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To: danamco

SKF?? SKF was the biggest supplier to Nazi Germany of precision ball bearings!!!

"Sweden was Nazi Germany's largest trading partner during the war and almost the sole source of high-grade iron ore and precision ball bearings for the German war machine. Imports of the latter from Sweden were especially important following the destruction of the VKF ball bearing plant (itself Swedish-owned) at Schweinfurt by the US Eighth Air Force in August and October 1943."

http://www.cia.gov/csi/studies/summer00/art04.html

Only after Stalingrad and Kursk, and the tide had turned against the Nazis, did the Swedes start attempting to limit their material support for the Nazi war machine.


123 posted on 05/04/2006 1:10:35 AM PDT by SirJohnBarleycorn
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To: SirJohnBarleycorn
That whole Schweinfurt ball-bearing thing turned out to be a complete waste of lives, planes, and bombs.

Not only were the Germans outsourcing the ball bearing thing to Sweden and Italy, it turns out that one sub could pretty much carry all the ball bearings anyone is going to need for a year. If we were to lose bearing production for a while, our industrial supply warehouses could fake it for a quite a while. Ditto NZI Germany. Not to mention in many applications a bronze bushing will do quite nicely ... for a long while.

Interesting reading about how warring air staffs fought for particular targets, there were "Dam Guys," "Plane factory guys," "Petroleum Guys," etc. IMHO the fuel guys made the best case. NAZI Germany's war material output continued to rise throughout the war. They didn't run out of gas until they ran out of men .... and gas.

131 posted on 05/04/2006 3:52:33 PM PDT by Kenny Bunk (Any legal immigrant who wants to join me as an American, is welcome.)
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