Kriegsmarine Identification Tag - Alexander Prichodkow Ostlegionär

This Kriegsmarine identification tag bears the name Alexander Prichodkow and the designation Ostlegionär (Eastern Legionnaire), pointing to a particularly fascinating and complex facet of German military history during World War II.

Identification Tags in the German Military

Identification tags, colloquially known as “dog tags” among soldiers, served to identify fallen or wounded military personnel. The German armed forces introduced this practice during World War I and refined it during the Wehrmacht era. The Kriegsmarine (German Navy) used specific identification tags for its members, which could differ in material, form, and inscription from those of the Heer (Army) or Luftwaffe (Air Force).

Typically, identification tags were made of aluminum or zinc and were divisible into two halves. In case of death, one half would remain with the deceased while the other was retained for administrative purposes. The tags usually carried information such as unit designation, personal number, and sometimes the bearer's name.

The Eastern Legions and Eastern European Volunteers

The term Ostlegionär refers to the so-called Ostlegionen or Osttruppen (Eastern Legions or Eastern Troops), military units composed of volunteers or prisoners of war from the Soviet Union. Beginning in 1941, after the launch of Operation Barbarossa, the Wehrmacht increasingly recruited Soviet citizens of various nationalities for military and para-military service.

These formations included members of various ethnicities: Turkmen, Caucasians, Cossacks, Ukrainians, Balts, and Russians. The motives for service in German units were diverse: escape from harsh prisoner-of-war conditions, anti-communist convictions, nationalist aspirations, or simple survival necessity. German leadership saw in these units both military potential and a propaganda instrument in the struggle against the Soviet Union.

Eastern Legionnaires in the Kriegsmarine

While Eastern Legions were primarily employed by the Army, this identification tag demonstrates that the Kriegsmarine also drew upon Eastern European personnel. This occurred in various contexts: as auxiliary personnel at naval bases, in coastal defense units, for harbor work, or in maritime construction units. Particularly in occupied eastern territories, such as along the Baltic Sea coast or the Black Sea, the Kriegsmarine required additional personnel for diverse tasks.

The integration of these volunteers into the Kriegsmarine presented organizational and ideological challenges. National Socialist racial ideology contradicted the military necessity of relying on “racially foreign” personnel. Nevertheless, military realities from 1942/43 onward increasingly forced pragmatic solutions.

The Name Prichodkow

The name Alexander Prichodkow noted on the identification tag suggests Russian or East Slavic origin. The surname is a variant of Prikhodko or Prichodko, common in Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus. This underscores the ethnic diversity within the Eastern Legions and the complex identity of their members, who had to navigate between different loyalties, constraints, and hopes.

Historical Context and Significance

The use of Eastern Legionnaires by the Wehrmacht and Kriegsmarine remains a controversial historical topic. After the war, many of these men were treated as traitors by Soviet authorities and harshly punished. The Yalta Repatriation Agreements led to thousands of Eastern Legionnaires being forcibly returned to the Soviet Union, where they were often deported to labor camps or executed.

From a military-historical perspective, identification tags like this document the dimension of German collaboration policy and the desperate personnel situation of the Wehrmacht in the later war years. They are silent witnesses to individual fates in a totalitarian conflict in which people were crushed between ideological fronts.

Collector Aspects and Authenticity

Kriegsmarine identification tags with reference to Eastern Legionnaires are relatively rare, as this connection was rather unusual. For collectors of military-historical objects, such pieces are of particular interest as they document a less-known facet of war history. The authenticity of such tags should always be carefully examined, as the market also includes reproductions.

This identification tag thus represents more than just a military identification object: it is a window into the complex history of collaboration, coercion, and survival in World War II, and reminds us of the often-forgotten fates of those people who stood between ideological and military fronts.