The following report on German efforts to collect scrap iron metal was originally published in Tactical and Technical Trends, No. 14, Dec. 17, 1942. [DISCLAIMER: The following text is taken from the U.S. War Department publication Tactical and Technical Trends. As with all wartime intelligence information, data may be incomplete or inaccurate. No attempt has been made to update or correct the text. Any views or opinions expressed do not necessarily represent those of the website.]

MOBILIZATION OF IRON STOCKS The availability of iron stocks is essential to the conduct of total war, as witness the efforts to collect scrap in this country. That Germany is not without problems on this score is evidenced by an item in the Swiss newspaper Neue Zuricher Zeitung of July 15, 1942, according to which "the German Minister for Armaments and Munitions, Speer, decreed the institution of a very thorough campaign for the collection of scrap ferrous metal. All available iron which is not being utilized will be collected, and all sections of sizes for which there is no demand are to be returned. Completed parts for types of machinery which have now become obsolete but which remain in stock, and the machinery of laid-up installations, are to be disposed of unless it is probable that such plants are likely to start up again within a reasonable time. In general, scrap value only will be paid for this metal, with small exceptions in special cases. It appears that considerable official pressure will be put upon managers of factories to insure that they produce as much metal as possible. Russian manpower will be provided for breaking up scrap at delivery points."

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