained, which is considered a dangerous balance. "

"It seems that the situation is not particularly ideal. At least the coal-to-liquids project cannot be axed yet."

"Not this year. Cutting it off will create a gap. The strategic reserve is currently less than 5 million tons. I also hope to restore it to more than 7 million tons by the end of the year." Speer thought for a while, and then told Hoffman Said, "But there are great opportunities next year. With the development of two large oil fields in Kuwait and Najd, and the further increase in oil production in Iraq and Iran, the total output is expected to reach 36 million tons. If we are optimistic, it is expected to reach 40 million tons - In this way, some coal-to-liquid projects can be stopped.”

"In addition to oil, coal, especially electricity, is also a key bottleneck restricting industry. Coal should be used to generate electricity rather than uneconomically synthesized into fuel." Hoffman said helplessly, "That's why I hope to stop the coal-to-liquids project. , but it seems hopeless this year.”

Speer nodded, expressing his understanding of this concern, but immediately reported good news: the Donetsk coal mining area has been completely repaired and will soon be mined and generated on a large scale.

This is a very remarkable achievement. In history, Germany was forced to retreat due to the failure of the Battle of Stalingrad just after it resumed coal production in Donetsk. In the end, it could only hastily blow up the coal mines that had finally been restored. I heard The coal-producing areas with the Donbas coalfield as the core have fully recovered, and Hoffman is very happy.

At first, the Ministry of Armament only wanted to resume mining. After calculations, it was found that the annual output of Donbas coal mines exceeded 100 million tons, accounting for about two-thirds of the Soviet Union's coal output and a quarter of Germany's output. The quantity was large, but There are great difficulties in transporting these 100 million tons of coal back to Germany for utilization.

There are two ways to transport coal from Donbas to Germany: one is to transport it from the Eastern Route to Germany via railway. The railway mileage is about 2,500 kilometers. It passes through the countries on the Eastern Route and takes 4-5 days to transport alone; the other is to transport it by railway. By sea, there is a port more than 100 kilometers south of Donbas. You can take the Sea of ​​Azov-Black Sea-Mediterranean sea route to reach Italy and then send it to Germany. This road takes more than 2,000 nautical miles, and the overall transportation time is more than two weeks.

After precise calculations, transportation experts believe that although the Donbas coalfield has a good geographical location and convenient transportation, it is unrealistic to transport 8 million tons of coal every month. The existing railway and maritime transportation capacity cannot support this scale. , and will crowd out other resources, such as the transportation capacity of food and minerals.

"If we want to effectively utilize this coal resource, most of it must be converted locally, and a small amount can be transported externally. Up to 1 million to 1.5 million tons can be transported every month through the return transportation capacity of trains and ships. In addition..." At this point , Speer stopped talking and took out the telegraph newspaper from his briefcase, "The Italian side stated that the lack of coal greatly restricted the use of industrial capacity. Before the war, they imported more coal from Germany. After the war started, Because our own demand has increased and our coal exports to Italy have been significantly reduced, Prime Minister Mussolini responded to the request of several industrial giants and sent me a telegram hoping to increase exports..."

"It can partially meet his requirements, such as giving an extra 500,000 tons to the Italians every month, but the use must be included in the unified management system. I don't want to see this batch of coal arrive in Italy and flow into the black market." This is what Hoffman said. On purpose, he received intelligence: Mussolini bought 100,000 special medicines (penicillin) from Germany some time ago, saying that they were for use by officers and technical troops. In the blink of an eye, these goods were in Rome. , can be bought on the black market in Turin - the price has risen to 300-400 marks a piece.

"I can understand that dignitaries embezzle military supplies for their own use, and I can even turn a blind eye, but embezzling and selling them for profit exceeds the limit of my tolerance. I have sent Comrade Bowman to investigate."

Speer smiled awkwardly, as if to say: Of course there is no problem with Bowman's investigation in Germany, but in Italy, there is a big question mark as to whether his power can be used effectively.

"Actually, both you and I can guess which links have gone wrong, but I must maintain such an unforgiving style - now these people can sell special medicines for money, and in the future they can sell military plans and Italian leaders for money." Hoffman smiled and said, "He will understand the need to clean up the door. If he can't make up his mind, we have plenty of people to do it - the special operations team hasn't been deployed for a long time!"

