[Sergio Natali]

Sean

More about the "1920 Reichswehr Property Stamp" the following is taken from a poster by the name of 'SimsonSuhl', concerning the "1920" date, I think it's quite an interesting page of history:

quote
"The 1920 Property Mark"

At the end of World War I, after an orderly retreat to the Armistice line, the German Army largely fell apart, many soldiers heading home, often taking their small arms with them. Equipment of all sorts was “lost” on this retreat, artillery and mortars to small arms. The ensuing chaos in Germany, between opposing factions (right and left), often created impossible conditions in Germany that the government was barely able to contain.

Much of this came to a head at the Spa Conference, during July 1920 in Belgium. The German delegation was berated for allowing such chaos to continue, and during the “interrogation” General Seeckt (head of the Reichswehr) matter of factly stated the small arms situation:

The German Army at the time of the Armistice had 6,000,000 rifles, during the retreat she lost 1,500,000 rifles and had delivered over to the Entente 1,690,000. He also stated that the German Army held 250,000 rifles, the Police 117,000, and the Militia 600,000. Lloyd George reportedly flew into a rage over this, but Seeckt ignored his outburst and continued his report. Simply stating the Army’s position was to abide by the terms as soon as they could collect the missing and excess arms (rifles were the least of the worries, missing MG’s and artillery were much more of a concern). He suggested this would take up to a year.

While these figures remained in dispute (Lloyd George suspected more were unaccounted for), Lloyd George essentially agreed to the plans the German government outlined, - this would become the “The Disarming of the People Act”, which goal was simply to entice as many Germans as possible into surrendering the illegal military arms in their hands, and curtailing the ongoing violence. Rewards and amnesty were the first offerings, and eventually just amnesty from criminal prosecution.

Before the German government could implement this law and buy back program, they had to identify weapons in government hands, from those illegally held, so as to not encourage further thefts for the offered rewards. They decided to mark all weapons currently in government hands with a “1920” marking starting in August 1920. This was done by the individual units, depots, organizations, and that is why the markings vary as to application and style.

The program started on September 15, 1920, and lasted until November 1, 1920, and was later extended to February 1921. The law required all German civilians to surrender all “military” weapons in their possession.

The rewards offered ranged from a high of $2,350 US dollars (paid in RM) for artillery pieces, to $23.50 for each rifle. The terms of the rewards demanded quick surrender, full rewards only paid through October 10th, half rewards followed until October 20th, and after that the surrender only guaranteed amnesty from prosecution. The results of the law were disappointing, some large seizures were made due to informants selling out others, and some surprising hauls were made, but not surprisingly, most of the illegal arms were held by organizations and groups who had plans for them, and were not enticed to letting them go for mere petty change and amnesty.

The German government did surrender massive amount of arms, as Seeckt promised. By January 13, 1921 alone, almost 30,000 artillery pieces and barrels, 10,000 mortars, 70,000 MG’s and nearly 3 million rifles had been surrendered or destroyed under supervision. By 1922 most of the armament demands (arms in excess of Versailles and subsequent agreements) were met and in general Germany was essentially disarmed of all offensive capability.
unquote

Best regards.


Sergio