Jnf Ers Btl 173, the real deal?

[Paul D]

Infanterie-Ersatz-Bataillon 171 - Lexikon der Wehrmacht

Regards

Paul

[slados28]

Infanterie-Ersatz-Bataillon 171 - Lexikon der Wehrmacht

Regards

Paul

Thank you, Paul! Unfortunately my german isn't all that strong, google translate kind of jumbles it up a bit etc. so.. could you or anyone else possibly explain a possible scenario for how this batallion, or simply a soldier from this particular batallion, ended up in what was to become the "Kessel" in Stalingrad?

[Matt L]

There doesn't seem to be one- this is a replacement bataillon, not a field bataillon so it supplied troops to various field units, but none of those listed appears to have been at Stalingrad. They're only 'usual' associations and clearly wartime necessity would sometimes have men sent to whatever units really needed soldiers, which is probably what happened here. Or he may have gone somewhere for further training- the 4. was the MG Kompanie, so he wasn't just a plain rifleman- and then to one of their associated field units. He could also have been transferred from his first unit to one that went to Stalingrad- there's no way to know.

[slados28]

Excellent stuff, Matt....thanks! just needed to get some kind of a grip on its history. Even though these aren't all that rare and this being a replacement btl. and all I still think it's a cool piece of history....it was found in the southern suburbs of Volgograd, the area between the Volgograd-2 railway station and Yelshanka.... straight from the digger.
It's my first one and I'm loving it, the next one will have to be from a proper field-unit stationed in Stalingrad

[Matt L]

Oh for sure- I agree fully For future reference, you don't need to read German or even really translate much to do unit research of the basic type you're looking at- just look at the bottom of the IEB171 page Paul mentioned and you'll see various Regimenter- field units- that are those IEB171 usually supplied; click on each one in turn and look for place names and dates- if necessary go to the Division mentioned and it will have a sizable where and when table showing all of its field actions. So you don't necessarily need a field unit disc, you just need to check the listing for Ersatz units to find one that you can clearly trace. Since virtually every soldier who entered the military after the war began carried an Ersatz unit disc, there are far, far more of them than pre-war field unit discs.

[slados28]

Thanks again, Matt...learning something new every day

[Paul D]

There is a connection between this unit and the 94 ID which fought at Stalingrad , in September 1942 they were involved in heavy fighting around the famous Getriede Silo ( Grain Elevator ) and the area near the Tsaritsa Gorge and the GPU Womens prison eventually reaching the banks of the Volga just south of the City centre . They then moved up to the Factory district, due to the location of the finding of the tag it will probably be from the September fighting,

cheers

Paul

[Paul D]

If you are interested in learning more on the 94 ID at Stalingrad there is abook called " An Infantry man in Stalingrad " by Jason Mark which realtes the diaries and accounts of Adelbert Holl an Officer with the Divisons IR 276 , it is an excellent book !!

[slados28]

Really interesting stuff...thank you so much again, Paul! If the book isn't all that hard to get a hold of I'll get myself a copy for sure...

(after reading the Amazon reviews I'm actually really pumped about this book, seems like an excellent read... can't wait)

[Matt L]

Whoops- Paul's right; not sure how I missed that. IEB 171 did supply troops to Infanterie-Regiment 267 of the 94. Infanterie-Division, and was at Stalingrad as of August 1942 as part of the 17. Armee, then the 4. Panzerarmee and then the 6. Armee proper until it's destruction in January 1943. I have Mark's books too and they are quite interesting- the work he did was phenomenal. The disc is a really nice one too- in excellent shape for a dug piece.