Last updated on June 14, 2021
A number of people have asked me to make German Red Cross (DRK) stamps for reproducing Soldbuch entries related to wounds and hospitalizations. While I am happy to take on any rubber stamp project, the fact is that the Deutsches Rotes Kreuz was and is a civil organization and these stamps are, generally speaking, not really appropriate for the majority of Wehrmacht paperwork. This is particularly the case with wound and hospitalization entries in the Soldbuch. German soldiers, both those wounded in action and those hospitalized with other medical issues, were generally treated in military hospitals staffed with military personnel. The stamps that were used in these hospitals followed the typical format of of any Wehrmacht Dienststelle: they used line stamps and round Dienststempel stamps that bore the designation of the unit (in this case a hospital), either the full designation or in some cases the Feldpost number. Stamp Sheet #1 has a number of hospital stamps copied from original paperwork, including hospital designation stamps and rank stamps for military doctors and hospital staff. Here is a picture of some other hospital stamps I have copied, these for Kriegslazarett 1/251, pictured with a page from the original Soldbuch from which they were copied- a document from a soldier wounded by a bullet in 1943. I even carefully copied the variant eagle design used for this particular stamp. Small variations like this add realism to reproduction paperwork and help create the illusion of a document stamped at different places over a period of years.
