German production mark
German production labels are coded manufacturer information that was used from 1940 to 1945 for reasons of confidentiality for military equipment (weapons, ammunition, explosives and equipment). This was intended to prevent opponents in World War II from providing information about production facilities, locations and performance, and to prevent reconnaissance and destruction, as well as espionage and sabotage .
Each company working for the German Wehrmacht was assigned production labels (sometimes several) that were attached to the corresponding products. It did not matter whether the production site was in Germany, in the occupied territories or abroad. The more than 9,300 known different production codes illustrate the large number of companies and companies that were active in the German armaments .
history
Since ancient times, weapons and equipment have been marked by the manufacturer (and often also by the owner) with individual lettering or symbols. This usually took the form of engravings as well as embossed or stamped characters. So find z. B. in firearms marks , proof marks , registration marks, etc.
In order to be able to equip ever larger troop units with identical material, consecutive numbering within a series established itself as a result of industrial mass production. The production of the same weapons and individual parts at different locations and from different suppliers made standardization necessary in order to increase quality.
After the First World War , the Versailles Treaty came into force for Germany at the beginning of 1920 . a. forced the demolition of fortifications and armaments factories and severely limited the production of military technology. By 1927, only 13 companies were licensed for the production of army material and 28 for naval material. After 1927 there were only 33 companies that were allowed to manufacture German armaments. In order to circumvent these restrictive regulations on the one hand and on the other hand not to fall behind other countries in the development of military technology, several German companies operated development and production abroad. This is how branches and offices came into being in the Soviet Union. a. from BMW , Henschel , Junkers and Krupp . The cooperation was placed on a legal basis in the Rapallo Treaty .
During the secret armament already in the Weimar Republic , from the mid-1920s onwards, the Army Weapons Office required encrypted manufacturer identification; so arose u. a. the S code . Company logos (today: trademarks ) were replaced to prevent unauthorized persons from assigning weapons and equipment to production facilities and locations.
Coding
Originally the production codes consisted of the numbers from 1 to 99. When it became necessary to name more than 99 companies, three-digit sequences of digits or the combination of the numbers 1 to 99 with a letter were chosen. There were also two-digit letter combinations. The final encryption was made up of three lowercase letters (to avoid confusion with common abbreviations or company names) and was used between 1940 and 1945. From January 1, 1941, use was mandatory. Occasionally, production labels were awarded several times. For example, when a company went out, its logo was assigned to another company.
In order to avoid confusion, labels for which “standing upside down” of the code allowed a different interpretation were additionally provided with a point (example: the abbreviation “ddx.” Was used to avoid confusion with “xpp”). However, there were still a few two-digit code letters. The year of production was also given in two digits, but occasionally also encoded with just one letter.
Several production codes can be found on weapons and equipment, which consists of parts from various suppliers.
More characters
Some manufacturers of German military equipment marked their products with abbreviations (no production marks). The Reichszeugmeisterei of the NSDAP, for example, used the abbreviation "RZM", and the performance association of German medal manufacturers used their own codes.
The German production numbers published after the war enable researchers, interested parties and collectors to find out about the manufacturers of military equipment from the time of the Third Reich .
See also
literature
- Army High Command (Heereswaffenamt Wa Z 2):
- - List of production codes for weapons, ammunition and equipment , Berlin 1940–1944
- - List of companies by letter with code number , Berlin 1940
- - List of production codes for powder u. Explosives factories , Berlin 1941
- High Command of the Army (Heereswaffenamt Wa Z 2): List of manufacturing codes for weapons, ammunition and equipment , Berlin 1944; Reprint: Pawlas, Journalistic Archive for Military u. Guns, Nuremberg 1977
- J. Gargela et al. Z. Factor: Marks on small arms , Artia Verlag, Prague 1985
- Michael Heidler: German production marks up to 1945 , visor edition, VS-Medien GmbH, Bad Ems, ISBN 3-9811018-7-1 .