Appendix B. Strategic Air Attack on the Lubricating Oil Industry

Lubricating oils, though principally derived from petroleum, require either special kinds of petroleum, or special processing, or both, for their manufacture. The factors affecting the German lubricating oil situation are thus somewhat different from those governing fuels, and therefore are discussed separately.

Lack of crude mineral oil forced prewar Germany to import a large portion of what she consumed. The crudes or semifinished materials imported were chosen to fit the eventual products manufactured. In general, lubricating oil was manufactured from wax-free crudes, which only required light refining to produced mediocre products.

Oil fields discovered in Germany during the intensified drilling program in 1930-1934 yielded waxy oils that were unsatisfactory for lubricating oil manufacture as they required considerable additional refining. Foreseeing eventual needs, the Germans in 1934 began to expand their lubricating oil processing facilities to obtain maximum production from native crudes. In 1937 governmental decree forbade the diversion of raw lubricating oil materials to any other product. It appears that the decision was then made to attempt to fill motor fuel requirements from coal hydrogenation and synthesis in the hope of satisfying lubricating oil needs from German crude. By substituting raw unrefined oils for some lubricants, by stressing the regeneration of used oil, and by generally guiding consumption and production, Germany was able to satisfy requirements with a minimum of processing expansion. During the war, stocks were fairly well maintained, as shown in Table B1, except for brief crises.

During 1942 lubricating oil was distributed as follows:

The situation in late August, 1943 was somewhat different. The German air force had increased its demands for aviation lubricating oil alone from 62,000 tons to 87,000 tons per year, which was about 50 percent above the current production. The loss of the Naples and Livorno refineries by bombing increased the Italian demands on Germany from 7,000 tons to 30,000 tons per year, an increase of 3 percent of the total German lubricating oil production.

Expansion of crude oil processing capacity had lagged because of manpower and steel shortages, as well as of the poor outlook for increased crude oil production. The 1937 decree had not been observed to the letter, and some lubricant raw stocks had been diverted to fuel and other purposes. Synthetic lubricating oil production had lagged initially because of the extremely high production costs and later because of lack of manpower and steel. Only one new crude processing plant was scheduled to start before 1944, as indicated in Table B2.

Industry was already sharply rationed, and lubrication specialists had made extensive surveys to reduce industrial requirements. The stock position, always precarious, was at that time equal to only two months of consumption.

The Allied air forces had demonstrated their strength over Hamburg in mid-summer 1943, but fortunately for the enemy, the large lubricating oil refineries was practically untouched. It takes a minimum of ten months to build such a refinery. Had the Hamburg air attack been divided or diverted to include the three principal northwestern lubricating oil refineries, the resulting industrial and military chaos would have been far-reaching.

The requirements for 1943 were met by short-range planning, by compromising requirements with production, by substituting lower quality products, by employing water-oil emulsions, and by using a higher percentage of reclaimed oil. Plans were made to increase processing from crude in Austria and the eastern region by moving French and Italian equipment, and to hasten completion of several synthetic lubricating oil plants. The German planning in January, 1944, showed that they fully expected to have the northwest refineries destroyed by the middle of the year.

The May, 1944, attacks on synthetic lubricating oil plants caused a crisis in the already critical aviation lubricating oil stocks, and shipments direct from the plants to the front became necessary.

Under the repeated bombing, production of all grades of lubricating oil decreased steadily, dropping from an average of 73,000 tons in the first four months of 1944 to 38,000 tons in August, to only 14,000 tons in January, 1945, and thereafter to almost nothing. However, the decrease in supplies of liquid fuels reduced the consumption of lubricating oils almost enough to compensate, for a time, for the drop in production. Stocks of lubricating oil held by the German industry actually increased from 48,000 tons on 1 May 1944 to 66,000 tons at the end of the year. Further, deliveries for civil consumption (exclusive of the postal service), which were largely for industrial uses not dependant on liquid fuels, were maintained in the fourth quarter of 1944 at 19,700 tons per month, against 32,300 in the first quarter. This drop of 39 percent is suprisingly low in view of the sharp loss of production and the increased stock.

After the destruction of lubricating oil plants, storage of lubricant raw components became a problem. Eventually, these components were stored in covered pits. During the winter of 1944-1945, when transportation was disrupted, these valuable components were used in place of coal in industrial and public utility power houses in the northwest.

