Axis Resources

Was there any way to secure vital resources (oil, rubber, etc) for at least Germang and Japan before/during WW2? They would have to keep these areas for the majority of the war
 
Yes

Oil was discovered in Northern China (previously Japan's province of Manchuria) after the war. Likewise in ( previously Italian) Libya. Any POD that got test drilling done in the 20s of early 30s in these areas would produce a very different WW2.

Oil was discovered in the Vienna Basin in Austria in the mid 1930's producing 1.3 million tons per year in 1943. This increased to a high of 3.6 million tons per year by 1955. Again a greater effort in the late 30's could have reduced some of the Nazi burden on imported fuel from Roumania and synthetic fuels giving Commanders greater flexibility and keeping the Luftwaffe flying more for longer. Although not enough to alter the outcome of the war IMHO.
 

shiftygiant

Gone Fishin'
Of course though, the thing with Oil is that, for it (Libya particularly) to be really capitalized by the Axis, you would need to advance the drilling technology.
 
So, if the Axis somehow managed to discover, harvest, and capitalize these resources before 1937 or 1939 at least, would it have massive changes to the war? I assume that Japan could probably delay an invasion of the DEI, as not only rubber, but also oil is found in Manchuria.
 

nbcman

Donor
So, if the Axis somehow managed to discover, harvest, and capitalize these resources before 1937 or 1939 at least, would it have massive changes to the war? I assume that Japan could probably delay an invasion of the DEI, as not only rubber, but also oil is found in Manchuria.

Problem is neither the technology nor even the idea to look in some of these locations existed in 1938; I am quoting a post from another thread which discussed the early discovery of the Manchurian Daqing oil field:

{snip}
EDIT: With respect to your edit about the Daqing oil field, it would take two PODs for that:

1. The belief for oil exploration at the time was that oil deposits were located either in shallow seas or in areas that had once been shallow seas. With OTL knowledge, the Japanese wouldn't have looked there.

2. Seeing the need and having the money to explore and drill the oil field as well as build the supporting infrastructure (pipelines, tankers, refineries).
 
Problem is neither the technology nor even the idea to look in some of these locations existed in 1938; I am quoting a post from another thread which discussed the early discovery of the Manchurian Daqing oil field:

With a sufficiently early POD could the Italians and Japanese have developed the necessary drilling technology if they knew the oil was there? Where there's a will there's a way. Also when this has come up before it has been pointed out that Howard Hughes's firm did have the required drilling technology at the time.

However, some have said that if the Italians were able to get the Libyan oil flowing in significant quantities by say 1935 the British and French would do everything they could do to destroy the oil wells, pipelines, ports and tankers. But they never make allowance for the Italians having the foresight to anticipate that and organise adequate defences.

The Japanese did have their own synthetic oil industry, which I think they could have expanded because AFAIK Korea and Manchuria produced plenty of coal. It would probably have been more expensive than getting it from the Dutch East Indies, but it would have been more secure and saved them foreign currency that they could have used to build up their stocks of other raw materials.
 
Wasn't there oil in Northern Sakhalin? Perhaps somehow they can get their hands on it.. Somehow.

Also, Romania was a good ally for germany for oil.

Not sure where they would get rubber and such though, since the Axis had no colonies except Ethiopia. Don't think there was rubber to be found in Ethiopia.
 
Wasn't there oil in Northern Sakhalin? Perhaps somehow they can get their hands on it.. Somehow.

Also, Romania was a good ally for germany for oil.

Not sure where they would get rubber and such though, since the Axis had no colonies except Ethiopia. Don't think there was rubber to be found in Ethiopia.

With oil the Nazi's made synthetic rubber. It really is the prized commodity.
Steel was short to but domestically available, just harnessed too late.
Copper and Tungsten would be nice. Spain/Portugal could supply the Tungsten.
 
I have suggested before that the Germans should have expanded their synthetic oil industry at a faster rate. The reply was that the 4-Year Plan was so badly organised that Germany probably had the steel and labour to build the plants. However, but I was told in no uncertain terms that the extra capacity could not be used because the coal mines were producing at full capacity.

Therefore could Germany have produced more coal with a POD of 1936 or 1933?

Germany would have had to build more railway locomotives and coal trucks to take the extra coal from the mines to the synthetic oil plants too, but I have read that the synthetic oil plants were deliberately built close to the mines that would supply the coal.
 
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