Nothng wrong with this one !!
The gates of hell were opened and we accepted the invitation to enter" 26/880 Lance Sgt, Edward Dyke. 26th Bn Northumberland Fusiliers , ( 3rd Tyneside Irish )
1st July 1916
Thought shall be the harder , heart the keener,
Courage the greater as our strength faileth.
Here lies our leader ,in the dust of his greatness.
Who leaves him now , be damned forever.
We who are old now shall not leave this Battle,
But lie at his feet , in the dust with our leader
House Carles at the Battle of Hastings
Here are some ID disc and some wound badges I brought back from the Stalingrad area in 1992....the paper was being used to id german military grave remains. There was a single German graveyard in Russia at this time and it was outside Volgograd. It was the first marked by a small birch cross, a small marble marker a few square feet and a rusty german helmet.
thats neat, wow.
Great finds!...
My dog tag from the Gumrak airfield.
This Erkennungsmarke is for the Infanterie Ersatz Bataillon 372 (Staff Company). I did some research and apaprently this unit provided soldiers for several Divisions that fought in Russia. There's no mention of Stalingrad in the "official" records however you never know why this soldier got sent there. The "regimental" number is low - 122; blood type is "O".
The unit was founded on August 27 - 1939 in Oppeln in Wehrkreis VIII.
From the Lexikon Der Wehrmacht I found the following info: your Erkennungsmarke is for the Fahr-Ersatz-Abteilung 21 which was founded on August 26 - 1939 from the existing motorized SQs 61 and 206. Again, why the Erkennungsmarke ended up in Stalingrad is a big ? for all of us.
What I did is I contacted the Bundesarchiv and the Deutsche Dienststelle (WASt) in Berlin to let them know that I found the Erkennungsmarke near the Gumrak Airfield and that there was no body with it. Maybe the soldier got back home, maybe he disappeared forever in the Russia... As for every war veteran I hope he got home safely.
Cheers
Kurland
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