Location of Underground and Dispersal Plants

No.	Plant	Type	Location	Construction Stage
1	Ofen 1, 2	crude distillation unit	Boegerhof/Rinteln	1
2	Ofen 3, 4	crude distillation unit	Brunkensen, in Harz Mtns	1
3	Ofen 5, 6	crude distillation unit	Messinghausen/Brilon	1
4	Ofen 7, 8	crude distillation unit	Muehlenbein/Brilon	1
5	Ofen 9,10	crude distillation unit	Muehlental/Northeim	1
6	Ofen 11, 12	crude distillation unit	Tuernitz/St. Polten	1
7	Ofen 13, 14	crude distillation unit	Weitenegg/Krems	1
8	Ofen 15, 16	crude distillation unit	Spitz/Krems	1
9	Ofen 17, 18	crude distillation unit	Petzenkirchen/Melk	1
10	Ofen 19, 20	crude distillation unit	Alte Poste I/Pirna	1
11	Ofen 21, 22	crude distillation unit	Alte Poste II/Pirna	1
12	Ofen 23, 30	crude distillation unit	Ebensee	1
13	Ofen 31, 32	crude distillation unit	Statzendorf/St. Polten	1
14	Ofen 33, 34	crude distillation unit	Hauskirchen/Zisterdorf	1
15	Ofen 35, 36	crude distillation unit	Hungary (no location)	5
16	Ofen 37, 38	crude distillation unit	Bocketal/Ibbenbueren	1
17	Ofen 39, 40	crude distillation unit	Deutsch Brod	2
18	Dachs 1	lubricating oil plant	Porta/Minden	1-2
19	Dachs 2	lubricating oil plant	Ebensee	2
20	Dachs 3	lubricating oil plant	Deutsch Brod	2-3
21	Dachs 4	lubricating oil plant	Osterode/Harz Mtns	3
22	Dachs 5	lubricating oil plant	Willingen/Waldeck	3-4
23	Dachs 6	lubricating oil plant	Moosebierbaum	3
24	Dachs 7	lubricating oil plant	Alte Poste/Pirna	2
25	Dachs 8	lubricating oil plant	Muehldorf/Graz	4
26	Dachs 9	lubricating oil plant	Oslebenhausen/Bremen	5
27	Kuckuck	hydrogenation, hydroforming, catalytic cracking, alkylation	Niedersachswerfen	2-3
28	Schwalbe 1	Hydrogenation plant	Oberrodeinghausen/Menden	3
29	Schwalbe 2	Hydrogenation plant	Niedere Kirchleite/Pirna	3-4
30	Schwalbe 3	Hydrogenation plant	Polenztal/Schandau	3-4
31	Schwalbe 4	Hydrogenation plant	Heggen/Finnentrop	3-4
32	Schwalbe 5	Hydrogenation plant	Berga/Gera	3
33	Schwalbe 6	Hydrogenation plant	Alme/Brilon	5
34	Schwalbe 7	Hydrogenation plant	Wolling/Stettin	5
35	Schwalbe 8	Hydrogenation plant	Tetschen	5
36	Rost 1	primitive crude distillation	Hannover-Linden	1
37	Rost 2	primitive crude distillation	Salzwedel, near Uelzen	1
38	Rost 3	primitive crude distillation	Anderten/Hannover	1
39	Rost 4	primitive crude distillation	Harpen/Dortmund	1
40	Rost 5	primitive crude distillation	Oberhausen-Holten	1
41	Karpfen 1	small Fischer-Tropsch plant	Würzburg	2-3
42	Karpfen 2	small Fischer-Tropsch plant	Fürth/Nürnberg	2-3
43	Karpfen 3	small Fischer-Tropsch plant	Erfurt	2-3
44	Karpfen 4	small Fischer-Tropsch plant	Leipzeig	2
45	Karpfen 5	small Fischer-Tropsch plant	Boehlen/Leipzig	1
46	Karpfen 6	small Fischer-Tropsch plant	Plauen	2-3
47	Karpfen 7	small Fischer-Tropsch plant	Chemnitz	2-3
48	Karpfen 8	small Fischer-Tropsch plant	Heidenau/Dresden	2-3
49	Karpfen 9	small Fischer-Tropsch plant	Cottbus	2-3
50	Karpfen 10	small Fischer-Tropsch plant	Goerlitz	2-3
