Yet Another Question on...

[Obi44]

...SS blood type tattoos.

Now, before the thread is locked, I have done a fair amount of research on this subject and have come to understand why the tattoo was given to many Waffen-SS members: so that, in the event they were wounded in the field, a blood transfusion could be administered immediately by field and line medics. But why was this needed? Wasn't their blood type already recorded in their Soldbuch and identification disc (Erkennungsmarke)? You could argue that this was in case the aforementioned items of documentation were lost in the field (as rare as that may be), but if that was the case, then why didn't the Wehrmacht use this method?

Another question: how many men were given this tattoo? It was standard issue early war, at least as far as I can see, but did it continue to be a widespread practice amongst mid-late war troops, especially those conscripts and foreign recruits that made up half of the manpower of the Waffen-SS by the time of Germany's surrender?

[Christoph Awender]

Hello, Please do a search within this topic
viewtopic.php?f=50&t=190068

/Christoph