The Economy
Before the Twilight War Germany was one of the world’s great industrial nations and had the largest economy in Europe. Germany’s economy was very diverse with a large financial and service sector and a very prominent manufacturing sector based upon mechanical engineering, automobiles, machinery, electric equipment, steel, shipbuilding and chemicals. German industry was profiled by many well known manufacturing giants such as Volkswagen, Siemens, Bayer, BASF, Daimler-Benz, BMW, ThyssenKrupp and Bosch, but large companies accounted for only a small part of the German economy with smaller and medium sized companies accounting for 80% of employment. The main industrial areas of West Germany were the Ruhr district of North Rhine-Westphalia; the traditional centre of German coal, steel and heavy industry, and several large cities such as Bremen, Hanover, Hamburg, Munich, Frankfurt, Stuttgart and smaller cities and towns areas along the Rhine River, but almost all areas of West Germany had some industry. In East Germany the industrial areas were concentrated in the cities of Berlin, Dresden, Halle, Leipzig and Karl Marx-Stadt. East German industry had fallen behind the west in technology and its industrial centres had lost their traditional markets in the west, but East Germany industry was considered among the most advanced in the Soviet Block. Although Germany is relatively poor in raw materials, it does have extensive coal and lignite reserves, a very productive agricultural sector and a large forestry industry. Before the war Germany relied heavily on fossil fuels for its energy needs and about 40% of German energy consumption came from imported petroleum, largely for trucks and automobiles. Another 30% came from domestic coal and lignite deposits while most of the rest came from natural gas or nuclear energy with Germany’s 20 nuclear power stations accounting for 10% of demand. Agriculture accounted for only a small section of the economy although it was larger in East Germany. Since the end of the Second World War the number of German farms had declined but production has increased through more efficient production methods. Agriculture in Germany varied by region. In northern Germany cereals and sugar beets are grown, elsewhere farmers produce vegetables or raised livestock producing pork, beef, poultry, milk and cheese. However most Germany cities were surrounded by fruit orchards and vegetable farms and the river valleys in southern and western Germany have vineyards, while beer is widely produced in the southern states such as Bavaria. East German farms were of the Soviet collective type and the government regulating the land and produce, but production was inefficient compared with the west.
Germany’s location at the centre of Europe led to German cities which lay on the intersections of major European east-west and north-south transhipment routes for ship, barge, road and railroads becoming major European transportation and communications hubs. Before the war Germany had one of the world’s largest and most sophisticated transportation systems. The German road network was highly developed and one of the densest in the world. Germany pioneered the building of expressways or autobahn’s during the Second World War, and expressway’s crossed the entire country and even into East Germany who’s major roads dated from before the division of Germany. The German rail network was also highly developed with electric and diesel powered intercity passenger and freight trains and many cities having electrified underground or tram systems. About half of Germany’s rail network was electrified and tracks were of the same gauge in both East and West Germany. Major German seaports such as Hamburg, Bremen, Bremerhaven, Lubeck and Wilhelmshaven also heavily invested in loading technology, equipment and training to compensate for their greater distance from the Atlantic Ocean in comparison with the Dutch and Flemish ports such as Rotterdam and Antwerp. The German inland shipping system was also one of the worlds most highly developed because of the large flat plains of northern and western Germany. Duisburg on the Rhine River was the largest inland port in the world, and navigable waterways such as the Rhine, Main and Danube Rivers, and canals such as the Kiel, Mittelland, Dortmund-Ems and the Rhine-Main-Danube Canal permitted economical river transport between the North Sea and the Black Sea in south-eastern Europe. Germany also had a large system of inland and international passenger and freight air travel with major airports including Frankfurt, Munich, Cologne-Bonn, Dusseldorf, Hamburg, Stuttgart and the three airports serving West and East Berlin. Lufthansa the national airline was one of the world’s largest airlines and has an extensive domestic and global route system.
The nuclear attacks on German industrial and urban centres devastated Germany’s manufacturing sector, and the EMP blasts from the nuclear detonations rendered much more inoperable. Germany’s oil refineries were deliberately targeted during the course of the war. The oil refineries in Hamburg and East Germany were knocked out early in the war by Soviet air strikes. Conventional bombing also damaged oil refineries in other parts of Germany, while the three refineries in the Ruhr region were destroyed in the nuclear attacks. Germany’s power stations were also indirectly damaged from air strikes and the EMP blasts of the nuclear detonations. With power plants and oil refineries destroyed or knocked out, surviving factories and services simply shut down and where abandoned, while more were lost in the years of destruction and chaos to looting and anarchy and the French occupation of the Rhineland. However despite the extensive damage and being left idle for years the government has identified three refineries at Ingolstadt, Emsland and Lingen that could be brought back on line. Unfortunately Germany has no domestic source of oil other than a small and largely redundant inland oil field near Brunswick, and the now abandoned Mittelplate oil platform in the German sector of the North Sea. The government does plan to attempt to reopen Mittelplate in the future, but for the present Germany is in talks with the British and Norwegian governments about obtaining oil supplies from still functional offshore oil platforms that both countries are secretly operating in the North Sea. However the government has brought a few coal powered stations in Bavaria and Lower Saxony back on line running at low capacity, which with army engine electricity generators has given limited power services to a few functional hospitals and other facilities. Other power stations are also believed to be salvageable and the government has identified thirty electrical power plants across the country, including a number of small hydroelectric and pump storage stations in the south and Schleswig-Holstein that could be reopened in the near future. The army is currently scouring the country looking for pre-war power plant and oil industry workers to help restore the national power and fuel supply. A great deal of engineering equipment and diagnostic tools has been salvaged from abandoned factories and power plants by government technicians in order to achieve some quick propaganda results and accelerate the restoration project. In addition to conventional fossil and hydroelectric power plants, three nuclear power plants in Bavaria and the north could also be reactivated in the future. Ironically the status of the 1.7 Mw VAK nuclear power station near Kahl-am-Main in Bavaria is unknown to the government despite being among the most salvageable in all of Europe, as it’s under the control of rogue commander of the US 30th Brigade.
