kimj

Perhaps officially, but I have a book on the Derg Revolution that mentions that there were about 20 Swedish officers in Ethiopia in the early 1970s teaching courses. perhaps they were private contractors?

They could perhaps been private. But I read that Danish and Norwegians also served from the 60-ties. Maybe the author couldn't tell his Scandinavians apart.

Would he have worn the Ethiopian award (foreign) at the first of his group? I don't know much (well, ANYTHING) about Swedish regulations.

He should have had the Ethiopian order at the end of his bar according to regulation. But there's only room for two ribbons in the beginning. I have some hopes of finding a photo of him wearing this bar in the archives. Then I'll know for sure how he wore it. Maybe he got some so far unknown medal/order that was next to his order of the Sword and kept his Menelik in his shoe box... It's a bit of a mystery.

Arsenalsgatan 6,Stockholm

They have a nice selection. But tend to double their prices from the auctions they buy the awards from. I'll wait for the next auction.

/Kim

The Swedish army officers disappeared from Ethiopia in 1964. The reasons for leaving I have read about are general unrest in the country and increasing tension with Somalia. The Air force training stopped in 1960. The police I don't know.

I have high hopes finding a Menelik here in Sweden. Last militaria auction even had a commander neck cross. So a knight is bound to show up.

/Kim

Thanks for the nice words gentlemen!

Only the first order was one that should have been sent back, order of the Sword. The other two wasn't. So I think it got cut up for economical reasons. But who knows.

Sorry, no real gold medals on this one. But that's not a bad thing. It kept the price relativly low.

Here are the names, first in Swedish then in English. The English translation are from a recent book on swedish military decorations.

Riddare av Sv?rdsorden (borta vid k?p)

Riddare av Etiopiska Menelik II:s orden (borta vid k?p)

Sveriges milit?ridrotts- och m?ngkampf?rbunds f?rtj?nstmedalj i silver

Riksf?rbundet Sveriges lottak?rers kungl. f?rtj?nstmedalj i silver

Centralf?rbundets f?r bef?lsutbildning f?rtj?nstmedalj i silver

Stockholms f?rsvarskommitt?s f?rtj?nstmedalj i guld

Stockholms f?rsvarskommitt?s f?rtj?nstmedalj i silver

Centralf?rbundets f?r bef?lsutbildning f?rtj?nsttecken (medalj borta vid k?p)

Riksf?rbundet Sveriges Lottak?rers f?rtj?nstmedalj i silver

Hemv?rnets silvermedalj

Bef?lsutbildningsf?rbunds f?rtj?nstmedalj

Sveriges kvinnliga bilk?rers riksf?rbunds f?rtj?nstmedalj

F?renta Nationernas ?vervakningsstyrkas medalj i brons (FNMUNEF)

F?renta Nationernas medalj i brons (FNMUNTSO) (fel medalj, en UNEF1 med fel band)

Stockholms Luftv?rnsf?renings f?rtj?nstmedalj

Frivilliga Radioorganisationens f?rtj?nstmedalj

Frivilliga Automobilk?rernas Riksf?rbunds f?rtj?nsttecken

***

Knight of the order of the sword

Knight of the order of Menelik II, Ethiopia

Swedish Military Sport Association medal of merit

The National League of Swedish Lotta Corps medal of merit in silver

Central Union for Officers Training medal of merit in silver

Stockholm Defence committee medal of merit in gold

Stockholm Defence committee medal of merit in silver

Central Union for Officers Training badge of merit in gold

National League of Swedish Lotta Corps medal of merit in silver

Home Guard silver medal

Officers Training Association medal of merit in gold

Swedish National League of Women Auxiliary Motor Corps medal of merit in gold

UNEF 1 medal

UNTSO medal, with wrong medal

Stockholm Air Defence Association medal of merit

Voluntary Radio Association medal of merit in gold

Voluntary Automobile Corps badge of merit

I think Livijn was involved with the training of the Ethiopian guards. But I didn't find any reference of him acctually going to Ethiopia. I will dig out his file from the military archive when I have the time for it.

One interesting thing is that Livijn was at the UN HQ in Kairo from october 1966 - july 1967. So I suppose he had some busy days when the Six-Day War kicked off.

