ID Disk

[herr]

Hello all

I just received my first German ID disk from good ol' Detlev
Since I am a rookie in this field aswell (thinking about it, don't know that much about general German gear anyway ) I have no idea what it means.

It says

H.L. 4126
5711 A(bloodgroup, do know that)

Can anyone tell me what it all means ?

Thanks alot guys, you are really helpfull !

Herr

[Matt L]

Can you post a picture of it Herr?

Matt

[herr]

Can you post a picture of it Herr?

Matt

Sure can do Matt

[Ian Thomson]

Hi Herr, H.L. is an abbreviation for Heeresleitung, or Army High Command, but whether thats true on ID disks I dont know. Matts the expert he`ll keep you right.


Cheers
Ian

[Matt L]

Hi Herr,

That's an interesting disc- I've only ever seen one other like it, and only possible identifications for the markings were given.

Ian's suggestion of 'Heeresleitung' was indeed mentioned, however, as I too thought from the beginning, the number 4126 is VERY high for a unit number, so that it's pretty unlikely this is what it is.

The other possibility that's been suggested is that the 'HL' stands for 'Mobilisierungs-Haupt-Liste' - Mobilization Master List- and the number simply the 4126th unit on the list. But why then isn't the marking 'MHL' if this is true? Interestingly, the other specimen of this disc type has the number 4129, and the fact that they're so close suggests to me that there's something else involved here... but what that is eludes me at the moment.

Unfortunately, there are a number of 'coded' disc types that remain unknown at present, and this is one of them.

Did Detlev give any idea of the meaning of the markings? What made you decide to get this particular one?

Matt

[herr]

Hello Matt

I picked that one just randomly, this is my first one and only a few were on Detlev's site.
So I just took this one, not thinking about it.

Still need to ask Detlev, thought it to be a one of a million kind of discs.

Why would they be coded ?

Were these coded discs issued to any army branch ?

I will ask Detlev and post his response here.

Thanks Matt !

Herr

[Matt L]

Hi Herr,

I'm curious what Detlev will have to say- although it won't surprise me if he doesn't know what the markings mean either.

As for why your disc might be coded, well that's a difficult question to answer. The main reason, of course, would be a desire not to give the enemy any information about which units are in a specific area should he capture someone. An example would be Luftwaffe flying units and the Fallschirmjäger- they wore coded discs possibly because they had a much greater chance of being captured on normal operations. This idea holds up because none of the other sub-branches of the Luftwaffe, whose personnel weren't in as constant danger of capture, like the Flak or even the Luftwaffe Feld-Divisionen, used coded discs.

It also be service-related in that it was a decision made by individual services for their own reasons; I'm told that Customs Service personnel wore coded discs much like those of the Luftwaffe (simple number codes). Why this was is anyone's guess- the 'danger-of-capture' certainly doesn't appear to apply. Other types of coded discs include those that simply have a Roman Numeral and serial number- possibly indicating a Wehrkreis or Luftgau- and yours, which are unknown.

I'm not aware of any known use of coded discs by the Heer, although it certainly cannot be said for sure that they didn't use them because of the fact that there are unknown types.

I wish I could tell you more.

Matt

[Chris Stewart]

If I may suggest an alternate possibility:

Page 70, Hoidal - Hafen Lippspringe (H.L.?)

I would suggest that this tag is NOT a "coded" tag, like that of various Luftwaffe branches - H.L. stands for something.

[Matt L]

[QUOTE=Chris Stewart]If I may suggest an alternate possibility:

Page 70, Hoidal - Hafen Lippspringe (H.L.?)QUOTE]

Except that the disc pictured is E Hafen Lippspringe referring to an Einsatzhafen- there's no 'E' on Herr's disc...

A suggestion that was made on a German forum is that it could stand for Heimat-Lazarett; given the high numbers associated with some Lazarett discs, this makes the most sense to me...

Matt

[herr]

hi all

thanks all for ur answers guys, it still is a bit of a mistery though, I guess we might never know for sure, do have some possibilities.

Thanks all !

Herr

[miraul]

about Hoidal- in his book are many mistake(like nr 188 l.mst.a. 04005 S-in hoidal S is seelowe) s is I-XII XIV and XVI personal korps) moreover in his book are few false dog tags.

regards

[Chris Stewart]

Agreed Miraul, but I don't think the example I gave falls into this category.

Chris

about Hoidal- in his book are many mistake(like nr 188 l.mst.a. 04005 S-in hoidal S is seelowe) s is I-XII XIV and XVI personal korps) moreover in his book are few false dog tags.

regards