Binos for rubber?

[WarPig1976]

I just learned that during WW1 the British traded rubber for binoculars.... with Germany!!!
It's beyond my comprehension. Is this a well known fact? are there any other examples of this sort of trading for war material between belligerents?

Information

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[boltaction]

I read something similar once, but as I recall it was done through neutral intermediaries.

Ed

[Sentryduty]

While similar, although slightly different, the Krupp company owned the patent and licensing rights for artillery fuses during the First World War. At the end of hostilities sued for, won, and was paid a royalty for every shell fired at Germany by the British. This bit of irony of profiting from "both sides" of a conflict happened more than once during the industrialist family's nearly 400 years of operation.

It's well detailed in the book: The Arms of Krupp, by William Manchester.

[WarPig1976]

I'm not naive but have to admit this information caught me off guard. Flips everything I ever thought on its head. Those poor souls who suffered or lost their lives as a direct result of this "deal".

A CLEAR CASE OF TRADING WITH THE ENEMY | The Great War Project

[oldpaul]

Former U.S. Senator Prescott Bush had business dealings with the Nazis' up until 1942 when his company's assets were seized under the Trading with the Enemy Act. Industrialist and founding member of the John Birch Society, Fred C. Koch helped Hitler build an oil refinery in the middle 1930s. It seems greed too often trumps ideology or perhaps they agreed with the Nazi philosophy. In any case I suspect these type business dealings have always been an issue in war and probably even the root cause of some. Tom

[boltaction]

For an interesting read, search up Hitler and IBM. Hitler's information bureau was very efficient, and IBM was happy to supply them with the means to catalogue all sorts of things, particularly the names, addresses, etc of prominent and not so prominent Jews, gypsies, and other "undesirables" in surrounding countries. IIRC, Czechoslovakia, Austria, Poland, maybe France........How else could all those folks have been rounded up so quickly after the occupation?

Ed

[Son]

I read about the optics for rubber deal a number of years ago when I went through my telescope and binoculars and periscope phase. As I recal the British backed out of the deal after deciding the Germans would be gaining a much bigger advantage from it than the allies. I'm not sure if I kept any track of where I found it, but after reading the link provided above, it seems to stop short of confirming anything changed hands.

[WarPig1976]

This is the book the deal is detailed in. Apparently the exchanges did occur at the Swiss border.
Amazon.com: To End All Wars: A Story of Loyalty and Rebellion, 1914-1918 (9780547750316): Adam Hochschild: Books

[Mk VII]

The History Of The Ministry Of Munitions,(H.M.S.O., 1920) Vol.XI, Pt.III, Ch.II gives some details about this affair, which, it says, did not in the end go ahead.

[Sentryduty]

So the real question who has a set of Zeiss made Broad arrow marked field glasses in their collection?

Seems a search for the above would tell us nothing:

http://tedbrink.webs.com/gbbritishmakersww1.htm

CARL ZEISS ( LONDON ) LTD. 13-14 Great Castle Street, London W1. Until 1916 when the company was forced to close down (The manufacturing works were situated in Bittacy Hill, Mill Hill, London NW7. ) In June 1917 Ross Ltd. under the control of the Ministry of Munitions acquired the assets of the Company and operated the factory until 1919.



In 1909 the Director of Army Contracts reported the purchase of 1500 No 2 prismatic binoculars from Carl Zeiss, Jena, It became policy to avoid foreign purchases where possible. Zeiss set up a ‘British’ company so as not to be disadvantaged. Prior to the War the Company supplied approximately 1800 No 3 binoculars.



22 August 1914 an order was placed for 1064 No 3 Mk I, completed by 15 June 1915.

13 October 1914 an order for 300 No 3 Mk I, completed by 15 June 1915.

16 December 1914 an order for 1000 No 3 Mk I, completed by 31 March 1917.

3 September 1915 an order to fit graticules to No 3 binoculars, and for 5750 No 3 Mk II binoculars, 2989 completed by 29 December 1917.

18 August 1916, graticules had been fitted to 2983 Hunsicker and Alexis ( French ), to 5789 Watson No 3’s, to 3634 Bausch and Lomb ( American ) and to 1180 Bonnever/AFSA ( French ).

( 19 January 1918 Ross received a (continuous ? ) order for No 3 Mk ? Binoculars. Three weeks notice to end the contract was given on 12 November 1918. 910 were due by 12 February 1919, 800 were completed and 209 were rejected for remedial action. The contract was cancelled and Ross received £4500 compensation.)

During WW1 and WW11 all British binoculars that were used by the Armed Forces were stamped with the Ministry Broad Arrow.

At the time of WW1 there was a shortage of binoculars, so the military ‘bought in’ a lot of binoculars. These binoculars could have been French, German, or from private individuals ect, wherever they could find them.