247 lessons [16] On 14 February the British War Cabinet took the decision to adopt area bombing as a means of undermining civilian morale and on 22 February Air Marshal Arthur Harris was appointed head of Bomber Command. Coal was now very difficult to obtain however, and although sufficient crayfish were imported from the Danubian nations to allow an enjoyable festive meal, people went cold that Christmas. Discover what happened to Germany after WWII. On 10 April the destroyer USSNiblack, which was picking up survivors from a Dutch freighter that had been sunk detected that a U-boat was preparing to attack, and launched depth charges to drive it away. The Allied countries of Britain, France, and the United States controlled West Germany including West Berlin. The ship, known as the "Lonely Queen of the North" had seen little action through lack of fuel, and spent much of the war moored in a remote fjord. East Germany experienced the opposite effect, with a weaker economy, a low standard of living and a decreased population. Spain agreed to liquidate some $2023 million of private German assets on the understanding she would keep around a quarter of the proceeds, and signed an agreement in May 1946 to return $114,329 (101.6 kilograms) out of about $30 million in looted Dutch gold that the Allies had identified at the Spanish Foreign Exchange Institute. They were also forbidden by Hitler from withdrawing to better positions a few miles inland, and as a result suffered a relentless barrage of heavy calibre gunfire from British and American battleships moored offshore. Well-known companies such as Oerlikon-Bhrle provided guns, Autophon A.G. provided transmitting apparatus, and other companies exported coal-gas generators, ball bearings, bomb sights, ammunition, carbon black, timepieces and rayon for parachutes. [62], West Germany paid reparations to Israel for confiscated Jewish property under Nuremberg laws, forced labour and persecution. Because of her geographic position and trade with Germany, Switzerland was subject to Allied blockade measures throughout, although she remained able to move imports and other exports such as sugar and benzene overland, mainly to Germany and other countries in the neutral zone. From. Map of Allied-occupied Germany split into four militarized zones. At the end of WWII, Germany had suffered total defeat at the hands of the Allies. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), which was founded in 1863 in Geneva, did a great deal of invaluable humanitarian work, particularly in the worst-affected occupied territories, for example Greece. 6.9 to 7.5 million Germans had been killed, roughly 8.26 to 8.86% of the population (see also World War II casualties). In spite of opposition from the air ministry, Churchill ordered the bombing of Berlin in retaliation,[49] and that night the German capital was bombed for the first time, although there were no fatalities. The world's blockades had a severe impact on patterns of world trade as a whole. But by far the biggest prize was France. East Germany, though technically its own state, was essentially a client state of the Soviet Union. After World War One, Germany was severely punished by the terms of the Treaty of Versailles. [22][23] In a United Nations note, dated 24 November 1969, the communist government of Poland demanded action from the organization not only to punish war criminals and those who have committed crimes against humanity but also to establish procedures and divisibility of compensation for war crimes and damages committed by Germany during World War II. Germany now looked to Romania for a large part of the oil she needed and to Soviet Union for a wide range of commodities. When I say 'Germany', what do you think of? US files show that there was a belief that neutrals that traded with the Axis should be threatened with post-war reprisals, but although the Americans believed that the Swiss trade with Germany justified bombing her,[65] it was also thought that her exports should be cut down without endangering the work of the Red Cross and intelligence work underway in Switzerland. [79] As a result of military operations in Lorraine and Luxembourg, the withdrawal of Swedish ships from trade with German ports, the closing of Swedish Baltic ports to German shipping, and the loss of supplies from Spain, it was estimated that iron ore supplies had been reduced by 65 per cent compared with 1943. Spain acquired a large quantity of gold from Germany, in some cases via Swiss intermediary companies, and negotiations coincided with Allied efforts to ostracize the Franco regime. At the end of four and a half months, Germany is in something like the same economic stress she was in after two years of the last war.[14]. A few years after the end of WWII, Germany was officially separated when the Soviet Union set up the communist government in East Germany and the Western three occupiers fostered the creation of West Germany. Britain was Portugal's largest trading partner and had the right to force her to fight on her side under a 500-year-old alliance, but allowed her to remain neutral; in return Portugal allowed credit when Britain was short of gold and escudos, so that by 1945 Britain owed Portugal 322 million. Furthermore, the main industrial sector of Germany, the Rhine Valley in the southwest, was turned into a quasi-police state under French control. Ultimately it was the sustained Allied bombing of the transport network which broke Nazi resistance. Other means of minesweeping were also developed, whereby the mines were exploded by patrolling ships and aircraft fitted with a special fuse provocation apparatus. [75], Troops had also begun seizing furniture and household goods to be shipped back for the use of bombed-out German families. Germany had also forced ethnic Germans out of the country, and raped, and starved many of the German citizens. Darlan, who during the battle of France had given Churchill the solemn pledge that the French navy would never surrender to Germany, claimed that the British were reluctant to risk a third bloody clash like those at Dakar and Oran, and that, while they had sunk seven unescorted French food ships, they had never sunk, or even stopped, a French ship escorted by warships. German industry was now unable to keep up with the high number of "Top Priority" weapons programmes, such as the production of the V weapons and calls for 3,000 Me 262 jet fighters and bombers per month. Example: German states were not allowed to have any standing armies. To determine who would be in charge of the areas of occupation, the region was divided into four military zones controlled by the Big Three. Albert Speer said later that this was a decisive turning point in the war.