Article about: As requested by a couple of members, here are a few interesting discs from my own collection. 11./ J.R. 236- 11. Kompanie Infanterie-Regiment 236 (11th company, infantry regiment 236)- a fie
As requested by a couple of members, here are a few interesting discs from my own collection.
11./ J.R. 236- 11. Kompanie Infanterie-Regiment 236 (11th company, infantry regiment 236)- a field unit-marked disc likely issued to a man who was already serving in the Wehrmacht prior to the outbreak of war; note that there's another disc from this same Regiment, but from the 2. Kompanie and the stamps do not match- this is a good illustration of how even different Kompanien in the same unit can be different and that only discs from the exact same unit can sometimes be the only comparison that's valid.
13. (MW) JR 41- 13. (Minenwerfer) Kompanie Infanterie-Regiment 41 (13th mortar company, infantry regiment 41)- the 13. Kompanie was the heavy weapons Kompanie- usually denoted as the Infanterie-Geschütz (infantry gun- usually a 7,5cm howitzer type weapon) Kompanie, but in this case it was mortars.
2./ Inf. Ers. Btl. 208- 2. Kompanie Infanterie-Ersatz-Bataillon 208 (2nd company, infantry replacement battalion 208)- a rare complete disc retaining it's original Halsschur (neck cord) and a personal pouch/purse; not an issue item, but something that some soldiers added to keep small things and perhaps money safe. These vary widely in design since they were private-purchase items. In some cases there are also just simple leather 'envelopes' that the disc sits in and could contain a few small objects in addition.
2./ PZ. ABW. ABT. 181- 2. Kompanie Panzer-Abwehr-Abteilung 181 (2nd company, tank defense detachment 181)- another pre-war serving soldier disc that is rare because of the unit designation- the original title for anti-tank units was 'Panzer-Abwehr' (tank defense), which likely didn't seem aggressive enough, and was changed in mid-1940 to 'Panzerjäger' (tank hunter). So the term wasn't used for terribly long. The disc is also interesting in that it's one of the uncommon types that has one half marked on one side and the other half on the other side. The vast majority of discs weren't even rotated let alone flipped and rotated and both sides are marked the same way up.
2. Rcit. Ers. Rgt. 1 - 2. Reiter-Ersatz-Regiment 1 (2nd troop, rider replacement regiment 1)- a cavalry-type infantry unit (they didn't really ride horses in battle though)- interesting because it's a pretty uncommon unit type, but also because it illustrates that sometimes alternate letters were used if the real one was missing or broken or whatever- here the stamper used a 'c' for an 'e'.
2. Schw-Flak-Ers-Abt 9 (Trop)- 2. Batterie schwere-Flak-Ersatz-Abteilung 9 (Tropischen) (2nd battery, heavy antiaircraft replacement detachment 9)- interesting because it's specifically a unit trained to fight in tropical conditions.
3. BATTR. SCHW. FLAK ERS. ABT. 11- 3. Batterie schwere-Flak-Ersatz-Abteilung 11 (3rd battery, heavy antiaircraft replacement detachment 11)- this disc is one of the very uncommon forms that has the unit text on one side of each half and the Stammrollennummer (roster number) and blood group on the other, flipped and rotated for each side. It's also less-common to see 'Battr.' actually written out.
6./ G. J. Ers. Rgt. 136- 6. Gebirgs-Jäger- Ersatz-Regiment 136 (6th company, mountain troops replacement regiment 136)- Gebirgsjäger discs are pretty uncommon in their own right, but this one's not just an Ersatz-Bataillon, which is the most common replacement unit type, but it's an Ersatz-Regiment, which is far less common still. Plus it's in excellent condition and demonstrates well how most of the time the blood group letter will look quite different, because it's done at a different time than the main unit text and by a different person with a different stamp set. Unlike the stamps used for the unit text, there did exist an issue set of blood group letters, although it wasn't extensively issued- and because of this it's only ever not a worry to see identical blood group letters on two differen units' discs- this 'A', for example, is from a standard set as the identical form can be seen on other discs- even some I have.
This disc was clearly worn for a very long time, judging by the deep grooves left in the zinc by the Halsschnur (neck cord); it even takes rather a long time to wear down aluminum, which is soft, but zinc being harder takes even longer. Note how the wear is smooth- fakers will sometimes add this detail believing it'll fool people, but they usually do it roughly so there are sharp edges, which doesn't look right.
9./ PZ. LEHR RGT.- 9. Kompanie Panzer-Lehr-Regiment (9th company armor demonstration regiment)- a very, very rare unit- definitely original as I know the guy who found it and why even in such rough condition it's a desirable piece; it's the only original I've ever seen. It was found in an area with many other whole and broken discs where it's known many German soldiers surrendered at the end of the war so likely its owner simply threw it away. Being a low number from a pre-war unit (the Panzer-Lehr-Regiment was created on 15. 4. 1939), this man must have survived the entire war...
Unfortunately the 'SS Waffen' is surely fake- it's backwards The disc is probably real- the front text is perfectly normal, but someone added the back marking to try to increase its value.
I'm afraid that one's not right either- it's contradictory; Infanterie and Grenadier are the same thing- Infanterie was the original term, and it was changed to Grenadier in 1942. They don't go together. Plus the text itself doesn't make sense- it'd have to be SS-Grenadier-Ausbiludngs und-Ersatz-Bataillon if anything. An Abteilung was a specific unit type for Panzers, Artillerie and a few others- there was no such thing as an Infanterie or Grendaier Abteilung.
Hey Matt, been a while, hope all is well. I was wondering around and found your GJER 136 thread so thought you may like to see what I dug up today. I tried out a larger search coil in an area that I'd been in before and up came this tag.
Unfortunately it's broken in three parts but I've mounted it on a card frame and rubbed in some chalk. All the best bud.
That's cool Andy- shows yet again that even different Kompanien in the same Regiment could have different a font on their discs; in this case they even differ in the exact marking of the unit title.
True bud, it's a minefield for the collector. If I don't dig it up, I rarely trust it! Did you see the broken quarter of an SS tag I dug the other day? It's on one of the other threads talking about SS fonts etc. I was really happy to find it because it proved that at least one SS man was in this camp. Have you ever been tempted to hunt down POW camps in Canada? I did say to my good friend Bobbi Style from Vancouver that if I ever came over to see him I'd bring my detector! Thanks for all your comments and advice, you're one hell of an asset to the hobby.
A few of my discs...
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The disc is probably real- the front text is perfectly normal, but someone added the back marking to try to increase its value.
"In all my years as a soldier, I have never seen men fight so hard." - SS Obergruppenfuhrer Wilhelm Bittrich - Arnhem
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