Despite the destruction of the war a great deal of Germany’s pre-war industry still exists. The high concentration of manufacturing across Germany left many factories untouched by the war and many have just sat idle for years due to the lack of power and the collapse of the world economy. In areas with limited power supply some clothing and food processing factories have been reopened by the government, while others are producing a limited supply of metals, electronics, chemicals, medical drugs and ammunition. The production of alcohol based fuels such as methanol has now become widespread and the Army has also taken over custody of surviving factories that produced military vehicle or heavy weapons to make badly needed parts. The government in Kiel has issued a number of proclamations stating their intension to restore essential services to German territory under their control. Government agencies are focusing on restoring whatever industrial production, electric power, sanitation, medical facilities and schools they can. The government is aware that industries and trades must be restored before the cadres of trained machinists and craftsmen dies off or the knowledge is forgotten, and power and fuel supplies must be restored to working condition to operate them. Because of the shortages of oil and power Germany’s transport network has largely been shut down. None of Germany’s airports are operational and many were damaged beyond repair, but some are still useable and the Luftwaffe has reopened a few for future use as well as maintaining a small number of air bases across Germany. The rail network was badly disrupted by the war with rail terminals and sections of track destroyed or damaged by nuclear and conventional bombing. All electric and diesel trains have long ceased running, but some old coal powered engines are still operating and rail lines are maintained from Kiel to Bremerhaven and from Kiel eastwards to the Polish border. Engineers are also working on restoring a rail link between Kiel and Bavaria. Much of the pre-war autobahn road network still exists and some sections are maintained to allow for the movement of military convoys. The other main users of the roads are registered independent traders who run their own convoys between various towns and communities, and a small number of civilian owned alcohol fuelled vehicles. In Germany the ownership of non-alcohol fuels is illegal and army patrols have the authority to stop any vehicle in their area and check its fuel, although they rarely check vehicles in a convoy. Trade between different communities is controlled by the Army who patrol the roads to ensure that key transport networks remain safe. The government has also re-established the Deutsche Mark as the unit of currency in Germany, although barter, payment in kind and the use of gold or silver remains a common source of payment. The value of the Deutsche Mark is supported by Germany’s gold reserves which were second only to the United States before the war and were secured by the army in underground bunkers in 1997. The government and the military will now only pay for goods or services in Deutsche Marks to encourage their use, and the Mark is currently trading at 1 Deutsche Mark to 3 US Dollars although the rate can vary in different parts of the country.
In areas beyond military control trading is much more hazardous as the roads are not maintained or patrolled and criminal gangs and marauders are a problem. The canal and river system still exists and flat bottomed barges and river boats are a cheap if slow way to travel around the country. However outside of Northern Germany or in other stable areas in the rest of the country there is no military control over the waterways. The engines of some river boats have been converted to run on alcohol fuel although many rely on towing by work animals. Barges and river boats that regularly use the waterways are mostly controlled by the military or local traders and are well armed with a variety of weapons such as machine guns, grenade launchers or mortars, with sandbags, lumber and metal sheet armour protection. Salvaging is a major and profitable industry in Twilight War Germany, and scavenging over abandoned factories, stores, shopping malls and warehouses can frequently produce a treasure throve of material that can make individuals or gangs rich by Twilight War standards. All manner of goods are traded in the government controlled open city markets or the many black markets across the country, ranging from canned food and cosmetics to clothing and auto parts. Harder to find goods such as alcohol, tobacco, coffee or medical drugs can fetch very high prices. Illegal drugs, petroleum and diesel fuels, ammunition and weapons are also available on the black markets but the authorities will come down hard on any group known to be trading them and black marketers will only deal in well guarded secret locations well away from major cities or military units. The trade of firearms is a major and growing industry in violent times such as the Twilight War. Before the war ownership of weapons in Germany was controlled by strict gun laws which restricted ownership to low calibre hunting rifles and shotguns. Today civilian firearm ownership is legal for those with firearms licences issued by the government, but since the war gun ownership is almost impossible to regulate. Weapons and ammunition of all types are available in the thriving underground black market, and because of the war there is a glut of military weapons, ammunition and equipment available for sale of NATO and Warsaw Pact origin, much of it picked off battlefields or traded by army units of various sources. Many organised salvaging gangs are criminal in nature and are heavily armed, which can make this a hazardous occupation due to competitors fighting over finds or salvage territory.