History of the Inventory Designer: The Feldzeug-Inspektion (Fz In) was newly formed on November 10, 1938 by merging the Army Field Tool Department in the OKH (Fz) and the Army Field Tool Mastery (H.Fzm.). The H.Fzm. for its part had been established on April 1, 1935, with the Nvst. (Supply distribution points) 1-3 as a downstream area and was subordinate to the Army Ordnance Department in the OKH. The first Nvst. was established in 1931 in Spandau to relieve the then Wa N of non-ministerial tasks. In 1933 two more Nvst. were set up in Hanover and Munich, in 1935 the three Nvst. were renamed to Feldzeug-Gruppen 1-3. In the spring of 1936 the tasks of the ordnance groups were severely restricted. In the course of the intensified army armament, the aim was to enable direct traffic of the H.Fzm. with the ordnance commands and ordnance services grouped together in the ordnance groups in order to achieve an accelerated provision and distribution of weapons, equipment and ammunition. The field tool groups lost their authority to issue orders to the FzKdos and FzDstst, only had to exercise official supervision and were only aware of the implementing orders, but the responsibility for operation remained with them. As early as October 1936, the field tool groups were finally dissolved and established instead of their three field tool inspectors. Background was above all the impossibility of a sufficiently tight supervision by the H.Fzm. with increasingly growing area of responsibility. The field tool inspectors, one each for weapons and equipment, ammunition and motor vehicles and for workshops, had the task of supporting the H.Fzm. in the supervision of their area. With the installation of the Fz In, a further intermediate instance between OKH and the downstream ordnance area was omitted due to the omission of the H.Fzm. In 1939, two more stage managers, one each for weapons and equipment on the one hand and ammunition on the other hand, were set up. At the same time the Fz.Inspizient for workshops was omitted. Finally, in 1940, a fifth Fz.Inspizient was established for tank combat and motor vehicles. In 1941 there was a change in the areas of responsibility of the stage managers from the previous areas of responsibility to a territorial responsibility, in addition, the responsibilities of the stage managers were extended to order powers vis-à-vis the stage managers in the context of the rectification of identified deficiencies. On 2 July 1941, a fundamental reorganization finally took place. The Fz. stage managers 1-4 were transformed into the Fz. groups 1-3, whereby again an intermediate instance with command power between Fz. In and the individual Fz. Kdos and Fz. Dstst was created. The Fz.Inspizient 5 (responsible for motor vehicles in the entire area) was retained as such and was renamed Fz.Inspizient K. The tasks of the Fz In as the highest department for the entire ordnance system consisted in the supply of the army with weapons, equipment and ammunition, thus also appropriate storage and stockpiling, as well as the training of army weapon masters and army fireworkers. According to the business division for the Fz In of November 8, 1938, the Fz In was headed by the Feldzeugmeister and as his deputy the Chief of Staff. The Fz In was divided into four groups. Group I was responsible for the organisation, general administration and budget of Fz In, subdivided into units Ia to Ie. Group II was responsible for personnel and training in the field of ordnance, subdivided into units IIa to IIe. Group III was responsible for ammunition, divided into Divisions IIIa to IIIf. Group IV was responsible for weapons and equipment, divided into units IVa to IVh. The division of wartime peaks on 1 March 1939 provided for one department each for Groups I and II and two less departments for Group III. It now provided for a Group V, responsible for buildings, workshops and construction measures, subdivided into the units Va to Vc. The business distribution plan of Fz In of 2 February 1940, on the other hand, still contained four groups. Group I with units Ia to Ie, Group II with units IIa to IId, Group III with units IIIa to IIIf and Group IV with units IVa to IVh. In the telephone directory of the Fz In of 1 June 1943, however, there are the additional papers IIf (in addition to a double paper IIc/d), IIIg and IVi. Units IVa, IVb, IVc and IVe are divided into several parallel units. Until 2 July 1941, the subordinate area of Fz In comprised the following departments: Weapon Master Schools I and II, Fireworker Schools I and II, Firearm Inspector 1 for weapons and equipment, Firearm Inspector 2 for ammunition, Firearm Inspector 3 for weapons and equipment, Firearm Inspector 4 for ammunition, Firearm Inspector 5 for motor