3./ SS, Kaserne Lichterfelde

[ArmyErnie60]

Hi all:
I recently came into possession of a letter and envelope from an SS 'Uscha' ('Unterscharführer' as I'm led to believe) to his 'Mutti'. The fellow's name was J. Kerr '3./SS K.E.K...Berlin-Lichterfelde, SS-Kaserne.' The 'Waffen- SS' stamp (round with the eagle in the center) is marked '3./SS -Kraftf. Ers. Abt.' I believe that the Lichterfelde SS-Kaserne was the home of the 1. SS-"Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler". Does the '3./SS' on the envelope refer to the 3. SS- Division ('Totenkopf')? Also, what is the '...Kraftf. Ers. Abt.'? (I know that 'Ers.' refers to 'Ersatz'[replacement] and 'Abt' refers to 'Abteilung' [group], but what does 'Kraftf.' refer to?
Any help would be much appreciated.
-ArmyErnie

[Polizei51]

Hi,

It stands for the 3rd company of the Motor Vehicle Replacement Detachment.

Peter

[Mikedc]

Kraftf. refers to Kraftfahr which is in English indeed Motor Vehicle.
So it's SS-Kraftfahr-Ersatz-Abteilung(Motor Vehicle Replacement Detachment as Peter said).
And yes, SS-Uscha or SS-Uschaf stands for SS-Unterscharführer.

Greetings, Mike

[ArmyErnie60]

Thanks fellas. I'm assuming that this 3rd Company (Motor Vehicle Replacement Detachment) was part of the 1st SS Division (Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler), given that Berlin-Lichterfelde was the LAH's 'home' from 1933 until the end of the war?