{"product_id":"original-german-wwii-kriegsmarine-coastal-artillery-officer-m43-einheitsmutze-field-cap","title":"Original German WWII Kriegsmarine Coastal Artillery Officer M43 Einheitsmütze Field Cap","description":"\u003cp\u003eOriginal Item: Only One Available. This is a very good condition example of a hard to find German WWII Kriegsmarine Coastal Artillery Officers (\u003cem\u003eKüstenartillerie Offiziere\u003c\/em\u003e) M43 Einheitsmütze Field Cap., which looks to have seen light to moderate service during the war. The M43 Einheitsmütze (Unit Cap) is a variety of \"Ski Cap\" and was based on the Bergmütze (Mountain Hat) used by Austrian and German Gebirgsjäger (Mountain Troops) during WWI. Germany had adopted it in 1915, and after the war it spread throughout the military.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe field cap is constructed of field-gray wool, with fold-down sides and back panels with gently sloping, downward scallops to the front, and these are pretty much identical to the Army version save for the insignia. The top front of the cap features a wonderfully detailed bullion embroidered, Kriegsmarine-style eagle in gold metal wire mounted to a green woolen base. Below the eagle is a bullion embroidered, national tricolor cockade in black, silver and red, and the hat bears a gold bullion cord around the crown, indicating an officer. The skirt arms display the usual square-ended pattern and are secured at the front of the cap with two gold Kriegsmarine \"anchor\" buttons.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe cap features a cardboard-reinforced visor at the front which has some bends, as well as a crease \/ crack just to the right of center. The interior features a lovely gray green rayon liner, which unfortunately does not bear any markings whatsoever. Size seems to be about a 57cm.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eCondition of this field cap is very good, though the exterior does show some light wear, which has removed some of the fuzzy \"nap\" on the fabric around the edges. The interior lining shows some staining and soiling around the lower edge, especially in the forehead area.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDefinitely a very attractive and colorful example of a hard-to-find Kriegsmarine Coastal Artillery Officer M-43 field cap. Ready to add to your collection!\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eReichsbetriebsnummer or RB number (also represented as RB Nr or Rbnr). Before the war, the Germans set up a system for registering and recording the factory information, the Reichsbetriebskartei. This was to help enable machine tabulation of facts and figures. It was from this that the Reichsbetriebsnummer came into being. The Reichsministerium für Rüstung und Kriegsproduktion (Ministry for Armaments and War Production) files survive today in the Bundesarchiv, however, these are only fragmentary. There is a holding file from the working group created by the Office of Machine Reporting in the Armament Office of the Reich Ministry for Armaments and War Production - their main focus was the operations of the industry group for which an economic interest was Armour production. This index provides information on the most important data of the companies covered by it, production profile, operating area, number of employees and the responsible operator.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAs a prerequisite for the intended use of the punch-card method in the armaments industry, it was this system which gave rise to the Rbnr. The operating numbers were assigned by the competent local district offices of Machine reporting. (Bezirksstellen des Maschinellen Berichtswesens.) The index is in the form of index cards that are accessible numerically (approximately 14 meters of index cards!). Access to this register is only possible through the naming of this company, stating the place of production. The Reichsministerium für Rüstung und Kriegsproduktion files have multiple entries on the introduction of the factory and also the lot no.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Rbnr code was used from 1943 onwards and replaced the makers name and address (or company logo) on government contract uniforms, caps and field equipment and knives. It is either rubber ink stamped on cloth or die stamped onto leather \u0026amp;amp; metal items. It has been written countless times that this numeric code system was introduced as a security measure to help mask production locations. This was not the case but it was perhaps, a helpful by- product of the system. It is not unknown to find the Rbnr together with the maker’s info. Had it been a security measure, clearly this practise would have been banned.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSo what was the Rbnr? It was a nine digit number and was normally represented thus: RB Nr: 0\/000\/0000.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe first prefix number could range from 0 through to 9. This number determined the membership of the various groups in the realm of Trade and Industry (Reichsgruppenleitzahl)\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e• 0 Industry\u003cbr\u003e• 1 Crafts\u003cbr\u003e• 2 Commercial wholesale trading companies\u003cbr\u003e• 3 Banking\u003cbr\u003e• 4 Insurance Companies\u003cbr\u003e• 5 Energy (Electrical companies and such)\u003cbr\u003e• 6 Tourism (Including Hotels, Wine and Mineral Water companies)\u003cbr\u003e• 7 Traffic\u003cbr\u003e• 8 Food Industry\u003cbr\u003e• 9 Not otherwise mentioned groups\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Original Items","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42336746537029,"sku":"ONSV24OID001","price":2195.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1524\/1342\/files\/ONSV24OID001__03.jpg?v=1738800295","url":"https:\/\/www.ima-usa.com\/products\/original-german-wwii-kriegsmarine-coastal-artillery-officer-m43-einheitsmutze-field-cap","provider":"International Military Antiques","version":"1.0","type":"link"}