vehicles in the entire area, 18 Firearm Commands, 7 Upper Field Duty Bars. A total of 19 army witness offices, 94 army subsidiary witness offices with 350 equipment stores, 65 army ammunition depots, 120 army subsidiary ammunition depots and the field equipment working staffs Metz and Strasbourg with 6 Fz.Dstst. The H.Zä and H.N.Zä formed the test area for the Fz.Stage Managers 1 and 3, the H.Ma and H.N.Ma formed the test area for the Fz.Stage Managers 3 and 4. The Fz.Arbeitsstäbe Metz and Strasbourg belonged to both test areas. Subordinated to the upper field stuff rods were 27 Fz. rods, 26 Fz. battalions, 26 Fz. motor vehicle columns and 3 Fz. offices. After the reclassification on 2 July 1941, the subordinate area was as follows: Weapon Master Schools I and II, Fireworker Schools I and II, Armament Group 1, Armament Group 2, Armament Group 3, Armament Inspector K for motor vehicles in the entire area, 7 upper armament rods. Fz.Group 1 was responsible for Fz.Kommandos I, II, III, VIII, XX, XXI and the ordnance in the occupied northern and eastern territories. The Fz.Group 2 was responsible for the Fz.Commands VI, IX, X, XI, XII, XXX and the ordnance of the occupied western territories. Fz.Group 3 was responsible for the Fz.Kommandos IV, V, VII, XIII, XVII, XVIII and the ordnance in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia. The individual Fz.Kommandos were again subject to different numbers of H.Zä, H.Ma, H.N.Zä, H.N.Ma and equipment stores. The Fz.Dstst subordinate to the upper field tool rods now amounted to 7, of which 3 were field tool parks. According to the address book of the Feldzeug services of 1 July 1944, the subordinate area of the Fz In consisted of the following services: Army Weapon Master School I, Army Fireworks School I, Army Replacement Army Commandant, Army Commandant K for Motor Vehicles in the Entire Area, 17 Army Commandant Commandos associated with the Deputy General Commands of the Army Corps (Fz.Kdos I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII, VIII, IX, X, XI, XII, XIII, XVII, XVIII, XX, XXI), a ordnance command associated with the Deputy General Command of the General Government, a ordnance command associated with the Deputy General Command of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, a tank ordnance command, an independent ordnance command (Fz.Kdo XXX). The individual ordnance commands were subordinated to army ordnance offices, army ancillary ordnance offices, army ammunition stations, army ancillary ammunition stations, equipment stores, ammunition stores, army clothing offices and army ancillary clothing offices. The Panzer-Feldzeug-Kommando was also responsible for Army Tank Zeugugämter, Army Tank Nebenzeugämter and Army Tank Workshops. Appendices: 1st diagram: Structure of the field tool area until 2 July 1941 2nd diagram: Structure of the field tool area from 2 July 1941 3rd telephone directory Greater Berlin (area Fz In) from 1 June 1943 Processing note: The inventory was newly indexed in 2002 on the basis of an older finding index. Stock description: The stock contains the documents of the army's field tool inspection. The documents of the subordinate area (Army Ammunition Offices; Army Command Forces; Zeugämter) are in the inventory RH 56. Characterization of the contents: The tradition of the Fz In is altogether extremely thin. Of the 60 files available, 26 contain almost exclusively written communications on general army matters, which had also reached the Fz In via the distribution channel within the OKH. Sometimes, however, these documents also contain notes and orders by the field tool master or the chief of staff in matters that directly or indirectly concerned the field tool system. In some cases there is also correspondence. In the case of more extensive matters, these have been included in the notes on contents of the titles. However, information on places, units and services not specifically ejected may also be contained in these files. In addition, files on the organisation of field tool services in general and reports of individual field tool services take up a lot of space. Apart from the reports mentioned above, there are only a few files on the Fz In's actual areas of responsibility. There are only 7 files on the management of services, of which 5 on human resources. At least 2 files are available for the ammunition sector, no files are available for the weapons and equipment sector. All in all, the inventory provides information on the organisation and activity of the subordinate ordnance sector, also in the occupied territories, in particular the annual and activity reports of individual ordnance services. State of development: Online-Findbuch Scope, Explanation: 100 AE Citation method: BArch, RH 12-21/...
