ID tag SS Norge Rgt. 23

[Wartime Militaria]

Hello guys, can anyone help me with my ID tag? Thank you

[Matt L]

Help you... authenticate it? Myself, I have doubts it's real; when I first saw it I was sure I'd seen that font before- the fairly unique form of the letter 'g' is quite recognizable, however I seem not to have saved any examples in my 'fakes' file so unfortunately I can't demonstrate it. I do have images of two fakes from the same Regiment, so it's definitely a disc that is faked a good deal- mainly because real Norge pieces are extremely rare and very sought-after by Norweigan collectors especially. It also has the issue of lacking a basic unit type- my references say it was SS-Panzergrenaider-Regiment 23 Norge; I found no 'SS-Regiment' that had a number- they only have names, e.g., SS-Regiment-Nordland. That would seem to be a fatal flaw unless there's some obscure listing someplace that shows the unit didn't have the 'Panzergrenadier' part of its title right at the beginning or something.

[Paul D]

Original Norge tag

[Wartime Militaria]

Hello Matt and thank you for your help.

Please at first - do not judge this ID that it is rare so it is immediately a fake. In Czech republic soldiers from whole eastern front threw away everything from every unit.

So..

It was exchanged with my friend (he does not have the internet, does not know prices, he just diggs on escaping routes in czech republic)
and he said it is a real one- however I did a little search and there was more of this units in Norge

[Matt L]

Oh I didn't- you're perhaps misunderstanding what I wrote; I mentioned the rarity as an explanation of why it is obviously faked a good deal, not that this one is likely fake because real ones are very rare; they're not the same thing. Notice I pointed out a number of other issues, the lack of 'Panzergrendier' being a pretty significant one- one that's potentially a killer...

So your friend dug this up himself? I too have a friend who digs in the Czech Republic and he asks me all the time about discs claimed dug up by others and there are lots of fakes- either people aren't being entirely honest, or fakers are 'seeding' areas to legitimize their junk because someone trustworthy can say he dug it up personally...

And unfortuntely, according to the reference I have, Paul, that's not the same unit- SS-Panzergrenadier-Regiment Norge was redesignated SS-Panzergrenadier-Regiment 23 Norge on 22.10.1943, and since yours appears to be a single-stamp text, they'd clearly have had to switch to a new stamp or single letters for the new title.

[Wartime Militaria]

I pressume it is an early disk. I read on the internet Norge was renamed after some time. By the number it must be early recruit for sure.

And about switching the tags- ask your friend what various combination can be found in the ground. No matter orders.

I hope someone can clarify that. I will sleep much better

[Matt L]

Well no, it's not an early disc- as I wrote, SS-Panzergrenadier-Regiment Norge was renamed SS-Panzergrenadier-Regiment 23 Norge (only a number was added)- so there were already men in the unit; that means any new discs would have higher numbers. I just found an image I have of the same kind of disc Paul posted and it has the number 606- so any real one from the later name should be even higher than 606; that's one more reason yours is likely fake. Yet another is that these earlier unit discs are Regimental and yours is by Kompanie; normally individual Kompanien did keep their own rolls, but on occasion it was the Regiment or even a Division- clearly here Norge had a Regiment-level roll, so yours being from a Kompanie doesn't fit. It's not impossible that when they added the '23' to their title, they changed the system, but it's highly unlikely.

Sorry but the incorrect name, roll confusion, and other issues just say this disc isn't real unless you can find some explanations that prove 'Panzergrenadier' shouldn't be there in the unit title despite it being their previously (before they got the number 23), and that the unit switched to a Kompanie roll after the '23' was added to their title AND that they started again from zero.

And I'm afraid I don't know what you mean about switching tags and such...

[Paul D]

Matt the tag i posted is 1000 % original to the Norge Regiment !!

[Matt L]

Yes, I know- I didn't say it wasn't LOL I said that the title changed to add the '23' so the discs the unit issued should also have changed; so that earlier one doesn't tell us anything about the later version in question...

[Paul D]

Yes, I know- I didn't say it wasn't LOL I said that the title changed to add the '23' so the discs the unit issued should also have changed; so that earlier one doesn't tell us anything about the later version in question...

Oh right sorry mate i misunderstood !!