Manufacturer's codes

unspellable · 08-23-2005, 06:10 PM

I picked Mauser as an example because they were well known in Britain and the US before the war. But if Mauser had three plants going during the war, the Allies would not have know where two of them were, nor which made what.

During WWI handguns played a fairly prominent role, but in WWII they were pretty small potatoes. I would think the Allies would not bother bombing a hand gun line. Of course Mauser made rifles and other items as well.

On the other hand there was a famous bombing raid on the ball bearing works at Schwinhurst (Did I spell that any where near right?) during the war. The Allies never made a second raid on the assumption the Germans would disperse the manufacturing effort after the first raid. After the war the germans said a second raid would have finished off the manufacturing effort as by that time they didn't have the wherewithal to dispurse the plant after the raid.

I'd be willing to bet a close study of the war would reveal that general confusion and snafus on the part of one side did as much to protect various critical manufacturing sites as the security efforts on the part of the other side.

Security is sometimes for political reasons rather than technical ones. Witness the suppressed High Standard 22 the Soviets confiscated from Gary Powers, the U2 pilot, that has been on public display for the last 40 years or so in a Moscow Museum. To this day it is classified by the US Government, not for technical reasons, but for PC reasons, you cannot publicly admit to having such an item in the inventory.

BTW: It was a jim dandy job of suppressing a firearm with rubber snubbers in the action and the whole nine yards.

08-23-2005, 06:10 PM	#3
unspellable User Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Iowa Posts: 769 Thanks: 0 Thanked 20 Times in 12 Posts	I picked Mauser as an example because they were well known in Britain and the US before the war. But if Mauser had three plants going during the war, the Allies would not have know where two of them were, nor which made what. During WWI handguns played a fairly prominent role, but in WWII they were pretty small potatoes. I would think the Allies would not bother bombing a hand gun line. Of course Mauser made rifles and other items as well. On the other hand there was a famous bombing raid on the ball bearing works at Schwinhurst (Did I spell that any where near right?) during the war. The Allies never made a second raid on the assumption the Germans would disperse the manufacturing effort after the first raid. After the war the germans said a second raid would have finished off the manufacturing effort as by that time they didn't have the wherewithal to dispurse the plant after the raid. I'd be willing to bet a close study of the war would reveal that general confusion and snafus on the part of one side did as much to protect various critical manufacturing sites as the security efforts on the part of the other side. Security is sometimes for political reasons rather than technical ones. Witness the suppressed High Standard 22 the Soviets confiscated from Gary Powers, the U2 pilot, that has been on public display for the last 40 years or so in a Moscow Museum. To this day it is classified by the US Government, not for technical reasons, but for PC reasons, you cannot publicly admit to having such an item in the inventory. BTW: It was a jim dandy job of suppressing a firearm with rubber snubbers in the action and the whole nine yards.