Original German WWII 1944 Dated Luftwaffe M43 Einheitsmütze Field Cap with RBNr. – Size 57 Original Items

Original Item: Only One Available. This is a very nice example of a Luftwaffe M43 Einheitsmütze Wool field cap, with a great service worn look. The cap is constructed of  Luftwaffe blue Fliegerblau (Flyer’s Blue) blue/grey wool, and has the correct “fold down” skirt for colder weather. It features two pebbled aluminum buckles to the front, securing the skirt, and has the correct loops on the underside.

The peak of the cap has a very nice cap eagle with cockade underneath, both machine embroidered and hand sewn on. The interior of the cap is a gray rayon material, which is standard for this type of cap. It has light sweat stains around the edge, and the crown still has the original issue markings:

1944(?)
0/0501/0015
57

German RBN Numbers, or Reichsbetriebsnummer, also known as the National Business Number, were an alternative to the 3 letter codes in use late in the war. The first number 0 is the prefix for “industry”, while 0501 is the location code, and manufacturer 0015 in is a specific maker. The records of these are very incomplete, so we have not been able to locate this specific manufacturer. We have however had several examples from this maker before.

The visor is still in good condition, though the cardboard stiffener definitely has some ripples, but no breaks. The exterior is in very good condition, with little sign of moth, if any.  There are not any tears or repairs that we can see.

Overall condition is really good, showing light wear and no major damage from mothing or use. There is just a bit of yellowing to the exterior fabric, which shows very little in the way of wear, so this is really how they looked when first issued. A lovely example, ready to add to your collection!

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.

The skirt that surrounds the cap is made in the same wool as the cap, and can be folded down over the ears, though this was rarely done outside of the Mountain troops, which had a double-thickness skirt. The skirt has a small dip in the front quarter with a divide secured by one aluminum button which is covered by an embroidered cockade. The small section in the front quarter was built shorter to show the insignia, and cover the wearer’s chin or mouth, without disturbing breathing by covering the nose. There were also later M43 caps, such as those used by the DAK, that omitted the skirt entirely, as it had little use in the desert heat.

Reichsbetriebsnummer 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.

As 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.

The 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 & 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.

So what was the Rbnr? It was a nine digit number and was normally represented thus: RB Nr: 0/000/0000.

The 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)

• 0 Industry
• 1 Crafts
• 2 Commercial wholesale trading companies
• 3 Banking
• 4 Insurance Companies
• 5 Energy (Electrical companies and such)
• 6 Tourism (Including Hotels, Wine and Mineral Water companies)
• 7 Traffic
• 8 Food Industry
• 9 Not otherwise mentioned groups