Meaning of abbreviation

[Nick Beale]

Luftwaffe documents typically have a serial number at the top, in the form Br.B.Nr. [digits]/[year]


What does Br.B. stand for? Brieflicher Befehl (=written order) maybe?

[Chris Goss]

Briefbuchnummer?

[Steve Coates]

I'd go with Chris on this. I've seen it used as a means of indexing tests.

[Snautzer]

When combined into the full abbreviation Br.B.Nr., it translates to Briefbuchnummer, which means letter logbook number or official correspondence log number (literally "letter-book-number")
The Logbook (Briefbuch): Every staff office, command, or unit maintained a master ledger or journal (Briefbuch) to log all incoming and outgoing official mail, orders, and correspondence.The Structure: In the serial format Br.B.Nr. [digits]/[year] (e.g., Br.B.Nr. 432/41), the digits represented the sequential entry number in that unit's logbook for that specific calendar year.Variations: You will often see variations like Br.Tgb.Nr. (Brief-Tagebuch-Nummer / Letter Journal Number) or simply Tgb.Nr. (Tagebuchnummer). If the document was classified, it was typically appended with g. or geh. (geheim / secret) or Kdos. (Kommandosache / Command Matter).

[Nick Beale]

Thanks everyone.