German PoW Numbering

[hennep11]

I have some soldbuchs with POW numbers on the first page. I would like to know were they stand for. I have one with a A and a G but ther will be probably more.
I saw a list on this forum before but I can not find it.

Henry

[hennep11]

No one

[Jochen1000]

Could it be G = German, A = Austrian?

[Frontalschaden]

Hello

Do you mean the "normal" POW number ?

Here is the code:

For example: 31 G 822287

First number group (31) is the place of capture (theatre of war):

1 - Eastern Defence Command
2 - Greenland Base Command
3 - Western Sector, Grimson Project
4 - Eastern Sector, Grimson Project
5 - Western Defence Command
6 - Central Defence Command
7 - Southern Defence Command
8 - Northwest Service Command
21 - Caribbean Defence Command
22 - U.S. Army Forces South Atlantic
31 - European War Theater (Frankreich, Belgien, Luxemburg, Deutschland)
41 - Hawaiian Department
42 - U.S. Army Forces in South Pacific Area
51 - Commander-inChief, Southwest Pacific Area
61 - U.S. Army Forces China, Burma, India, Forward Echolon
62 - U.S. Army Forces China, Burma, India, Rear Echolon
71 - U.S. Army Forces in the Middle East
72 - U.S. Army Forces in Central Africa
81 - North Africa



The Letter (G) is the nationality of the prisoner:

G = German
I = Italian
A = Austrian
J = Japanese

The last number is the number of the prisoner. In this case it is the 822287th german prisoner which became POW at the European War Theater.

Best regards, Fronti

[hennep11]

Thank you Fronti,

That's I was looking for.

Henry

[Edgar Alcidi]

Hello

Do you mean the "normal" POW number ?

Here is the code:

For example: 31 G 822287

First number group (31) is the place of capture (theatre of war):

1 - Eastern Defence Command
2 - Greenland Base Command
3 - Western Sector, Grimson Project
4 - Eastern Sector, Grimson Project
5 - Western Defence Command
6 - Central Defence Command
7 - Southern Defence Command
8 - Northwest Service Command
21 - Caribbean Defence Command
22 - U.S. Army Forces South Atlantic
31 - European War Theater (Frankreich, Belgien, Luxemburg, Deutschland)
41 - Hawaiian Department
42 - U.S. Army Forces in South Pacific Area
51 - Commander-inChief, Southwest Pacific Area
61 - U.S. Army Forces China, Burma, India, Forward Echolon
62 - U.S. Army Forces China, Burma, India, Rear Echolon
71 - U.S. Army Forces in the Middle East
72 - U.S. Army Forces in Central Africa
81 - North Africa



The Letter (G) is the nationality of the prisoner:

G = German
I = Italian
A = Austrian
J = Japanese

The last number is the number of the prisoner. In this case it is the 822287th german prisoner which became POW at the European War Theater.

Best regards, Fronti

That´s indeed very intersting Fronti, thanks for sharing!

[mr.dogtag]

Intrestingly the POW tags from North Africa have rank and additional letter in the end of the number ( I have tags with letter H and M) any ideas what do these stand for?
I have some tags from European Theatre but there are no ranks and extra letters.
Rgds
Al

[Frontalschaden]

Hello

I have a better solution for my school english....

These scans will help me...







And here are the numbers of the corps areas /Service Commands for prisoners transferred to continental United States. See page 2, number 4.)

Corps areas (later on: Service Commands)



1 (Ohio-West Virginia-Indiana-Kentucky) HQ=Ft. Hayes, Ohio

2 (New Jersey-Delaware-New York) HQ=Governors Island, N.Y.

3 (Pennsylvania-Maryland-Virginia-District of Columbia) HQ=Baltimore, Md.

4 (North Carolina-South Carolina-Georgia-Florida-Alabama-Tennessee-Mississippi-Louisiana) HQ=Atlanta, Ga.

5 (Ohio-West Virginia-Indiana-Kentucky) HQ=Ft. Hayes, Ohio

6 (Illinois-Michigan-Wisconsin) HQ=Chicago, Ill.

7 (Missouri-Kansas-Arkansas-Iowa-Nebraska-Minnesota-North Dakota-South Dakota) HQ=Omaha, Nebr.

8 (Texas-Oklahoma-Colorado-New Mexico-Arizona (partly) HQ= Ft. Sam Houston, Tex.

