During WW2 Germany got between 30 and 40% of her iron ore needs from Sweden. I suppose the figure might well have been similar during WW1, so it would be a serious shortfall. I gather that Swedish ore is in some ways superior to French or German, but I don't know exactly why or how.Byron Angel wrote:RF wrote:Byron, Germany already had most of Lorraine in its national territory as a source of iron ore. Alsace-Lorraine remember was part of Germany from 1871 to 1918.
..... RF, I need to track it down again, but I recall reading a comment attributed to Hindenburg to the effect that Germany could not have continued the war without access to Swedish iron ore. Something about Swedish ore bearing twice the metal content of domestic German ore.
The question is whether the Royal Navy would have been able to operate in the Baltic in the face of mines and submarines and attacks from whatever was left of the German Fleet.