Hitler's headache

You will read a lot about the large military hardware manufacturing facilities, aircraft, ships, tanks, etc. But one of the things that was done was to decentralize war production. Europe and England simply couldn't do that as well as the US and Russia. It's simply a matter of geography.

When Russia's manufacturing was threatened by Nazi bombing and invasion, they simply picked it up and moved it further away. Yes, they still needed US made war materials. But then so did every other single ally.

But Germany and to a lesser extent Italy did have manufacturing outside of their borders. Although it was recovering from civil war, economic depression and famine, Spain provided war materiel to the Axis. As did other "silent allies", Portugal and Sweden (neutral countries supply to both sides of a conflict or none, not just one).
 
The article reminds me of my 1st wife's oldest uncle. He was a Journeyman Tool and Die Maker who worked for General Motors from 1937 to 1987. He got his Journeyman's Card in 1941 and wanted to enlist in the military after Pearl Harbor. The military wouldn't take him because he was considered as critical for war production.
He was drafted in September of 1945 and spent 2 years in occupation forces in Germany where he was an armorer repairing small arms.
 
what we did during that time is pretty amazing... unfortunately we've lost it now due to lawyers and China has learned / stole how we manufactured items. One of these amazing things is we built a city in Tennessee with a mystery plant there where something like 5,000 women went to work everyday and they did not even know what they were doing... refining uranium.... so we could make 3 little bombs...
 
what we did during that time is pretty amazing... unfortunately we've lost it now due to lawyers and China has learned / stole how we manufactured items. One of these amazing things is we built a city in Tennessee with a mystery plant there where something like 5,000 women went to work everyday and they did not even know what they were doing... refining uranium.... so we could make 3 little bombs...
There is a 10,000 acre site about 30 miles from where I live that made some of the components for those little bombs.
There are a lot of interesting things buried on the site which has since become a chemical landfill. There are even a couple of locomotives buried in the place from what I have heard through the years from several men who are long gone. One is a 25 ton GE industrial switch engine and the other is a Plymouth switch engine.
 
The article reminds me of my 1st wife's oldest uncle. He was a Journeyman Tool and Die Maker who worked for General Motors from 1937 to 1987. He got his Journeyman's Card in 1941 and wanted to enlist in the military after Pearl Harbor. The military wouldn't take him because he was considered as critical for war production.
He was drafted in September of 1945 and spent 2 years in occupation forces in Germany where he was an armorer repairing small arms.
your uncle's story reminds me of my own father's. When he got his military notice in '41, he notified his boss that he'd been called up for duty. He was the shop foreman of a large trucking company, which was moving raw materials for the military plants. His boss then contacted their local Congressman and advised him that he was critical to keeping these trucks on the road 24/7/365. Then unbeknownst at the time as to why my father got a subsequent deferment notice ...
 
The article reminds me of my 1st wife's oldest uncle. He was a Journeyman Tool and Die Maker who worked for General Motors from 1937 to 1987. He got his Journeyman's Card in 1941 and wanted to enlist in the military after Pearl Harbor. The military wouldn't take him because he was considered as critical for war production.
My dad was always 6 months to old for the draft (married with children) but volunteered for the SeaBees. They turned him down because they said his shills were needed 'on the home front'. He had worked on building the runways for what is now Pax River and was then building barracks at Ft Meade
 
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