Kriegsmarine KM uniform regulation order numbers and acronyms

[Norm F]

Hoping others will be interested in a discussion clarifying how orders came down from military command regarding Kriegsmarine uniform regulations.

In Angolia's Die Kriegsmarine, there are frequent references to the issuing of orders determining various Navy uniform and other regulations with various reference numbers, for example MV 38, No. 181; MV 42, No. 525; OTB 41, No. 6V; OKM MPA 1 1985; ObdM MPA No. 8000 IIIg; RGB1I1938l; BMB 38, No. 53; NTB 39, No.157VIII and so on and on. Some really long ones like "OKM AMA/M Wehr II vk 1011, in OTB 42 No.27 X"!

The majority of the orders relating to uniforms have "MV" numbers. Probably the second most common are "OTB" numbers.

I can't find a reference explaining these acronyms in any detail, but I think it would be handy to know how these regulations came to be and perhaps a hierarchy of importance or priority for the different regulating bodies.

I presume the acronyms stand for various military regulatory bodies or for the rule books themselves, but it would be nice to know what they all stand for and how the system worked.

For the Heer uniforms I have seen mention of HV standing for Heeres Verordnungsblatt (Army Ordinances Gazette, seems to be some kind of regulation book), so it occurred to me that perhaps MV stood for Marine Verordnungsblatt but I couldn't confirm this. Also for Heer, HM stands for Allgemeine Heeresmitteilungen (General Army Notices). Is there a Navy equivalent?

This is all I have so far for the Navy:

OKM - Oberkommando der Kriegsmarine (Navy High Command)

ObdM - Oberbefehlshaber der Kriegsmarine (Commander-in-Chief of the Navy)

MV - ?Marine Verordnungsblatt? (Ordinance Gazette?) (guessing)

OTB - ?

NTB - ?

RGB - ?

BMB - ?

Can others please chip in with comments?

Regards,

---Norm

[Gordon Williamson]

You are correct on MV

BMB = Besondere Marine-Bestimmungen

NTB = Nordsee Tages Befehl

OTB = Ostsee Tages Befehl

RGB = Reichs Gesetz Blatt

OTB and NTB are simply the "Orders of the Day" for the North Sea and Baltic commands. RGB was the national legal gazette by which various laws were promulgated, and the BMB are Special Naval Regulations.

[Norm F]

You are correct on MV

BMB = Besondere Marine-Bestimmungen

NTB = Nordsee Tages Befehl

OTB = Ostsee Tages Befehl

RGB = Reichs Gesetz Blatt

OTB and NTB are simply the "Orders of the Day" for the North Sea and Baltic commands. RGB was the national legal gazette by which various laws were promulgated, and the BMB are Special Naval Regulations.

Fantastic! My goodness your knowledge base runs wide and deep! Many thanks for the info.

So, would I be close in speculating that regulations may originate at various higher levels, eg. OKM, OBdM, Nordsee and Ostsee Commands etc., be announced in publications of OTB or NTB, and all be collected in print in the MV (Marine Verordnungsblatt) as the final compiled manual of Navy Rules and Regulations? And in that case, the primary research sources for such things would be printed OTB, NTB and MV manuals, stored somewhere in some archives to which Angolia would have had access?

Cheers.

---Norm

[Norm F]

Ah, the importance of a little research! I just got back from the Toronto Reference Library Annex where I could study the Angolia volumes in more detail (the only copies in Toronto and you can't sign them out), and discovered there at the back of Die Kriegsmarine, volume 3 on p. 442, a bibliography listing the various source manuals and explaining the various acronyms. I never noticed before because they're not listed after volumes 1 and 2. Very satisfying!

It's now 16 years after vol. 3 was published and I wonder if John R. Angolia is healthy and hale, and likely to come out with a new printing of this important out-of-print resource.

Best regards,

---Norm