German designations of foreign firearms in World War II
The German designations of foreign firearms in World War II is a list of known foreign firearms and equipment compiled by the German armed forces before World War II. Purpose. The purpose of these lists are threefold: 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" ("foreign device" or "captured device") 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 (for example, over 11 million rifles by the end of 1944) that they tested and cataloged using the same system. The Germans sometimes referred to these weapons as "Kriegsbeute" ("war booty") and the Fremdgerät numbers are sometimes referred to as "Beute Nummers" ("booty numbers"). The format for these designations follow this pattern. The German designation of the type of firearm, model/year number or unique identification number and lastly its country code. In the first example there's a carbine and it has been assigned a unique identification number and it  is French. In the second example there's a Pistol with a model/year designation and it is Austrian. In practice common model designations don't always share the same ID numbers. Because a Mauser model 98 could be produced in different countries, have different calibers and have a different model/year or unique identification number for each country. Also while a Mauser model 98 from different countries may be able to fire the same ammunition that doesn't mean their parts are compatible or interchangeable. Lastly unique numbers with / mean the weapon is a sub-variant. For a list  of German military terms see Glossary of German military terms.