9 (Washington-Oregon-Idaho-Montana-Wyoming-Utah-Nevada-Arizona (partly)-California-Alaska (attached) HQ=Presidio of San Francisco, Calif.

+ 4 other Departments (US "Overseas"): Hawaii, Panama Canal Zone, Puerto Rico,Philippines.


Hope this infos are helpful for you.


Best regards, Fronti

[mr.dogtag]

Funny, I have recently bought a US M-1940 POW tag with following inscription:
RUSS JOSEF
OBERGEFREITER
81-SP- 161892 H

any idea what can SP go for. C'mon it can't be Spanish....

[Frontalschaden]

C'mon it can't be Spanish....

Why not ?

Best regards, Fronti

[mr.dogtag]

Well first of all he doesn't sound Spanish. Second - his rank isn't Spanish. Third - US wasn't in war with Spain. Fourth - can't recall any Spaniards fighting in Africa in IIWW.
The only possibility I see here he was an ex French Foreign Legion Spanish soldier who volunteered to DAK via Ers.Btl. Rheine or a similar unit training ex-legionaries. His name could have been possibly changed to German - I've heard it was a common practice.
There were many Legion POWs in Stalag VIIIA and many of them voluntered to German army. I've got 3 French M-1918 tags of legionaries from Poland, Sweden and Spain recovered at that camp.
Maybe our DAK experts could say something more about how ex-legionaries and their later fates in DAK.
The tag is surely ok. I have bought it for less than 5 Euro in Germany and it's got a proper patina on stainelss steel M-1940 tag.
I will try to make some pics and post them later.
Cheers and Happy Easter!
Al

[Frontalschaden]

Well first of all he doesn't sound Spanish. Second - his rank isn't Spanish. Third - US wasn't in war with Spain. Fourth - can't recall any Spaniards fighting in Africa in IIWW.
The only possibility I see here he was an ex French Foreign Legion Spanish soldier who volunteered to DAK via Ers.Btl. Rheine or a similar unit training ex-legionaries. His name could have been possibly changed to German - I've heard it was a common practice.
There were many Legion POWs in Stalag VIIIA and many of them voluntered to German army. I've got 3 French M-1918 tags of legionaries from Poland, Sweden and Spain recovered at that camp.
Maybe our DAK experts could say something more about how ex-legionaries and their later fates in DAK.
The tag is surely ok. I have bought it for less than 5 Euro in Germany and it's got a proper patina on stainelss steel M-1940 tag.
I will try to make some pics and post them later.
Cheers and Happy Easter!
Al

Hello

I could be (mere surmise) that he was a Auslandsdeutscher.
Well, it is very dificult for me to translate "Auslandsdeutscher". (German expatriate / German national living abroad)
As an explanation:
He could be a german citizen, that was born and grown up in Spain. After the war begun, he came back to germany (with his germann and his spain passport) and served in german army in the Afrika Korps.

After he was captured by allies he decided that it is better to become POW as Spaniard, than as a german...

Best regards, Fronti

[mr.dogtag]

Yeah. Haven't thought about it, but it sounds much more possible than my theory. The only thing is that regulation says ( art.1 point b.) the marking indicated the army membership not citizenship. But of course this could have been missunderstood. War is after all a mess and someone stamping tags could get convinced with a Spanish passport.
This reminds me a story:
I have just bought an Gulag ID of a Polish underground member who was imprisioned in Workuta lager some 160 km north from polar circle.
I have found an interwiew with this guy in an archive where he mentioned that after he was cought by soviets in 1944 and got 3 years Gulag sentence, he was able to convince his guards that he is a Cossack not a Pole only because his second name was Kozak. This allowed him to enlist for Red Army and escape with the first possibility. Unfortunately he was cought by communist secret police in 1948 in Poland and was sent to Workuta for another 15 years but stayed there "only" until Stalin's death in 1956.
Unbelivably rare item. As I always say: I don't collect paper items but there are some that I do

[mufasa]

I do not know if it has something to do, but I have a wehrpass of a German soldier captured in Italy with a big red capital letter H stamped down.. what means?

[IMG][/IMG]

[Frontalschaden]

I do not know if it has something to do, but I have a wehrpass of a German soldier captured in Italy with a big red capital letter H stamped down.. what means?

[IMG][/IMG]

Hello

IMO the H stands for Heer



Best regards, Fronti