Hey Guys,
Some friends (fellow Forum member Chris Stewart and others) and I have been working on understanding some of the less-obvious abbreviations and ways of denoting a unit on Erkennungsmarken and I thought I'd share one of the more significant things we've learned:
'Schtz. Ers. Kp xy' (Schützen Ersatz Kompanie) is NOT an independent Schützen (armored infantry- aka Panzergrenadier) Kompanie, but rather simply a replacement rifle company of an Infanterie or Grenadier Ersatz Bataillon or Regiment of the number 'xy'. For example:
'1. Schtz. Ers. Kp. 82' (1. Schützen Ersatz Kompanie 82) is actually properly expanded to be '1. Schützen Ersatz Kompanie, Infanterie Ersatz Bataillon 82', it is NOT the 82nd Schützen replacement company.
What proof do I have you might ask? I had a number of pieces of circumstantial evidence that pointed to this, but the concrete evidence really only surfaced recently. Firstly, in no major reference, such as Tessin, you won't find a Schützen Ersatz Kompanie 82 listed, but most importanly, I, (and Chris actually) have a disc marked with the full, expanded, unit:
'S.E. Kp. Gren. Ers. Btl 18' - Schützen Ersatz Kompanie Grenadier Ersatz Bataillon 18.
The condensed version of this would be 'Schtz. Ers. Kp. 18'. On Erkennungsmarken this condensed version is FAR more common- in fact Chris' and mine are the only two examples I know of. There are others, to be sure, however, no publications (such as Jean Höidal's Erkennungsmarken des zweiten Weltkrieges) or experts on other Fora, seem to recognize this fact. I asked a few experts in Germany and they admitted that it's just not known. Well I believe that the evidence we have shows it quite specifically.
Also, discs marked 'M.G. Ers. Kp.', 'Jnf. Pi. Ers. Kp.', 'Jnf. Pz. Jäg. Ers. Kp.', 'Jnf. Nachr. Ers. Kp.', 'Jnf. Gesch. Ers. Kp.', are all the specialist Kompanien of Infanterie or Grenadier Ersatz Bataillone or Regimenter too. The same reasoning of the 'Schtz. Ers. Kp.' applies, and the proof is similar:
Ther are no listings for these units in Tessin, and I have discs with the expanded markings- for example:
'Jnf. Pz. Abw. Kp. J.R. 213' - condensed, and infinitely more commonly, would be 'Jnf. Pz. Abw. Kp. 213'. 'M.G. Ers. Kp. 4/39' is another proof- it reads fully 'MG Ersatz Kompanie 4, Infanterie Ersatz Bataillon (or Regiment) 39. The '4' seems almost redundant because in an Infanterie Regiment, the MG Kompanien were only 4., 8., and 12.- but I've never seen an Ersatz Kompanie example marked either '8' or '12' (although they could simply be very rare).
Oh, and btw, 'Jnf' is 'Infanterie'- old German script writes a capitol 'I' like a capitol 'J' so the 'J' stamp was often used as an 'I'. Unfortunately, it often leads to people thinking that 'J.R.' is 'Jäger Regiment', when it's simply 'Infanterie Regiment'.
Matt
Some friends (fellow Forum member Chris Stewart and others) and I have been working on understanding some of the less-obvious abbreviations and ways of denoting a unit on Erkennungsmarken and I thought I'd share one of the more significant things we've learned:
'Schtz. Ers. Kp xy' (Schützen Ersatz Kompanie) is NOT an independent Schützen (armored infantry- aka Panzergrenadier) Kompanie, but rather simply a replacement rifle company of an Infanterie or Grenadier Ersatz Bataillon or Regiment of the number 'xy'. For example:
'1. Schtz. Ers. Kp. 82' (1. Schützen Ersatz Kompanie 82) is actually properly expanded to be '1. Schützen Ersatz Kompanie, Infanterie Ersatz Bataillon 82', it is NOT the 82nd Schützen replacement company.
What proof do I have you might ask? I had a number of pieces of circumstantial evidence that pointed to this, but the concrete evidence really only surfaced recently. Firstly, in no major reference, such as Tessin, you won't find a Schützen Ersatz Kompanie 82 listed, but most importanly, I, (and Chris actually) have a disc marked with the full, expanded, unit:
'S.E. Kp. Gren. Ers. Btl 18' - Schützen Ersatz Kompanie Grenadier Ersatz Bataillon 18.
The condensed version of this would be 'Schtz. Ers. Kp. 18'. On Erkennungsmarken this condensed version is FAR more common- in fact Chris' and mine are the only two examples I know of. There are others, to be sure, however, no publications (such as Jean Höidal's Erkennungsmarken des zweiten Weltkrieges) or experts on other Fora, seem to recognize this fact. I asked a few experts in Germany and they admitted that it's just not known. Well I believe that the evidence we have shows it quite specifically.
Also, discs marked 'M.G. Ers. Kp.', 'Jnf. Pi. Ers. Kp.', 'Jnf. Pz. Jäg. Ers. Kp.', 'Jnf. Nachr. Ers. Kp.', 'Jnf. Gesch. Ers. Kp.', are all the specialist Kompanien of Infanterie or Grenadier Ersatz Bataillone or Regimenter too. The same reasoning of the 'Schtz. Ers. Kp.' applies, and the proof is similar:
Ther are no listings for these units in Tessin, and I have discs with the expanded markings- for example:
'Jnf. Pz. Abw. Kp. J.R. 213' - condensed, and infinitely more commonly, would be 'Jnf. Pz. Abw. Kp. 213'. 'M.G. Ers. Kp. 4/39' is another proof- it reads fully 'MG Ersatz Kompanie 4, Infanterie Ersatz Bataillon (or Regiment) 39. The '4' seems almost redundant because in an Infanterie Regiment, the MG Kompanien were only 4., 8., and 12.- but I've never seen an Ersatz Kompanie example marked either '8' or '12' (although they could simply be very rare).
Oh, and btw, 'Jnf' is 'Infanterie'- old German script writes a capitol 'I' like a capitol 'J' so the 'J' stamp was often used as an 'I'. Unfortunately, it often leads to people thinking that 'J.R.' is 'Jäger Regiment', when it's simply 'Infanterie Regiment'.
Matt
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