/Kim

Here is the latest addition to my Swedish collection. An unusually big medal bar to an officer at Royal Svea Life Guards, lieutenant colonel C.H. Livijn. He had his military career from his commission in 1943 to early 70-ties. Most of his (remaining) awards are from 60-70-ties. Unfortunately the bar is missing three awards. They were probably sold for a better profit as singles. But the ?important? awards, those with his name engraved, are all present. Sometime later on I will hunt down the missing ones and restore the bar.

Here's a pic of the bar. Notice the modifications on it: Third medal squeezed in afterwards. Last medals are also added later (in the wrong order). Both UN medals are in fact UNEF1 medals... I guess you do the best with what you have.

Enjoy!

Thank you for this new information gentlemen! I really like the fact that an old thread can be brought back from the dead and spread more information. Must be a sign of the quality of our forum.

And my question. It is hand engraving or all in made stemped? Handangraving.....! Verym very rare rare award....!

The medal is stamped not engraved.

/Kim

In post #5, the back of the citation side, you can see that he was downgraded by the corps commander. Why gen.-lieut. Anisimov did that I can't know. Maybe some quota of OGPW 2cl had already been filled and only red stars were left?

The place he broke the German defence is the Narew bridge head, north of Warsaw.

/Kim

This is what the Finnish chapter says that they do (My translation, original only in Swedish/Finnish):

Order Amarant is a bridge builder between individuals and different parts of society, strengthens the bonds of Nordic community and is a forum for socializing at celebration days and formal balls, arranged every other year.

The order also does charity.

Source:http://www.amarant.fi/

It's not a ladies order. Both men and women can join if they are invited.

As there are seven classes of the order I'm sure there are plenty more to find. Early ones are of course more rare to find.

/Kim

The order has a link to the order of Amarante, but only by name. When Kristina went catholic and moved to Rome it never got awarded again. That was only one year after it was founded, 1654. Later the name got recycled as a Fraternal Order, founded 24 July 1760. So that's where your badge is from. The order still exist today.

/Kim

"DZST" (whatever that is the abbreviation for)

It could be DZOT "derevo-zemlyanaya ognevaya tochka", trench with reinforcements made of wood(?). In Swedish they have added shrapnel protection to the translation. Maybe it lost something in translation but I hope I'm close.

/Kim

No, there's no difference in commander neck badges. But it should have swords between the arms as well as on the top. I don't see that on your pic. Perhaps it's not a order of the Sword at all? Or a very liberal view on how to wear a knights order...

The list I have right now is from 1936 and I suspect that it only lists those alive at the time. So he could have past away and not be on the list. Who knows.

/Kim

Hmm.. it could be the order of the Sword Commander 1:st class around his neck. That would make sense because it was mainly for generals and higher ranks. But then he left his breast star at home. If it is I have these gentlemen as candidates:

Fischer, Gustav Edler von Poturzyn Gen.-maj awarded in 1919

Straub, Eugen Gen.-maj 1916

Wiktorin, Mauritz Gen.-maj 1935

von Ellenberger, Franz Eduard Gen.-maj 1919

I can't promise that this is all the Austrians awarded, as I haven't got a complete list of awardees. But it narrows it down

/Kim

The Red Army didn't have much bling-bling in late 30ties or early 40ties. So if you could get some you'd wear it. Officers were also more likely to be "excellent" in what they had as their profession than enlisted men. But I haven't got any statistics on who actually got it.

Here is a pic of a artillery captain wearing the badge on the other/first side. The only one I have...

Nice pics you found!

/Kim

Bryan. I will try to dig it out of the box this weekend. But I can't make any promises. Our new baby and the two-year-old keeps me busy with other non-collecting related work.

/Kim

This Friday I got a reply from the Sachsenhausen archive. Unfortunately most files and all the index cards of the prisoners were burnt by the SS. So no records about mr B?rner in what's left. Should be interesting to see if something can be found on mr B?rner elsewhere. I guess time will tell.

/Kim

Here's mine Gordon. Slightly different from Uwe's.

Uwe I'm not sure that the medal should be in the Ehrennadel-box. The boxes have small marks from the medals already there. Also the antifascist suspension pin doesn't fit the Ehrennadel-box.

