What are these proof marks?

[Jim Keenan]

Perhaps a few notes on the Heereszeugamter might be in order. What follows is my understanding, so if anyone has more or better info, please share it with us.

The term means Army Equipment Office. In English publications, I have seen the German term spelled as two or even three words, but I have never seen it in a German source as other than one word.

Unlike the centralized Heereswaffenamt (Army Weapons Office) which assigned inspectors to arms factories, the term HZa was applied to what we would call an Army Depot. Like its U.S. Army counterpart, the term was not used alone, but was always coupled with the name of the city or town in which it was located. Thus we see "HZa Naumburg", or "HZa Kassel". Others I know of were at Stettin, Dachau, Wein, Munchen (Munich), Ingolstadt, and Spandau, but there were many others.

The term "zeug" in this usage was not limited to quartermaster (non-weapon) items, since the German system was not divided up like the U.S. system was. An HZa was a depot for all army equipment.

Again like U.S. Army Depots, HZa establishments could be huge and they had several missions. They accepted materiel from contractors; stored all kinds of war materiel, including weapons and ammunition; and rebuilt and repaired materiel, including guns, vehicles and tanks.

Some HZa depots were involved in manufacturing, and when they did so, they were assigned a manufacturer's code just like any other manufacturer. For example, the big shell factory (geschosswerkstatt) at HZa Koenigsburg was assigned the code "czo".

Now a common abbreviation for Ingolstadt was/is "Il" or "Jl" (remember the "I" and "J" discussion a while back?). Its manufacturing code was jlj.

The story about markings on pistols assigned to watchmen is a good one, but I beg leave to doubt it.

FWIW, I think the mysterious mark is nothing more than a rebuild mark, indicating that the pistol was rebuilt at HZa Ingolstadt and the work was passed by inspector No. 16.

Jim