INDUSTRIAL INSTALLATIONS IN EAST PRUSSIA AND IN THE MINSK AREA

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP82-00457R001900640008-7
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 15, 2016
• Document Release Date: April 27, 2001
• Sequence Number: 8
• Publication Date: October 1, 1948
• Content Type: REPORT

CLASSIFICATION .`)1 La,',, -'("'-;'- .OL-US UFO ICIas 01ILY
Approved For-t2LA-&P00457R0CH ?9P80R&
COUNTRY USSR (East Prussia/Belorussia) Lug "q
SUBJECT Industrial Installations in East Prussia and
in the Minsk Area
PLACE
ACQUIRED
ACQUIRED
DATE OF
25X1A
DATE DISTR. ''a October 1948
NO. OF PAGES 2
NO. OF ENCLS. 1
(LISTED BELOW)
SUPPLEMENT TO
REPORT NO.
The Lut,Steinurth Freight Gar Factory
in Kaliningrad (KoenjCgbj=)
May~3 40
1. The Ludwig Steinfurth Freight Car Factory in Kaliningrad up to December
1947 was employing a staff of 2,600, of whom some 900 were women. A
quarter of the employees were Germans and the management was composed of
Lithuanians.,
2. All the machinery which was at a1% modern was dicmantled by the Soviets
in 1945 and transported to the US.t. The workshops were then re-equipped
with older machines, and lroduction was recom fenced in 191+6. The con-
struction of freight cars is now restricted to two shops, and production
is a maximum of one car per day. It is questionable whether, in view of
the shortage of raw materials, the Soviets can in any way increase
production.
3. The only. section of the factory working normally is the foundry, which
occupies one building-aAd is completely intact. No dismantling has taken
placer and it is working with its full strength of 70 foundry man, who
continue under the direction of the original German foreman, Giesser-
meister Teppner. Production is of 88 mm shells, but no details of the
daily figures are available, except that yxoduction is continuing at the
same level as during the war. The foundry is working in two shifts and
the only difficulty that has not yet been overcome is the shortage of coal.
25X1A Gom:aent: It is believed to be quite iapossible to produce 83 mm
artillery shells in a foundry. but informant was positive that production
was of shells and not of mortar bombs) -
4. The smitby also occupies one building. Here there is a severe shortage
of raw waterials, and the smithy-is engaged in the forging of car-axles
and other iron sections for railroad car construction.
5. The factory has always been the sole producer of horseshoes for the whole
of East .Prussia. This production is being tn)aintained by the Soviets.
The workshops are intact and production is mechanized. All three furnaces
built during the war are in commission, but the production of horseshoes
also suffers from a lack of raw materials.
CLASSIFICATION S)b ET/CO,=TROLUS OFFI0Il1LS ONLY
ISTRIBUTION
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Document ATo.
No CHANGE in Cass.
CIA LIBRARY
2001/1 SECREIDP82-00457R001900640008-7
 25X1A
Approved For Re id 2A=TR -Uel Qk6M00190 -
OF,
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6. The welding plant installed during the war years is undamaged. The
employees in this department are exclusively women, and welding is
undertaken for the construction of freight cars.
Informant states that the sawmills at Goose have been destroyed.
8. These factories are working at full capacity. The Wehlau factory, which was
extended during the war, now has its otnn railway connection.
Pest el strinerke agar Fis sen
9. Built in 1938 as part of the Zrich Koch plan, further extended during the
war, and finally completed by the Russians, this factory is now working at
full capacity on the production of parts for artillery, tanks, and aircraft
engines. It is heavily barricaded and the workers of the factory, which
is an independent comparq, are Russians, together with a few German special-
ists, who are strictly segregated from the rest of the population.
The Reiliienbeil I dustrriegerke"
10. This plant carries out repairs to tanks, guns, and airplanes. Conditions of
work are similar to those at the Peyse Works.
11. This plant is working to capacity on repairs of tanks and vehicles for the
Soviet Army and Soviet Civil Administration. It employs about 250 workers.
Tank I'actoa fie, 3 Minsk
jAMM 1948
12. Seventeen kee, from Mink Central Station along the railway line to:varde
Smolensk and situated between the railway line and the highway is a tank
factory turning out Joseph Stalin-3 tanks. The foundations of this factory
were built by the Germans during the ware who used it as a tank repair
workshop. The present number of employees at the factory is not known,
but no German civilians or PWs are employed there. Between mid-1947
and January 1948, 180 - 200 JS-31s left this factory by rail weeldy in the
direction of Smolensk.
13. In the course of conversation several of the Russians employed in the
factory remarked that it was planned to mount a 17 cm, gun in the JS
tank, but up to January 1948 no JS-3 seenleaving the factory mounted such
a caliber.
Attachments 1 sketch map of Ludwig Steinftrth Freight Car Factory.
Kaliningrad.
SE0RET/OONTR0L-US 01 ICIALS ONLY
Approved For Release 2001/11/23 :: IA-RDP82-00457 R001900640008-7