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obviously would also have the same productive capacity* If buildingactivity should increase appreciably in the sector of a particularOBL, its sector of operation was to have been decreased proportionately.Conversely, if building'activity were to decrease appreciably in aparticular OBL, its operational sector was to have been increasedproportionately. Inasmuch as building programmes were planned to extendover six month periods, such realignments would not have occurred toofrequently. Readjustments of OBL sectors for this reason did occurseveral times in NW France.Standardisation of specifications simplified the manufactureof parts and their assembly, as well as the draftings of plans andpreparation of estimates of material requirements. Standardisationof costs, beginning with the raw material and ending with thefinished parts used in construction or installation, simplified thebudgetary and financial administration. Standardisation of theproductive capacity of the OBLs would thus have immensely simplifiedestimates of tirae requirements over the entire Western sector, aswell as simplified the allotment of material and the problems ofpersonnel administration.Actually, things did not turn out as anticipated. OT'soperational efficiency deteriorated progressively in the West as thechances for a German victory began to dwindle. Specifically, thereasons were as follows; OT demands for manpower and material grewapace with Germany's territorial conquest, which, as the militarysituation became more unfavourable, necessitated the constructionof comprehensive defence systems. For a while OT had to competewith German essential industries for material and manpower. Then,as Germany began to strain to keep up with Allied production, OThad to accept an economic policy which gave armament production apriority in respect to manpower, essential machinery and parts, andespecially transportation fuel. Later this priority enjoyed by thecompetitors of the OT came to include a variety of accessory materials.This, in turn, meant not only greater control of the OT by variousReich agencies, but showed up in such small, yet effective, meansof work stoppage as delay in the shipping of new machine partsintended to replace worn out parts, lack of material and lack oftransportation owing to lack of fuel. As for manpower, it waslargely because of the refusal of the non-German workers to leavetheir native country for war jobs in Germany that OT, at least inthe West, managed to control the amount of manpower at its disposal.Allied air raids in the winter of 1943 and spring of 1944 were sucha demoralising factor that OT authorities had to arrange for masstransfers of personnel from Allied target areas, such as V sites, tothe comparative safety of the Atlantic Wall. These factors, combinedwith desertions and slow-downs began to affect output materially.The situation had become so desperate in fact that not only could theGermans not afford to discipline working personnel as long as theycould get any work out of them at all, but they even made arrangementswith the French authorities to employ French convicts who enjoyedthe dubious distinction of not even having served their full term.50. "Mobileinsatz" or Mobile Method of Operation.Mobileinsatz, as it operated in Russia worked as follows.Highly mobile and self-contained engineering units (bridging,harbour construction units, and others) followed closely in therear of the German advancing armies, and if the project was alarge one, were given their assignments as a result of OTliaison with the CG of Army or Army Group engineer units", andif the project was a small one as a result of indirect cooperationwith the Railway and Fortress Construction Engineerstaffs. The chiefs of these OT mobile units had complete responsibilityfor the execution of their mission. In this connection,- 50 ­