How could Germany's economy have been better organized in World War 2?

[SealTheRealDeal]

Just reading 'The War in the West 1941-43' by James Holland and one recurring theme is how little use the Germans had for their Italian allies, usually regarding them as liabilities rather than assets and even some in the senior ranks of the Italian government felt their forces were simply unfit for war, a view backed up by their performance in Greece, Yugoslavia and Egypt.

The Italians performed well in Yugoslavia.

but ships

Was there any better use for Germany's merchant ships that happened to be stranded in the Mediterranean? Simply sitting in neutral ports may not risk the ships being sunk, but it also doesn't contribute anything to the Axis war effort and writes them off entirely.

where they were distinctly not wanted by their German allies.

Wanted or not, Germany had nothing else to make up their line as they over extended their flank during Case Blue.

Add on German commitment in the Balkans

The German commitment to the Balkans was the result of Yugoslavia's internal political developments, Italian neutrality doesn't change that. At most it allows Germany to avoid having to occupy Greece.

its clear that the best thing Italy could have done for the Axis was not declare war at all...

Let's actually run with that.
So:
-Germany does not have an army in Africa and an army in Greece
-there is no net manpower gain as the equivalent is required to adequately occupy Yugolsavia
-the Axis is down one army on the Eastern Front
-on the other hand, the considerable number of vehicles and air units that iOTL were committed to Africa can be provisioned to the Eastern Front
-at the same time the UK's massive commitment to the Mediterranean theatre is freed up for use elsewhere, the extent to which this threatens the Axis depends on what follows

So, is Italian neutrality clearly better? I don't think it's clear either way.

 

[iron]

The Balkans Adventure actually proved out as a net gain for the German economy in the long run. On a strategic level, occupation of this area facilitated trade with the Turkish state and all of their alloying metals. Particularly chromium, molybdenum, and vanadium. These were almost impossible to obtain from anywhere within the Greater German Reich.
This is one of the things that allowed them to carry on for as long as they did.
The other aspect was completely raping the Balkans for the food production in the area and leaving them to starve.
These are some of the Lesser discussed matters of the Balkan takeover.
As a Gambit? It was a net win for Nazi Germany.

 

[user23123]

Please provide a source that details such restrictions.

It seams that i had a misunderstanding of the situation, since they discouraged from working before the late 30's Trough restitution and incentives,but those restitution where lifted as need arise,but i think things could have been better for them if those restitution would not have been put in place in the first place,.

''Women were not expected to work in Nazi Germany . In Weimar Germany there had been 100,000 female teachers, 3000 female doctors and 13,000 female musicians. Within months of Hitler coming to power, many female doctors and civil servants were sacked. This was followed by female teachers and lawyers. By the start of the Second World War, very few German women were in fulltime work. However, such was the skills shortage in Germany, that in 1937 a law was passed in 1937 which meant women had to do a “Duty Year”. This meant that they could work ‘patriotically’ in a factory etc. to help the Nazi’s “Economic Miracle”. The marriage loan was also abolished in this year.'' https://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/nazi-germany/the-role-of-women-in-nazi-germany/

 

[Garrison]

It seams that i had a misunderstanding of the situation, since they discouraged from working before the late 30's Trough restitution and incentives,but those restitution where lifted as need arise,but i think things could have been better for them if those restitution would not have been put in place in the first place,.

''Women were not expected to work in Nazi Germany . In Weimar Germany there had been 100,000 female teachers, 3000 female doctors and 13,000 female musicians. Within months of Hitler coming to power, many female doctors and civil servants were sacked. This was followed by female teachers and lawyers. By the start of the Second World War, very few German women were in fulltime work. However, such was the skills shortage in Germany, that in 1937 a law was passed in 1937 which meant women had to do a “Duty Year”. This meant that they could work ‘patriotically’ in a factory etc. to help the Nazi’s “Economic Miracle”. The marriage loan was also abolished in this year.'' https://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/nazi-germany/the-role-of-women-in-nazi-germany/

But the article is focused on women in professional roles, and seems to be making the flawed assumption that if women weren't working in industry they weren't working. Millions were engaged in full time work in agriculture, which the Nazi's wholeheartedly approved of. The notion that the there was some massive pool of women being excluded from working by Nazi ideology is just wrong, the numbers living in urban environments who might have been used for factory labour was a very modest number compared to the many millions of labourers that were needed. I would advise reading 'Wages of Destruction' for a more detailed explanation.

 

[user23123]

One other general point on the idea of giving the likes of Romania captured French hardware and teaching them to use German tactics is that much of that hardware was better than its German equivalents in the 1939-41 period. The last thing Germany wants is allies of dubious loyalty with first rate weapons and a knowledge of how to use them properly...

I don't think trust is what is missing,since didn't they believe that the soviets will have a quick collapses "We have only to kick in the door and the whole rotten structure will come crashing down" to Quote someone,that is why they did not prepend for the winter,that they did not invest in the ready of there allies,since without needing them on the eastern front,all that the nazi will do is invest in a war between Hungary and Romania,and yes that will be the last thing that they will need while been at war with the soviets.O thing that could have change that was better intelligentes on the soviet,since if the Germans have a fuck moment will need all the help we can get with the soviets they will probably work closer with there allies and try requite more from the occupied territories .

 

[Garrison]

I don't think trust is what is missing,since didn't they believe that the soviets will have a quick collapses "We have only to kick in the door and the whole rotten structure will come crashing down" to Quote someone,that is why they did not prepend for the winter,that they did not invest in the ready of there allies,since without needing them on the eastern front,all that the nazi will do is invest in a war between Hungary and Romania,and yes that will be the last thing that they will need while been at war with the soviets.O thing that could have change that was better intelligentes on the soviet,since if the Germans have a fuck moment will need all the help we can get with the soviets they will probably work closer with there allies and try recure more from the occupied territories .

Which comes back to another intrinsic issue with the Nazi's, their intelligence gathering was absolutely abysmal. They had some occasional sigint successes and grabbed a few code books, but their efforts in that direction were pathetic compared to the resources put into the same work by the Allies. I would argue here that the Allies willingness to put up with a certain degree of eccentrcity and social no-conformity from their codebreakers gave them a broader spectrum of approaches to solving these problems. Their efforts to create a human intellugence network in the US and UK came down to a painful lack of any locals willing to help. In the USSR the ruthless mechanics of the police state made infiltrating agents all but impossible.

Put it another way the failure of the Nazi intelligence apparatus was a product of the nature of Nazi Germany, as unfixable as their anti-Semitism.