1917 Erfurt

My 12:59 post was not meant in response to your 3 post...I was writing while you were posting! I have often wondered about the sideplate deal as well (notice I used it in my previous post). I think a lot of GI's mixed them up and I could not rule out an occasional German field replacement to a lost one or a mix up by troops not paying attention..I'm sure they were trained to make they sure to keep numbered parts togeather but I bet mix ups occured anyway.