ЯШКИН

OFFICE OF MILITARY GOVERNMEN

Machinery and general purpose equipment being loaded on Russian ships in Bremerhaven en route to the Soviet. Photo by Byers

The Reparations program in the U. S. Zone has made long forward strides

since June, 1945, when the broad "reparations" principles were laid down by
the governments of the United States, United Kingdom and the Union of
Soviet Republics. In the twelve months that followed:

War plants were destroyed;

Reparations plants were dismantled;

A quadripartite Plant Evaluation Formula was adopted and put to use;
Advance Reparations plants were allocated;

Deliveries of reparations equipment got under way.

Approximately 17,000 persons in the U. S. Zone are working on one or another phase of reparations activity destruction, dismantling, shipping,

evaluation, administration, statistics.

As of Aug. 1, 1946, 156 plants in the U. S. Zone had been confirmed for reparations by the Economic Directorate. Industries represented include aircraft, armaments, chemicals, machinery, metals, oil and shipbuilding.

Of the 156 plants "confirmed", 24 were allocated as "advance reparations" in October, 1945. These allocations were made in conjunction with a swift appraisal of the plants, known as "Operation RAP". This represented an attempt to make available in the shortest possible time a number of reparations plants to the Soviet Union and the Western Nations.

The basic clauses of the evaluation formula agreed by the Coordinating Committee of the Allied Control Council on 7. January 1946: Plant and equipment shall be evaluated at 1938 replacement cost, in Reichsmarks, without taking into account delivery and installation expenses. War damage, if any, will be deducted and depreciation allowed at rates to be agreed upon. subject to a multiplier of 1.35 for every year of war use. Maximum allowance deductible for war damage and depreciation will be 78 percent of the 1938 cost and will be applied to the unit of allocation as determined by the Economic Ictorate of the Allied Control Authority.

Dismantling of these plants began immediately and, as of 1 September, seven of the 24 plants had been completely dismantled. Dismantling status of the 24 allocated plants follows:

Status of Dismantling and Demolition of German War
Plants 1946

On 31 March 1946, the first shipment of reparations equipment from the huge Kugelfischer ball-bearing Plant at Schweinfurt was loaded on rail cars and forwarded to Bremen, there to be transshipped to the Soviet Union. Since then, reparations equipment has been forwarded to Bremen from three other plants: Daimler-Benz Underground Aircraft Engine Plant, Deschimag Shipyards and Gendorf Power Plant.

As of 1 August 11,100 tons of reparations equipment from these plants, all representing "Advance deliveries" were made available at the port of Bremen for transhipment by water to the USSR. Shipments totalling 9092 tons of equipment have been made from the Port of Bremen to the Soviet Union as follows:

The destruction of war plants - those engaged exclusively in the production of materials primarily used for war is part and parcel of the reparations program. After removing general-purpose equipment, power plants, etc. for reparations, such facilities are destroyed. As of 1 September, 80* war plants in the U. S. Zone had been dismantled and/or destroyed, or in process of such treatment. The general-purpose equipment in six of these (Reparations Nos. 20-25) had already been allocated for reparations and are therefore listed in the table on page 36. Status of the remaining plants follows:

*Ten of this number were reported too late for inclusion in following list.