These are Luftwaffe cargo loading tags. Theses were attached, in the case of wood boxes nailed to or wire to the cargo and directed the loader on the weight class and the fragilely of the equipment.
As the German airfields in both the Stalingrad and Demyansk battles were under direct aerial attack, this was a stopgap measure to expedite the loading/unloading of planes. Large items would have to be transported directly to the airfields because of the size/weight/loading-time but smaller items were pack in remote sites around the airfields and bought in at the very last moment for loading.
As planes must be loaded so it is balance in flight, it is crucial that the weight of cargo must be distributed in the proper matter; this is reflected in the heavy weight square tags. The round shape tags reflect the lightest weight class and the start of the fragile sub classification. These items would be packed and shipped in a much different matter that the heavy class. Optics would fit the round white (green?) tags category, because they are susceptible to damage such continuous low vibration.
Red square tag - Heavy weight class not fragile (20 Kgs. / 44 lbs.)
Yellow square tag - Medium weight class not fragile (10 Kgs. / 22 lbs.)
Red round tag - Light weight class not fragile (5 Kgs. / 11 lbs.)
Yellow round tag - Light weight class fragile
White (Green?) round tag - Light weight class extremely fragile
The first tag I purchased was from the Demyansk area in the early 1990s, right after the fall of the Berlin wall. I have personally lived in Volgograd and had dug these tags up around the former airfields.
Sometime between 1999-2001 I first heard and seen on websites (Ebay, Epier
) that these tags were being called Stalingrad pocket fly-out tickets. Most, 90% of these sellers, diggers and sites are in the current Russian Federation but there is not one recorded (German) story of a soldier being issued these tags to fly out of blockade!
Remember rule number 1# about collecting: NEVER BUY THE STORY, BUY THE ITEM!
Russ
www.fireonthevolga.com
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