Page 48 from the July 1944 DAL showing Diekmann as: Kdr. I./4.Rgt. 2.SS-Pz.Div.,,DR''
A copy of page 48 of the 1st July 1944 Dienstalterliste (DAL) Der Waffen-SS. The DAL was a restricted circulation document, which as its name implied, was the service record list of SS personnel. Adolf Diekmann is shown as serial number 651. The entries under the various column headings mean as follows:
Lfd. Nr. … This means, Laufend Nummer (Serial Number).
Name, Vorname … Name and Forename. The remark, gestr. is short for, gestrichen meaning 'deleted', meaning that as he had been killed in action his name was to be removed from future issues of the DAL.
Deinststellung (Service position) means that he was the Commander of the 1st Battalion of the 4th Regiment (Der Führer) of the 2nd SS-Panzer Division (Das Reich).
SS-Nr. … SS-Number.
Geburtsdatum … Date of birth.
Patent (Beförderung / Bemerkungen) … Commission (Promotion / Comments). The remark, gef.: 29.6.44 is short for gefallen: 29.6.44 meaning, 'killed in action on 29th June 1944'. Note that the common promotion date of 20.4.44 for all personnel on this sheet of the DAL was used because 20th of April was Hitler's birthday.
© Michael Williams: revised February 2004