Aufkl Ers Abt 2. ?

[zundappuk]

I need some help to identify a unit.

A dog tag has been found (not by me) from Aufkl Ers Abt 2. (Aufklärungs-Ersatz-Abteilung 2.) It was found in the area that the 277 VGD occupied on the 16th December 1944 and the base for their attack as a vanguard for the 2nd SS attack on Rocherath/Krinkelt.

Any help would be appreciated.

David

[Eike41]

David,

A picture of the tag would be helpful. Here is the unit in the lexicon:
Aufklärungs-Ersatz-Abteilung 2 - Lexikon der Wehrmacht
But it seems you have already identified the Unit so maybe you would like help with something else?

[zundappuk]

Apologies, on reflection my post is a little confusing. yes the unit info is very clear. What I would like to do is find out more about this unit, certainly more than is in the Lexicon.

Thanks for the reply/any help/

Best

David

[Matt L]

Well David, there isn't anything more to know than what's in the Lexikon- it's a replacement unit, not a field unit, so there is only where it was stationed, and a bit about its makeup, changes in structure, etc. The Lexikon usually notes which field units a particular replacement unit supplied, so you'll have to try checking those to see if any fits with the location you have- that will at least give you a possible history.

[zundappuk]

Well David, there isn't anything more to know than what's in the Lexikon- it's a replacement unit, not a field unit, so there is only where it was stationed, and a bit about its makeup, changes in structure, etc. The Lexikon usually notes which field units a particular replacement unit supplied, so you'll have to try checking those to see if any fits with the location you have- that will at least give you a possible history.

Thanks, this sort of info is new to me, so I am feeling my way around.

David

[AZPhil]

Thanks for that Lexikon link. Very interesting! It just got added to my Fav's!
Semper Fi
Phil

[Matt L]

Thanks, this sort of info is new to me, so I am feeling my way around.

David

Ah, okay; in the German system, there were several thousand replacement units of all sorts that local men would join or be conscripted into where they'd receive basic training and sometimes some specialist training, before either going for further training somewhere else or being posted to field units- on paper, one that's associated with the replacement unit, although wartime needs meant this wasn't always so. There could be many possible field units a soldier might go to, and of course men were transferred too. And the whole time, ideally, he'd carry the same disc from his original replacement unit- that's where his original record was kept. So a disc doesn't necessarily provide a service history from its marking- there are often times where transfers make it impossible to work out.

[zundappuk]

Matt,

Thanks for the overview. What has suprised me is that the disc was been found in an area that I would not expect someone from that "feeder unit" to go to. It was found in an area occupied by the 277 VGD in Dec 1944 near Hollerath Germany.

Best

David

[Matt L]

Well there's no listing anywhere of just which field units they supplied, so it's not really surprising or unsurprising that this man was there- the most we know is he joined up after 1. April, 1943, which is when the unit got that particular desgination.

Annoyingly Aufklärungs-Abteilung 2 wasn't supplied by Aufkl. Ers. Abt. 2 (sometimes the numbers of the replacement and associated field unit are the same), so the only way to possibly find anything would be to look at all the listings for the field recon units; but just a quick look shows many are very short and don't mention the replacement unit that supplied them, so you may never know. And there's no reason he would have necessarily gone to a recon unit- a regular Grenadier unit might have desperately needed men and got him...