Alanmccoubrey wrote:I'm sorry but fighting regiments did not contain "replacement" companies/batteries in the way that you are assuming here. What I mean is that 22 Artillery Regiment did not have a "Light Replacement Battery" and neither would 208 Infantry Regiment have "Infantry Gun Replacement Company 208 ", it had a 13th (Infantry Gun) Company. The front line replacements for a Division were held in its Feldersatz Bataillon which had men from all the arms of service.
In the pre-war years as the German army was expanding there were "Ergänzungs-Batterien " (Supplementary Batteries) in several artillery regiments which on mobilisation were used to form new regiments, 22 Artillery Regiment had two such batteries in 1938 but they were numbered 7 and 10 and as I say were sent off to form another unit on Mobilisation.
Any unit with "replacement" , such as Inf Gun Replacement Coy 208, in its title belonged to the Replacement Army and had a home station well away from the front, they all started in Germany of course but as the war went on they were spread across Europe to assist in occupation duties and make better use of the available military facilities.
It appears that the initial links to Lexicon were wrong then, to some extent! But I'm all good on the ( M.G Kp 4/ Inf Reg 43 ) Tag though? that was definitely a combat Regiment with the 1st Inf Div??? I've got that one right? If I can start looking for some photographs for an M.G Kp with the 43rd Inf Regiment I'll be a happy man
As far as my 208 Tag is "Infantry Gun Replacement Company 208" correct???
And should I be looking at ( The German Replacement Army 1939 to 1945 ) & ( Feldersatz- and field training organizations ) to get some idea of where the wearer of this Tag would of been & may of been doing during the war, & where he may of ultimatley ended up?
Lastly The Final Dog Tag that reads ( 3.L.E.B A.R 22 ) I'm not even sure ( 3.L.E.B . A.R 22 ) even means 3rd Light Replacement Battery? In fact I don’t think the (L) stands for “light” at all!
That’s a little bold as I know next to nothing about German Abbreviations or Dog Tags!
Unfortunately the (Hand Written) descriptions that came with the Tags seem to be partly wrong!
Is it not possible that the (L) is for Teaching/Training? Only according to "German Military Abbreviations - April 12th 1943" a Capital (L) = Teaching (li) = light (licht)
Could it be something like a. Training Replacement Battalion/Battery,
with something to do with one of these -
Artillery Regiment Replacement 22.
Replacement and artillery training department 22
Which had 3 light and a heavy battery on the “alarm-coast?"
Artillery Replacement Division 22?
My understanding of an Ersatz unit is Training / Occupation duties?
Maybe the whole L.E.B means something else entirely? I don’t know where I’m supposed to be looking & I feel like I’m taking the P**s keep asking for help! I’m not expecting some one to do it all for me, that’s defiantly not the case!
What I'm ultimately trying to know is:
1) What Kompany/Regiment the Tags are for?
2) & what the Kp/Reg duties & deployment/home station were roughly?
3) Whether the Tags look real or Fake!
Eventually I’d like to try find for my self how ever unlikely, some photographs relating to the 3 Tags. Or at least for the M.G Kp 4 or any MG Kp in Reg 43!
I'd like to try (but I know it’s probably impossible), to find out what happened to the wearers of the tag's, especially of the MG Kp Dog Tag (as it was a front line combat Kp) & see if there’s any way of finding out when/where the owners of the Ersatz Tags where sent to combat units? (The numbers under the unit numbers are the Individual soldiers No. right which I can use to try and find info on him once I know where to start looking?)
Or is one or both “souvenir Tags” I’ve read about, soldiers picking up from Kp stores!
Or is it just that the Tag is a Fake, & the lettering is for a "Fantasy unit" which some one else was telling me about!
If that's the case, or if anyone has any inkling that it's probably the case then that's not a problem, trust me the headache it's given me I'd rather know, & believe me the price I paid you couldn't buy a cheap modern dog tag with Celtic tattoos on it from Primark for less!
As long as one of them is real I've still had a bargain even with the price for all 3 together!
You see how confused I am?
I’ve never even looked at a Dog Tag before a few days ago!
Lexicon is a great source of information but only for the Tag I definitely know is for a MG Kp in Inf Reg 43!
The other Tags with out knowing for sure what the L.E.B means I don't know where I'm even supposed to be looking!?
If it was - German uniforms/Ranks/Insignia/Medals/Awards Third Reich History /Political history of the NSDAP / the HJ /SD/ Kripo/ Sipo/ The Schutzstaffel /Waffen-SS the OKW/ OKH/ the Holocaust ect… German Armour /Panzers /AFV’s the Lufftwaffe…
There all things I’ve spent a few years reading about. But a simple Dog Tag & I’m lost (time for some new books, that's for sure)
I genuinely really appreciate any & all help! It's really not taken for granted believe me.
