WW2 ? Dog Tag Found

		Quote:			Posted by bigtwin
	I don't doubt that,i just haven't seen the writing like this before "normally" the writing is upside down on one of the parts!

You're probably correct about that, especially since I'm sure you've handled a lot more of them than I have.  However, in scanning the internet, I have found numerous examples of both styles.   There are, however, a couple of things that do strike me as really interesting about Christian's dog tag (and the one that you post, also).  For one thing, neither dog tag has the blood type stamped on it (at least not on the front where most of the examples I've seen have it).  And secondly, the lettering is more even and carefully crafted that many samples...leading me to believe that both his tag and the one you posted could be from an earlier period than many of the examples available and/or the bearer was of a higher rank.

As for Christian's example, I'm exploring the possibility that the soldier who carried it was originally in a Landswehr unit, which would also tend to coincide with an earlier issue date, since most of the Landswehr units were swallowed up by regular army units before the invasion of Poland.  This would also make it likely that the soldier was older than "normal" at the time the dog tag was issued.

BA

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That one you just posted is especially interesting since it came from a dead soldier.   When a german soldier died and it was possible to retrieve the dog tags, the tag was broken into two  pieces along that center "score" line.  One half was left with the body, the other half was sent to headquarters for 'graves registration'.   In the US Army, everyone was issued 2 dog tags.  In the event of death, one tag was left with the body and one sent back to HQ.

The following is not the only site I've been using, but it does have a lot of information and seems pretty reliable.  You may want to add it to your bookmarks if it isn't already there.

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  and

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BA

Posted on: March 18, 2011, 10:16:51 PM

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I'm going to go way out on a limb here, which means someone will probably be along very shortly to correct me.....but I'm going to guess that the person this dog tag was issued to was a member of the reserve/replacement battalion of the 78th Infantry Division (possibly assigned to headquarters company for the battalion).

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http://www.thunting.com/smf/index.php/topic,434.msg154978.html#msg154978

Hi

I usually run by forehead with my thumb then rub the metal, a friend told me many years ago natural body oil works real good reading metal.

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You might try this web site for additional information

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http://www.thunting.com/smf/index.php/topic,434.msg155145.html#msg155145

A very cool find.


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