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OT units was that of Bautrupps (Construction Detachments), asurvival of the tenn given to the Army Construction units "beforethe OT came into existence. It indicates the fact that it wasthese troops -which the new Organisation was expected to replace,especially in a more or less fluid military zone. The abovekind of operation became one of the two basic types of OT'semployments: mobiler Einsatz (Mobile Commitment or Operation).The other type, is the stationflrer Einsatz (Static Commitment orOperation).6. OT 1940 - 1941As the military situation fcecame stabilised in the West, evidenceof a similar process of stabilisation became apparent in the OT.Most of the construction work in the West, from the end of the FrenchCampaign to late in 1941, was on coastal installations along theChannel and the Atlantic, from Belgium to Brittany. The entire areawas called Einsatzkttste West (Coastal Operational Area WEST). TheOT administrative HQ was at LORIENT and controlled a number ofconstruction sectors strung along the coast* Administrative controlby the LORIENTHQ was none too strong; administrative controlfrom BERLIN was stil l weaker. The QT Zentrale (Central OT HQ)at BERLIN had not yet been established and the official name of theOrganisation stil l was Inspektor-General des Strassenwesen, OT.Fritz TCDT by 1941* however, had long outgrown, the OT, and suchadministrative co-ordination as existed was provided by theautonomous corporate Wirtschaf tsgruppe Bauindustrie (Economic Group:Construction Industry) which issued directions to OT firms.The result was that influential OT Firms in the West coalesced andformed a firm hierarchy, making a bid for control of the Organisation.OT-Firms reaped a golden harvest during the period from autumn 1940to early spring 1942. Long term projects of dubious priority anddoubtful value were begun and abandoned. Large numbers of ficititiouspersonnel were carried on payrolls inasmuch as the Reich Governmentgranted premiums to firms for each worker recruited by their efforts.Not only was centralised administration on the part of OT weak duringthat period, but OT's operational sphere was limited to Army projects.The Air Force and the Navy, while they took advantage of OT'sproximity for operational liaison, made separate contracts withindividual firms for the construction of their projects. Constructionof such coastal installations as submarine bases and such installationsas landing fields for the Air Force comprised a considerable partof the military construction programme in the West from 1940 to1942. Consequently large firms like Strabag (contraction forStrassenbau Aktien Gesellschaft or Road Construction Company) eitherworked exclusively for the Air Force or the Navy, or they contractedonly part of their personnel to the OT and kept the rest of theirpersonnel outside of the OT in their capacity as private firms.The West (France, Belgium and Holland) is drawn upon as an example,but the above situation was also basically applicable to Norway andDenmark. On the other hand, the military situation in Russia duringthe first year of the war in the East (1941), was too operational toallow any centralised administration there, let alone administrationfrom BERLIN.7» SFEER's InnovationsFritz TQDT died on 8th February 1942, in an aeroplane accident,survived by his wife, a son and a daughter. He was succeeded in allhis functions by Prof. Albert SHEER. Shortly afterwards, a newbasic policy made itself felt. It consisted of a series of internalmoves all tending toward co-ordination within, and centralisation of,the Organisation. The central HQ at Berlin, OT-Zentrale or OTZ,was established about that time, and its full official name became-8­