Construction and Stamping:
Tags were made of several materials, depending on what period of the war they were issued and who issued them.� The earliest tags were made of aluminum, and this material appears to have been common until perhaps 1941 or 1942, when zinc began to become more common.� Zinc remained the material of choice until war's end, even though steel superseded it in some high-volume replacement units during the late summer and fall of 1944.� As you would expect, the use of various materials saw considerable overlapping, with some aluminum tags being issued as late as 1943, especially amongst specialist replacement units or field outfits which would not issue enough tags to have to replace their stocks with tags of a newer material.
The actual shape of the tags also varied, with the oval shape ranging from almost round to almost pointed.� One late-war field-unit tag from�Gebirgs Artillerie Regt. 1057�has a series of holes in lieu of the typical three long slots to aid in breaking the tag in half.
There are two variations in the orientation of the stampings, depending on who issued the tag.� For some reason,�Ersatzunits and many "zone of the interior" units usually stamped their tags so that the bottom of the inscription of each half faced the axial perforations.� In other words, no matter which way you look at one of these tags, one of the inscriptions will be right-side-up and the other will be upside-down.� Field units generally stamped their tags so that both inscriptions are right-side-up when the tag is held with the two neck-cord suspension holes are at the top.� These orientations are not rules, however, they are�tendencies; there are sure to be exceptions!
The actual type of stamping also varied.� A few tags are stamped completely in capital letters, but most are stamped in a combination of capitals & lower case letters.� The earlier tags also tended to use larger-sized letters.� Some tags used scribed-in guide lines to help stamp the letters in a straight line, and some do not.� One tag examined still bears�pencilmarks as guide lines.
According to Wehrmacht regulations, the actualstamping was carried out in a unit's�Waffenmeisterei�(ordnance section).� In fact, the first tag issued by�F�s.Kp.V.Gren.Div.272�(Serial #1), was worn by Heinrich Dietz, the Waffenmeister himself!
Blank tags were requisitioned via battalion from the�Bekleidungsanforderungs-Dienstwege�(clothing requests channels).
The regs also stated that the unit name be stamped�above�the serial number, but the shape of the tag leaves more room at the center of the tag for the long unit names; it seems that it was more common to stamp the number�above�the unit name, especially in the "mirrored" inscriptions of the�Ersatz�unit tags.
The addition of a blood-type stamp appears to have been a mid-war development, and may have been done by the field units themselves.� Army dogtag regulations of September, 1942, make no mention of blood-type stamps, so they are presumably of a later date.� In addition, close examination of a number of dogtags from FK272 show markings made by the�same stamp, even though the tags originated from different Ersatz units!� This would indicate that the blood-type letters on these tags were stamped by FK272 when the soldiers arrived.� Late-war tags without blood-type letters on them may have belonged to soldiers who were not yet assigned to a front-line unit or they may have been souvenired from stocks of unissued tags.
If a man was discharged, the regulations specified that his tag was to be turned in and the inscription struck out so that it could not be reused.� The defaced tag was then turned in for scrap.
The regulations also stated that alterations were never to be made to any tag.� The tag illustrated as example 2, below, shows that this regulation was no more sacred than any other.� Altered tags are rare, however.
Maybe we should create a document about the different fonts that they used on the Erkennungsmarken....
I found a site called Der Erste Zug which has lots of info on Erkennungsmarken. Here is a part of their info on Erkennungsmarken (source Der Erste Zug):
Last edited by Panzerfaust; 09/06/2014 06:12 PM.
