Under New Management

[Bill Murray]

Thank you Hanno:
That info will be a very valuable addition to my references on "beute" vehicles.

Unfortunately, you exposed once again, my ever slipping mind.

The subject I should have referenced was vehicles that were requisitioned, in Germany and it's allies and vehicles that were confiscated in the occupied countries.

In this context, I meant for the most part, civilian cars and trucks.

Just as a quick snapshot, vehicles that were requisitioned in Germany and mainly sent to the East, kept their civilian registration for as much as a year at least. I have a theory, developing on two other bulletin boards, that the German authorities had all intentions of returning the vehicles to the original owners as we have evidence of official papers being given to the owners when the vehicle was requisitioned. This based on Hitler's belief that Russia would collapse within six months or so.

Vehicles confiscated in occupied/conquered countries were almost immediately stripped of their civilian registrations and issued military registration plates. I suspect there was no thought of returning said vehicles to their original owners.

Next, it seems the vehicles confiscated by the WH were robust cars and trucks such as American Chev and Ford, French Renault
and Citroen and so on.

WL vehicles tended to be more the upper middle and luxury marques from several countries and most likely less suited for front line duties.

Vehicles used by the WM seem to be almost all luxury vehicles such as Packard, Lincoln and Cadillac and similar vehicles from France. I assume this is because such vehicles would have been pretty useless in the front line environment.

The exception to my theory is that luxury Mercedes, Horch and almost every other high line German vehicle can be found in photos taken in the East. I can only assume that this was a "patriotic" thing. No political statement but maybe if it was of German origin it was by definition capable of operating anywhere.

Bill