What was the significance of ball bearing factories during the World Wars and in the economy at the time in general??
score:11
It was a vital item for just about anything mechanical. All engines and most weapons/weapon system need ball bearings. You need ball bearings to rotate a turret, no matter if this is an aircraft turret or a tank turret. Likewise, the German MG 34 and MG 42 machineguns relied heavily on ball bearings. Cars, trucks, anything that (mechanically) moves, including bicycles, need ball bearings. Torpedoes, ships, airplanes, most artillery, many bombs and artillery ammunition - all need ball bearings.
Without ball bearings those machines and weapons will fail to work. Ball bearings are not so easy to manufacture. They must be of exactly the right size. A tiny deviation in size of a few bearings (a fraction of a millimeter too large or too small) can bring the machine to a standstill. Literally. That's why the allies put so much effort into destroying ball bearing factories.
Theoretically some weapons or machines can function without ball bearings, but not a lot. And they will need lots and lots of lubricants to make up for the lack of ball bearings. Something the Germans didn't have much of.
I have also heard that big money industry for both the allies and axis super powers colluded to NOT bomb each others' ball bearing factories because it would "end the war too soon".
That's something you have to give some sources for. Extraordinary claims demand extraordinary evidence, after all. Given the fact that the Schweinfurt raids were done several times, I don't think this is likely to be true. The loss of life was horrendous in both raids.
Upvote:5
Question Part 1: What was the significance of ball bearing factories during the World Wars and in the economy at the time in general??
Ball bearing were a vital foundational component of an industrial economy. Crippling Germany's ball bering supply was a key American War strategy in WWII ever since American intelligence identified a shortage of ball bearings within Germany in 1942. America's plan was to bomb key ball bering factories which accounted for a large percentage of German ball bering production to exasperate the perceived German shortage.
Second Raid on Schweinfurt
Factories in and around Schweinfurt accounted for a significant amount of German ball-bearing production. The Kugelfischer plant produced 22 percent, and the Vereinigte Kugellagerfabriken I and II produced 20 percent, and another one percent came from the Fichtel & Sachs factory.After the German ball bearing "bottleneck" had been identified in 1942 and ball bearings had been named the second-most-vital Pointblank industry for the Combined Bomber Offensive in March 1943, Schweinfurt's ball bearing plants were selected for a second air raid after being bombed during the August Schweinfurt–Regensburg mission.
To get a feel for the perceived importance of ball bearings as a target, we can review losses in two missions who's primary objective was ball bering.
The first Schweinfurt raid, August 17, 1943:
Mission No. 84 was a strike by 376 bombers of sixteen bomb groups against German heavy industry well beyond the range of escorting fighters. The mission inflicted heavy damage on the Regensburg target, but at catastrophic loss to the force, with 60 bombers lost and many more damaged beyond economical repair. As a result, the Eighth Air Force was unable to follow up immediately with a second attack that might have seriously crippled German industry. When Schweinfurt was finally attacked again two months later, the lack of long-range fighter escort had still not been addressed and losses were even higher. As a consequence, deep penetration strategic bombing was curtailed for five months.
Second Raid on Schweinfurt, October 14, 1943
Of the 291 B-17 Flying Fortresses sent on the mission, 60 were lost outright, another 17 damaged so heavily that they had to be scrapped, and another 121 had varying degrees of battle damage. Outright losses represented over 26% of the attacking force. Losses in aircrew were equally heavy, with 650 men lost of 2,900, 22% of the bomber crews. The American Official History of the Army Air Forces in the Second World War acknowledged losses had been so heavy that the USAAF would not return to the target for four months; "The fact was that the Eighth Air Force had for the time being lost air superiority over Germany"
.
Question Part 2:
I have heard historians claim that enemies' ball bearing factory locations were a coveted piece of intelligence. I have also heard that big money industry for both the allies and axis super powers colluded to NOT bomb each others' ball bearing factories because it would "end the war too soon".
