1945 Mercedes L 701
More than 10.000 times produced. |
No question, it's a bizarre story. Hitler loves Daimler-Benz more than Volkswagen, but when his war plans have to be achieved, he obviously puts emotions aside. His resort
minister certainly favors the Opel Blitz as the only three-tons truck to be built.
Although 'only' with a gasoline engine, it is vastly superior to the Daimler Diesel. This is too expensive and too heavy. From the material for two Mercedes L3000 you can
build three Opel Blitz. Opel thus receives 800,000 Reichsmark, but wants that the load of the production is divided.
They may have thought of the post-war period, where such quantities were considered to be non-deductible. From 1942 on, Heinrich Nordhoff, later responsible for the
worldwide success of the VW beetle, was the head of the highly modern plant in Brandenburg.
The Mercedes plant in Mannheim is not comparable to Brandenburg. After (by government paid) conversion there and actually against the resistance of the board begins
the production of the Opel Blitz in mid-1944, because of limited resources with driver's cabins of plywood.
The disadvantages in the war prove to be a stroke of luck afterwards, since production at Borgward did never begin and the Opel factory in Brandenburg is part of Russian
occupation. GM needs by the end of the 40s to take back the former factory in Rüsselsheim. For Mercedes, the road is free for the production of trucks, though still with a
wooden driver's cabin. 04/17
|