Johnny

Thankyou Hardy!! I feel like a complete idiot for thinking it was Oberscharfuhrer instead of Oberschutze!! Now you you've pointed out that its Infanterie regiment Grossdeutschland I can see it. The I looked like a 3 to me so I was trying to work out what 3RGD could be! Your reply has really helped me but like you I'm still flummoxed as to what the first pic says! Thanks again johnny

[attachmentid=32784]This is the other pic.

Any ideas which units these two guys are from? I'm assuming one is SS due the the rank abbreviation Obersch. for Oberscharfuhrer. The other I'm guessing is Heer as he's an Unteroffizier. The SS unit abbreviation is a bit blurred, the Heer unit is a bit clearer. Any guesses? Johnny The second picture will appear below as there isn't enough space in this post!![attachmentid=32783]

Hi Harribobs, Thanks for your reply, its been very helpful! I didn't know he had been born in Wallingford which is only about 5 miles from where I live now, or that he'd joined up in Reading. I'm going to go to Kew to check out the battery war diary. I'm hoping, as they were the only people killed on that day from 108th Bty, they might get a mention with regard to the the circumstances, ie shelling etc. Thank you again. Johnny

I still haven't heard from the German War Graves. If I haven't heard anything in a few days I'll send off a chaser!! Johnny

Hi Harribobs, Thanks very much for all this help. My Great Uncle is shown on his grave as W C Vockins, but I believe the W stands for Walter. His service number was 74087 and he was a Gunner with 108th Battery, 23rd Brigade, Royal Field Artillery. He was killed on 2/10/1918 and is buried at Vadencourt Cemetery, Maissemy, Aisne, France. I do have one other question. He was buried next to Gunner 217558 John Clunie STOBIE and Sergeant 54895 Charles John BLACKMORE. They were also of 108th Battery and killed on the same day, 2/10/1918. They seemed to be buried together, away from the other burials. Do you know if this is just because they were from the same unit or could it imply they were manning the same gun? I don't really know anything about the protocols or procedures around military burials. I may be over-romanticising it but it struck me when I visited that there was a clear divide from the other burials in the same row. Many thanks for any help you can offer Johnny

Hi guys, My great uncle served in the 108th battery of the above when he was killed in October 1918 in Northern France. Does anyone have any info about this unit or know where I can get the information from. Any help would be much appreciated. Regards Johnny

Hi Bernhard, Thanks for your help, I appreciate it. I think I'm going to treat myself to that book as its on Amazon! Regards Johnny

Hi, Thanks very much for your help with that. A quick question though; Were the men in the Eisenbahn Kompanies in military service as we would understand it to be with Army ranks? The grave shows the rank of the deceased to be Unteroffizier. Is that still consistent with him being in an Eisenbahn Kompanie? Also is there a book/s that you know of that lists the Heer order of battle down to Regt or Battalion level, to aid with researching these kinds of things? Johnny

In an effort to resolve this I've sent an email to the German war graves organisation asking if they can clarify. I'll update you as soon as i get a reply!! Johnny

I too have seen IM on German grave stones at La Cambe in France. It was only on an isolated few which would make me think its not 'In memory of....' Also from collecting death cards it would seem that the traditional 'In memorium' type phrase used in Germany is 'Gebets Andenken' which literally translated means Prayer memory. I would also be very keen to find out what it means! Johnny

Please help!! I have recently purchased two photographs which have unit abbreviations on them that i would like to identify. I have a photograph of an artillery unit with the title 6AR63 on it. I'm assuming its Artillery Regiment 63 but I'm not sure what the first 6 represents. I'm guessing from the amount of men in the pic its probably the 6th company. I also have a pic of a grave with the same 6AR63 on it. Also i have a pic of a grave with a name, a date of birth, a date of death and then EBK 112. Can anyone enlighten me as to what EBK 112 stands for? Also does anyone know where i can obtain material or books that will supply me with this kind of information? Any help will be greatly appreciated. Johnny

Thankyou for that Herrgeezer!! It proved to be very informative!!

Hi Can anyone enlighten me as to the development of cuff titles in Germany. I'm trying to find out when they were first used and by who? Any info you might have would be very much appreciated! Johnny

[Thankyou for that response. I can only apologise for the sarcastic edge to my last post. The very genuine nature of your reply makes me feel all the more humble!!! To resolve the issue I actually stuck my hand in my pocket and purchased two books, the best being The Waffen SS, divisions 1-5 by Gordon Williamson. It is an absolutely superb piece of work answering all my questions very thoroughly. If anybody else out there has questions regarding this particular subject I can't recommend this book highly enough. I look forward to buying many more in the series. Alternatively post a question on here and I'd certainly try to answer it. Regards johnny

Well I'd like to thank all the people who took the time to read my question for the underwhelming response! I have now resolved it by other means.

Hi, I'm new here and I'm hoping you can help me with some research I'm doing. I'm looking into the uniform and insignia of the SS Polizei Division around late 1942 to early 1943. It's difficult to get a definitive answer regarding their uniforms at this time. I've seen pictures of them in combat in the early part of the war with Heer uniforms and Heer collar tabs with SS sleeve eagles and what appears to be Heer rank badges on the left arm Does anybody know what they would have been wearing at around this period? I'm also interested in whether or not badges of rank were worn on the arms of regular SS units. Again I've seen differing pictures on this subject. I've seen pics of SS NCO's with the only rank they display being that on their collar tabs and others with more conventional Heer style stripes on the upper left arm as well as the collar tab ranks. Can anybody enlighten me? Many thanks johnny