Generators at Umspanwerk, Recklinghausen Germany

Posted on by Thor

In Recklinghausen Germany there is a museum right near the Rhine-Herne Canal. After sketching the canal, I walked over a footbridge and decided to go into the Umspannwerk museum. The museum tracks the progress of technology and energy in Germany. I figured that understanding the progress of energy in Germany might help me understand how energy fueled the German war machine during World War II.

What I decided to sketch was a large Tesla designed generator. A photo of Tesla was on the wall behind the generator. The front desk curators were very kind about getting me set up to sketch. Rather than getting my compact art stool outI decided to use a stackable chair that was with several other unused chairs behind the generator. The stackable chairs were locked together and I couldn’t get then unstuck. The guy behind the desk helped me by laying the chairs sideways on the floor and the. stepping on the legs. They snapped apart effortlessly.

The Ruhr area of Germany has deep veins of coal. The coal is fairly close to the surface near the Ruhr river in the south and it gets deeper as it is mined further to the north. What made the Ruhr area so important to the war was this source of energy.

Hydro power was used for some industry. Huge generators like the one I sketched would convert energy of spinning turbines spun by water onto electrical energy. Hydro electricity was important for specific industries like the aluminum and chemicals industries.

Germany’s energy consumption during WWII was characterized by a massive escalating demand primarily for oil (especially aviation fuel) which was provided through a huge synthetic fuel industry which converted coal to oil. This system collapsed under allied bombing, crippling the military by 1944-1945, forcing reliance on coal for electricity, and ultimately leading to fuel-starved German forces relying on horses.

The Allies crippled Germany’s energy by launching devastating bombing campaigns against oil fields, refineries, and synthetic fuel plants (the Allied Oil Plan), which drastically cut petroleum, oil, and lubricants production by over 90% by late 1944, which grounded the Luftwaffe and immobilized Panzer divisions, grinding the German war machine to a halt and severely limiting mobility for all forces. By 1945, the Wehrmacht was so fuel-starved that army vehicles were sometimes pulled by oxen, effectively ending mechanized warfare.

Herzogswall Recklinghausen Germany

Posted on by Thor

Recklinghausen Germany was known as the fortress city. It also had the nickname of the waffle because of the shape of the city walls as seen from the sky. Recklinghausen’s oil facilities made it a key target for Allied bombing, particularly by the Royal Air Force. The Allies launched a major bomb attack on the city on March 23, 1945 killing 173 people.

On April 1, 1945 (Easter Sunday) the 134th US Infantry Division American troops captured the city which was strongly fortified by Germans. The Germans knew that this fortified city was needed to stop Americans from crossing Rhine-Herne Canal. My father, 1st Lieutenant Arthur Thorspecken with his C-Company troops were moving south with the goal of cutting the trapped German troops in the Ruhr Pocket in half.

By the end of the day on April 2, 1945, the 134th Infantry Division had cleared Recklinghausen and was being relieved by elements of the 290th Infantry, 75th Infantry Division, and elements were heading to an assembly area in the vicinity of Westerholt Germany. Remaining elements of the 134th Infantry in positions along the Zweig Canal were relieved by the 290th Infantry. The 75th Infantry Division assumed responsibility for the sector.

The German flanks were  secured by Lippe Canal to the north and Rhine-Hern Canal to the south.  The final artillery battle was fought in the Recklinghausen Market square.

After Germany surrendered on May 7, 1945, an Interment camp was stablished in Recklinhausen for German civilians in a former forced labor camp in the Hillerheide district. This Civilian Interment Enclosure 91 held 20,000 prisoners. It was used by the Allies to question German prisoners about war crimes and mistreatment of forced laborers. The 44th Infantry Division was involved in  involved in investigating potential war crimes around May 3, 1945, where local people were forced to bury bodies from mass graves near Recklinghausen (Suttrop). The camp closed on April 15, 1948.

I decided to sketch a remnant of the medieval city wall. Only a few short sections remain of this wall.