How much military equipment and raw materials did the germans gain after the surrender of France?

by Dudley-Dursley

France was prepared for another prolonged war with Germany and had one of the biggest land armies of its time. My Question is how much military equipment and stockpilled raw materials did the Germans gain after the surrender of France?

Chip_Douglass

After the fall of France, the Germans seized ~300,000 French rifles, ~5,000 French artillery pieces, ~4 million French shells, and ~2,200 French tanks, along with ~4,260 locomotives and 140,000 freight cars and wagons (from the Low Countries as well as France). In terms of raw materials, they took 81,000 tons of copper from the French along with considerable stocks of tin, nickel, and oil. Germany also imported plenty of goods from France, but forced the French central bank to pay for them and marked them down as German debts (which of course they never paid). 50-60% of French expenditure during the occupation were payments to Germany (so-called "occupation costs", but in reality indemnities). The Germans also "imported" hundreds of thousands of French "laborers" to work in German factories in exchange for releasing some French POWs.

So, in sum, Germany exploited France as much as they could to furnish their war machine.

Source:

Richard J. Evans' The Third Reich at War: 1939-1945