Economic Inspectorate Caucasus

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The Caucasus Economic Inspectorate (Wi In Caucasus) was a subdivision of the Eastern Economic Organization of the German Empire during the Second World War . The main task of the Economic Inspections (Wi In) was initially primarily to supply the German Wehrmacht "from the country", that is, from the German-occupied areas of Eastern Europe.

Assignment of the economic inspections to army groups

The Wi In were organized regionally and each assigned to a German army group. Four economic inspections were used, namely: “Holstein”, “Saxony”, “Baden” and “Westphalia”.

  • The Economic Inspectorate "Holstein" was assigned to the Army Group North as the Economic Inspectorate North (Wi In Nord) .
  • The economic inspection "Baden" was initially assigned as the economic inspection south (Wi In Süd) to the Army Group South . In the course of the German summer offensive in 1942 , Army Group South was divided into Army Groups A and B. The Army Group A was the economy inspection for special use (CUA) "Westfalen" as an economic inspection A (later: " Economic Inspection Caucasus "; Wi In Caucasus) assigned. The Economic Inspection South was assigned to Army Group B and accordingly carried the name “Economic Inspection B” from July to September 1942. Then it was called from October 1942 to January 1943 "Economic Inspectorate Don-Donets" until it was renamed "Economic Inspectorate South" again in February 1943.
  • The economic inspection zbV "Westphalia" was used from May 1942 to January 1943. At first it was subordinate to the Economic Inspectorate South as District Economic Inspectorate Donets, in July 1942 it was transformed into Economic Inspectorate A, which joined Army Group A on its advance into the Caucasus, and was then named "Economic Inspectorate Caucasus" in September 1942.

Activity period

The Wi In Westfalen or Süd was set up in Dresden in 1941 and participated in the advance of the Wehrmacht from August 1941 to December 1941. The seat of the Wi In the Caucasus was to be Tbilisi , the capital of the Georgian SSSR. However, due to the war situation, it only reached Dnipropetrovsk . Since its intended area of ​​operation was not under German control in 1941 (and never came under German control later), the Wi In Caucasus could not start its work and therefore returned to Dresden in December 1941. In the spring of 1942, the Wi In Caucasus was reorganized in Hamburg-Rahlstedt and relocated to the southern Russian Stavropol in the North Caucasus. She worked there for about a year before starting her retreat from the advancing Soviet Army in early January 1943. In the spring (probably in April) 1943 it was finally dissolved in Saxony.

Tasks and function

The economic inspections mainly had the following two functions: In view of the first bottlenecks in the supply of the Wehrmacht troops in the late summer of 1941, the economic inspections were instructed to increasingly ensure that the Wehrmacht's immediate needs were met. Their task was to record the few essential war resources that the Soviet Army had left undamaged when they withdrew, i.e. raw materials, food, machines, weapons, vehicles, production goods and the like, and either to pass them on to the German troops for direct supply from the country or to the lead to a deficit economy in the empire. In addition to this pure plundering, they were also supposed to initiate the restart of operations that were important to the war effort, in particular mines and agricultural operations. The Wi In were given far-reaching powers for this task: it was part of their decision-making authority to close, cannibalize or rebuild captured businesses, they had control over all agricultural products and raw material deposits, they determined the labor input of forced laborers and production .

The economic inspections employed a large number of specialists, so-called special guides . They were mostly civilians in special military ranks (such as war administrators ), including farmers, technicians, accountants and engineers.

In November 1941, the economic inspectors were given the task of advising the commanders of the army groups on economic matters as Army Group Economic Leader (He Wi Fü). Associated with this was the obligation to cooperate closely with the quartermaster departments of the respective army group in the field of troop supply .

Organization and structure

Just like the other economic inspections, the Caucasus Economic Inspectorate was subordinate to the Wehrwirtschafts- und Armaments Office (Wi Rü Amt) at the High Command of the Wehrmacht (OKW), but the Wi In was ultimately controlled by the Eastern Economic Staff of Reich Marshal Hermann Göring in its function as head of the four-year planning authority .

The management of the Wi In A and the Wi In Caucasus took over on September 10, 1942 Major General Günther Niedenführ.