[16]. The only rationing introduced immediately at the war's beginning was petrol. Cheap restaurants in big towns served dishes comprising turnip or carrot tops made without any kind of fat, and although householders still received a fair ration of rough wine, all spirits were confiscated for industrial use. [48], In an effort to force Britain into submission, the Luftwaffe concentrated its efforts on factories, ports, oil refineries and airfields. Ships proceeding eastward through the English Channel with the intention of passing the Downs, if not calling at any other Channel port, should call at Weymouth for contraband control examination. The next day the US began regular patrols at sea. But by far the most important material Portugal had to offer was tungsten. During a debate in the House of Lords about the economic war on 9 May 1944, just before D-Day, Lord Nathan told the House:[43]. Back in 1939, in the early days of the war, the Ministry of Economic Warfare was always in the headlines. The mining and manufacturing region of the Ruhr, often likened to the Black Country in the Midlands of England, was one of the world's greatest concentrations of metal production and processing facilities as well as chemical and textile factories; the Ruhr was also home to several synthetic oil production plants. Even with coupons, it was impossible to acquire many items. At the start of 1942 the Allies were yet to achieve a major victory. Even so, by early October the Allies were growing increasingly confident at the effectiveness of their blockade and the apparent success of the recently introduced convoy system. Even for innocent ships, a delay of a day or two was inevitable; Contraband Control officers were under instructions to be extremely polite and apologetic to all concerned. However the collection of around 200 works, which includes medieval sculptures and masterpieces by Czanne, Renoir and van Gogh has been mired in controversy since the war because of the unclear provenance of some pieces, leading to the return of 13 paintings to the former French-Jewish owners or their families. There was little effect on production and, with no fighter cover, 7 of the 12 Lancaster bombers were lost, leading to a return to night bombing. Plus, get practice tests, quizzes, and personalized coaching to help you Germany's heavily overburdened railway network was reinforced with 4,000 French locomotives, and 300,000 (over half) of her freight cars.[45]. During most of 1942, the US . The Allies had practical control over the Suez Canal which provided passage between the eastern Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean via Port Said at the northern entry to the canal. [35] By this early stage of World War II, her gold reserves were down to around half a billion marks and her credit was almost nil, so any imports had to be paid for by barter, as with the high-technology equipment sent to Russia or coal to Italy. [41] In Germany herself, there was a chronic shortage of men to work the fields and 30,000 agricultural labourers were brought in from Italy along with thousands of Polish slaves. Because Mefo bills did not figure in government budgetary statements, they helped maintain the secret of rearmament and were, in Hitler's own words, merely a way of printing money. A ship stopping at a Control port raised a red and white flag with a blue border to signify that it was awaiting examination. "[45], On 2 October 2022, the Polish Foreign Minister Zbigniew Rau signed a diplomatic note asking the German government to undertake an official negotiation process between Poland and Germany, and on 3 October presented the diplomatic note to the visiting German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock. It was not until U-boat successes in the Battle of the Atlantic began severely restricting convoys in late 1940 that rationing became more widespread, and even then many workers and children still had school meals and work canteens to supplement their rations, which made a significant difference to the amount of food they actually received. But Britain, having already sold 1 billion of her foreign investments and taken on another 3 billion in loans to pay for war materials was now feeling the financial strain of the war. How was Germany divided? Political Reconstruction in Europe After WWII: History & Impact, Economic Reconstruction in Europe After WWII: Recovery Programs & Their Effect, US After WWII: Politics, Culture & Counter-Culture, Federal Republic of Germany | Government, History & Structure. Argentina had 84% of the world supply of flaxseed, nearly all of which was exported, along with much of its wheat (23% of world supply), its corn (71%) and beef (50%)[citation needed]. Neutral captains often expressed utter astonishment and bemusement at the level of British advance knowledge of their activities, and soon realised it was hard to hide anything. [56][58], In 1990, West Germany and East Germany signed the Treaty on the Final Settlement with Respect to Germany ('Two Plus Four Agreement') with the former Allied countries of the United States, United Kingdom, France, and the Soviet Union. The food situation in the present war is already more desperate than at the same stage in the [First] World War. RAF raids on vehicle factories in Milan, Genoa, and Turin on 2 December 1942 only served to unite the Italian population behind the Mussolini dictatorship, and the plan was dropped in favour of the "disorganisation of German industry". Switzerland during World War II had the most complex relationship with Germany of all the neutral countries. [48] On 4 January 2023 the deputy minister of foreign affairs of Poland Arkadiusz Mularczyk stated that "We do not recognize this German position, we reject it in its entirety as absolutely unfounded and erroneous." 28 German bauxite ships were holed up in Trieste and, while a few passenger liners, such as the New York, St Louis and Bremen managed to creep home, many ended up stranded with goods deteriorating or rotting in their holds and with Allied ships waiting to capture or sink them immediately if they tried to leave port. There was a general belief however, that Sweden went too far in accommodating the Nazi regime. Example: A poster with two columns (one for East Germany and one for West Germany) might work best here. The individual central banks were forced to underwrite and finance German industrial schemes, insurance transactions, gold and foreign exchange transfers etc. Under Albert Speer, industrial factories were being relocated to Czechoslovakia on a considerable scale, and by the end of 1943, despite a lot of damage to towns German figures showed that 6.9m people had been bombed out or evacuated output of war material was greater than ever. These efforts were mostly thwarted by the Western Allies and ultimately only approximately 69 square kilometres (27sqmi) of German territory was annexed in 1949. At the start of the war Germany's transport system, comprising modern autobahns, excellent railways and a complex network of interlinking canals and rivers was among the best in the world. Following the end of the war in Europe in early May 1945, large parts of Europe lay completely smashed.