I think their are several reasons one could come away with such a mistaken belief.
(1) Key Ball Bearing Plants such as those around Schweinfurt were deep inside Germany. As demonstrated and documented with the above quotes missions which hit these targets prior to the development of long range fighter escorts were so costly they caused months of delays between raids as America had to rebuild it's bomber forces. After the second raid on Schweinfurt, America suspended daylight unescorted bombing of Germany for five months.
Second Raid on Schweinfurt unescorted daylight bomber raids deep into Germany were suspended until the February 1944 Big Week missions with P-51B Mustang escorts that included additional Schweinfurt day/night USAAF/RAF bombing on the 24th.
(2) There was a disagreement among the allies. While the United States identified a production battle neck and made it a key and costly aim of their bombing efforts. The British did not contribute to this effort.
Second Raid on Schweinfurt
The intelligence of the Allied Air Forces were also flawed. Arthur Harris, Air Officer Commanding RAF Bomber Command questioned the intelligence that claimed ball bearings to be the critical node in the German war economy. Harris refused to cooperate with the Americans, believing ball bearing targets to be a false "panacea".[10] Post-war analysis has shown Harris's objections to be correct.
.
Question Part 3:
Were (ball bearings) a high-leverage pinch-point in the type of supply chain necessary to build a modern military?
Ball bearings were not the bottle neck which American Intelligence reported. Germany had huge supplies of ball bearings and were able to import them from other European countries, including neutral countries like Switzerland, and Sweden. Despite America making ball bearing production facilities a key target in 1943 and 44, despite many costly missions to destroy those production facilities, the United States never seriously compromised Germans ball bearing supply.
The Germans had built up enormous reserves of ball bearings and were receiving supplies from all over Europe, particularly Italy, Sweden and Switzerland. The operation against these industries would, even if successful, have achieved little.[13][14] By 1945 the Germans had assembled more reserves than ever before
Sources:
Upvote:6
Ball bearings were a key component in most of the items that enabled motorised and mechanised warfare. Ensuring your own side's supply and limiting that of you enemy were therefore a key consideration in military and political strategy.
Ball and roller bearings are speciality engineering products which use balls to reduce rotational friction and support loads by separating moving axles. During a war, they are particularly useful in airplane motors, tanks, automobiles, guns, submarine engines and similar war materiel. During the Second World War, ball bearings and the machinery for producing them were among the most sought‐after and disputed products.
Did Swedish Ball Bearings Keep the Second World War Going? Re‐evaluating Neutral Sweden’s Role, E.B.Golson (2011)
One example of action to interrupt the enemy's supply of ball bearings was the Allied bombings of the Schweinfurt factories that produced almost half of Germany's bearings.
Allied pre‐emptive attempts to end this Swedish‐German trade were only partially successful, given the nature of the supply chain in question. By late 1943, the Allies were treating ball bearings as one of the “choke points” in Germany’s war economy.
The Americans and British collaborated to limit both German domestic production and Swedish imports. Germany produced less because of Allied bombings in August and October 1943, which damaged VKF’s factories in Schweinfurt.
Did Swedish Ball Bearings Keep the Second World War Going? Re‐evaluating Neutral Sweden’s Role, E.B.Golson (2011), pg.6
More post
- 📝 What did the sympathies lie of the US Navy around the time of the American Civil War?
- 📝 Around 1640s, at what time did people eat Christmas dinner?
- 📝 Do we know who graduated from the University of Mexico in the 1700s?
- 📝 What are the highest and biggest half-timbered buildings built during medieval era?
- 📝 Was the 1939 Red Army more disciplined / better behaved than the 1943-1945 Red Army?
- 📝 Why did Romans use the sesterce in written monetary records when the coin itself was so rarely used?
- 📝 Was there a single ancient religion that all others sprang from?
- 📝 Is Sumer considered by historians as a part of Western Civilization?
- 📝 What examples from history are there of a dictator successfully annexing countries by force over the long term?
