Nibelungenwerk

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The Nibelungenwerk (also: Nibelungenwerke or Ni-Werk ) in St. Valentin in Lower Austria was the largest and most modern tank assembly plant in the German Empire . In the plant, which at that time belonged to the armaments company Steyr-Daimler-Puch , over half of all Panzerkampfwagen IV were manufactured by the end of the Second World War . In addition, it was the only plant in German battle tank production that had a well-structured assembly line .

history

Plan from 1943 of the expanded plant (hatched: still existing buildings, points: fire station bunker)

As part of the four-year plan , after the annexation of Austria, an armaments center was built in the Linz area , which consisted of the Upper Danube ironworks responsible for the manufacture of armor plates and the Nibelungenwerk, responsible for the final assembly of tanks. The latter was based on plans from 1939 to build an armaments factory in the Herzograd Forest near the Lower Austrian municipality of Sankt Valentin, located at a railway junction, for 65 million Reichsmarks. The Reichswerke Hermann Göring acted as the client . The space requirement and the technical interior were dimensioned extremely generously from the start. The official opening took place in 1942. In the final stage, the monthly production capacity should include 320 tanks, but this was never achieved.

Although the majority of the armor-making industry had a construction freeze for new construction projects, there were no impairments at the Nibelungenwerk. This was due to the fact that Austria - in addition to the fact that it was the home country of Adolf Hitler - was considered to be relatively safe from the air and Göring, as the representative for the four-year plan, favored the expansion.

Expansion stages

The plant consisted of a total of four expansion stages and was expanded accordingly over time. In the first stage of expansion, the factory undertook the first repair work on the Panzer III in September 1940 . The second stage included delivery orders for parts production, in the course of which, among other things, 5,400 rollers were manufactured for the Gruson factory in Magdeburg-Buckau . With the third expansion stage completed at the end of 1941, in addition to the assembly of the Porsche Tiger, series production of the Panzer IV began in 1942. With the last expansion stage in 1943, production capacity was increased.

The plant consisted of a total of nine halls. Seven reinforced concrete halls were 120 m long and 60 m wide; the other two halls were tubular steel constructions and measured 120 × 120 meters. In order to be able to maintain production after bomb attacks, the factory was supplied with electricity, compressed air, heating and water through an underground ring system. The work was surrounded by two railroad tracks; each hall had its own siding.

Workforce

Bunker of the former sub-camp

In the late autumn of 1941 the number of employees was 4,800. The workforce consisted mainly of Austrians, followed by Germans. In the course of the war, the workers appointed to the front were replaced by foreign prisoners of war. In numerical order, these were French, Italians, Greeks, Yugoslavs, Russians and finally 600 concentration camp prisoners. The number of workers at the end of 1944 was around 8,500. Due to the increasing shortage of skilled workers and the lengthy training and instruction of foreign workers, relatively far-reaching concessions were made to the increasingly important foreign workers. In addition to the tolerance of a brothel in the camp settlement, French skilled workers in particular were allowed vacation, which after the successful Allied invasion of Normandy meant that many French stayed in their homeland and never returned. In August 1944, a satellite camp of the Mauthausen concentration camp was set up on the site , in which 1,500 prisoners were housed and used for forced labor .

production

Of around 8,500 PzKpfw IV , just under 4,800 were manufactured in the Nibelungen factory

After completing the four expansion stages, the plant was the largest tank factory of the Axis powers . Of the 8,500 Panzer IVs, 4,786 units were produced in the Nibelungen factory, plus 576 chassis used for self-propelled guns. The Nibelungenwerk was the only German armored car production plant that had a well-structured assembly line with main and secondary lines. For the first time, the previous "group production" was abandoned. The cycle line consisted of simple loading wagons that were coupled with bars and moved forward with a cable pull. The cycle time ranged from four minutes for the wheel suspension to several hours for the final assembly. Only a third of the individual parts required were manufactured in-house. This modern assembly line production was accordingly dependent on an undisturbed flow of deliveries and unhindered transport logistics, which resulted in delivery delays, especially in 1944 due to the Allied air raids.

