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World War II German Military Weaknesses specufic natural resources strategic materials textiles silk
World War II German Military Weaknesses: Specific Strategic Materials--Textiles Silk
Figure 1.-- Seidenbau translates as 'silk construction', probably meaning 'silk culture/sericulture'. This was an image picked up by Amrican newspapers from Britain. The caption read, "NAZI children learn sericulture: A teacher instructing German school children in sericulture. On the backboard is written: 'Silk worm rearing is a national duty.' This is a example of the NAZI economic policy of autarky. The British censored caption for this pictures follows: 'German school children bred silkworms as Nazis wriggle in Blockade grip.' The photograph appeared in a U.S. newspaper (March 4, 1940). At the time the British and French were still hoping that the naval blockade would help foster a German collapse as it did in World War I. Tragically, shorty after this photograph was take, the Germans blew the Western Front wide open leading to the fall of France. Germany was unable to develop a silk industry. German was the first country to commit airborne troopers (May 1940). We are not sure if silk or synthetic material was used for the chutes.
The major raw material for textiles were citton and wool. A less important fiber was silk fabric. Silk highly valued since ancient times giving its named to the famed Silk Road,a term coined by German geographer and geologist Baron Ferdinand von Richthofen -- Seidenstraße (1877). The famed World War I flight commander Red Baron with a silk scarf was his nephew. The Silk Road connected China with Europe until (16th century). The Byzantines finally figured out how to produce silk (6th century AD). Silk production was well established in Italy, France, and Spain. In modern times Germans attempted to found a silk industry. There was some production in eastern Germany. 【Krause】 No industry, however, of any importance developed. Climate was a major factor. German manufcturers did import silk and it was used for scarves, stockings and some limited garment mnufacturing. Germany seized control of Qingdao in China providing German textile firms access to inexpensive silk (1897). 【Chung, p. 928.】 Germany was the first country to use paratoppers in war (May 1940). We are not sure if the chutes were silk or synthetic fabric. They were used to take Crete (May 1941). Losses were so high that Hitler forbade any further jumps. That was curious because, just a month later he launched Operation Barbarossa where the losses dwarfed those sustained on Crete.
Sources
Chung, Jae Ho. "A Sub-provincial recipe of coastal development in China: The case of Qingdao," The China Quarterly No. 160 (1999), pp. 919–52.
Krause, Udo. "Germany" Black,Caspian Seas and Central Assia Silk Association (undated, accessed March 2024).
