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I would say it is Bluecher (some spell Blucher) Orden several which were found in a vault in Strausberg after the fall of the wall. So there are is no mention of this medal in standard references prior to 1989. They were to be awarded upon a successful Soviet offensive against NATO. Only a few hundred were made and all went to the Armee Museum (formerly NVA Museum) in Dresden. You see copies on the market, but originals are very rare. There are rumors that a few went out the back door to other museums and collectors. There were thousands of the lesser Bluecher medal produced, but I believe they also went to Dresden. Copies of these abound as well. Kevin

Another intresting thing about this award is that it's more "German", meaning it's design was similar to the pre-1945 German awards, this is unlike most of the other DDR medals and decoration that were heavely influence by their Soviet equivelent, as I understand this medal was suppose to be a valor decoration similar in terms to the Iron Cross.

Not that anyone asked (or possibly cares), but there were also several Imperial Army veterans in the East German armed forces. However, the East Germans and their Soviet masters did not permit the wearing of any Imperial German, Weimar or Nazi era decorations.

Among these, with their known WW1 decorations, were:

Wilhelm Adam - ?

G?nther A?mann - ?

Rudolf Bamler - EK1, EK2

Walter Freytag - EK1, EK2, HHO3x

Otto Korfes - ?

Arno von Lenski - EK1, EK2, bMVO4x, SA3bx, ?MVK3xKD

Vincenz M?ller - EK1, EK2, wF3bx, TM5x, TWM

Hans Wulz - ?

Excellent post dave!, I have great intrest in the NVA, so here some additional information:

Wilhelm Adam - 1914 EK1 & EK2.

Hans Wulz - Gallipoli Star.

I would say Hero of the DDR, this decoration was only been awarded nine times:

Heinz Hoffmann 28. - November 1975 & 28. November 1980

Friedrich Dickel - 01. December 1975

Erich Mielke - 01. December 1975 & 28. December 1983

Leonid Iljitsch Breschnew - 13. December 1976

Sigmund J?hn - 21. September 1978

Waleri Bykowski - 21. September 1978

Willi Stoph - 09. July 1984.

It's price is about 9,500 Euro.

nice set of late EK,s .

RK coming next?

I could only hope...

EK1, EK2 and the two class of spange to 1914 EK.

Beatifull ribbon bar, here is a photo of Martin Steglich wearing it on his Bundeswehr uniform.

That far back? I have an IDF booklet on ranks, patchs etc from when I was a boy, around then... completely beyond my language skills being entirely in Hebrew, but there wasn't one of these pictured, so it must date from before that.

Those years are a blur, though not for the same reason as for my elders back then!

When you show the ribbon for the Lebanon War, early 1980s... is it still usual practice to have ONLY ribbons without medals? That seemed to have been the practice in the 1960s.

I should have been more clear on the matter, initiatly the award was only in ribbon bar form however in later years (probably somewhere in the 90es) it's was transform into a medal, sorry for the confusion.

It's still the practise to have only ribbon bars as awards, the ribbons giving for taking part in Israel's wars and pre-1948 activities such as being a member in one of the underground movement or joining the British army during WW2, the only medals exist in the IDF are the three valors decorations, not usually being awarded, however most holders prefer to wear them as ribbons rather than to wear the medal itself (I have never see a pic of a soldier wearing the medal on his uniform).

Here is a great site (the best on the net) with explanations about Israeli medals and decorations: http://www.yairmalachi.org/MedalsOfIsrael.htm

When was the World War 2 medal created?

1967.

Here is a patch of the Israeli border guard

Here is a group of IAF soldier, she served during 1981-1983 as a decrypter in the bat squardon, the group included: IDF symbol badge, Bat squardon badge, decrypter badge and the Lebanon war ribon bar.

Here is the fighter against the nazis medal, was awarded to all Israeli citizens who were part of an allied army, partisan group or a resistence group, btw notice the ribbon design, does it's remind you of another WW2 award?

Here is my Verdienstmedaille der NVA in Silver, notice that the number on it is 00225 (a very low number).