Saudi oil fueled Allied Armies in North Africa and then in Italy. The campaign in France and then western Germany, and Holland and Belgium, was fueled by ships from the USA and Canada. Some Saudi oil also reached Russia via the trans-Iranian Railway, which was half operated by US Military railroaders and half by British military railroaders. This was the deal that made Saudi Arabia an ally of the USA despite a government that everyone knows operates even today 100% opposite from the USA, where there is freedom of religion and ballot-box Democracy. When Russia recaptured the Caucasus oilfields from the Germans, they quickly reestablished drilling and refining and did not need oil from Saudi Arabia. But the USA and Britain still did for the Italian campaign.
daveklepper Saudi oil fueled Allied Armies in North Africa and then in Italy. ...
Saudi oil fueled Allied Armies in North Africa and then in Italy. ...
Even today's best multi-fuel engines don't like crude oil. Where was that Saudi oil refine, Dave?
ChuckAllen, TX
Even before WWII British Patroleum had set up refinaries in both Egypt and then Mandatory Palestine. The Haifa refinary still operates today for Israeli companies. The rail link between Haifa and Egypt was rushed to completion partly for that reason. But ships could sail from Saudi Arabia directly to Haifa, and return to Egypt with processed fuel. Haifa was the main refinary and Egyt had some refinaries also.
From about 1940 to 1948 it was possible to travel by train from Cairo to Istambul by rail, through Lod (near Ben Gurion Airport), Haifa, Naharia, Beirut.
One railroad that was able to get a lot of FT units out of the WPB was the Santa Fe. Their double track mainline across New Mexico, Arizona and Southern California was the best rail link between the East and the Los Angeles Basin and it was virtually all desert. By assigning diesels here the line was kept fluid even though it was saturated with traffic and the need to haul water for steam engines, some 300 tank cars per day, was greatly reduced so even more war traffic could be carried. By 1945 the Santa Fe had practically achieved dieselization between Belen and Barstow. The WPB kept a close eye on the Santa Fe, though and when they requested even more diesels to operate over their non desert territories they were denied. They had to accept the 2900 class 4-8-4's and the 5100 class 2-10-4's instead
JimValle They had to accept the 2900 class 4-8-4's and the 5100 class 2-10-4's instead
They had to accept the 2900 class 4-8-4's and the 5100 class 2-10-4's instead
What a shame!
J.Rob One other thing to look at is political considerations. Many government employees were political appointees who behaved much the way things are run now. Favoritism exists due to other dealings, so what was good for the country might translate to what was good for the political bosses themselves. Should you doubt such things going on you might look at the history of such things as the National Road, US 40. It was routed through Wheeling, WV due to influence of Henry Clay. Also U.S. Grants administration was terribly corrupt. It seems corrupt officials have been around for quite a while and are nothing new.
One other thing to look at is political considerations. Many government employees were political appointees who behaved much the way things are run now. Favoritism exists due to other dealings, so what was good for the country might translate to what was good for the political bosses themselves. Should you doubt such things going on you might look at the history of such things as the National Road, US 40. It was routed through Wheeling, WV due to influence of Henry Clay. Also U.S. Grants administration was terribly corrupt.
It seems corrupt officials have been around for quite a while and are nothing new.
Ya that's baloney. FDR had several cabinet members who were Republicans, and the WPB and other boards tended to be run by people who were captains of industry, company presidents etc. not union bosses.
UP's Harriman had a great inlfuence on FDR and served in roles related to relations with wartime allies and many matters of policy. And he did so with patriotism and no thought whatsover about personal gain. Many people in industry put personal and corporate gain aside to insure the war was waged as efficiently as possible, otherwise they would have been acessories to the casualties of our own serivcemen
DuPont had tremendous investments in German factories, but stopped all relations with them immediately on Pearl Harbor Day. Some of these factories were prime targets for USA and British bombers.
IBM was the real culprit, continuing to aid Hitler, not only in the war effort, but also in the Holocaust by business connections through neutral Sweden and Switzerland. The whole Holocaust efficiency depended on the IBM punch-card system, and there were special codes that got information passed censors. This has zero relation to IBM in the Post War era, which did its best to erase this image, was one of the first large USA companies to ban discrimination on racial and religious grounds, and gave a great help to staring an Israeli computer industry which ended up inventing the whole USB technology.
An oddity of that time was the World monetary / banking organization that was headquartered in Switzerland continued to meet all during the war. So you could have a meeting with representatives from the US, Great Britain, Nazi Germany and Japan all sitting at the same table. Things apparently remained cordial, IIRC one of the Japanese reps used to play tennis with one of the Americans.
wjstix An oddity of that time was the World monetary / banking organization that was headquartered in Switzerland continued to meet all during the war. So you could have a meeting with representatives from the US, Great Britain, Nazi Germany and Japan all sitting at the same table. Things apparently remained cordial, IIRC one of the Japanese reps used to play tennis with one of the Americans.
Considering that Switzerland was surrounded by Axis countries or Axis-occupied areas from 1942 to 1944, the Allied diplomatic representatives in Switzerland weren't going anywhere for the duration.
Not completely so. Turkey. was neutral, and for a price one could get safely across Italy and the Balkans between Switzerland and Turkey. Some Jews did manage to escape the *** via that route.
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