In addition to the Panzer IV production, the Nibelungenwerk also converted the Porsche Tiger into an Elefant tank destroyer . On October 17, 1944, the factory suffered considerable damage in a heavy air raid, as a result of which almost all production had to be outsourced. In spite of this, a total of 2,845 of the 3,125 Panzer IVs could be manufactured in the Nibelungen factory in 1944. Production of the Jagdtiger began at the end of 1944 . The conversion of the production took place without any problems, as the cranes and other technical equipment were vastly oversized. In the last days of the war, 65 more panthers and tigers were repaired. On May 8, 1945, Major General Stanley Eric Reinhart's 259th Infantry Regiment occupied the town. They also guarded French and Soviet prisoners of war as well as Czech forced laborers from the “Nibelungenwerk”. After the Red Army occupied the plant on May 9, 1945, production continued on a small scale so that some Panzer IV could be made available for the Victory Parade in Moscow.

The factory after the war until today

The former supplier company "Eisenwerke Oberdonau" is now the most important steel factory in Austria and belongs to Voestalpine .

After the State Treaty in 1955, the Republic of Austria took over the plant. In 1957 the plant was incorporated into the former Steyr-Daimler-Puch . In 1974 the entire tractor assembly of the Steyr group was transferred to this site.

Today the former Nibelungen factory and the associated site belong to the Canadian automotive supplier company MAGNA . The agricultural machinery manufacturer CNH Global is rented on the site. CNH has its European headquarters in St. Valentin and uses three halls for the production of tractor cabs and for the final assembly of the middle classes. The entrance building and the canteen are still in use. The hall to the east is used by MAGNA for the production of automotive components in small and very small series. The test site is also owned by MAGNA International.

literature

  • Josef Reisinger: Code name: toy factory. The Nibelungen works in St. Valentin and the German tank production. Edition Mauthausen, Vienna 2010, ISBN 978-3-902605-15-3 .
  • Michael Winninger: The Nibelungenwerk. The tank factory in St. Valentin. Verlag Müller History Facts , Andelfingen 2011, ISBN 978-3-905944-04-4 .
  • Michael Winninger: The Nibelungenwerk 1939 to 1945 - Armored vehicles from St. Valentin. Sutton Verlag, Erfurt 2009, ISBN 978-3866804906
  • Hartmut Knittel: Tank production in World War II. Industrial production for the German Wehrmacht. Mittler Verlag, Herford 1988, ISBN 3-8132-0291-7 .
  • Karl-Heinz Rauscher: Steyr in National Socialism - Industrial Structures. Weishaupt-Verlag, Gnas 2003, ISBN 978-3-7059-0178-0 , page 180.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b 65 million RM: Walter Spielberger: The Panzerkampfwagen IV and its variants. Motorbuch Verlag 1975, ISBN 3-87943-402-6 , p. 47.
  2. ↑ The Nibelungenwerk and its expansion stages. → Knittel: tank production in World War II. Pp. 95-97.
  3. ↑ a b The Nibelungenwerk and its expansion stages. → Knittel: tank production in World War II. P. 96.
  4. ↑ The Nibelungenwerk and its expansion stages. → Knittel: tank production in World War II. Pp. 96-98.
  5. ^ A b Walter Spielberger: The Panzerkampfwagen IV and its variants. Motorbuch Verlag 1975, ISBN 3-87943-402-6 , p. 86.
  6. ↑ Knittel: tank production in the Second World War. P. 130.
  7. ↑ The Nibelungenwerk and its expansion stages. → Knittel: tank production in World War II. P. 99.
  8. ↑ The development of the company ( Memento of the original of June 22, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed October 17, 2010. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.steyrfan.at
  9. ↑ St. Valentin presents itself stronger than ever ( memento of the original from May 25, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved October 17, 2010 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.steyr-traktoren.com

Coordinates: 48 ° 9 ′ 28.9 ″  N , 14 ° 29 ′ 42.5 ″  E