Since the mid-nineteenth century, the Krupp works had served as one of the greatest symbols of the German arms industry. During the Second World War, the firm had played an important role in the production of artillery, tanks, and submarines under the direction of Gustav Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach and, starting in 1943, his son Alfried. Moreover, it had also employed tens of thousands of forced laborers. In implementing the Allied policy of reparations, demilitarization, and decartelization, British occupation authorities gave special attention to the Krupp works, not least to court public opinion in their own country. The modern metallurgical plant in Essen-Borbeck, which had only been in operation since 1929, was given to the Soviet Union at the end of 1945 as reparation; it was completely dismantled and delivered to the Soviets. It would have been relatively easy to manage a shift to peacetime production, but the British opted for the deliberately hard stance of dismantlement.