The economic inspections were organized in a very similar way to the Eastern Economic Staff to which they were subordinate. Similar to the economic staff east, each economic inspection was divided into a management group and several chief groups (chief group), which worked on different departments. The "Chefgr La" was responsible for food, agriculture and the provision of food for the troops, the "Chefgr W" handled the areas of economy, trade and raw materials, while the "Gr. M “was supposed to satisfy the troop needs for industrial products and was responsible for the arms industry and economic transport issues.

Until Christmas 1941, Karl Vetter was the head of the chief group for agriculture at the Caucasus Economic Inspectorate , followed by Otto Dreyer .

In the army area, army economists acted as liaison officers of the Eastern Economic Staff to the high command of the armies. On the one hand they were subordinate to these army high command, on the other hand they were bound by the economic directives of the economic inspectors. At the same time they were liaison officers of the Defense Economy and Armaments Office.

Operational area

The areas of the Caucasus conquered by German and allied troops in the war against the Soviet Union in 1942/43 were all north of the Caucasus and were part of the Russian Soviet Federal Socialist Republic (RSFSR); the three South Caucasian (Transcaucasian) Union Republics of the USSR, ie Georgia, Azerbaijan and Armenia, remained vacant. In most of the North Caucasian (Ciscaucasian) areas, the German occupation lasted from July / October 1942 to December 1942 / February 1943, i.e. for only two to five months before the German Wehrmacht - also as a result of the German defeat of Stalingrad - again before the Soviet Army had to withdraw from Cis-Caucasus.

Hitler had appointed a Reich Commissioner for the Caucasus early on , namely Arno Schickedanz , who was the NSDAP staff leader in the " Reich Minister for the Occupied Eastern Territories " under Alfred Rosenberg . For the area between the Black Sea, Caspian Sea and the Caucasus, the planned Reichskommissariat Caucasia, with an area of ​​around 500,000 square kilometers and a population of around 18 million people, Tbilisi (Georgia) was intended as the administrative seat. The North Caucasus, however, remained under exclusive military administration during the German occupation by Army Group South and the South Caucasus remained Soviet, which is why Schickedanz was in fact unable to exercise his office as “civil” Reich Commissioner for the Caucasus.

In May 1942, the Caucasus Economic Inspectorate, "Mineral Oil Commandos" and a "Technical Mineral Oil Brigade" were set up for the economic exploitation of the Caucasian regions. The Wi In Caucasus had a strength of about 750 men, most of whom were employed in the subordinate economic commandos (Wi Kdo), which were operationally responsible for the economic exploitation of the inspection area of ​​the Wi In Caucasus.

With the withdrawal of the Wehrmacht in 1943, the area of ​​operations of the Eastern Economic Organization was reduced, and with it the area of ​​operations of the economic inspections. Numerous departments were closed and the staff withdrawn. Many of the responsible persons and experts who were released were put to a new use in occupied Italy or France. After the territory of the Soviet Union had largely been evacuated by German troops in the course of 1944, the official end of the Eastern Economic Staff followed on November 1, 1944.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Bundesarchiv, archive signature RW 31, http://www.argus.bstu.bundesarchiv.de/RW31-28651/index.htm?kid=58a0fa61-63b9-4a1e-9895-314d701bc8f8 , https: // open-data .bundesarchiv.de / ddb -Stock / DE-1958_RW_31.xml , https://open-data.bundesarchiv.de/apex-ead/DE-1958_RW_31.xml
  2. ^ State Archive Baden-Württemberg, Ludwigsburg, archive signature StAL EL 903 2 Bü 1662
  3. ↑ Daniel Müller, "Occupied Caucasus Territories", p. 235, in: Gerd R. Ueberschär (ed.), "Handbook on Resistance to National Socialism and Fascism in Europe", https://books.google.de/books? id = VQEdhqh9N3IC & pg = PA235 & lpg = PA235
  4. ↑ Source: Dirk Kemper, Diether Koch, Peter Marmein, Stefan Oyen (eds.), "Ulrich Koch Nachgelassene Werke", University Press Hildesheim, Volume 3: "Feldpostbriefe", Introduction, 2008, http: //web1.bib.uni- hildesheim.de/edition_koch/Bilder/Band3/Band3-Einleitung.pdf

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