''Germany and allies fight deadly hidden war in neutral Balkans
Oil for Germany moves in these tank cars of American Essolub and British Shell out of Creditul Minier yards near Ploesti.Notice that cars are marked for German-American Oil Co. and German Railways, consigned to Hamburg and Wuppertal in Germany. They were sent from Germany to speed up romanian oil shipments.
Oil refinery in the snow near Ploiesti. This one belongs to Rumanian-owned company Creditul Minier which has 91 wells and this new plant at Brazi with an annual capacity of 3,600,000 barrels. It has an affiliate in France. Rumanian wells now beginning to run dry, produce an inferior grade of oil, inexpertly refined. A good deal of it runs to waste.''
Photographs for LIFE by Margaret Bourke-White.
Special thanks to Jeff Spencer.