miRS-tonpon - Sturmpanzer.com

in the event that his firm withdraws from OT. In practice, however,'there is no record of any firm taking such a politically andeconomically unwise step. Were it to do so, its personnel and equipmentwould be withdrawn from it , and transferred to other OT firms on theground of essential war production. At the present time, with the OTin control of all construction in Germany, the question of withdrawalhas become academic.Discharge from the OT to take up active military service is handledin the same manner as are discharges from any essential industry.Routine requests for Sicherstelling (Deferment) are made by the OTin the case of personnel considered tftiabkBmmlich (Uk: indispensable)usually as aoon as such personnel are enrolled in the OT. * No statuswhatsoever in OT affords, however, immunity from being eventuallycalled up for active service in the army.(b)French Manpower.168» Integration of French Industry and Manpower intothe^ German SystemInasmuch as, at one time, fully ninety percent of OT's personnelconsisted of foreign manpower, recruiting methods employed by the Germansare discussed below in some detail. The system as set up in Francewas the most elaborate in German occupied territory. Theproblemof French manpower supply was the most complex of its type that the Germanshad to tackle in occupied Europe. The need to solve i t was essentialboth from the strategic and tactical standpoint. France was the onlylarge country in Europe which bordered on Germany and possessed greatessential industries and industrial resources which could therefore beexploited with a minimum of traffic movement. The German war productionauthorities, (Reichsministerium fttr RtSsfcung und Kriegsproduktion) at thehead of which is SHEER, accordingly geared the French war industries toGermany's war needs and integrated the allotment of French prioritymaterials and distribution of industrial manpower in France within thescheme of total rationalisation of war resources at the disposal of theReich. Administrative control in France for this purpose was establishedby setting up German Control Couiaissions which derived their power fromthe parent administration in the Reich. Thus the Reichsministerium fttrRtlstung und Krie-gsproduktion set up its delegate staff in France, in PARIS,which in turn established liaison with the Wehrmacht economic controlcommissions (as provided by the terms of the Franco-German Armistice).Similar arrangements were made by separate official bodies with specificmissions. (The one which immediately concerns the OT, and which istouched upon in some detail in para. 171: *Aktion Frankwkjh", is theGerman Compulsory Labour Delegation in France representing thePlenipotentiary General for Manpower Allocation of all territoriescontrolled by the Reich government, Fritz SAUCKSL).From the tactical standpoint France was an outpost to Germany's innerdefenses and as such its coastline required adequate fortifications.This task, assigned to the OT, also required manpower running into thehundreds of thousands. It can be said here that in the Nazis 1 criticalhour of need, despite the frantic efforts of SAUCKEL's staff in Franceduring the latter half of 1943 and the first half of 19A4, the Frenchsuccessfully managed to resist SAlEKEL's efforts at mass impressment oftheir manpower for war production in Germany and for similarly essentialduties, including those of the OT, in France.Reports which, although based on German sources, are believed to bereasonably accurate, place the French OT personnel in the West at J>Of o ofOT's total manpower in the EGW in 1944* all but a very minor fraction ofwhich was employed in France, mainly along the Atlantic and Mediterraneancoastlines. The backbone of the French skilled and semi-skilledpersonnel was supplied by Fregch construction gii^is,-Aich had joined theGT