Evening star., 1943-05-30
Ndzi Industry Shifting

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of disrupting the Axis industrial sys-
tenn to a point where it would become
incapable of making headway against
it's enemies.
The present Allied air offensive is
concentrated mainly on the indus
trial centers of Northwestern Europe,
especially the great Rhine-Ruhr in
dustrial ganglion, which is rapidly
being reduced to a heap of ruins.
This has been Germany's industrial
heart, and if there were no alterna-
tives the loss presumably would be
fatal, while even if partial alterna-
tives existed the Germans could be
expected to make desperate attempts
to repair the damage between raids.
However, Allied air reconnaissance
over the devastated regions shows
that no such general restoration is
under way. For instance, a month
after the blasting of the great Focke-
Wulf factory in Bremen, Allied flyers
could detect no signs that repairs
were being made or clearance under
taken, and the same seems to be true
of the Renault works near Paris, the
Minerva works at Antwerp, Belgium,
and other factory agglomerations
that have been badly hit.
The Ministry of Economic Warfare
believes that the reason for this neg
lect lies in the accelerating dispersal
of Axis war industries eastward and
southeastward to regions relatively
safe from Allied air attacks. The
industrial centers of Northwestern
Europe were made possible by the CO.
existence there of coal and iron in
close proximity. But similar situa-
ton exists in broad band or terri
tory stretching from Eastern Ger
many through Czechoslovakia and
adjacent parts of Poland to Austria,
Yugoslavia and Rumania. Evidence
is accumulating that shifts of indus
try and industrial workers thither
are occurring on vast scale, similar
to those undertaken by the Soviet
government from invaded Western
Russia eastward behind the Urals.
AS matter of fact, considerable
measure of industrial decentraliza-
ton had been achieved by the Nazi
regime even before the war The
Ignite and loW-grade iron deposits
of Central and Eastern Germany,
though Improbable from a purely
economic viewpoint, were developed
on large scale by the Nazi govern
ment as part of its war economy"
Those developments make possible a
whole series of strategic industries,
including synthetic oil plants. Some
factories of special Importance, such
as airplane works and tooling plants,
were built underground in forested
districts where detection from the
air is impossible. Much the same
seems to have been done along these
lines, first in Austria and Sudeten-
land after "Anschluss" and later in
other east European lands when
these fell under German control. The
net result of all this is that the
destruction of industrial plants in
Western Europe may be at least
partially compensated. 1t certainly
facilitates military operations against
Russia, because the new industries
are relatively near the eastern front.
On the other hand it renders the
defense of Western Europe against
Allied invasion more difficult, and
it aggravates the Axis problem of
transportation Some Allied economic
strategists believe that the disruption
of Axis communications is just as
important as the blasting of Axis
industry itself. Another aspect is the
possibility of wholesale air bombings
Of those protected eastern regions If
Italy should either abandon the Axis
or be occupied by invading Allied
armies.
In any event, this British report
shows the complexity of the indus
trial smashing of the Axis by air,
thereby correcting the optimism of
some observers who see in the devas-
tation of the Rhine-Ruhr ganglion a
m ort q uonnd t0 Avis oconorov