Heer Unit abbreviations

[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

[Guest Rick Research]

"6." is indeed the Battery number in artillery units. Battalions used Roman numerals as "II" and so on.

"EBK" I'd take to be ? Eisenbahn Kompagnie? "E" alone is usually "Ersatz" for Replacement units, but that makes no sense with "BK." Plain old "BK" might be "Br?ckenkolonne" for a bridging section, but I doubt they had replacement companies numbered thisway.

[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

[Bernhard H.Holst]

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

Hello Johnny.

The ref.book I find to be of help is:

"German Order of Battle 1945"

The regiments, formations and units of the German ground forces.

A British Intelligence Service manual prepared for the 1944 Invasion of France.

Reprinted fairly recently with ISBN 1-85367 170-3.

Eisenbahn troops of the German army had military ranks such as Unteroffizier etc

Bernhard H.Holst

[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