Did the committee award other medals?

BR

Kim

Hi Uwe.

That's great info! Was the text the same from 1958 untill 1978? There must have been one printed in 1958 too.

This sonderdruck must be hard to find. Have you seen any for sale? Otherwise I'll have to get me a xeroxed copy from the parlament's library, I think they have all the DDR gesetzblatt.

/Kim

That's what I hope. I have requested research from the archive in Sachsenhausen. When/if it turns up anything I'll post it here. Hopefully I'll add to the history of it. Even if it takes a couple of months...

/Kim

Thanks for the comments gentlemen! Rick: thanks for the regulations. I found a site in German that also has some info on the medal. It claims that the "Ehrengeld" was 500 each year. Probably a welcomed extra income. I still would like to see the source from where the website and your book got their info. I'll put that research on my to-do-list.

Mr B?rner was active in SPD or KPD from 1919. I have his "ehrenurkunde" for 50 years of faithful party work, someone has written 1969 on it. The graffiti is not originally part of the text, but I'm glad it was added. It helps me sort out his chronology. Some time during 1933-45, I think, he was put in KZ Sachsenhausen. I'm 100% sure but will look into this possibility. Later in life he got a "ehrennadel der organe der rechtspflege", a pin from the justice department? My German needs a bit of work...

Any way here are some closeups. The main document for the K?mpfer-medal and one from the committee of antifascist fighters.

/Kim

Here's the latest addition to my collection, a small lot to a fighter against fascism. It started out as a single boxed K?mpfer gegen Faschismus medal on Ebay. I sent a mail and found out it came with a document. I sent a couple of more mails after I had won the auction and found that I had a group. Not bad, as I have had my eye on a "K?mpfer.." medal for a while but other stuff always sidetracked me. I like the size of the documents, very big compared to the soviet that I'm used to.

Were do I find the DDR award regulations? All I have now is a Bartel catalogue and it doesn't help much beside ID-ing what the name of the medal actually is. Are there any books that have the actual regulation in it? I mean like the McDaniel/Schmidt book in soviet collecting. Do I have to find the Gesetzblatt myself? If so - fine..... but what year and numbers....

/Kim

My Russian-Swedish military abbreviation book suggests PUN as "Punkt upravleniya i navedeniya. This is a flight term and is translated as "ledningscentral" (swedish). English might be command center, but I'm not sure. How's your Swedish Rick...

/Kim

Congratulations!!!

Now there's only four to go....

/Kim

Too bad it didn't turn out to be what it claimed to be. But then again it turned out to be a pretty sweet citation to a man in what the Germans called Black Death, the soviet marines. Plus it's a "polar" group, which is rare. In fact I had two bars I was thinking of selling. One had the Polar defence medal so I decided to keep it just because of that. (WW2 action close to Sweden is one of my collecting interests.) Wouldn't that be ironic if that bar is a put-together bar to a guy fighting in southern Europe... Well, research will follow on that one.

You also got some nice citations on the Glories. Congratulations!

/Kim

Just found a dog sled reference and thought it would add to the information here.

Dogs would detect wounded soldiers left on the battlefield. These casualties

would then be removed on sleds, on litters, in flat-bottomed boats, or by

horses or reindeer. Once treated at the field station, casualties were to be

evacuated to the rear either in ambulances or in cargo trucks returning to

the supply base area. A limited number of patients would be transported

by air.

It's from James F.Gebhardt's paper on the Kirkenes-Petsamo operation, that's why it mentions reindeer I suppose.

http://www-cgsc.army.mil/carl/download/csi...t/geb_intro.pdf

/Kim

I could live with that research result Rick. But it's still at the end of the research line...

Soviet: Thanks! The research was more than I could ever hope for. All I hoped for was that it was a group. A pilot was an unexpected, but pleasant, surprise.

/Kim

So much to research and limited collecting budget doesn't add up. But I agree with you that it could be for something good. He was after all still an active military man, stationed in Latvia in 1955. When I get more on Artamonov I'll post it here, but don't hold your breath as this group is now last in the line for future research. Then again awarded 1957.... dare one think Hungary....?

I wonder how the 15 years of service medal ended up on the bar.....

/Kim