Identification question

[Mike Swan]

Is it possible to identify a soldier from the number "5298" painted under the rim of an army M42 helmet?

Mike

[bsmith56]

No, definitely not. Do you have a picture of said marking? I'm not sure what type of 4 digit ID mark a soldier would have painted inside the rim... Generally there is a name, unit number, or feldpost number (which would require 5 digits) painted in the rim.

[Aiceman]

If this number is the "erkennungsnummer" and if I know good, the erkennungsnummern from 4801-5300 added to SS Division "Das Reich"
(f. Fla.-MG-Bataillon) in 1941.

[Admiraal]

No its not possible.
The number could be anything.. his Soldbuch number, EKM number, etc.

Every unit started their EKM and Soldbuch number count at 1.
So any unit could have had an EKM or Soldbuch with number 5298.

The German EKM (dog-tag) system worked differend then the US one.
The US dog-tags have a unique number for every soldier.
The German EKM has a unit and a separate number stamped on it.
Both the unit and number are not unique, but the combination of the 2 together is unique.

[Mike Swan]

Thanks for all the opinions. Looks like I'm out of luck.

Brandon, here's the marking.

Mike.