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morrisman
11th Oct 2015, 08:42 PM
Thank god there were only a relatively small number of these monstors built .

http://www.alanhamby.com/factory1.shtml

KBs PensNmore
12th Oct 2015, 01:54 PM
Thanks for that mm, a very enjoyable read. Certainly a lot of big equipment being used there, the vertical lathe and borers.:2tsup: How did you manage to find this article?
Kryn

morrisman
12th Oct 2015, 03:00 PM
I have a interest, well, more a addiction with old military vehicles.

A few German vehicles were bought to Aust. for evaluation, captured in Nth Africa .
A friend tracked down a Demag half track on a farm in the Mallee . The farmer had cut the hull in half .

The transmission in it was controlled by vacuum relays that changed the gears, we found some 9mm rounds in the floor

Mine damage was evident in the front end . The motor a MAYBACH was removed and used in a racing car .

We also found a inspection stamp on the transmission housing , a eagle and swastika .

The thing ended up back in Europe , there was too much missing to be a viable project

Mike

KBs PensNmore
12th Oct 2015, 05:23 PM
Thanks for that info, I had heard that after the war, some tanks were sold to farmers, minus weaponry:(, and were used for scrub clearing, whether this is correct or not, I don't know!! Surprising what turns up where!!!
Kryn

chambezio
12th Oct 2015, 06:35 PM
I have heard that a number of farmers got hold of Brengun Carriers to be used as "bull dozers" by the fitting of a blade. The exercise was not successful because the overall weight of the Carrier was too light for such activities
Great set of photos. How many engineering companies in Australia now could carry out oversized machining that went into the Tigers?

morrisman
12th Oct 2015, 07:20 PM
We had a amazing industrial base here during WW2 .

The locally manufactured Bren carriers , over 5000 of them were made by various mobs, Vic railways , South Aust. railways and even the metro gas company in Melbourne . They developed a special armour plate here because of the shortage of tungsten or was it nickel ? Anyway the LP ( local pattern ) hulls were all welded as opposed to the UK variants which were rivetted together .

Horrible things to drive, they have a track warping system for minor turns and brake steering on the rear driving axle for sharper turns , before you turn you gun the engine to increase power , the steering wheel applies brake to one of the rear brake drums , the engine tends to die . And the crash gearbox has a reverse shift pattern , its quite a skill changing gears and turning .The engine is a side valve Ford V8 with straight exhaust, no mufflers ..what a great sound. The heat during summer is beyond a joke, how they used these things in the desert !


many have been restored here is one under rebuild
http://www.mapleleafup.net/forums/showthread.php?p=215213#post215213

KBs PensNmore
13th Oct 2015, 01:16 AM
Interesting read of the attachment, thanks mm:2tsup:
Kryn

YBAF
13th Oct 2015, 09:05 PM
"...The factory employed a total of 8000 workers for tank production. They worked in two 12 hour shifts and the night shift was said to have only 50% of the output of the day shift..."

Seems strange. Lack of light perhaps.

I've read where Hitler refused to let women work in the factories. So while the allies had their factories going 24/7 with a lot of females in the workforce the German girls stayed home and cooked.

KBs PensNmore
13th Oct 2015, 09:29 PM
Probably with air raid sirens going off all the time, they spent most of the shift in the bunkers, or as YBAF said lack of lighting as it would have been a beacon to the bombers.
Kryn

malb
13th Oct 2015, 09:37 PM
In Gippsland one family had a number of tanks ranging from Stuarts up to the Shermans etc for farm work. Some of these left Disposals with turrets and guns still in place, but may have had machine guns removed. I recall seeing the turrets with barrels etc around the farm.
Most were cut down to slightly above the tracks and had a range of mods made to make them fit for purpose. One ended up with a large dozer blade and a pair of V12 torpedo boat motors, another became a large mobile crane, a pair received a twin engine mod (not sure of the engines used) and were used with a drag chain (read ship anchor chain) for scrub clearance. Little Stuart seemed to be used for light duty work like extracting trucks from bogs.

My BIL's family operated two bluestone quarries in South Gippsland and had Bren carriers at one of them which was on a very steep hill. When I saw them 45 years ago, a couple were virtual wrecks/parts machines, but one was still operating, basically used as personnel/light equipment transport to get up and down the hill, as none of the utes on hand then could safely make the climb and decent.

My father had not so fond memories of the carriers, he carried scared knuckles through his adult life, due to operating Bren carries during WW2. On some versions the steering wheel was very close to the bulkhead and there were some strategically placed rivets that were very good at catching knuckles while cornering.

morrisman
13th Oct 2015, 09:44 PM
The German war machine employed a huge number of conscripted labour workers from conquered countries . When you turned 15 you had to register for work in the REICH . There was a recent case of these slaves seeking compensation from firms like Volkswagen . With armed guards watching for any mistakes or sabotage in the factories , the punishment was usually immediate execution by a firing squad .

KBs PensNmore
13th Oct 2015, 10:50 PM
I suppose that is one way of making sure the employees did the right thing. One way of getting rid of unemployment issues.
Kryn

Vann
20th Oct 2015, 06:09 PM
Interesting.

My dad used to tell stories of the place where he worked during the war. He worked for an optical instrument maker, based in or near Venlo, Netherlands. When the Germans marched into Holland (Venlo is only a few km from the German boarder) the factory was put to German war production. Dad said they made driving periscopes for Tiger tanks. I assume that when they went into battle, any hatches were closed and the driver changed to using a "periscope" to navigate.


The German war machine employed a huge number of conscripted labour workers from conquered countries . When you turned 15 you had to register for work in the REICH . There was a recent case of these slaves seeking compensation from firms like Volkswagen . With armed guards watching for any mistakes or sabotage in the factories , the punishment was usually immediate execution by a firing squad .They weren't treated as slaves, but on the other hand they didn't dare carry out any sabotage either (not until the very end of the war, he said).

He said he was lined up to be shot one day - he'd been selling black market goods at work - but (obviously) they didn't carry it out.

Cheers, Vann.

familyguy
8th Nov 2015, 10:54 AM
Hitler may have forbidden German women to work in factories but it was not so with the occupied countries, at the age of 16 my mother was rounded up by the SS and taken to work in an aircraft factory, 95% of the workers were females from occupied countries. She was not treated like a slave but conditions were far from ideal, poor food, poor sleeping barracks, long marches to and from the barracks to the factory, she was however employed by the German Gov. records were kept and I believe paid into a superannuation fund, her "wages" only just covered her "board and lodgings".

With the exception of a few most of the male factory supervisors were kind and considerate, the work was not hard she operated a small automatic lathe not much larger than a sewing machine producing magnesium alloy parts for planes, she managed to escape near the wars end as the Russian troops approached.
At 90yrs old having been employed by the German Gov she now is eligible and gets a German pension even though she is not a German national.