Dog tags

USN

Well-known member
Good evening gentlemen,

I acquired these a while ago with a collection and am just now getting around to posting them, these are also the first complete dog tags I've ever acquired. The first one belonging to Fritz Weihsenborn originally of JR 73 and then at some point transferred to JR63, and RJR 272, the second one belonged to a Friedrich Kroll of IR 26 and then eventually to RIR 263. I find it interesting how much information these tags have to include their home address also that the 2nd one while broken still has the original string on it. It would be interesting to know if both of these men survived the war. I hope everyone enjoys

Thank you,
USN

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Hi,
Fritz is missed since the summer of 1918. The name is Weißenborn in the Verlustlisten, but this is probably the same guy from Hannover, born on a 14.1. Such mistakes in names on dogtags are common:


I do not find a Friedrich Kroll from Dodendorf / Wanzleben in the VL, so this guy may have survived without have been wounded.

Philippe
;)
Its unfortunate that I have his tag in one whole piece then, if he's missing this would partially be the reason why. I wonder when it was removed from his body?
 
Hi,
Fritz is missed since the summer of 1918. The name is Weißenborn in the Verlustlisten, but this is probably the same guy from Hannover, born on a 14.1. Such mistakes in names on dogtags are common:


I do not find a Friedrich Kroll from Dodendorf / Wanzleben in the VL, so this guy may have survived without have been wounded.

Philippe
;)
However thank you for finding this information!
 
The 82nd reserve division which included RJR 272 fought on the eastern front until December 1917 when it was sent back to the western front this is likely when Fritz was assigned to them the was the start of the fighting in the trenches and against various Allied attacks until the end of the war. Allied intelligence rated the division as third class so its likely that Fritz survived the major battles of JR 63 such as the fighting at the Somme and Caporetto only to be MIA in what was likely a small skirmish. An unfortunate end for someone who was likely an experienced soldier.
 
Hi again,

Yes, we can now be sure that this is this guy.
Bothfeld is a north suburb of the city of Hannover. And there is still there a Burgwedeler Straße.

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And I have found the guy on the site of the CICR of german POW (same ID number as on the dogtag: 970. And same unit: RJR272). He seems to have survived ans has been taken prisonner. There were so much german prisonners at the end of the war, that the big majority of them has not been rectified in later publications of the Verlustlisten, because the war was over and most of POW went back home soon...

Philippe
;)

bothfeld1.jpg
 
Hi again,

Yes, we can now be sure that this is this guy.
Bothfeld is a north suburb of the city of Hannover. And there is still there a Burgwedeler Straße.

View attachment 19741

And I have found the guy on the site of the CICR of german POW (same ID number as on the dogtag: 970. And same unit: RJR272). He seems to have survived ans has been taken prisonner. There were so much german prisonners at the end of the war, that the big majority of them has not been rectified in later publications of the Verlustlisten, because the war was over and most of POW went back home soon...

Philippe
;)
Now that is excellent news, I was worried this was the possibly the product of black market militaria dealers mishandling remains. I need to polish my german and get better at using these archives so I can do in depth research on my own. Did the archives have anything else on these men? This card looks like it would be the back of a photo or post card.
 
I just red the Regimentsgeschichte of the RJR272. Because the publication of Fritzs missing is July 1918, so we can admit that the related facts happened May or June 1918.
The RJR272 book tells us, that this unit was at this time near Cantigny, in the Somme. On the other side were US troops. On the 28 May 1918, the Us soldiers made an attack on the german lines hold by the III/RJR72. Fritzs 9th company was part of this third bataillon. At the end of the day, US troups took Cantigny as 580 prisonners of the III/RJR272. The "A.K" on the card of the CICR is the symbol for US captivity.


Philippe
;)
 
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