Finding info on gasmasks...

[unmerged(2826)]

A friend of me has found an original German World War 2 gasmask in his garden and now he asked me if I could find out some more about the person using it (unit in wich he served, where this unit fought,...). These are the things that are on it:
169/B
Refr. Karl Bruckhaus
Fe 41 Fe
a German Nazi Eagle
826
783
12/294 Fee
N (in triangle) U°Opr°41

If anyone can help me by telling what I need to find it out or where or how I'd really appreciate it.
Thanks in advance, Dennis

 

[unmerged(11486)]

I would really need to see the mask to tell for sure, but I believe this:

Karl Bruckhaus, the owner of the mask served with the 12th Infantry Division, which fought in Poland, Belgium, and then Russia.

I am unsure of the /294 part of his division. It probably indicates which regiment he served with.

The '826' and the '783' probably mean the company and battalion he served with.

The Nazi eagle is simply a national insignia.

'Fe 41 Fe' seems to be a reference to Festungs-Einheiten, the 41st division. However, this division served in Greece, and then Yugoslavia. Not in the West.

169/B means he served with the 169th Infantry Brigade.

I hope this helps. Sorry I can't be more thourough. I would really need to actually see the mask.

Steele

 

[unmerged(8195)]

Originally posted by emperor dennis
These are the things that are on it:
169/B
Refr. Karl Bruckhaus
Fe 41 Fe
a German Nazi Eagle
826
783
12/294 Fee
N (in triangle) U°Opr°41

Going to have to disagree with the good steelehc's opinion on this...but...
Firstly, are these printed, or stamped into the mask?

These are most likely the manufacturer's armament markings, detailing who made it and where. All equipment that was produced for the German Army had a uniform armament code system that each manufacturer had to abide by.
Also, batch and lot numbers where usually included as well.
Subcontractors usually included their own information for internal use, and a lot of that is lost.

Here's a couple links to a good list of them:
http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/1325/ordcodes.txt
http://www.totse.com/en/bad_ideas/guns_and_weapons/wwiiarms.html

The Nazi Eagle emblem is the standard one used for post-manufacturing quality control for all milspec items slated for military service, and it is accompanied with the inspector's specific ID and the location of the inspection. Sometimes dates where included, sometimes not. A lot of this information isn't really known, since a lot of armament records were destroyed from 1944 onwards.

I learned all this the hard way, while researching the origins of a Walther P-38 I have that was constructed during the war.

 

[unmerged(11486)]

CountDeMoney: Perhaps you're right. I have a a list showing markers for units and individual soldiers that were stamped on pieces of equipment. However, I have never actually had to ID anything, so you may be more in the know than I am.

Steele

 

[unmerged(8195)]

Well, I'm just going on the fact that the Germans stamped/marked/collated/counted/inventoried everything from paperclips to Panzers when it came to war material.
They did invent statistics, you know.