Erkennungsmarken, help needed

[bichon]

Hi
can you translate those EM ?
thanks for answers
cordially
Didier

[Stacez]

Hello,

Stamm Kp. Ld. Sch. Ers. Bat. I/13 = Stamm-Kompanie Landesschützen-Ersatz-Bataillon I./13 - Staff Company/ I./13 Local Defense Replacement Battalion
Landesschtzen-Ersatz-Bataillon 13 - Lexikon der Wehrmacht

B.E.B. 12 Stamkp. = Bau-Ersatz-Bataillon 12 Stamm-Kompanie - Staff Company/ 12th Construction Replacement Battalion
Bau-Ersatz-Bataillon 12 - Lexikon der Wehrmacht

...Kp. Ld. Schtz. Ers. Btl. 4 = Stamm-Kompanie/ Landesschützen-Ersatz-Bataillon 4 - Staff Company/ 4th Local Defense Replacement Battalion
Landesschtzen-Ersatz-Bataillon 4 - Lexikon der Wehrmacht

[bichon]

Hi Stacez
thanks a lot for this quick answers
cordially
Didier

[Matt L]

Note the line above the 'm' on the BEB disc- it's an indicator that the letter is doubled without actually having to mark it twice; I learned this in high school mathematics- there it's to indicate a repeat too (although an infinite one).

And don't mistake the 'staff' of the Stammkompanie, which was the unit's permanent company of trainers, administrators, etc., and the actual command company which is the 'Stabskompanie'; any soldier may be assigned to the Stammkompanie for a period (sometimes a year or more) after joining the military. It would seem to me that it wasn't usually so long because discs marked 'Stammkp.' are extremely common. Stammkompanie is more usually, and perhaps accurately, translated as 'root company' to distinguish it from the actual staff company.

[Stacez]

Matt, you've made a good explanation with differences between those two companies but I know them very well. The problem is, that for me (as non-native English speaker), sometimes is difficult to find an appropriate translation from German into English. That's the only reason I've used "staff".
Nevertheless, I've just found in my library, that the most accurate word to use for Stamm-Kompanie is either "reception" or "cadre" coy. So, I'll stick to this nomenclature next time in order to be more precise.

[Matt L]

Oh of course- my comment was for the general reader not as a correction for you Stacez, in case it sounded that way. In truth, ecause the members of the Stammkompanie were technically the staff that ran the unit, you were correct; it's just unfortunate that in English 'staff', in this case, has two meanings and thus could be misleading. I, myself, might not have known there was different staff section to an Ersatz unit had I not found a disc actually marked 'Stab./ Infanterie-Ersatz-Bataillon'- I'd have expected the staff officers to be part of the Stammkompanie.

To be honest, I still find the nature of that unit to be a bit confusing- what exactly so many brand-new soldiers would be doing in a permanent part of the Ersatz unit right from the beginning of their service I don't know- the training personnel would be soldiers with experience or at least longer service, and yet lots and lots of men were inducted right into the Stammkompanie...

[Stacez]

Matt, I’ll try to explain what exactly the Stamm-Kompanie (reception company) was. I hope I’ll get right to the point

Let’s start with some basics which are more or less known. Each infantry replacement battalion under original German replacement system (timeframe 1939 – Autumn 1942) was composed normally of reception company, four training companies and one or more convalescent and transfer companies. The primary purpose of this battalion was to receive recruits, train them, and dispatch them as replacements to the field regiments.

In October 1942 very signifant change to German replacement system had occured. All basic replacement training units were divided in two parts – one to handle induction and replacement and the second one to deal with the training.

The induction and replacement responsibilities were retained in replacement battalions, but since this moment it was concerned only with:

• receipt of recruits from the conscription offices;
• issue of their personal equipment and their paybooks;
• short military indoctrination of recruits;
• forwarding of recruits as fast as possible to its sister training unit;
• receipt of convalescents and sending them back to a field unit.

The newly created training unit bore the same number as the replacement unit and was to receive the men from the replacement unit, give them the training and then dispatch them to an affiliated field unit.

Now, we can jump into Stamm-Kompanie. This coy was consisting of new recruits and cadre personnel and its main task was exactly reception of recruits, induction procedures and forwarding them to the training unit. It means this coy was designated mainly for administrative purposes and didn't provide training at all. I think that's the reason why so many recruits went through it and why plenty of ID tags with reception coy’ stampings are being found.

I hope it helps to have more clear picture now.

[Matt L]

Oh I see, so these men were never really part of the Stammkompanie- it was just an administrative thing. I should have realized that, but I got caught up in the Kompanie always denoting just what a man began his service doing- and in this case that's not what it is at all.

The most I was ever able to find was some Soldbücher that showed men who did end up serving with their Ersatz unit's Stammkompanie for a year or more after they joined the Wehrmacht, and that further solidified my mistaken understanding of the issue- it was just bad luck that those were the ones I found I guess. Clearly some men did remain for whatever reason, but not the majority to be sure.

I always wondered too about the split- I figured it was the sheer numbers of men that necessitated it, but it wasn't just that or they'd have simply created more units; it didn't occur to me that it might have just been to separate the admininstration from the actual training (even though the titles do suggest it).

Thanks Stacez!

[GrossOpaSuchen]

Hello!
I am curious as to where you came across these dog tags or if you know where they were found. My great grandfather was a member of the Stammkompanie Landesschützen Ersatz Bataillon 1 and his dog tag number was 9053. He was last heard from on 17 November 1944 in Schneidemühl.
Any information that you could give would be sincerely appreciated.
Thank you!

[Matt L]

GrossOpaSuchen- neither of bichon's discs will really help you since they're from different units than your Grossopa's; there were nearly 20 Landesschützen-Ersatz-Bataillone. What exactly are you hoping to learn? Maybe if we know, we can suggest ways of answering your question(s)...