Original Item. Only One Available. This is a very rare Erkennungsmarke (identification tag) dog tag worn by a Russian prisoner of war while held at Stalag 366 during World War II. It measures 1 ⅝ x 2 ⅜”. It is made from stamped zinc, and shows a lovely oxidized patina with some areas of corrosion, but shows no major damage and is still fully legible, reading:

St. 366
12703

There is some minor bending but it has survived well overall. Stalag 366 was established in 1941 using personnel from Oflag 58 and operated primarily in the Siedlce area. The main installation at Siedlce was designated Camp A, while another section near Suchożebry, approximately 12 kilometers north of the city, was known as Camp B. A further branch camp was later established at Biała Podlaska.

The camp fell under German prisoner-of-war administration in the Generalgouvernement and was guarded by Landesschützen personnel. Its population was overwhelmingly made up of Soviet POWs, though prisoners of other nationalities, including French, Italian, and a smaller number of Polish captives, were also held within the Stalag 366 system at various times.

Stalag 366 also became associated with personnel of the German-sponsored Eastern Legions, or Ostlegionen, which were composed largely of former Soviet citizens recruited or compelled into German service. By 1942 and 1943, large numbers of these men were concentrated within the camp system, including personnel connected with the Volga-Tatar and other eastern formations.

The camp reached a very large prisoner population during the war, with surviving records indicating more than 20,000 prisoners at its peak. Conditions within German camps holding Soviet POWs were frequently severe, and tags such as this served as the primary numbered identification system for prisoners in German custody.

The combination of the St. 366 camp marking, prisoner number 12703, stamped zinc construction, surviving oxidized surface, and association with the Siedlce POW camp system makes this a significant surviving piece of WWII prisoner-of-war material. While the tag itself does not identify the prisoner by name, its markings directly connect it to Stalag 366 and provide an excellent basis for further archival research.