re: Latest Updates: Russia-Ukraine Conflict

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How was it done in WWII?

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We built the plants to make what was needed. Private industry ran the plants and bought them for something like $1 each after they were no longer needed. That was the case for all assembly line type operations which became auto assembly plants.

What we had then was steel mill and foundry manufacturing dominance already existing. Dow Chemical came to Freeport, TX to extract magnesium from the seawater and it was there because then known concentration of magnesium in seawater was higher there than elsewhere.

We were the largest producer of oil by far already. Refineries were expanded (paid for by the government and operated by the refiner).

To save on cost, the Feds forced manufacturers to just landfill any hazardous waste onsite, and why those plants had issues in the 1970's and 1980's, it wasn't due corporate greed. It was dig a hole and bury it with no other precautions.

It caused the beginning of tar sands refining in Canada and the building of the first strip mining and syncrude manufacturing plant during WWII in Fort McMurray, Canada.

Some small companies made serious bank by obtaining contracts to make bed frames for the military and intentionally making them slightly shorter than spec so they could get the steel and after rejection, sell to the public at high prices. Some sand pits for foundry casting sand were developed and sold to the black market, mostly to cast black market engine blocks and parts.

Here is an offical report from 1995 (only 27 years ago) that discusses the situation then.

https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-NSIAD-95-89/html/GAOREPORTS-NSIAD-95-89.htm

Bolding added by me

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The Army has load, assemble, and pack production lines for artillery
projectiles at nine locations: the Iowa, Kansas, Lone Star,
Longhorn, Louisiana, Milan, and Mississippi Army Ammunition Plants;
the Crane Army Ammunition Activity; and the Pine Bluff Arsenal. The
Army has laid away production lines at the Mississippi plant and is
in the process of laying away some parts of the production lines at
the Kansas, Longhorn, and Louisiana plants. The Army plans to keep
the production lines at the other locations active to meet projected
artillery projectile requirements. The five plants to remain active
(Iowa, Lone Star, Milan, Crane, and Pine Bluff) have a combined
capacity to load, assemble, and pack 867,000 artillery projectiles a
month during three 8-hour shifts each day for 5 days a week.
According to Army officials, this capacity is sufficient to meet
projected replenishment requirements for all artillery projectiles.

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WORLDWIDE INVENTORIES OF ARMY
ARTILLERY PROJECTILES
=========================================================== Appendix I
Item description Usable Unusable Total
------------------------------ -------- -------- ========
105-mm projectiles:
------------------------------------------------------------
M1 HE without fuze 8,946,61 34,274 8,980,89
6 0
M314 illuminating 287,669 3 287,672
M60 smoke, WP with point 275,994 0 275,994
detonating fuze
M548 HE rocket assisted 24,308 0 24,308
M760 HE extended range 99,242 794 100,036
M84A1 HC 112,070 0 112,070

155-mm projectiles: Usable Unusable Total
------------------------------------------------------------
M692 ADAM-L 32,971 0 32,971
M731 ADAM-S 120,271 0 120,271
M718 RAAMS-L 62,926 3,676 66,602
M485 illuminating 253,676 0 253,676
M116A smoke HC 19,349 0 19,349
M741 RAAMS-S 137,259 7,070 144,329
M712 Copperhead 16,095 0 16,095
M804 practice 97,530 0 97,530
M741A1 RAAMS 44,889 0 44,889
M718A1 RAAMS 21,096 0 21,096
M825 smoke WP\a 284,619 2 284,621
M107 HE 2,936,48 1,138 2,937,62
4 2
M110 smoke WP 127,658 0 127,658
M449 HE ICM SE 490,642 0 490,642
M483A1 DPICM 3,958,14 324,662 4,282,81
9 1
M549 HE RAP 372,649 0 372,649
M864 Baseburner\b 147,003 0 147,003

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Iowa, Kansas, Lone Star,
Longhorn, Louisiana, Milan, and Mississippi Army Ammunition Plants

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There was a lot of controversy with the contractor disposing of the materials at the plant near Shreveport, which occurred several years ago.

Britain produced more than Germany did. Germany went for high quality craftsmanship individually built equipment instead of assembly line methods, which really slowed down their processes.

FTR, Germany did NOT use Fischer Tropsch from coal to syncrude for fuel. Instead it used a very high pressure process which used the sulfur in the coal as the catalyst for the conversion. This required much more energy to obtain such high pressures. It did save the steps of gasifying the coal then reforming the gases into syngas. But 10,000 psi as opposed to say 500 psi takes concrete bunkers for each reactor loop in case of catastrophic failure.

China is loving this shite.

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I think that supply of artillery shells remains one of the bigger unknowns of how this war ends.

The West is supplying Ukraine with 155mm shells, but not really enough, and Western stocks are starting to dwindle.

But Russian stocks are also limited, and we don't know how much they have left and how much can be produced by Russia and its partners

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China is loving this shite.

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We don't need artillery shells for a war with China. A war with China would be a naval and air war, very different from the ground war being fought in Ukraine.

1.3 billion Chinese, never heard of a war fought in the last 1000 years without artillery. Unless you plan on nuking the mainland of China, you better bring your lunch.

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This is part of what helped their collapse on the eastern front as well as lack of transportation of supplies to the front, correct?

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Germany was just overmatched. They tried fighting on multi fronts and multi theaters and it was way too much.

They were out numbered.
They lacked resources.
They lacked in motorized transportation, railroads and ships.
They conquered way more territory than they could defend.

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China is loving this shite.

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I bet they aren’t