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Alpha
Codes: a-b
Alpha
Codes: c-e
German Ordnance Codes
From The Standard Directory of Proof Marks, by Gerhard Wirnsberger, undated, distributed by Blacksmith Publishers Corporation, Chino Valley, AZ 86323, USA. ISBN: 0-89149-006-X
GERMAN ORDNANCE CODES
After World War I, Germany was totally disarmed. When Hitler became Reich's [sic] Chancellor in 1933, he began an era of re-armament. This had to be done in secrecy, and to conceal what was going on in the German arms and allied industries, manufacturers were assigned code letters or numbers. This ordnance coding began in 1938, continued [sic] to the last days of the Third Reich.
Early during WWII, Allied intelligence sources discovered the code, and despite concerted efforts, were unable to break the code. Even after the war when tons of documents were unearthed, the entire list of codes was not found, and thus some of the codes are still unknown.
Manufacturers and sub-contractors were assigned codes, and this coding included not only arms, ammunition, but also binoculars and even saddlebags. In short, anything that the quartermaster of any of the military services required, was coded. There were a few exceptions, but arms collectors are not concerned too much with those exceptions since most of them were marked with the name of the maker.
The system of assigning codes was begun in an orderly fashion, but because of the huge demand for military goods and the constantly increasing number of suppliers and sub-contractors, the orderly system of assigning codes was abandoned and henceforth codes were assigned in a haphazard manner. Some of the codes are well-known to collectors - the Mauser byf, the ac assigned to Walther, the RWS code dnf are readily recognized.
Despite efforts both in Germany and in the United States, by researchers and collectors, the list has never been completed. Some of the manufacturers with unidentified codes were originally producing non-military items, and later produced parts, or did some sub-assembly work, or perhaps branched out into making items needed for the growing military might of Germany. Many of these companies were demolished during the war, others ceased to function, still others are in Communist-occupied areas. It seems reasonable to assume also that some of these concerns would just as soon forget their participation - voluntary or involuntary - in this German debacle.
The beginning collector should not be surprised when he discovers two or even more codes on a gun. Sub-contractors marked the part or parts they made, and each part had to be marked with the maker's code. At first these ordnance codes were numbers but in 1941, the number code was changed to a letter code.
To
speed up loading of the rather large list, I've broken up the list into
5 smaller tables:
(1)
alphabetic ordnance codes that begin with the letters a and b
(2)
alphabetic ordnance codes that begin with the letters c to e
(3)
alphabetic ordnance codes that begin with the letters f to k
(4)
alphabetic ordnance codes that begin with the letters l to z
(5)
numerical ordnance codes, that contain numerical values