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What he developed now were not weapons of a certain specific type
which were especially suitable for the conduct of aggressive wars, they were
completely normal artillery weapons, such as were used by every country and
every army of the powers involved in the war. That he also tried to do his best
for the German soldier was absolutely natural for him.
5. Following the
creation of the Todt Ministry, Mueller was appointed head of the Weapons
Commission in 1940. Again he was not recommended by the fact that he was a
politician or strategist but only because of his technical knowledge which he
had proved in the creation of effective guns for foreign countries. The
commission which handled development and production, concerned itself during
the first two years almost exclusively with the further development of weapons.
After the first setbacks in the East and the considerable loss of weapons in
connection therewith, the government raised its demand for increased armament
production. It soon became obvious that Mueller was not willing to put up with
the intervention in industry which the State deemed appropriate. Dr. Mueller
took the consequences upon himself and resigned his office in 1942.
It
was, however, the opinion that one could not dispense with this technical
experience and that is the reason why he later took over the chairmanship of
the Weapons Commission which concerned itself exclusively with research work.
These were activities which were carried out by thousands of engineers in all
countries.
In connection with this I will explain the purposes of the
committees, commission, and industrial associations.
Because of his
position as honorary staff member in an organization of the Speer
Ministry,¹ Dr. Mueller was used quite frequently to pass on government
requests and measures to the firm of Krupp.
Through him, the increased
governmental pressure and finally compulsory production in the individual
manufacturing fields is applied to Krupp, however, without force being applied
by him. His name appears when government orders for the construction of new
production sites and for the intensification of armament efforts are passed on.
His participation in the planning of Markstaedt² is the natural
result of the activities assigned to him in the weapons committee and the
connection of this work with Todt and Speer, as is the fact that he was called
in by Adolf Hitler during the war in |
__________
¹ The “Todt
Ministry” and the “Speer Ministry” are identical, Speer having
succeeded Todt after the latter’s death in 1942.
² Bertha Works
at Markstaedt, Silesia, It was built by Krupp during the war, and is of often
referred to as the “S” Works.
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