A Prisoner of War.

Above: With grateful thanks to Bob from Virginia, USA we begin this brief examination into the US Armys mechanics of administering prisoners of war during WW2. This is an original record card to a German Engineer who was taken prisoner in North Africa. This is part of a three page form that each prisoner was required to complete. It included his personal and medical history, fingerprints, serial numbers and details of his unit and capture. This became the prisoners personal record and a copy was forwarded to the Red Cross so that his family could be informed of his welfare. 

Axis prisoners of war were assigned individual serial numbers upon capture, these numbers were then used throughout their time of internment. Prisoners would receive a US Army style dog tag with their details and POW serial number upon it.

The first row of the tag would record the owners surname, christian name and sometimes an initial. The second row would record the prisoners original service rank, the third row would record the US command in the appropriate theatre of operations that the prisoner was caught in, the prisoners nationality, an individual prisoner of war number assigned consecutively to each prisoner captured in the US command theatre, then a letter code (which has yet to be determined but might refer to Heer? see below).

Below are some examples found in Italy. The third tag down is a rare exception as it clearly does not follow the pattern for a prisoner, but in fact shows an Italian national who is cooperating under the US Army, perhaps acting as a translator. Such a job was extremely important as native speakers were in short supply both in the theatre of operations and at home. 

The table below lists the area command code that was stamped onto the tag and the US Army Theatre Command that it refers to.

Nationality codes:

By using the Command Area and Nationality codes we can decipher these tags. In the example below the tag was recovered in Germany, but the former prisoner had traveled a lot further.

Name: Kawentel Otto

Rank: Gefreiter

Captured in North African theatre (81)*

Nationality: Spanish (As you can see here and in the first example from the Italian finds, the fact that former Spanish nationals fought in the German Army should not be seen as unusual).

Prisoner of War number: 153294 (Kawentel was therefore the 153,294th prisoner to be processed in the North African or Mediterranean Theatre of Operations).

H: As yet there is no definitive answer to the meaning of this letter code, although it could refer to either Heer (Army) or Helfer (Helper).

*N.B. The Americans initially listed number 81 as defining the North African Theatre of Operations. Clearly this later extended to include Italy and should therefore be borne in mind when encountering PW tags coded with number 81.

In the case of prisoners of war who were transferred to the USA without having been processed by the capturing command, they were processed by the Service Command to which they were first delivered.

The coding for such prisoners consisted of a letter code, corresponding to the Service Command that received them (ranging from 1-9 inclusive), the second symbol was a "W" which stood for War Department and showed the prisoner has not been processed by the capturing Command. The third symbol was the initial letter of the prisoners nationality (see Nationality codes above).

Therefore the first German prisoner processed in 2 Service Command would have a code: 2WG-1.

The tenth prisoner processed in the same Service Command of Italian nationality would have the code: 2WI-10.

Fortunately, to illustrate this type of tag marking we are able to display the tag above that was unearthed on the site of a former RAF airfield in England. The detectorist who found it, Steve T, is chairman of a Relic Retrieval and Preservation Group (RRPG). The item was not familiar to him, until we were able to give him the answer.

Josef Scheib had not been processed in his Theatre of capture but had indeed been shipped directly across the Atlantic and processed through NW Command:

8 denotes the NW Command, most likely being Canada.

W = Denoting that he was processed by Theatre Command.

G = That he was of German nationality.

70424 = That he was the 70, 424 POW to be so processed by NW Command.

Even though so many decades have passed and the prisoners have returned home the evidence of their time in captivity still comes to light. We are indebted to another UK metal detectorist, Andrew who has located these items on the site of a former camp in England.

Above left: Three broken German identity discs. They are from top;

Flak Ersatz Abteilung 99: This unit formed on 26th August 1939 in Rust-Oggau in Austria with 1-5 Batteries. In 1941 the unit was converted to Leichte Flak Ersatz Abteilung 99. (The owner of this tag was therefore inducted into the unit in 1941). In 1942 it was moved to Pardubitz. The unit was disbanded in late 1944 and it is likely that the owner was taken prisoner during this time, September/October 1944 in the Low Countries.

15 Ersatz Ln. Rgt 3: Believed to belong to part of Luftnachrichten Regiment 3 "Legion Condor". The 15/Ln Rgt 3 was reformed in 1942 and from 1st July 1943 came under the command of Stab III. In October 1944 15/Ln Rgt 3 became 2./Ln. Abt. 350* It is therefore highly probable that the owner of this tag was caught in France in the Summer of 1944.

*This unit was formed in Potsdam, Germany .

Stamm Kp 1/134: The Depot Company of the 1st Battalion of the 134th Infantry Division. This unit was a veteran of the vicious fighting on the Eastern Front. It was initially mobilised on 26th August 1939 in Strebersdorf, North East of Vienna, Austria. On 28th December 1939 the unit was given the name of Stamm Kompanie 1/134. So it is just possible that the owner of this tag was an Austrian, rather than a German soldier.

Above Right: Further camp discoveries, including a Kriegsmarine disc, of early manufacture, as it is named to one Simon Sojer rather than the later "Kriegsmarine" type. There is also a tag from a former German Paratrooper of 1st Kompanie, 1st FJ Division. Bau Battalion Landeck was an engineer Battalion, originally raised in Austria! Perhaps one can see a pattern emerging here? The buttons are from Luftwaffe, Heer and also Kriegsmarine, with the customary fouled anchor motif.

Above: The worn and rotted coin on the left was at one time a German 5 Pfenning!

Above inset: This is a belt hook from a German tunic. In the main photo above you can see how these were fitted into the rear of the tunic and helped to support the leather belt!

Above: From the site of other POW camp facilities in England, Heer and later Kriegsmarine identity tag and a rare DAF (Deutsches Arbeits Front) badge. The DAF were the precursor to the National Socialists and so this badge, (a civil award and not sanctioned to be worn on service dress) dates from the early 1930's and is thus quite an unusual find in a prisoner of war camp!

For a prisoner to be able to contact relatives and inform them of their state was crucial. Above are two such examples of POW post. Firstly an Unterofficer, still incarcerated in an English camp in February 1947 had family in the USA! It is also worth noting that his POW number does not follow the same pattern as those applied by the US Army. Secondly another POW postcard from Camp 23, the location of an audacious mass escape plan in December 1944. This card dates from April 1945, by which time the ringleaders of the escape as well as the defendants in a murder plot had been moved to Camp 21 in Scotland!

We conclude this display of exhibits with a few from "the other side of the fence". Below: Firstly a relic half tag that has caused some discussion, without being entirely resolved. On one side it has been over stamped, but it would appear to read as Stammrollnummer 31, UKR A? TK 55? (This belonged to a soldier of Aufklarungs (Reconnaissance) detachment of the 1st Ukrainian Cossack Division which fought alongside the Germans). In the second photograph you can see the reverse of the same tag which clearly has CCCP 2163 stamped. There is some speculation that the British marked the tag in this way, as in 1945 the Cossacks, who had surrendered to the British Army in Austria were then returned to the Soviet Union, along with their families. The retribution meted out by the Russians has long been the subject of some debate. As the provenance of this particular item cannot be verified it is subject to further research.

In the middle below is a broken tag that bears the legend Frontstammlager 102. This was a German prisoner of war camp that was located in Lille, France from October-December 1940. We believe that it housed mainly French prisoners captured during the battle of France.

Finally another POW tag from Stalag 344. This was based at Lamdorf and housed prisoners from the Eastern front.   

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