51	Wueste 1	shale oil plant	Nehren/Balingen	2
52	Wueste 2	shale oil plant	Wessingen/Balingen	1-2
53	Wueste 3	shale oil plant	Engstlatt/Balingen	4
54	Wueste 4	shale oil plant	North Erzingen/Balingen	1-2
55	Wueste 5	shale oil plant	West Erzingen/Balingen	4
56	Wueste 6	shale oil plant	West Dortmettingen/Balinger	4
57	Wueste 7	shale oil plant	Center Dortmettingen/Balinger	4
58	Wueste 8	shale oil plant	South Dortmettingen/Balinger	1-2
59	Wueste 9	shale oil plant	Schoember/Balingen	1-2
60	Wueste 10	shale oil plant	Zepfenhahn/Balingen	4
61	Wueste 11	shale oil plant	Schoerzingen/Balingen	5
62	Wueste 12	shale oil plant	Schandelah/Braunschweig	5
63	Wueste 13	shale oil plant	Schoemberg/Balingen	5
64	Wueste 14	shale oil plant	Dotternhausen/Balingen	5
65	Wueste 15	shale oil plant	Frommern/Balingen	2
66	Molch 1	phenol extraction plant	Obermolwitz near Altenburg	2
67	Molch 2	phenol extraction plant	Rohnau/Hirschfeld	2
68	Molch 3	phenol extraction plant	Auschwitz/Gleiwitz	1
69	Molch 4	phenol extraction plant	Miltiz-Roitschen/Meissen	2-3
70	Molch 5	phenol extraction plant	Niederau/Dresden	-
71	Molch 6	phenol extraction plant	Nachterstedt/Halberstadt	2
72	Taube 1	cracking plant	Schwarzholz/Deggendorf	2
73	Taube 2	cracking plant	Bredelar/Brilon	2
74	Jakob 1	primitive cracking plant	Statzendorf/St. Polten	3
75	Jakob 2	primitive cracking plant	Hirschfelde/Zittau	3
76	Jakob 3	primitive cracking plant	North Berbersdorf/Heinichen	2
77	Jakob 4	primitive cracking plant	South Berbersdorf/Heinichen	3
78	Jakob 5	primitive cracking plant	Boegerhof/Rinteln	3
79	Jakob 6	primitive cracking plant	Braunsdorf/Altenburg	4
80	Jakob 7	primitive cracking plant	Gross Stoebnitz/Altenburg	4
81	Jakob 8	primitive cracking plant	Kammersforst/Haselbach	4
82	Jakob 9	primitive cracking plant	Hedersleben/Halberdtadt	2-3
83	Jakob 10	primitive cracking plant	Mariannensglück/Petershain	3
84	Jakob 11	primitive cracking plant	"Ada" Mine/Plessow	4
85	Steinbock 1	catalyst storage and high-pressure equipment maintenance	Heilbronn	3
86	Steinbock 2	paraflow and catalyst manufacturing	Unterloquitz/Saalfeld	3
87	Iltis 1	super fractionation	Ebensee	3
88	Iltis 2	super fractionation	Tetschen	5
89	Iltis 3	super fractionation	Almetal/Brilon	5
90	Kranich	catalytic cracking plant	Laube/Tetschen	4
91	Rabe 1	Tetraethyl lead plant	Brixlegg/Rattenberg	4-5
92	Fritz	dewaxing plant	Neuland/Neisse	1
93	Kybol 1	diethyl benzene plant	Gendorf/Alt Otting	1
94	Kybol 2	diethyl benzene plant	Unterloquitz (part of Steinbock 2)	5
95	Krebs 1	Fischer-Tropsch plant	Kyffhäuser-Barbarossahöhle	4
	Krebs 2			4-5
96	Fasan 1	benzene alkylation plant	Auschwitz/Gleiwitz	4
97	Fasan 2	benzene alkylation plant	Deggendorf/on the Danube	4
98	Klein Scholven 1-3	hydrogenation plants	Scholven area	2

Location of Underground and Dispersion Plants

Several diagrams of the Mineral Oil Security Plan have been omitted due to their size and limited interest.