- 📝 How does the amount of equipment carried by various historical infantries compare?
- 📝 What was the medium for Marcus Aurelius's Meditations?
- 📝 What is the main reason for Germany's strong economy?
- 📝 How did the Romans supply water in winter?
- 📝 Are there any examples of overpopulation?
- 📝 In 19th century India, pre and post Raj, did any private British citizens actually own land in India?
- 📝 How were servants to the Kaiser of Imperial Germany treated and where may I find more information on them?
- 📝 What was housing like in early Medieval Scotland?
- 📝 When and why did it become frowned upon to win a siege by starvation?
- 📝 Is the Sri Lankan Civil War really over?
- 📝 Unknown Symbol on an Atomic Bomb
- 📝 Japan is known for being isolationist, so what cultivated its history of interventionism in the 20th century?
- 📝 Why did the Red Army change uniforms in 1943?
- 📝 Which military commanders burned their own ships?
- 📝 What kind of heating did Moscow have in the early Soviet Union (1917 - 1930)?
- 📝 Who was the noble present at the Tennis Court Oath?
- 📝 Why would a 16th century Italian painter choose canvas over wood panel?
- 📝 Effect of propaganda during the American War of Independence
- 📝 Why do Spaniards have their lunch and dinner so late?
- 📝 Who are the 'Tiursk tribe' of Central Asia?
- 📝 Why was there a sharp decline in the number of municipalities in West Germany in the 1970s?
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 What was the significance of ball bearing factories during the World Wars and in the economy at the time in general??
- 📝 What was the strategy to protect the British Museum during the World Wars?
- 📝 What was the liquor that was based on petrol which was produced in the USSR during the Second World War?
- 📝 What did European people of the 5th century AD eat during spring and what was the availability?
- 📝 What was the border regime between Poland and Czechoslovakia like during the 1970s and 1980s?
- 📝 What was the estimated malaria death toll for US Forces during World War II?
- 📝 What is the best way to describe the form of Japanese government during the years before and during world war 2?
- 📝 What was the currency in use in Palestine shortly before and during WWI?
- 📝 What was the significance of the Mississipi River on the Civil War and Westward Expansion?
- 📝 Where did the masquerade ball come from and what was its original concept?
- 📝 What was the ideological and philosophical underpinnings of World War II?
- 📝 What was the trend of forced labor in Germany and its conquered territories during WWII?
- 📝 What was the most popular food staple among civilians during World War II?
- 📝 What was the income tax rate in the UK during WWI and WWII?
- 📝 What was the inheritance tax rate in the UK during WWI and WWII?
- 📝 What was the main driver of conquest and wars in ancient times? Why were they so frequent?
- 📝 During segregation and Jim Crow laws in the US what happened if a person was allowed to use white facilities but other users objected?
- 📝 Was there any treaty during WWI and II with the world countries and Sir Henry Dunant's Red Cross to respect those with Red Cross?
- 📝 What was the extent of military conscription by the German Army during World War 2?
- 📝 During the breakup of the Soviet Union, on what basis was citizenship granted or withheld for each of the fifteen new republics?
- 📝 What was the typical peasant's diet like in Europe during the High Middle Ages?
- 📝 What was the status of Arab Christians during the crusades?
- 📝 What was the reason for Soviet troops to withdraw from Yugoslavia in World War II?
- 📝 What was the role of the Soviet Navy during WWII?
- 📝 Why was Switzerland not attacked during the two World Wars?
- 📝 What is the evidence to claim that political order in ancient Rome was sufficiently different under "kingdom", "republic" and "empire"?
- 📝 What was the average height of Roman men and women?
- 📝 What was the longest a World War II submarine stayed at sea without being resupplied at a port?
- 📝 What was the ratio of German to Soviet losses on Eastern front during different stages of the war?
- 📝 What was the shortest time between a historical event occuring and a museum opening dedicated to said event?