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Waffenamt (WaA) was the German Army Weapons Agency. It was the centre for research and development of the Weimar Republic and later the Third Reich for weapons, ammunition and army equipment to the German Reichswehr and then Wehrmacht. It was founded 8 November 1919 as Reichwaffenamt (RWA), and 5 May 1922 the name was changed to Heereswaffenamt (HWA).
The task of overseeing Germany's gigantic pre-World War II rearmament program was given to the Heeresabnahmestelle (the Army Acceptance Organization, commonly referred to as the Abnahme), a subsidiary of the Heereswaffenamt.
By 1940 the Abnahme consisted of 25,000 personnel in five departments in 16 inspection areas, augmented by specially selected plant personnel who were assigned to assist the Waffenamt inspectors in each manufacturing facility. Later, in the middle of 1944, approximately 8,000 of these Abnahme inspectors were "freed for service at the front".
The Heeres-Abnahmewesen was responsible for the testing and acceptance of all weapons, equipment and ammunition before delivery to the Wehrmacht. Inspections were carried out according to detailed guidelines called "Technische Lieferbedingungen" (TLs) prepared by the various Waffenprüfämter (WaPrüf) departments
When the rearmament program began, Waffenamt inspection departments were established in each factory and armourers were encouraged to apply for positions there. In preparation for their new duties they were given a four-week course at the Heereswaffenmeisterschule (Army Armourers School). The course ended with a test for Technical Inspector which raised the rank of each successful applicant to that of Oberleutnant (First Lieutenant). At the beginning of 1935, all inspection officials in the newly created program started on an equal footing as Technical Inspectors, but by the start of the war in 1939 nearly all of them had been promoted to Technical Inspector First Class with a rank of Hauptmann (Captain).
Waffenamt code (WaA) is the German inspection proof mark and can be found on firearms and equipment.
No. | Portrait | Name | Took office | Left office | Time in office |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Ludwig Wurtzbacher (1870–1926) | Generalleutnant1 June 1920 | 1 March 1925 | 4 years, 273 days | |
2 | Erich von Botzheim (1871–1961) | Generalmajor1 March 1925 | 28 February 1926 | 364 days | |
3 | Generalleutnant Max Ludwig (1871–1961) | 1 March 1926 | 30 May 1929 | 3 years, 90 days | |
4 | Generalleutnant Alfred von Vollard-Bockelberg (1874–1945) | 1 June 1929 | 30 November 1933 | 4 years, 182 days | |
5 | Generalleutnant Kurt Liese (1882–1945) | 1 December 1933 | 28 February 1938 | 4 years, 89 days | |
6 | General der Artillerie Karl Heinrich Emil Becker (1879–1940) | 1 March 1938 | 8 April 1940 † | 2 years, 38 days | |
7 | General der Artillerie Emil Leeb (1881–1969) | 16 April 1940 | 1 February 1945 | 4 years, 291 days | |
8 | General der Infanterie Walther Buhle (1894–1959) | 1 February 1945 | 8 May 1945 | 96 days |
The Oberkommando des Heeres was the high command of the Army of Nazi Germany. It was founded in 1935 as part of Adolf Hitler's rearmament of Germany. OKH was de facto the most important unit within the German war planning until the defeat at Moscow in December 1941.
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The Royal Army Ordnance Corps (RAOC) was a corps of the British Army. At its renaming as a Royal Corps in 1918 it was both a supply and repair corps. In the supply area it had responsibility for weapons, armoured vehicles and other military equipment, ammunition and clothing and certain minor functions such as laundry, mobile baths and photography. The RAOC was also responsible for a major element of the repair of Army equipment. In 1942 the latter function was transferred to the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (REME) and the vehicle storage and spares responsibilities of the Royal Army Service Corps were in turn passed over to the RAOC. The RAOC retained repair responsibilities for ammunition, clothing and certain ranges of general stores. In 1964 the McLeod Reorganisation of Army Logistics resulted in the RAOC absorbing petroleum, rations and accommodation stores functions from the Royal Army Service Corps as well as the Army Fire Service, barrack services, sponsorship of NAAFI (EFI) and the management of staff clerks from the same Corps. On 5 April 1993, the RAOC was one of the corps that amalgamated to form The Royal Logistic Corps (RLC).
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The Royal Australian Army Ordnance Corps (RAAOC) is the Corps within the Australian Army concerned with supply and administration, as well as the demolition and disposal of explosives and salvage of battle-damaged equipment. The Corps contains clerks, operator supplies, petroleum operators, parachute riggers and ammunition technicians. Members of the Corps are nicknamed Roaches.
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The Pak 97/38 was a German anti-tank gun used by the Wehrmacht in World War II. The gun was a combination of the barrel from the French Canon de 75 modèle 1897 fitted with a Swiss Solothurn muzzle brake and mounted on the carriage of the German 5 cm Pak 38 and could fire captured French and Polish ammunition.
Berlin-Lübecker Maschinenfabrik (BLM) was a manufacturer of handguns, infantry rifles, ammunition up to 2 cm, flareguns and precision military equipment in Germany from 1936 to 1945. The company, based in Lübeck, Germany, was one of a number of metal-related businesses owned by Bernhard Berghaus, a German industrialist and member of the Nazi party who played an important role in the rearmament of Germany during the Third Reich.
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General of the Artillery was a historical military rank in some German and Austro-Hungarian armies, specifically in artillery. It was commonly used in the 16th and 17th centuries, and survived until the beginning of the 20th century in some European countries. In the army of the Habsburg Empire, the rank of Feldzeugmeister was equivalent with lieutenant general.
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The German designations of foreign firearms in World War II is a list of known foreign firearms and equipment compiled by the German armed forces before World War II.
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