Ulsterman

Congrats! Deruelle must be VERY happy to have this officer identified.

Fascinating- I saw one of these last year on eBay sold from the UK along with a group of 1970s medal. I assumed they were tailor's copies. Do such thing exist...or did I miss a bargain (again)?

Interesting-some might argue its merely the "evolution" of the awards system (a' la the bloated US system). I note that in the instance above, that seems to be a combat award. Is this unusual, or do these awards also get given for life saving etc?

Are they engraved on the back or rim at all? What are they struck from? Bronze? What sort of pension extras does one receive for this award? Just looked at the MOD site. 14/21 posthumous awards is quite something. That Captain Sarian leading the bayonet charge against the Katagans is really a hair-raising story! Bayonets, grenades, SMGs, machetes, spears, kukris-yee Gods, it must've looked a bit like Actium!

Nice- to whom was the group awarded?

pm sent-

stunning photo- where do you find these treasures?

White/black ribbons were not only geographic apparently-but also, job-related. Interesting black/white combo with HKx doc. set on Niemann today. From what I can tell that Korvettkapitan never left Kiel and got the two combat awards as well as a slew of other decorations-staff signal Abt. commander. That's a subject for another thread.

Are they named? I do not yet have your book. I am hoping for my birthday....

I thought it was @ 6,700 awarded? This combination seems plausable but unlikely. It would make me think Baden Landwehr/Landsturm Bttn. Major somewhere in Poland or the Ukraine. Every Baden war merit cross doc. I have ever seen was either to somebody delivering a letter, driving a train, guarding a warehouse or sitting somewhere in the eastern occupied territories. Note no LS medal. Hmmmm... what other types of people got the Baden merit cross?

very cool- does it includes medals as well?

very cool- you are very fortunate to have custody of one of these methinks- I noted this from the IMOD site. Do all MVC winners have a special title before their names indicated how the award was won? http://www.defenceindia.com/defenceind/mahavir_chakra.html

oops-my bad. 1825 then. Source was memory from a very old Traditions magazine and a Military Modeling article: elephantine memory (often wrong).

I believe you may well have there- a Russian Palace Grenadier Guard bearskin shako plate @ 1830. The Palace Grenadiers were a special, ultra-loyal unit formed by the Czar after the Decemberists' attempted coup in 1825. Originally, this guard unit used captured (and stored) FRENCH Napoeonic imperial Guard bearskins with the plates changed. That is why the size is important here. Just the odd sort of thing that has sat on a mantle piece for 250 years or so.

Hi Drew: There's a LOT of questions there. Why don't you break it up into country threads as there are a lot of chaps here who can speaking extensively on specific countries' poltical officers. We are especially strong here on Soviet Russian, DDR, Mongolian,Yugoslavia, Hungarian, Bulgarian and Albanian knowledge. WE could use a few more people on Poland, Czechoslovakia and Romania. Of course, the PRC is a vast black hole of ignorance. Would you be so kind as to post a few of the Hungarian/Czech pages of the manual here? I would love a copy myself. Ta- Jeff

what's the size? Can we see the back please?

The shooting lanyard?

wow-Offcr. Stvtr. Vogel was a very brave man.

I have only ever seen #4 and #5. By "uniformed services" do you mean military (army, navy ), as well as the gendarmarie?

Very interesting information.

nice photo! very sharp-

Bravo!! Another nice piece of history preserved. The 1959 medal is undervalued and underappreciated (by others) methinks-

nice! bravo!

Does it? I thought the top level civil service decoration was the REO4? Would the CO have been given as a military merit award then or is it possibly the NCOs medal version? This buttonaire makes me think a cracker retired NCO who termed out into a government job. The AEZ sniffs NCO or lower level bureaucrat.