Original German WWII Stalag 318 Stalag VIII-F Russian Prisoner Dog Tag

Original Item. Only One Available. Stalag VIII-F was a German prisoner-of-war camp for Soviet Red Army and Polish Home Army (Polish: Armia Krajowa, abbreviated AK) prisoners during World War II. It was located at the northern end of a Germany Army training area at Lamsdorf, Silesia, (now Łambinowice, Poland) just to the north of Stalag VIII-B. Opened in July 1941, it was initially designated Stalag 318, but was renamed Stalag VIII-F towards the end of the year. In June 1943, it came under the control of the nearby Stalag VIII-B, and the complex of camps were in turn redesignated Stalag 344 in November.

The camp was known locally as the Russenlager ("Russian camp"), but also held Poles, Italians, Yugoslavs, and Greeks, as well as small numbers of French and Romanians. Physical and sanitary conditions were very poor, and of the estimated 200,000 Soviet prisoners who passed through the camp, about 40,000 died of starvation, mistreatment and disease. The Germans did not apply the provisions of the Third Geneva Convention to Soviet prisoners on the grounds that the Soviet Union was not a signatory.

This is a very scarce Erkennungsmarke (identification tag) dog tag worn by a Russian prisoner of war while held at Stalag 318 during the war. 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:-

Stalag 318 (VIIIF)
Nr. 35092

It measures 1 ⅝ x 2 ⅜” and is in good shape, without and breakage in the central hatched portion. 

A great example from a well-known POW camp, ready for further research and display.