WWI ORIGINAL GERMAN ERSATZ PIONIER BATAILLON 3 REKRUTEN DEPOT DOG TAG RELIC

Description

Dug out near Riga.
Dug out in a rubbish pit near German trenches on Christmas Battles battlefield without soldier. When soldiers changed units they changed the dog tags as well, therefore many of them got discarded when not needed anymore.
That was the place of one of the craziest battles of WWI Eastern Front. Left as found.
The dog tag is of soldier number 154,
Rekruten-Depot of
Ersatz-Pionier-Bataillon Nr. 3, I might be wrong on this, but to me it seems that they have produced troops for
Pionier-Bataillon von Rauch (1. Brandenburgisches) Nr. 3, which is Garde unit, at least the solder is from Ketzin, which is located in Brandenburg
.
The recruit, after arriving in his battle unit got a new tag issued and discarded his old one.
Great item for any collector.
Scroll down to see better photos.
Christmas Battles (Latvian: Ziemassvētku kaujas; German: Aa-Schlachten; Russian: Митавская операция) was offensive operation of Russian army during World War I, conducted in the area of city Jelgava, Latvia by 12th. army of the northern front from December 23 (January 5) until December 29 (January 11) 1916 (1917). Army was commanded by Gen. Radko Dimitriev and it was opposed by 8th. German army.
If you have any question or need more photos, please mail me, I will reply to you in time.
Check my other auctions! I ship anywhere in the world! All my items are 100% ORIGINAL!