Just picked up some german items;And have dog tag with these makings on it 3.Pz. Abw. abtl. 561 under this it has 142 ab. What does it all mean?
Dan46
Dan46
-
-
Hi Dan,
The abbreviations stand for: 3. Kompanie Panzer-Abwehr-Abteilung 561 (3rd company, Anti-Tank Detachment 561), 142 is the soldiers personal number, and AB is his blood group.
Here's the unit information:
Panzerabwehr-Abteilung (motorisiert) 561
Created on 26.8.1939 for Armeepaket B (Berlin) in Berlin-Dahlem, WK III; redesignated Panzerjäger-Abteilung 561 on 1.4.1940; on 13.12.1942 unit became self-propelled (operating vehicles like the Marder, Hornisse, etc.).
Operations:
Heerestruppe: Poland, France, Russia (central) (1942 9. Armee), Northern Ukraine (17. Armee)
So, because your disc is marked 'Panzer-Abwehr' it had to have been issued before the redesignation to 'Panzerjäger' on 1.4.1940, and because it has a blood group on it, the soldier to whom it belonged was still serving in mid-1941 when the Heer started marking that information on identity discs.
Matt -
Matt, thanks so much for all the info.Is there any way to know who the man was who owe it?
DanComment
-
No problem Dan- happy to help
Unfortunately, there really isn't any way to find out who the owner was- the German government has some of the records, but last I heard their policy is that they don't have the resources to do research simply for interested parties- they handle the identification of remains, MIA cases, war graves, etc. Interestingly, they will provide whatever service records there are if you provide them with a name and birthdate- so there must be some issue with the cross-referencing such that it's far more difficult to go from disc code to name than name to records.
MattComment
-
Matt,
If I have understood well, the blood group was stamped on previously existing tags?
I supposed that all tags with blood group indication were post-1941 but now I see that things could be different...
Thanks,
AitorComment
-
Hi Aitor,
Yes, that's right- it must have been the case that when it became standard practice in mid-1941 to stamp a soldier's blood group on his Erkennungsmarke, the order was given for soldiers already in the field do so too- examples such as this one where the unit designation is definitely pre-1941 and there is a blood group letter prove it. If this disc were issued after 1941, the unit would be Panzerj******228;ger, not Panzer-Abwehr. I've seen many, many similar examples of similar situations. This also explains why sometimes the blood group will be scratched on the disc, formed by a series of dots or some other crude method- some soldiers didn't have easy access to the proper stamps, so they did it as best they could. Were these issued after 1941 the blood group would be stamped properly.
MattComment
Comment