Deutsches Rotes Kreuz Sanitätstasche

[bittaker]

It is as seen marked Babelsberg and 33. I think the inner back panels have been removed or never were there?! Why are the pouches marked with numbers? I have tried to find info. on that issue, but i haven`t managed to find answers. So if anyone can help me I would be grateful.
Was Babelsberg a central camp for the DRK started by the Prussian state in the middle/late 1890`s? And later supplying whole of Germany with medical aid?
Stig

[HPL2008]

It is as seen marked Babelsberg and 33. I think the inner back panels have been removed or never were there?! Why are the pouches marked with numbers? I have tried to find info. on that issue, but i haven`t managed to find answers. So if anyone can help me I would be grateful.
Was Babelsberg a central camp for the DRK started by the Prussian state in the middle/late 1890`s? And later supplying whole of Germany with medical aid?

Basically, yes (all of the German Red Cross,that is):

"As early as 1896, Potsdam comes into play. The Prussian State Association of the German Red Cross needs a location for a central depot. Neu-Babelsberg has space enough, and there is a railway station - today, the Griebnitzssee Station - with a handy loading dock. In the area between the urban train line, the Drewitz railway line and the Stahnsdorfer Straße, warehouses with modern logistics, an administrative building, a printshop and a smithy are built, in 1940 even a vehicle depot for a mobile hospital that is kept on call. Soon, all of Germany is being supplied with everything that is needed for emergency missions - from bandages to stretchers - with uniforms and all printed matters of the German Red Cross."

(The above text is an excerpt from this article, translation by me: http://www.pnn.de/potsdam/1076629/ )

As for the number "33": A quick Google search tells me that these bags come with a wide range of different numbers (at least from the tens through the sixties), so "33" is clearly not the year of manufacture.

If I had to make a guess, I would say that the markings simply served to identifiy individual bags, so as to keep track of inventory, routine contents checks etc.

Thinking back to my own time in the German Red Cross, substantial numbers of these bags (and they really didn't look much different in the nineties) were kept in store at the station. During public events for which the GRC rendered medical services and for field exercises, they were handed out to the personnel on duty and then turned in again, to be checked, refilled (if needed) and put back in storage. Having the bags individually numbered and keeping a list of issued bags and their recipients would come in handy to see at a glance who hadn't yet returned their bag or had failed to report spent contents etc.

[bittaker]

Hi Andreas. I am not sure how to respond to this reply other than say a BIG thank you!!! Nice to see that my humble contributions to this forum are appreciated. I will check out that article to learn more.
Stig