Belgian Congo (together with uranium, cobalt, etc) in Nazi hands ?

Is there any way that, asap after the surrender of France & the Law Countries in July 1940, that the Nazis could've secured control over the Belgian Congo in order to exploit all of the phenomenal natural resources there ? How much would the Nazi H-bomb program have progressed had they been able to secure Congolese uranium ? Of course, what about the British response- how long would it take for British, Cth & free Belgian forces from Nyasaland, Rhodesia & South Africa to invade a Nazi-controlled Congo to kick the Germans out ? How bout free Belgin administrators, military & gendarmerie leaders conducting a guerilla resistance against any German forces who take control in Leopoldville ?
 
The big problem for the Nazi's with this is how do they get the resources to Europe.
The Nazi's lacked even limited control of the oceans. The British navy, and later the American navy patrolled almost the entirety of the Atlantic ocean so that only Nazi u-boats could safely travel the oceans. Even if they manage to successfully gain control of the Congo they cannot supply it, or get anything from it. The moment a Nazi ship left port it would be attacked.
So any attempt to use the Congo will fail unless the Germans make a big surface fleet.
 
The only thing I can see is this:

The Germans annex Belgium as in OTL in 1940, then 'sell' the Belgian Congo to a friendly but neutral power (i.e. Franco's Spain), and then have Spanish-flagged ships move the material from the Congo to Spain. From Spain, it could be railed to German-occupied Europe.

The big problem there is that NO ONE would buy it for a minute. The Belgian GIE (Government In Exile) would denounce the whole thing, the British would back them, and Franco would have the same problem as Germany.

Mike
 
Why would you put the good people of the Congo through anything worse than OTL. That's just mean to first give the Congo to a crazed, profit-hungry royal, then to a disinterested and relatively poor colonial power, and then to the most evil government our world has ever seen? Wow...
 

HJ Tulp

Donor
If you look at the map you'll see that the Belgian Congo was indeed very large. It lacked a long coastline however. In fact, it's only outlet to the sea was the Congo-Rivier. Blockade that and noones exporting out anything.
 
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