The Evening Star WEDNESDAY, JULY 12, 1944. GERMANY'S NEED FOR OIL.

Evening Star, Issue 25225, 12 July 1944, Page 4

The Evening Star WEDNESDAY, JULY 12, 1944. GERMANY'S NEED FOR OIL.

It is as true to-day as in. Napoleon's tijHe that an army marches on jts stomach, and a well-fed army is capable Of achieving great Results. In this age of mechanisation, however, an army requires oil almost as much as it requires food. Reports from the western front indicate that the German war machine is beginning to run down because of a growing shortage of this vital comniodity. Armoured vehicles and transport units have been, through the lack of fuel, rendered as ineffective as if put out of action by weapons and methods of destruction. If, at so crucial a phase of battle as the present' Normandy campaign, the enemy is unable to (keep his oil-consuming units supplied, the outlook for future operations is anything but rosy for him. It is probable that his crushing defeat on the eastern front has. been added to by an inability to maintain fuel for his jnechajlised forces, and it is even more probable that this same inability has contributed to the eclipse of the Luftwaffe. Oil has always been a German problem, but by the building up of reserves before the war, by extensive synthetic processes, and, by a ruthless stripping of the supplies of all the occupied territories, Germany has contrived to carry on for nearly five yeass in a manner that is a tribute to her efficiency and resourcefulness. Had she obtained Russia's great output, she would to-day have been in a strong position indeed; but she failed in her supreme attempt, while since then her sources of supply of natural oil and her synthetic plants have been, subjected to accumulating attacks by Allied bombers, with results that' are now becoming apparent. These widespread and devastating blows have impaired the Nazi oil supplies very seriously indeed, and there is nothing she can do to. place her refineries, or synthetic plants beyond the range of Allied aircraft, for each day her frontiers contract, placing no portion of Greater Germany beyond bomber range. ■Exactly what Germany's needs are in the way of oil cannot be stated definitely, but perhaps an idea can be formed from the statement that last year, to meet aviation needs'alone, the United States produced 101.000.000 barrels (roughly 4,242,000,000 gallons) of crude oil. while for 1944 aviation demands will probably reach 196.000,000 bafrek. Altogether, in 1943 the United States won from some 408.000 oil wells slightly more than 1,500,000,000 barrete of oil, while this year requirements are expected to be 1,600.000,000 barrels, or 67,200,000,000 gallons. Germany's production for 1943 was estimated at between 1,500,000,000 and 2,100,000,000 gallons, considerably under that of the United States, iprincipal source of the United Nations' supplies, but her needs, for several obvious reasons, would be materially less. Even so, however, that production must be greatly under her requirements, and since the beginning of this year it has been claimed that fully two-fifths of this supply has been cut off hy bombing. As these attacks must increase there must be a progressive decline in production, and every gallon less means a few less miles of mobility on the part of the German war machine Tho ' New York Times ' has stated that Germany's war economy is geared to run at top speed for no longer than another three to sis months, but as oil ie an integral part of that economy, this period may be reduced if tho present rate and successes ot Allied bombing are maintained.