DISMANTLING OF KRUPPS ARMAMENT FACTORIES

Grey River Argus, 21 February 1949, Page 8

DISMANTLING OF KRUPPS ARMAMENT FACTORIES

(From a Reuter Corespondent at Essen).

Not only the great town of Essen, but the whole population of Germany is anxiously awaiting the final decision of the occupying Powers on the future of Krupps, the most famous iron and steel concern in the world. Some conception of the size of this undertaking may be gained from the fact that in addition to its main works situated in. Essen, it has no fewer than 140 allied factories in Germany. Sixty of these are situated in the British zone. The central block of factories, blast furnaces, coke ovens, steel and rolling mills, with everything else that goes to make up heavy industry, is situated in the gigantic works at Essen. In addition to their smoking chimneys, coal pits, and huge workshops, they have many miles of railway lines enclosed in a space large enough to house a moderate sized town.

When the British authorities took over German industry in the Ruhr, they divided the undertaking roughly into three sections. The coal pits were placed under separate management and are now a part of the coal mining industry managed by the German control group comprising representatives of Great Britain and the United States. The iron and steel works have been placed under the supervision of the iron and steel control group while those parts of Friedrich Krupps Works which were solely engaged in the manufacture of armaments, such for example as the Germania Shipyard at Kiel, are being demolished.

The dismantling of the blast furnaces at Borbeck is nearing completion. The Borbeck furnaces which were some of the largest and most modern in Europe and are destined for Soviet Russia, had a capital value of £10,000,000. German experts are naturally somewhat doubtful whether the machinery will eventually be reassembled in Russia, at any rate. as a unit, because, owing to technical reasons, it is extremely difficult to use the entire equipment. The dismantled equipment of 23 other parts of the Krupps Works were allocated among seven Allied countries, including Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia. The latter is to receive the great Krupp drop hammer which exerts a pressure of 15,000 tons. This hammer was used for making heavy machine parts _ requiring great strength such as ship crankshafts, drop forges and electrical power station equipment. The only heavy press remaining in the Ruhr is one in the Dortmond Hoerher Steel Works which, because of war damage, is now capable of exerting a pressure of only between 8000 and 10,000 tons. Last year the British Military Government announced that 127 workshops of the Krupps concern in Essen will be allowed to remain while 73 will be demolished and 22 eventually concerted to peaceful production. Each of these three categories of workshops occupied approximately the same area. The difficulty in using the workshops for peaceful production has been greatly increased by the extensive dismantling which has necessarily disturbed the cycle of production. There is nothing however which prevents a dismantled plant from being re-equipped, provided that it is not for armament purposes. Some German specialists are also hoping that a number of the 73 workshops which are at present destined for demolition may be spared To attempt a more accurate genera) picture of the future of the Krupp concern is virtually impossible, for not only are the component works inextricably linked, the one .with the other, but the Allied authorities have not yet come to final decisions as to what is to be done with the property. Their intentions are quite clear but the practical difficulties of putting them into execution have not yet been overcome,