ID Disc opinion

[Calvin Hall]

Any thoughts on the originality of this disc?

Also, I assume that 'Lw.Bau.Kp' = Landwehr construction company

[Calvin Hall]

The back...

[Matt L]

Hi Calvin,

It looks just fine to me- although it's actually Luftwaffen-Bau-Kompanie 9, Luftgau VII (München).

Matt

[Calvin Hall]

Thanks!

[Matt L]

Sure thing- any time. Now's the confusing bit- it seems that '9' is not the Kompanie number as it might appear, but is actually the Bataillon number. Jean Höidal shows 4 examples of Luftwaffen-Bau-Kompanie discs in his book (images 233, 234, 236 and 237), numbered 26/XI, 623/VI, 9/XI, and 9/XI, respectively. Now it's immediately obvious when looking at the unit information for the Bataillone in each of these Luftgau that there are usually only 3 Kompanien in each Bataillon, so none of the Arabic numbers could represent the actual Kompanie. There would only be a 1., 2., and 3. Kompanie. Furthermore, there are no listings for Luftwaffe-Bau-Kompanien, but there are listings for each Luftgau of Bataillone with the same numbers as on these discs- that is to say, there was an Lw-Bau-Bataillon 26/XI, and and a 9/XI- the one from Luftgau VI is an exception- there was no 623/VI- however in that case there was a 62/XI, so perhaps the 3 is intended to represent 3. Kompanie.

Also, image 235 is a disc marked Lw. Baugerätezug 11/VII, and just as in the case of the Lw. Bau. Komp. discs it appears that the Arabic number refers to the unit type marked (in this case a Zug, not a Kompanie), however Höidal states that it's 'Luftwaffen-Baugeräte-Zug in Bau-Bataillon 11, Luftgau VII (München)'. He therefore formally states that the Arabic/Roman numbers refer to the Bataillon/Luftgau.

So, given these two facts, it seems that indeed the numbers in the case of your disc, Calvin, refer to Luftwaffen-Bau-Bataillon 9, Luftgau VII, and not Luftwaffen-Bau-Kompanie 9, Luftgau VII.

Now if the Kompanie number was indeed irrlelvant as this suggests, why the disc is marked Lw. Bau. Komp. instead of simply Lw. Bau. Btl., isn't entirely clear. In the case of the Baugerätezug, it seems likely there was only the one in Lw. Bau. Batl. 11/VII, so there was no number to give. Perhaps to which Kompanie a soldier belonged wasn't relevant and the marking was just intended to show that the holder belonged to one of the 3 regular Kompanien instead of one of the more specialized small units such as the Baugerätezug. That makes the most sense to me. It further suggests that there was a Bataillon roster, not a Kompanie roster, and the high number of 6001 on the disc in image 236 seems to bear that out. There's no way a non-combat Kompanie could have had over 6000 men move through it in less than 3 years. An Infanterie Kompanie wouldn't have that level of loss and replacement. Then again, assuming a Kompanie was about 120 men- even in a Bau-Bataillon Kompanie, 6001 is strangely high. Initally, the full compliment of 3 Kompanien would have been something like 400 soldiers. Getting to 6001 seems odd...

Anyway, here's the unit info:

Luftwaffen-Bau-Bataillone (Luftgau VII)

9/VII Created at the beginning of 1940, comprised of 3 Kompanien; destroyed at Rossosch in January 1943 (164 listed as missing); remaining personnel sent to 8/VII.

Matt