miRS-tonpon - Sturmpanzer.com

all replacement parts of machine weighing individually less than100 kilograms and in total less than 1000 kilograms could be obtainedfrom a firm in Germany without a special permit. In ordering partsweighing 100-300 kilograms a special permit had to be obtained fromthe Wirtschaftsgruppe Bauindustrie (Economic Group: Building Industry).In case this organisation was not willing to issue the necessarypermit the OTZ was to be contacted by way of the appropriate OBL andEinsatzgruppe. No special permits were needed for replacementsfor locomotives. Replacements for motor-vehicles were to be obtainedthrough the NSKK-Staffelftthrer. No permits were to be issued tobuy new construction equipment. Old equipment was to be bought orleased in Germany. In cases of emergency the OTZ was to be contactedto discover means of procuring new equipment.In cases where more than one firm was employed on a constructionsite, the various firms identified their own equipment by the use ofdifferent coloured markings. The listing and controlling of thesemarkings was done by the sub-section 'Kennziffern 1 in the sectionNachschub at the various OBL's.b) Transport.70. NSKK - Transport brigade TOPP and Early 3PEER Transport Organisations.,Prom the inception of the 0T until the beginning of 1944, allmotor transport for the 0T was carried out by various organisationsunder the control of the NSKK (Nationalsozialistisches KraftfahrkorpsNational Socialist Motor Corps). Unlike the Wehrmacht, the 0T seemsto have found little use for horse-drawn vehicles. Certainly in theWest no other bu^ motor-transport is known. It is reasonable to assume,however, that horses or mules may have been employed by the 0T in Russiaor in some of the Balkan countries where motor cars were scarce and theroads not well suited for motor transport.Just as the 0T in its final form, is the result of the conglomerationof several building organisations created by TODT and SPEER, so the finalorganisational structure of the NSKK-OT transport services resulted fromthe unification of various transport organisations created by these twoengineers in support of their building activities. There is no spacehere to give a complete history of these organisations but it may notbe amiss to note some facts of general historical interest.In 193S when TODT took over construction of the West Wall on thewestern boundaries of Germany, the existing NSKK units, organised intoLKW-Staffeln (Lorry Battalions), were commissioned to take care of thetransport of the building materials and of the workers to and from thefortifications under construction. The immense task of transportingmaterials in 15,000 lorries for the 22,000 fortified construction sitesin the West Wall and of moving 200,000 workers daily in 5000 buses,required a well-knit and efficient organisation. The task wasaccomplished by an organisation called Kraftwagenleitung West, commonlyabbreviated into Kra-West. By the time 0T had been transferred to theconstruction of the Atlantic Wall, the transport units which had workedfor the 0T were organised into the NSKX-Transportstandarte Todt, soonto grow into an even larger unit, the NSKK-Transportbrigade Todt.The units of this Transport brigade following NSKK procedure werecalled Kolonne (equivalent to platoon), Hauptkolonne (company) Staff el(Battalion) Standarte (Regiment), Brigade (Brigade) and Gruppe (Division).On the subject of NSKK Transport for the 0T, see EDS/G/3 pp 24 - 35,The members of the NSKK-Transportbrigade Todt wore an olive-greenfield blouse, black breeches and (in winter) an olive-green overcoat.For list of ranks and grades, see Table IIIc.- 77 ­