Speer couldn't help but shudder: the head of state's determination to control Italy seemed stronger than he thought.

"Let's talk about coal. Apart from the 100 million tons of coal shipped back to the mainland and to Italy, how do you plan to arrange the remaining 80 million tons?"

"Part of it will be used for coking and supplying steel enterprises, and part of it will be used for power generation. However, the installed capacity of the Donetsk power plant is limited, and it is impossible to use so much coal. There must be other ways out. Unfortunately, Ukraine's heavy chemical industry is underdeveloped, and the effect of using it is very general."

"We can't just consider production, but also the heating needs of Eastern countries." Hoffman said, "I heard that the Russians used to use crude oil for heating in winter due to the lack of coal. I don't have the luxury of using crude oil, but I can provide them with some coal. Increase the intensity of mining, and all the unused coal will be used for heating this winter."

Speer looked at Hoffman in surprise, not understanding why the head of state was so generous to Eastern countries recently: first he provided diesel, and now he is preparing to provide coal - is this the rhythm of really establishing a European Union?

As if seeing his confusion, Hoffman explained: "We cannot look at coal or diesel in isolation, we must consider the policy towards the entire Eastern state system. Lieutenant General Weller told me that if they can get enough equipment and supplies, and have a sound training and command system, these soldiers are all very good fighters. Stalin did not use them well at all. As far as this world war is concerned, our German population is far from large enough. Any method to reduce the sacrifice of German youth should be encouraged. If we can mobilize enough Eastern troops to fight the Bolshevik army, we will be invincible in this war, which will also be of great help to the future world and European structure. Giving these people some diesel and coal within our capacity can consolidate the relationship between these countries and us and enhance mutual identification. This will not only not harm our own interests but will also be of great benefit to our cause. As a politician, you should keep this in mind. "

"I understand, Führer."

"With the addition of the Donbass coal mine, can the aluminum problem be solved?"

"The aluminum problem can be solved, but there is still a gap in electricity."

Sufficient electricity is the guarantee for obtaining electrolytic aluminum. Germany originally had enough electricity, but because of the increase in aircraft production scale, a large number of aluminum ingots were required, and electricity gradually began to be insufficient. Hoffman paid great attention to this. Hoffman's expectation for aircraft manufacturing this year is 30,000. Calculated based on the consumption of 2 tons of aluminum per aircraft (actually, the consumption of parts and products is far more than that), the additional aircraft aluminum consumption exceeds 60,000 tons, while Germany's annual aluminum production in 1942 was only 280,000 tons. It is indeed not easy to achieve an increase of more than 20% in a short period of time. However, he was still very happy to hear that the aluminum problem could be solved, which greatly exceeded expectations.

"Industrial experts have calculated that the newly added Donetsk coal production and corresponding power generation are sufficient to cover the entire production process from raw material mining to aluminum products, but the current domestic electricity is still insufficient - to be more precise, there are not enough generators and kilowatt-hours, because there is a large amount of additional demand in addition to aluminum."

"What is it?"

"I won't give examples of other industrial production. I will only tell you one thing - the purification of raw materials for super bombs requires a lot of electricity. At first, I suspected that the professors had miscalculated, but they did a purification experiment. The acquisition of a tiny bit of raw materials, less than 0.2 grams, actually consumed millions of kilowatt-hours of electricity. Experts said that hundreds of kilograms or even tons of raw materials are needed to complete a super bomb." Speer complained with a sad face, "At this level, all the electricity in Germany is not enough for them."

Hearing this, Hoffman had another toothache: Heisenberg's second calculation began to get closer to the truth, but there was still a big problem - at least two orders of magnitude higher. But there was one thing Speer did not exaggerate, there was no doubt that this thing consumed electricity. Now the contradiction arises. Should the limited electricity be used to ensure the production of aircraft and armaments or to purify nuclear materials?

This is a difficult question to answer. If the German top leaders were asked to choose now, it is estimated that everyone else would bet on armaments, but only Hoffman knew that the second one would be the end of the war.

After a long painful decision, he finally made up his mind and said: "Neither of these two aspects can be delayed. Purification is a long-term accumulation process. It will not use astronomical amounts of electricity at once - we don't have so much equipment. I want to communicate with experts about the super bomb project and listen to the current progress and follow-up arrangements."