landsknechte

Still blurred, but not quite so microscopic:

Yep... It was driving me nuts that I couldn't ID it. :rolleyes:

Does anyone recognize the breast order that the officer looking at the camera is wearing?

No visible markings.

Sawback bars are 1920's vintage, right?

Got it a couple of days ago. It's the Verdienstkreuz... Nothing exotic at all. For some stupid reason, when I looked at the picture, it never really "clicked" that I was looking at overlapping ribbons. I thought the red stripe on the left was part of the Kyffh?user, and that the ribbon was a purely black and white striped affair. The Bavarian bar was the reason that I bought the pair. It's one of the 'two decorations on one ribbon' bars. I would have never thought that the War Merit MVK/MVO was common enough to warrant that.

I presume the black and white ribbon sandwiched between the Kyffhauser and the DA is some sort of Weimar era award. Does anyone recognize it? Thanks, --Chris

10-4. I was running under the assumption that this one had a Wilhemskreuz, which (I believe) would have gone after any orders - and from that assumed that it was the Karl Olga Medal and not the Olga Order.

I'm trying to get my notes back together again on a few of my ribbon bars and lapel bows, so please bear with the occasional resurfacing of stuff you might have seen before for the next little bit. Did officers from W?rttemberg receive the long service decoration? I suspect that the pale blue ribbon is either a Friedrichs Order or a Crown Order, instead of being an enlisted man's equivalent. If it were just the medal instead of the order, I would think that the Wilhelm's Cross would take precedence over it. Am I even correct in assuming that the last ribbon is a W?rttemberg long service? The stripes are different width than what I'm used to though. Looking at the interior less faded portion, the background is almost exactly the same shade of orange as a Turkish "Iron Halfmoon", but the stripes are distinctly blue - close to a Crown Order blue, but darker. Are Karl Olga Medals mentioned anywhere in any sort of rolls? (I can't imagine there were too many male recipients floating around in the military.)

Hmmm... I guess the odds of me finding out the answer in the next few days is probably a bit slim. (Filling out a repro Soldbuch for a reenactor buddy.) I was looking through the SS officers listed here ( http://www.specialcamp11.fsnet.co.uk/ ) and they all had either NSDAP long service, or none at all. That's a pretty small sample though. I'm wondering if soldiers with prior Imperial or Reichswehr service would trade in what they already had for Heer eagles, and leave it at that. Thanks again, --Chris

I'm still a bit fuzzy on the long service decorations worn by the Waffen-SS, to be honest. I know that the SS long service awards were restricted to a relatively small group of people. However, what would a soldier that had joined the Waffen-SS after a decent stint in the Reichswehr have worn?

Just get a string of Christmas lights. Far cheaper, and pretty similar in effect. :rolleyes:

...and a better one of the mark:

Here's a full shot:

Thanks!

Did the Wehrmacht consider service spent in the Reichswehr for their calculations of long service awards?

As a reenactor myself, I'm left wondering why anyone would sell oddball combinations on eBay allegedly aimed at the reenactor market. Excepting those freakish few "solo" reenactors who generally pin as much bling-bling on themselves before subjecting everyone else at an event to their half assed impersonation of some high ranking grand poobah, the overwhelming majority of reenactors know exactly what they're in the market for. They've all been awarded whatever they've been awarded by the group, and will be limited to that combination. Randomly throwing pre-made ribbon bars into the market seems like either a poor business decision, or an attempt at fraud. Anyone who doesn't manufacture them to order really makes me question the legitimacy of their intentions, or their intelligence. There are some combinations shown here that are likely to be applicable to almost no reenactors on the planet.

Here's my one example:

Does anyone have any idea what maker's mark this might be? (Apologies for the poor quality of the photos, they are the seller's not mine. Until I get it in hand, it's the best I can do.)

BTW, anyone know what name Nelzen goes by now days? I suspect it's either too small to have made it into anything referenced on the internet, or it goes by a different name much the same way as Litzmannstadt / Lodz. (Neat bonus there, incidentally. My father-in-law was a fourth generation "Volksdeutsche" from Lodz.)

...

Good eye on the tunic. I'm guessing a Dutch conversion. Kanonier Hoffmann apparently had some disciplinary issues as well...

It also had the dental page filled out, which is very uncommon:

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