User:Markovich Rashkolnikov/Usage of Materials during World War II.

A variety of materials (Both raw and refined.) were employed during the development of national economies and militaries during World War II. These materials were used primarily for military production, yet food, oil and other resources were used by nations for other reasons, such as the development of technology and sustainment of populations.

List of Materials.
The following is a list of materials used by nations during the Second World War;

Vehicle Fuels.
All military machines require fuel to operate, this includes the weapons of the Second World War.

Gasoline.
Gasoline is a common petroleum product, effectively mandatory for everyday life, and used to supply Gasoline engines, which is in turn, used to run many vehicles , during World War II, Armored Cars such as the Soviet originating BA-10 Armored Car used a ("Gasoline-based" and "Petrol-based" engines are cognate expressions.) petrol engine  , the GAZ-M1 (Russian: ГАЗ-М-1 , A.K.A. "Emka."/"Емка.".), which was used in automobiles , specifically, a variant of the Soviet Union's first ever passenger car , the GAZ-M1 (Produced from March 16th , 1936- Day and Month Unknown, 1942 .) which was derived from the original ; the GAZ-A, produced from 1932-1936 and nicknamed "Gazik." .

While Armored Cars used gasoline, other vehicles did the same, namely, the aforementioned GAZ-M1 was used by Journalists reporting on the Battle of Mogilev in June of 1941, but other civilian vehicles relied upon this fuel as well, such as the

Antimony.
A central Idahoan mine in the United States known as the Stibnite Mine accounted for 90% of the country's Antimony production and in addition to this, also produced 50-40% of the United State's Tungsten [Steel.]   demand following the previous blockage of Antimony trading between the U.S. and China caused by the Japanese invasion in 1937.

The first mining operation of relevance and/or note at the Stibnite-Yellow Pine mining area began in 1932, continuing on until 1938, during which the Yellow Pine pit and Hangar Flats ore bodies were mined both underground and in pits. By 1936 the mining area was the largest Idahoan Gold producing mine and from 1941-1945, the most prosperous Antimony and Tungsten producer in the United States. Major output also occurred between the years 1941 and 1952 when the Yellow Pine deposit was mined, yet the difference now was the emphasis being placed on Tungsten, making it the largest single source of Tungsten for the Allied war effort , which was caused by both a Tungsten ore body discovery by D.E. White in 1940 and the outbreak of American involvement in the Second World War.

Granite.
During the Winter War (1939-1940.), Finland planted at least 80 Kilometers worth of (The Mannerheim Line was roughly 90 Kilometers in length, when straightened into one continuous line .) Granite boulders in five to seven ranks , possibly up to 12 across the Mannerheim Line to block Soviet armored units (I.e., tanks.), in large numbers and in a fashion similar or otherwise comparable to Dragon's Teeth. This was the primary Anti-Tank defensive method on the Mannerheim Line, along with Anti-Tank Ditches. They were placed (Primarily?) along plausible tank pathways, i.e., main routes. Following repeated shelling by Red Army forces, the Granite structures collapsed, resulting in the creation of wide passageways.

Russian Historian Isaev A.V. writes in Ten myths of the Second World War; "Nowhere in the world were natural conditions so favorable for the construction of fortified lines as in Karelia. In this narrow place between two bodies of water - Lake Ladoga and the Gulf of Finland - there are impenetrable forests and huge rocks. From wood and granite, and where necessary - from concrete, the famous Mannerheim line was built. The greatest fortress of the Mannerheim Line is given by anti-tank obstacles made in granite. Even twenty-five-ton tanks cannot overcome them. In granite, the Finns, with the help of explosions, equipped machine-gun and gun nests, which are not afraid of the most powerful bombs. Where there was not enough granite, the Finns did not spare concrete." .

Tin.
An issue of Click Magazine issued an article on the 5th of June, 1945, stating    ;""In peacetime Americans open, discard, and replace an average of 45 million tin cans daily. Today, as part of of America's industrial might, those tin cans are helping to win the war. They are cans filled with food and explosives, and and an amazing variety of necessities for the fighting fronts. Nothing is more American than the tin can...[and] the campaign to get housewives to turn in every tin can to the salvage depot has been intensified and yet it is reported that a third of the cans New Yorkers use are being thrown away. These cans are badly needed today to make morphine holders for wounded soldiers on the battlefronts. They are also needed to carry blood plasma.""

Tungsten.
See also; Stibnite Mining District and above Antimony section.

The U.S. Senate Congressional Record, dated March 7th, 1956, remarks regarding Tungsten and the Stibnite Mine that;

"In the opinion of the munitions board, the discovery of that tungsten at stibnite, Idaho, in 1942 shortened World War II by at least 1 year and saved the lives of a million American soldiers,"

Cryolite.
Cryolite, mined primarily from the Ivittut mine in Greenland, the largest natural reserve and mine in the world, and, widely considered the only [Major.] source  , was the primary major commercial source of the product in question  , this effectively sustained the Greenlandic economy, with Alcan being dependent upon shipments from Ivittut for their efforts in producing Aluminum , as Cryolite from this mine (Ivittut.) was an essential component (Used to make Aluminum.) in the production of Fighter Planes (Playing a vital role in the American and later Canadian production of Aluminum, thus the mine fueled this industry .) and Munitions (Aluminum Powder .) , i.e., Cryolite is used as a solvent for bauxite in the electrolytic production of aluminum (The Hall-Héroult process.) and has various other metallurgical applications, and is used in the glass  and enamel industries , and Aluminum is used (As it were.) in aircraft due to it's lightweight nature.

Alcan eventually became the;

" [...] official purchasing agent for the colony’s imports during the war supplying Greenlanders with food, clothing, machinery and even ammunition for hunting (Campbell, 1989). The company was dependant on natural cryolite shipments from the island between 1940 and 1942, but they did not request additional supplies of the mineral in 1943 because over the course of the war Alcan developed a cost-effective synthetic alternative to cryolite .".

Nature of the Greenlandic-American-Canadian-Portuguese Cryolite trade.
On July 9th, 1940, Eske Brun, governor of Northern Greenland, arrived in New York City to negotiate a Greenlandic-United States trade agreement, by September, Eske Brun announced the finalization of the agreement to trade one million dollars (U.S.D.) worth of Greenlandic products for supplies. Cryolite was exchanged by the Greenlanders for supplies from the United States and Canada via trading, as part of a negotiation courtesy of Aksel Svane and Henrik Kauffmann, the latter of whom helped negotiate an increase in the price of Cryolite, this alteration was conducted in 1942, an improvement from the 1940 agreement. Portugal was also involved in the trade.

Further Reading.
For more information on Aluminum's usage in Aeronautics, see the following citations;