German designations of foreign artillery in World War II
During World War II, Germany maintained comprehensive lists of enemy weapons which were given designations in German in a system that matched that of German weapons. When these weapons were captured and put into use with German forces they were referred to by these designations.
Background
Before the war began the German armed forces Heereswaffenamt compiled a list of known foreign equipment and assigned a unique number to each weapon. These weapons were called Fremdgerät or Beutegerät and their technical details were recorded in a fourteen-volume set that was periodically updated. The Germans also captured large amounts of foreign equipment during WWII that they tested and cataloged using the same system. The Germans sometimes referred to these weapons as Kriegsbeute and the Fremdgerät numbers are sometimes referred to as Beutenummern. See also Glossary of German military terms.| Volumes | German | Content |
| D.50/1 | Handwaffen | Pistols, rifles and sub-machine guns |
| D.50/2 | Maschinengewehre | Light and heavy machine guns |
| D.50/3 | Werfer | Mortars |
| D.50/4 | Leichte Geschütze | Light artillery |
| D.50/5 | Schwere Geschütze | Heavy artillery |
| D.50/6 | Schwerste Geschütze | Siege and railway artillery |
| D.50/12 | Kraftfahrzeuge | Vehicles |
| D.50/14 | Pioniergeräte | Engineering equipment and explosives |
Designation format
The format for these designations is made up of the following elements:- Calibre expressed in centimetres
- The type of weapon
- A model number or year
- In the absence of a model or year number, a unique number was assigned.
- A subvariant is indicated with a number after a "/".
- A letter indicating the national origin of the weapon.
| Letter code | German | English |
| Amerikanisch | American | |
| Belgisch | Belgian | |
| Dänisch | Danish | |
| Englisch | English | |
| Französisch | French | |
| Griechisch | Greek | |
| Holländisch | Dutch | |
| Italienisch | Italian | |
| Jugoslawisch | Yugoslavian | |
| Norwegisch | Norwegian | |
| Österreichisch | Austrian | |
| Polnisch | Polish | |
| Russisch | Russian | |
| Schweizerisch | Swiss | |
| Tschechisch | Czechoslovakian | |
| Ungarisch | Hungarian |