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WWII GERMAN POW DOGTAGS ISSUED TO AMERICANS


KASTAUFFER
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There is a big book in the national archives that is NOT digitized maintained by the US Army Provost Marshall in WWII in alphabetical order that lists all POWs and does show their POW numbers. It is not searchable by POW number.

 

Kurt  

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4 hours ago, WEAVER45 said:

Did the Germans use  a different number range for each POW camp?  For example,  Could there be a POW tag   "Stalag7A  123456" and a Stalag 3A  123456"  

 

The numbers used by the Germans are not "mutually exclusive" which means some camps have ID numbers that are the same, especially in the lower number ranges.  You have to look at the camp # and POW # in combination. 

 

Kurt

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  • 3 weeks later...
4 hours ago, WEAVER45 said:

How does one tell the difference  between  a reproduction  WWII   German  POW dog tag and the real thing?

 

The link below is a company that sells reproduction  tags.

https://www.warhats.com/store/p926/WW2-German-Issued-POW-Dog-Tag.html#/

 

I just looked at that link and they DID LEAVE A TELL
FROM THE SITE
"image.png.11a8d196384f74b631ee66385c816a51.png

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The  original tag is at the top  ( photo from this thread) and the  2 reproduction tag are  shown after the first one.   What is the difference between the two? They all have "Nr: ." before the number

real one.jpg

repo 2.jpg

rep 1.jpg

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Is that one you have received from them ? as I have never dealt with them, I was only going by the info posted
on there web site ? I dont see any noticeable tells between the two

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The photos are from their website. They look the same to me. I am concerned that one could buy a tag with a number connected to someone famous and sell it for a small fortune. What is very concerning is they also age the pow tag to make it look old.

 

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The type set is different and the break line openings are rounded instead of squared.   That is all I notice at the moment.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I wanted to see what these looked like in hand so I ordered one as a possible nice FILL for a display.

I dont think its hard to notice they are "Reproduction" I guess with some additional machining
and better punch dies they could be made to fool but as they are Most can tell
Oh side note I have come to expect ALL WWII GERMAN items are Reproduction and go from there 😉

These are nice Reproductions for display
and will help bring the Display story to life a bit
NOTE the NUMBER 3 I suspect All originals use Roman Numerals not numbers
also note the saw tooth cuts in the slots/Rounded edges

I did not find his actual GERMAN NUMBER in his KU-1303 File which is the German POW File
saved and now in archive. Considering the number 1303 WAS written on the cover in red I
think its a good bet that may have been his number ?

pow1.jpg.ba851b8ba84ae9843a4e740b208faa84.jpg

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GAZOO Thanks for posting this. hopefully this will keep someone from getting burned.

I thought  all WWII  German POW Tags were Rectangle and the camp number were in Roman  Numerals,  It looks like they used these tags at one point in time.  Does any one have some other  oval POW tags that they can show.  The font looks all the same on all 4 tags

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round dog tag on ebay.jpg

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Interesting I just googled Stalag Oflag
 

"What is the difference between Stalag and Oflag?

Types of camps
In the German administered systems prisoners were divided by 'type' i.e. In German-run camps an 'Oflag' was a prisoner of war camp for officers,
a 'Stalag' was for enlisted personnel, and there were also separate camps for the navy, aircrews and civilians."

Also noticed these have NUMBERS instead of Roman Numerals so that blows my theory 🤪


 

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20 hours ago, WEAVER45 said:

For those researching  US POW dog tags there are many records on Ancestry in the British section.


That's in the paid version, other then US, correct?

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  • 3 weeks later...
carthage light guard

Unfortunately, no name with this Stalag IXB tag, but the ring came with it when I acquired it back in the 80s.  

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  • 4 weeks later...

Here is another cardboard POW dog tag from a soldier serving with the 443rd AAA BN captured 2/14/43. It is from Stalag IIIB.

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D6ED9F06-D39F-446C-A8ED-A63167309C57.jpeg

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  • 2 months later...

All great info, thanks to contributors!

 

I have just bought this POW Stalag dog tag, but have no idea how to find anything about date (which would at least tell me if British Empire POW or US) or anything else.

 

Stalag IX C

Nr. 53311

 

Info?  ideas?

 

1.jpg

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POW tag issued to Lt. Joseph F. Henchman.  He was a B-24 Co-pilot in the 721st BS/450th BG.  He was shot down on April 25, 1944 and held prisoner at Stalag Luft III.

 

 

 

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KASTAUFFER

I’d like to thank Brad (Weaver45) for ID’ing one of my Stalag IVB tags I have owned for over 20 years. It even has the original neck cord. 
 

PFC Nevel Farmer 28th Medical Bn , 28th Division captured 12/20/44

 

 

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KASTAUFFER
On 7/3/2023 at 11:13 AM, bldrhouse said:

All great info, thanks to contributors!

 

I have just bought this POW Stalag dog tag, but have no idea how to find anything about date (which would at least tell me if British Empire POW or US) or anything else.

 

Stalag IX C

Nr. 53311

 

Info?  ideas?

 

 

1.jpg


 

A number of AAF POWs went through this camp but I currently don’t have any way to look up numbers from that camp.

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Thank you. Do we have any way of corroborating Nr. with year?  That would help us know how early or late this number was issued.  If very early in the war, before the

American bombing campaign or Americans flying over European airspace, we could assume this not issued to an American?

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KASTAUFFER
12 hours ago, bldrhouse said:

Thank you. Do we have any way of corroborating Nr. with year?  That would help us know how early or late this number was issued.  If very early in the war, before the

American bombing campaign or Americans flying over European airspace, we could assume this not issued to an American?

You can make generalizations though the number and the camp based on previous experience.  Stalag Luft 3 numbers can be fairly well attributed to a time frame.  The same with Stalag IIB, IVB, VIIA , OFLAG 64 , and a few more.  I have a Stalag IXC dogtag numbered  53244 to a POW captured in May 1944.  53729 was issued to a soldier captured on 6/6/44 . those are close to the one you have. 

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