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at the expense of the "private commercial building interests. AroundMay 1942, the OTZ, having taken over control of the OT from theGeneral Inspektor ftir das deutsche Strassenwesen (autumn of 1941)»began to issue uniform regulations in respect to OT firms. As i t is ,the Wirtschaftsgruppe Bauindustrie (Economic Group : ConstructionIndustry) and the Reichsinnungsverband des Bauhandwerks (NationalGuild of Building Craftsmen) probably stil l have enough influencein tfos OTZ (now Amt Bau - OTZ) to restrain the government frommaking life unduly unpleasant for their member-firms in the OT.(See Chart 8).Although the main problem of the OT-firm was that of manpower,it also faced a shortage of transportation fuel, lack of sufficientand serviceable equipment and spare parts and, more recently, lackof material due to damage to the communication system by Alliedair-raids. Those difficulties resulted in competition amongst thefirms for manpower, transportation, equipment and material. Nor wasall such competition or even an appreciable part of it open andabove-board. In Prance for example, German and French officials werebribed to procure manpower and the workers themselves were bribed tochange anployment. French sub-contractors who employed Frenchworkers were offered premiums. Building assignments of favouredfirms were given an unwarranted priority rating by the local OTofficials. Conversely, material, manpower, equipment and transportationwere withheld or withdrawn on some pretext from firms with lessfortunate connections. TheOT firm is expected to keep at all timesa minimum of German supervisory personnel and serviceable equipment.Should either drop below the minimum, the firm may find itself inthe position of not being able to obtain foreign manpower from itscompetent OBL. In this struggle for manpower and supplies, it isthe small firms which go under first. Unable to meet OT'sminimum TO/WE requirements in respect to German technical assistantson their staff, and the TS/WES in respect to equipment, they arecompelled - provided they remained in the OT - to choose one oftwo courses. One is to consolidate with other firms and fomn anArbeitsgemeinschaft (Working Combine) commonly abbreviated Arge;the other to descend to the 3tatus of sub-contractor to a largerfirm, thus avoiding final responsibility, but on the other handmissing the larger profits of the main contractor (four percentas against six percent). As sub-contractors, OT-Firms can at thesame time form part of an Arge, in which event a single maincontractormay control a combine of sub-contractor3.The evacuation of the OT fromEGW and other parts of Europe intoGermany (summer and autumn of 1944) has resulted in the tighteningof central control in regard to the allotment of manpower to theindividual OT firms. A German construction firm at the presenttime in the Reich i s more than ever regarded as a unit of a regimentedorganization : if, because of lack of competent staff personnel, itlags behind schedule in the performance of its mission, reinforcementsfor its supervisory staff are assigned to it by the OT authorities.Equipment is now similarly pooled. On the other hand the individualOT firm, at present operating within the Reich, has no authorityto recruit its own manpower.55 • Organization of OT firms (See Chart 11)Within the framework of the OT, the internal administration ofthe individual OT firms is made uniform and standardised by means ofpreliminary instructions issued by Wirtschaftsgruppe Bauindustrie tofirms entering the OT. As far as the personnel of an OT firm isconcerned, a distinction is made between Stammarbeiter (German- 5.4 ­