WP Arbeitsstab Technische Brigade Mineralöl

[Mogdala]

Hi,

i got this nice WP in. Can´t find anything related to Arbeitsstab Technische Brigade Mineralöl and i just need some help to find out, where they were stationed what they have done exactly.

thanks in advance

[Gerdan]

Hi Christian,

the Technische Brigade Mineralöl (TBM) was created by Göring himself.
More than 6000 German people (soldiers and technicians) worked together with about 6000 PoWs and forced labourers to guarantie the supply of the German Army and Air Force with mineral oil.


Gerdan

[Edward]

Hi Christian,

the Technische Brigade Mineralöl (TBM) was created by Göring himself.
More than 6000 German people (soldiers and technicians) worked together with about 6000 PoWs and forced labourers to guarantie the supply of the German Army and Air Force with mineral oil.


Gerdan

Mogdala, nice Wp. Thats the first time I have seen a Wp to that specific military economic unit.

That is interesting Gerdan. So were they under operational control of the LW? I would have thought they would have come under the Economic Branch of the OKW. Sounds as if they were one of many various types of economic exploitation units fielded during the war. If so then would not the Brigade Stab have been centrally located in the Reich with technical teams wide-spread? I also wonder if they were directly involved in taking over an occupied countries mineral oil installations; pumping, storing, and transporting to the Reich for processing into synthetic oil. The major oil producing fields of Ploesti were lost by the Fall of 1944 so maybe the holder of the Wp was in Germany.

[Larry deZeng]

Stab/Technische Brigade Mineralöl was established in late spring 1942 under the Wehrwirtschafts-u.Rüstungsamt im OKW to follow the German advance into North Caucasia and restore production to the oil fields and refineries, mainly in the Grozny area. There were at least two battalions that belonged to the Brigade: Technischen Bataillonen Mineralöl A/11 and B/33, but only several companies of these two battalions were used in Caucasia. The Brigadestab was eventually located in Krasnodar in fall 1942, but departed Caucasia when German forces withdrew into the Kuban Brückenkopf on the Taman Peninsula. During 1943-44, the Brigade’s technical companies were employed in oil shale extraction in Estonia and in oil processing facilities in Galicia (SE Poland). The exact location of the Brigadestab in May – June 1944 is unknown to me. (Source: Tessin, Band I, pp.242-43).

Tessin makes no mention of the Brigade’s employment at Ploesti/Romania, and I believe this is because the extraction and refining or oil there was handled by joint Romanian and German civilian firms.

--Larry

[Edward]

Stab/Technische Brigade Mineralöl was established in late spring 1942 under the Wehrwirtschafts-u.Rüstungsamt im OKW to follow the German advance into North Caucasia and restore production to the oil fields and refineries, mainly in the Grozny area. There were at least two battalions that belonged to the Brigade: Technischen Bataillonen Mineralöl A/11 and B/33, but only several companies of these two battalions were used in Caucasia. The Brigadestab was eventually located in Krasnodar in fall 1942, but departed Caucasia when German forces withdrew into the Kuban Brückenkopf on the Taman Peninsula. During 1943-44, the Brigade’s technical companies were employed in oil shale extraction in Estonia and in oil processing facilities in Galicia (SE Poland). The exact location of the Brigadestab in May – June 1944 is unknown to me. (Source: Tessin, Band I, pp.242-43).

Tessin makes no mention of the Brigade’s employment at Ploesti/Romania, and I believe this is because the extraction and refining or oil there was handled by joint Romanian and German civilian firms.

--Larry

Good information Larry. I don't have my reference books handy, but Mogdala's Wp also has the entry I./Wwi Ers. Abt. 4. which I believe was also an economic replacement unit?

[Larry deZeng]

Good information Larry. I don't have my reference books handy, but Mogdala's Wp also has the entry I./Wwi Ers. Abt. 4. which I believe was also an economic replacement unit?

Sure is, Edward. Wwi (or W.wi.) was the abbreviation for Wehrwirtschaft [military-economic (development)].

I forgot to mention above that there is some additional information on the internet at:


http://www.uni-kassel.de/fb5/frieden.../oel/jagd.html
http://www.forum-der-wehrmacht.de/th...0d86bb724f2dc8

I also recall seeing several articles on the Brigade in scholarly journals some years ago, but I don't recall which ones or whether they were in German or English.

--Larry

[Gerdan]

I think Goering was not only responsable for the Luftwaffe but also for the Vierjahresplan (Four Year Plan) which was created to strength the economic power of Germany, specially the oil production.

Gerdan

[Larry deZeng]

I think Goering was not only responsable for the Luftwaffe but also for the Vierjahresplan (Four Year Plan) which was created to strength the economic power of Germany, specially the oil production.
Gerdan

Yes, that's correct, Gerdan. The Brigade was set up under Göring's authority as Beauftragter für den Vierjahresplan. I sure wish I could find the detailed history of the Brigade that I remember seeing 20-25 years ago as it was very interesting. There is also frequent mention of it in the records of Armeeoberkommando 17, which was the Höh.Dt.Kdo. in Nord Kaukasien 8.42 - 8.43.

--Larry

[Mogdala]

thanks for all the help and comments - i´ll prepare some more scans and will post them later

[Mogdala]

Could somebody read and translate the czech words?

[Mogdala]

more related to Mineralöl...

[Gerdan]

Hi Christian,

I think it is Cyrillic (Russian), not czech - even if I cannot read it.

Gerdan

[Larry deZeng]

Yes, it looks like a Russian entry dated 21.9.49 (or 21.5.45??). It probably has something to do with his release from Russian custody.