German development

Catalytic Oxidation for Straight-Chain Paraffinic Hydrocarbons. Synthetic fatty acids (SFA) are produced by Eastern European countries, Russia, and China using a manganese-catalyzed oxidation of selected paraffinic streams. The technology is based on German developments that were in use during World War II. The production volume in 1984 was estimated to be about 5.5 x ICf t/yr. The oxidation is highly exothermic and is carried out at about 105—125°C, mostly in continuous equipment. 

After the second World War, German firms manufacturing indigotin faced serious competition from Knglish and American dyestuff companies. To counteract this, the Germans developed continuous operations for manufacturing the dye. However, because of the complexity of the equipment and the operations (126), the batch process is still the preferred manufacturing method. 

German Development in High Explosives , PB Rept 78271 (1947) 3) B.T. Fedoroff et... 

Before World War II, German developed a synthetic fibre from polyvinyl chloride. In America, a copolymer of vinyl chloride and vinyl acetate was marketed as Vinyon . Dow chemical marketed as Saran a copolymer from vinylidene chloride and vinyl chloride. Saran fibre is characterised by its remarkable resistance of most of chemical reagents and fire. 

Krummel was not the only place where work on shaped charges was conducted. Elsewhere the Germans developed a shaped charge shell which was shot from an 80mm mortar called Panzerwurfkanone , and the warheads for several guided missiles... 

During WWII, the Germans developed two types of igniter mixtures ... 

During WWII, the Germans developed several illuminating mixtures, containing 14-28% of polyvinylchloride (either additionally chlorinated or not) together with 17-35% of magnesium powder, 50-61% of oxidizer and 1 to 5% of vaseline or synthetic wax (Ref 3)... 

The Germans developed a 15cm shell, for use against ground targets, which contained 12 or more celluloid cylinders surrounded by yellow phosphorous imbedded in paraffin. A central tube of Black Powder was used as a bursting charge... 

Guided Missile Launcher. A device or installation from which a self-propelled missile is launched. It usually incorporates a rail, tube, wooden or steel frames, etc for giving the missile initial guidance. Some of the launchers are the same as used for launching rockets. Germans developed and used during WWII many types of launchers and nearly all of them are described in PATR 2510(1958), p Get 164 under Rocket Launcher or Projector with numerous illustrations on p Ger 165. Some of them are shown in the Figs included here... 

The Germans developed before and during WWII more new types of guns than all other Nations (Austria, Belgium, Czechoslovakia, France, Gt Britain, Italy, Japan, Poland,... 

During World War II, the Germans developed the production of chlorine trifluoride as an incendiary agent. 

In addition to the explosives mentioned above, before and during WWII, the Germans developed and used several new explosives and explosive mixtures which. cannot be called substitutes (Ersatzsprengstoffe) because they were more powerful than the previously used military explosives, such as TNT and PA. These new powerful explosives included PETN and RDX, as well as various mixtures containing these substances... 

A few less important expls as well as derivatives of the above three materials, and various mixts containing them were also investigated, such as Dl-Salz, Formit, MAN-Salz plus Na nitrate, MAN-Salz plus Amm nitrate, MAN-Salz perchlorate and TRI-Salz Ref H. Walter et al, German Development in High Explosives , FIAT Final Rept No 1035, PBRept No 78271 (1947)... 

However, the Japan-China conflict seems to have gone almost unnoticed in the Western press, and it was after the Italy-Ethiopian War that the possibility of a chemical war in Europe became the primary concern of both the British and US Army s Chemical Warfare Services. Consequently, they studied the chemical warfare capabilities of both Germany and Italy, but, as will be seen, intelligence completely missed the German development of nerve agents. 

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