Megan

More great pieces! Greg, might I use the images of your Ernst Schiller medals, please?

I was thinking that watching the news this morning. This is one medal I don't want to see awarded, because of the tragedies that the service for which it is to be awarded deal with.... yet these disasters will occur, and we will rally around to support those in need.

Sadly, as UK firefighters have been sent to help with search & rescue in Morocco in respect of their recent earthquake, will we soon be seeing the first awards of this medal?

Very nice: Medal of Merit of the Organs of the Ministry of the Interior (Verdienstmedaille der Organe des Ministeriums des Innern), Class 1 and Class 2. Instituted on 15 June 1966 and awarded in 3 classes for exemplary service in the Ministry of the Interior.

Very nice. Civil Defence Medal of Merit (Verdienstmedaille der Zivilverteidigung der DDR), Class 3. Medal of Merit of the Fighting Groups of the Working Class (Verdienstmedaille der Kampfgruppen der Arbeiterklasse) Class 1.

Fascinating images, thank you for sharing, Emmanuel,

I've not seen an official one yet, Assorted unofficial bits and bobs on dodgy Russian sales sites, though, It's interesting. The 2014 one for the annexation of the Crimea emerged almost before they'd set foot there (well, about 3 weeks later afterwards).

Agsin, some lovely pieces. Thank you for showing them to us,

Impressive! Keep up the good work.

Welcome back. Some delightful pieces there, thank you for sharing.

Very nice - 30 Years and 10 Years service in the Militarised Organisations of the Ministry of the Interior, and one for 25 years in the Fighting Groups of the Working Class.

Thank you most kindly!

It interests me, so thank you!

Thank you, Enzo. I might take you up on that...

Very nice: Reserve Badge of National People's Army (Reservistenabzeichen der Nationalen Volksarmee) Type 2, gold (10 years) and silver (2 years). Fighting Groups of Working Class Outstanding Service Medal (Medaille für ausgezeichnete Leistungen in der Kampfgruppen der Arbeiterklasse) 20th Anniversary of the Foundation of Fighting Groups of the Working Class Commemorative Medal (Erinnerungsmedaille anläßlich des 20 jährigen Bestehens der Kampfgruppen der Arbeiterklasse) Decoration of the German Police (Ehrenzeichen der Deutschen Volkspolizei) Type 4 (1965-1990)

Thank you. Bookmarked for later reading...

I feel quite sorry for police officers these days. The uniform they are expected to wear looks more suited for a trip to the gym (especially the tops!) than going on the beat. Neither West Midland or Cheshire police seem to go in for helmets, either. It's all caps or the silly hats they give female officers. It quite put me off when I was of an age to consider joining that women didn't wear helmets, I quite fancied them! But after they lost my application 3 times I gave up... it just was not meant to be.

Wow, you're building up an impressive collection very quickly. I'm working on a book about East German medals, once it is done I'll send you a copy.

And the Cleave image cited earlier: You just have to love the Wayback Machine!

The French stick-fighting technique is canne de combat. Quite a good wikipedia article here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canne_de_combat There's also a glorious 1923 tome by one H.C. Lang: The Walking Stick Method of Self-Defence. Alas mine is used for staying upright, I'm not sure I could fight with it these days. The rogue who stole my wallet a few days ago is probably quite glad about that.

Magic... thank you, Antonio!

Oh dear, That image that doesn't even look much like Charles and which is facing the wrong way. Seems we are stuck with it.

Order of the Yugoslav Grand Star?

They barely got that out before there wasn't a German Democratic Republic any more...