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©2009-2012 F. Dörenberg. All rights reserved worldwide. No part of this publication may be captured, reproduced, stored, transferred, or translated, in any form or by any means, without permission in writing from the author.
 

PRODUCTION VOLUME

Where have all the Feld-Hells gone? No, this is not the title of a nostalgic song that I just composed! It is a Frequently Asked Question: how many were built and how many still exist today? The total production volume is usually estimated at 14 to 15 thousand units. I do not know exactly where this number originated, or how valid it is. This is one of the reasons that I have started collecting detailed information on surviving Feld-Hell machines. So far (end-April 2012), I have captured information on 103 machines. 

	If you own, or have access to, a Feld-Hell machine, please provide me with all info on the data plate ("Typenschild") of the front and back of the various sub-units, as well as stamps and other markings. I have illustrated the information that I am looking for here. You can contact me here.
	The information that I have collected so far is in this spreadsheet.

Number of electronics boxes and motor-generators in my database for each year

Not surprisingly, the graph suggests that the production volume surged during the early part of the war. It is reasonable to assume that production was indeed scaled back rather significantly by the end of 1943. Note that the total number of electronics and motor-generator serial numbers are not the same. On some of them, I have no information, whereas others are simply missing from the machine.

Some observations from my data base:

	lowest serial number of an electronics box: 0053 of 1936. The associated motor-generator, also from 1936, has serial number 10053.
	highest serial number of an electronics box: 15875 of 1944
	highest serial number of a motor-generator: 15640 of 1944
	so far, I have captured no electronics boxes that were manufactured in 1937 or 1945 (but this does not necessarily mean that none were built in those years...).
	so far, I have captured no motor-generators that were manufactured in 1937, 1938, or 1945.
	some motor-generators have different serial numbers on the front and the back (e.g., 5284/1941 and 23877/1941).
	sometimes the same serial number is found on an electronics box and a motor-generator, but the year of manufacturing differs by one.
	with very few exceptions, only the label on the electronics boxes and the motor-generators has a year of manufacture.
	several base-units (the module below the motor-generator and keyboard) have a serial number that is much higher than those found on electronics boxes and a motor-generators (e.g., 21898/1940).

Note: one should be careful when making statements about production volume, strictly based on serial numbers! Serial numbers of military equipment where not always assigned on a consecutive (running) numbering basis ("Durchnummerierung"). They were sometimes assigned in blocks that were not completely used. Also, consecutively manufactured units where sometimes assigned serial numbers from different blocks. This was primarily done to confuse the enemy, when trying to draw conclusions about production volumes based on captured units. Obviously, for spares provisioning and manufacturing stock, more sub-units where built than complete machines. 

At the conclusion of the war, a directive was issued to the occupying forces (at least the western allies), calling for the capture and destruction of all military equipment and materiel. Also, the public was ordered by the military government to surrender all telecommunications equipment (including carrier pigeons!). Ref. 1, 2. Of course, a search-and-grab was organized to systematically capture and carry off all items and intellectual property of value due to their advanced "high tech" nature (e.g., "Operation Paperclip"). Ref. 3, 4. It is impossible to determine how many Feld-Hell machines still exist around the world today, in private collections, museums (on display or in storage), private attics, basements, and garages. Their condition ranges from "mint and operational" to "barely suitable to be cannibalized for spare parts". I estimate the number of surviving Feld-Hells to be somewhere between one and two hundred...

Front & back of a Siemens-Halske equipment tag also used in the Hellschreiber factory

	Ref. 1: "Directive to Commander-in-Chief of United States Forces of Occupation Regarding the Military Government of Germany" JCS 1067, April 1945
	Ref. 2: "Post, telephones, telegraphs and radio", Law No. 76 of the Military Government - Germany, 22 April 1945
	Ref. 3: "Science, Technology and Reparations: Exploitation and Plunder in Postwar Germany", John Gimbel, Stanford Univ. Press, 1990, 280 pp., ISBN: 0804717613. Pages 14, 56-62 are here.
	Ref. 4: "Secrets by the thousands", C.L. Walker, Harper's Magazine, October 1946, pp. 329-336

©2009-2010 F. Dörenberg

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