Original Item: One-of-a-kind. This is a genuine German WWII SS Erkennungsmarke (identity disc or Dog Tag), used to identify soldiers in the field. These were made of plated steel, aluminum, or zinc, and were designed so that if a soldier died, the bottom half of the tag would be broken off, while the other half remained with their body.

It is marked as follows on both sides of the central perforation:

This indicates that the soldier (No. 1496) was a member of the 1. Stamm-Kompanie / ᛋᛋ - Grenadier Ausbildung und Ersatz Brigade 15, or the "1. Cadre Company, SS Grenadier Training and Replacement Brigade 15". This is one of the earlier transitional designations for the 15. Waffen-Grenadier-Division der SS (Lettische Nr. 1), part of the Latvian Legion (Latvian: Latviešu leģions).

Created in 1943, it consisted primarily of ethnic Latvian personnel. The legion consisted of two divisions of the Waffen-SS: the 15th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (1st Latvian), and the 19th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (2nd Latvian). The 15th Division was administratively subordinated to the VI SS Corps, but operationally it was in reserve or at the disposal of the XXXXIII Army Corps, 16th Army, Army Group North. The 19th Division held out in the Courland Pocket until May 1945, the close of World War II, when it was among the last of Germany's forces to surrender.

Condition of the disc is very good, with just a bit of oxidation and the text fully legible. It is cracked through on the left hand side, but the other three joints between the two halfs are undamaged. It is non magnetic, and looks to be made from zinc or some similar metal.

Ready to research and display!

The 15th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (1st Latvian) (German: 15. Waffen-Grenadier-Division der SS (lettische Nr.1), Latvian: 15. ieroču SS grenadieru divīzija (latviešu Nr. 1)) was an Infantry Division of the Waffen SS during World War II. It was formed in February 1943, and together with its sister unit, the 19th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (2nd Latvian) formed the Latvian Legion.

After forming of Latvian Police Battalions in Reichskommissariat Ostland, Heinrich Himmler formed Latvian legion (Lettische SS-Freiwilligen-Legion) in January 1943. In February 1943 Lettische SS-Freiwilligen-Division was formed which later received the numerical designation 15. The Legion was renamed the Lettische SS-Freiwilligen-Brigade, with the numerical designation added soon after.

The unlawful conscription of Latvians for military service by the Germans, was based on Alfred Rosenberg's compulsory labor decree of 19 December 1941. It was carried out by Department of Labor of the Latvian Self Administration, commencing in early 1943 with the compulsory recruitment of Latvian citizens born between 1919 and 1924. The 15th Waffen SS, together with the 19th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (2nd Latvian) formed the Latvian Legion.

The 15th Waffen SS was swept up in the chaos of the collapse of the Eastern Front and lost much of its manpower fighting in districts surrounding Leningrad (Ostrov, Novosokolniki and Novgorod Oblast). In September 1944 the surviving elements of the division was sent by boat to Danzig. The division fought on the Pomeranian Wall defenses and then retreated through Pomerania and Germany to Berlin.

Part of the division with a total of 824 men, under Waffen-Standartenführer Vilis Janums, surrendered 27 April 1945 to the advancing Americans at Güterglück near the Elbe River. Other elements of the Division, amounting to approximately 4,500 men, surrendered to the Americans south of Schwerin on 2 May 1945.

More on the Latvian Legion:
The Latvian Legion was created in January 1943 on the orders of Adolf following a request by Heinrich Himmler, the head of the SS. The initial core of the force was populated by Latvian Police Battalions, which were formed starting in 1941 earlier for security duties and already serving on the Eastern Front under Wehrmacht command. While members of war crimes collaborator Arajs Kommando were subsequently joined to the Legion,[9] this was late in the war as the Kommando was demobilized from anti-partisan and anti-Jewish action, with the first former Arajs unit attached to the Legion in December, 1944.

Under the Rosenberg labor decree of December 1941, the Germans had already begun conscripting Latvians in early 1942, giving them a choice of joining the labor service or police battalions. One month after the unit was founded, German occupation authorities in Latvia started conscripting military age men specifically for the Legion. Draftees were given a choice between serving in the Wehrmacht-subordinated Waffen-SS Legion, serving as German Wehrmacht auxiliaries, or being sent to a slave labor camp in Germany. Those who tried to avoid one of those options were arrested and sent to the camps. As a result, only 15-20% of the men serving in the legion were actual volunteers. Unlike in Lithuania, potential legionary recruits in Latvia did not organize an official boycott of conscription; some Latvians deserted however rather than serving the war effort.

With Germany losing the war, conscription was extended to larger and larger numbers of Latvians. The first conscription, in 1943, applied to all Latvian men born from 1919 to 1924. Subsequent conscriptions eventually extended to Latvians born between 1906 and 1928. The division commanders and most of the staff were German SS officers. The individual combat regiments were typically commanded by Latvian officers.

After the Red Army broke through German lines at Nevel along the 1st Baltic Front in November 1943, advancing on Latvia, the Latvian Self-Administration took over mobilization from the Germans on November 13. By June 26 there were 7,671 ethnic Russians from Latvia's Latgale, representing ten percent of men from the region, serving in various units of the Latvian Legion. On July 1, 1944, the Latvian Legion had 87,550 men. Another 23,000 Latvians were serving as Wehrmacht "auxiliaries".