Operation Desert () was a German

synthetic fuel Synthetic fuel or synfuel is a liquid fuel, or sometimes Fuel gas, gaseous fuel, obtained from syngas, a mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen, in which the syngas was derived from gasification of solid feedstocks such as coal or biomass or by ...

project during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. It attempted to build a

shale oil Shale oil is an unconventional oil produced from oil shale rock fragments by pyrolysis, hydrogenation, or thermal dissolution. These processes convert the organic matter within the rock (kerogen) into synthetic oil and gas. The resulting oil c ...

industrial production complex for utilization of

Swabian Alb The Swabian Jura ( , more rarely ), sometimes also named Swabian Alps in English, is a mountain range in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, extending from southwest to northeast and in width. It is named after the region of Swabia. It is part of th ...

oil shale Oil shale is an organic-rich Granularity, fine-grained sedimentary rock containing kerogen (a solid mixture of Organic compound, organic chemical compounds) from which liquid hydrocarbons can be produced. In addition to kerogen, general compos ...

deposits (

Posidonia Shale The Posidonia Shale (, also called Schistes Bitumineux in Luxembourg) geologically known as the Sachrang Formation, is an Early Jurassic (Early to Late Toarcian) geological formation in Germany, northern Switzerland, northwestern Austria, souther ...

). The project was driven by the fuel needs of the German army at the last phase of World War II due to decreasing conventional

petroleum Petroleum, also known as crude oil or simply oil, is a naturally occurring, yellowish-black liquid chemical mixture found in geological formations, consisting mainly of hydrocarbons. The term ''petroleum'' refers both to naturally occurring un ...

supplies. Three companies conducted pilot tests. ''LIAS-Ölschiefer-Forschungsgesellschaft mbH'', established in September 1942, started tests in Frommern. Holoch (1978), p. 232 ''Kohle-Öl-Union von Busse KG'', established on 30 July 1943 in Berlin, tested ''in-situ'' retorting on the outskirts of Schörzingen. Megargee (2009), p. 1012 ''Deutsche Ölschiefer-Forschungsgesellschaft mbH'', established on 20 September 1943 in Schömberg, became later the core of the Operation Desert. ''

Schutzstaffel The ''Schutzstaffel'' (; ; SS; also stylised with SS runes as ''ᛋᛋ'') was a major paramilitary organisation under Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party in Nazi Germany, and later throughout German-occupied Europe during World War II. It beg ...

'' (SS) and

Hermann Göring Hermann Wilhelm Göring (or Goering; ; 12 January 1893 – 15 October 1946) was a German Nazism, Nazi politician, aviator, military leader, and convicted war criminal. He was one of the most powerful figures in the Nazi Party, which gov ...

personally became involved in the project in late 1943. On 2 May 1944, SS established oil shale company ''Deutsche Schieferöl GmbH'' for its own shale oil plant near Erzingen. Longerich (2012), p. 685 Also

IG Farben I. G. Farbenindustrie AG, commonly known as IG Farben, was a German Chemical industry, chemical and Pharmaceutical industry, pharmaceutical conglomerate (company), conglomerate. It was formed on December 2, 1925 from a merger of six chemical co ...

became involved in shale oil. In July 1944, Operation Desert became a part of the '' Geilenberg Programme''. For the Operation Desert construction of ten

shale oil extraction Shale oil extraction is an industrial process for unconventional oil production. This process converts kerogen in oil shale into shale oil by pyrolysis, hydrogenation, or thermal dissolution. The resultant shale oil is used as fuel oil or ...

plants in

Württemberg Württemberg ( ; ) is a historical German territory roughly corresponding to the cultural and linguistic region of Swabia. The main town of the region is Stuttgart. Together with Baden and Province of Hohenzollern, Hohenzollern, two other histo ...

and

Hohenzollern The House of Hohenzollern (, ; , ; ) is a formerly royal (and from 1871 to 1918, imperial) German dynasty whose members were variously princes, electors, kings and emperors of Hohenzollern, Brandenburg, Prussia, the German Empire, and Romania. ...

were ordered by Edmund Geilenberg. Prisoners from seven nearby subcamps of the

Natzweiler-Struthof concentration camp Natzweiler-Struthof was a Nazi concentration camp located in the Vosges Mountains close to the villages of Natzwiller, Natzweiler and Struthof in the Gau Baden-Alsace of Nazi Germany, Germany, on territory Annexation, annexed from France on a b ...

, established by the route of Tübingen - Aulendorf and Nebenstrecke Balingen- Rottweil railway lines, were used as a workforce. The main contractor for building these plants was ''Deutsche Bergwerks- und Hüttenbau GmbH'', a subsidiary of ''

Reichswerke Hermann Göring Reichswerke Hermann Göring ("Hermann Göring Reich Works") was an industrial Conglomerate (company), conglomerate in Nazi Germany from 1937 until 1945. It was established to extract and process domestic iron ores from Salzgitter that were deemed ...

''. About 5,000 prisoners were used for construction works and more than 10,000 prisoners had been exploited for the oil-shale works. When Soviet troops advanced into Estonia in 1944, about 200 oil shale specialists from Estonia, employees of ''Baltische Öl GmbH '', an affiliate of IG Farben, were evacuated to Schömberg. Holmberg (2008), pp. 130-131 KZ Bisingen 9806

However, out of ten planned plants only four became operational. The technology was primitive

carbonization Carbonization or carbonisation is the conversion of organic matters like plants and dead animal remains into carbon through destructive distillation. Complexity in carbonization Carbonization is a pyrolytic reaction, therefore, is considered a ...

and oil yield was low. Mined oil shale was heaped into

mound A mound is a wikt:heaped, heaped pile of soil, earth, gravel, sand, rock (geology), rocks, or debris. Most commonly, mounds are earthen formations such as hills and mountains, particularly if they appear artificial. A mound may be any rounded ...

s which were ignited after covering by

peat Peat is an accumulation of partially Decomposition, decayed vegetation or organic matter. It is unique to natural areas called peatlands, bogs, mires, Moorland, moors, or muskegs. ''Sphagnum'' moss, also called peat moss, is one of the most ...

Distilled Distillation, also classical distillation, is the process of separating the component substances of a liquid mixture of two or more chemically discrete substances; the separation process is realized by way of the selective boiling of the mixt ...

shale oil and oil shale gas were collected through perforated pipes. Oil was separated from gas by electric filters. Until the end of the war, only 1,500 tonnes of shale oil was produced. After the war French occupation forces tried continue the shale oil production operations but due to unprofitability it was halted in 1948.

References

Bibliography

* * * * {{Authority control Oil shale in Germany Petroleum economics Economy of Nazi Germany Germany in World War II Zollernalbkreis