174 TURNING THE TIDE 1943 –194 4
In the early stages of the war, the
German economy was not well
mobilized for the needs of the armed
forces; resources were not allocated
efficiently, and the military interfered in
production. Fritz Todt, a civil engineer
who had supervised the construction
of the Westwall fortifications along
the Franco–German border, became
Minister of Armaments and Munitions
in 1940. He set in motion the reforms
that would improve German industry,
before dying in a plane crash in 1942.Streamlining operations
Todt’s replacement was architect and
urban planner Albert Speer, who had designed the parade grounds for
the Nuremberg rallies. Speer amalgamated military agencies to establish
a central planning board, set up production committees for major
weapons types, and excluded the armed forces from decisions about war
production. He also used forced labor to boost production. As a result,
despite Allied bombing offensives from 1943 onward, Speer tripled
Germany’s armaments production, enabling it to sustain the war into- He was the only Nazi at the Nuremberg trials to admit guilt.
SPEER AND THE
WAR INDUSTRY
From 1942, Germany’s war production effort became
much more efficient under the direction of Albert Speer.
As Minister of Armaments and Munitions, he increased
output at a challenging time in the final years of the war.
△ Close associates
Speer (far left) developed a close working relationship with Hitler, enabling Speer
to secure necessary resources and overcome military objections to his industrial
reorganizations. Here, he inspects a new weapons system with the Führer.△ New plan for Berlin
Speer surveys his plans for a
redevelopment of Berlin, which Hitler
commissioned in 1937. Most plans
were abandoned due to the war.US_174-175_F_Speer_and_the_War_industry.indd 174 04/03/19 10:47 AM