Lukasz Gaszewski

Well, regarding Yugoslavian miniatures I think we should first define what the "original" miniatures are. Are they only these produced by the State Mint when SFRJ existed? If so, are these manufactured by private producers fakes? I think the issue is not simple in this case. While a recipient obtained only one full-size order produced by the State Mint and he had to apply officially for a duplicate in case he had e.g. lost the original (I believe there was such a procedure), there were no limitations concerning the number of miniatures a recipient could have at the same time, for example to pin them to a few jackets. So if he bought them at different private manufacturers or purchased them later, when SFRJ did not exist any longer, can we really regard them as fakes? I believe the word "replica" or "copy" would be more approprieate here. "Faking" to me implies an intentional action of providing or selling a copy as an original. As long as we do not know what the originals really were, we should not speak about fakes. I would myself be delighted if I could buy a "faked" miniature of the Order of Freedom or Yugoslav Star 1st class. If someone can provide one, please PM me

Europe all that time. Working hard to earn for the living Wish I had known of that "brilliant" idea ealier.

New Navy and Air Force ranks seem OK. But if they want to return to the British tradition and keep Canadian identity at the same time, here is my proposal for the Army ranks (original parts from uniforminsignia).

Found an article on Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brigadier_general#United_Kingdom

Between 1920 and 1938 Virtuti Militari 4th Class was conferred to as few as 50 recipients, including only seven Polish nationals.

Welcome back to the good ol' Dominion days! I must say I do not feel particularly happy about the new-old insignia. They look too British to me and as a former Ontario resident I feel entitled a little bit to share my opinion. I cannot remember it myself, but I was told that when the tri-service ranks were introduced in Canada in 1960s, they were generally received as a symbol of a bigger independence from UK. I paticularly dislike the new insignia of an army Brigadier-General. A rank with the identical insignia was already in use during WWI, but I believe even then it was a temporary rank "for the duration of war" only (do correct me if I am wrong). I am afraid that now many Canadian colonels may be doing their best not to get promoted, to avoid wearing almost empty shoulder boards. Or Imagine a Brigadier-General who used to wear a crown, crossed sabre and baton and a maple leaf and who is now forced to wear a sabre and baton only.

Ribbon bars of People's Bulgaria do not show up quite often. This is my recent acquisition: ribbon bars of a Bulgarian officer, with Soviet-style tranparent plastic covers, popular in the USSR, Bulgaria, DDR, Hungary and Romania in the 1970-1980s. Can you recognize particular medals?

A great acquisition Paul! Congratulations indeed! I myself have been looking for 1st pattern for years.

As members of the DDR uniformed services used to wear all grades of medals received and here you can see only the medal for 25 years of service, the owner of this bar probably had another one with the medals for 20, 15, 10 and 5 years of service. There may also have been a third bar with some upper class medals. The one on the photo seems to be the middle one. A nice item by the way.

No offence, but IMHO the gentleman on the right is King George V of Britain. He is wearing a British naval uniform and only British stars on his chest.

I would like to know your opinion: original or copy?

Does anybody know the ribbon bar to it?

Here is the uniform of Polish General Kazimierz Sosnkowski, worn by him in 1943-1944, when he was C-in-C of the Armed Forces in the West, and is now kept at the Army Museum, Warsaw. Can someone recognize the ribbons in the fourth row, particularly the last one? Thanks

Thank you! I think I know the answer, but let's try others try their luck, too.

The French used to confer the Victory Medal and ocassionally also the War Medal for WWI to soldiers (especially officers) who had previously served in the Imperial Army or related forces (Polish Corps, Czechoslovak Legion). No wonder that that fellow received both, particularly if he served in the Foreign Legion.

As nobody has responded, let me explain why I am asking. Some time ago I found a quite strange item. It is a bar with six ribbons of certainly Russian awards on it. There are two things I know about this ribbon bar: 1. It is original, I mean it was made during WWI or shortly afterwards. 2. It belonged to a former Russian army officer, who continued service in the Polish forces. The bar lay quietly in a drawer for almost a century, along with his Polish ribbon bars. It is in perfect conditon with no traces of wearing at all. The ribbons seem to be of silk moire. The width of each ribbon is 27-28 mm, the height is 9 mm. What do you think of it?

Thank you Owain for response. That is actually what I feared. My friend can also try his luck at one of the markets in town. The south of Beirut is not the best place to visit now, considering what is going on down there. Still would you PM me the seller's address if you have it? Kindest regards, Lukasz

Alexandre's guesses seem correct. What regards the Kgl. Preuss. Hausordens von Hohenzollern, it can be either a Ritterkreuz or Inhaberkreuz, depending on Weidling's rank when he received it. The last ribbon is certiainly of a foreign award. On the colour photo it looks green, so it can be the knight cross of the Hungarian Order of Merit or Italian Order of SS. Maurice and Lazarus. But it can be also of something else

Ok, the individuals on the picture are as follows (l. to r.): General of the Army Dobry Dzhurov - Bulgarian People's Army (only half of him visible) General of the Army Heinz Kessler - National People's Army, GDR General of the Army Milán Václavík - Czechoslovak People's Army (smiling) General of the Army Wojciech Jaruzelski - Polish Army and Chief of State Council (in a suit) Colonel-General Ferenc Kárpáti - Hungarian People's Army (probably him, the face is covered; if not him, it is another Hungarian general) Colonel-General Vasile Milea - Romanian People's Army Marshal of the Soviet Union Viktor Kulikov - Soviet Army General of the Army Anatoly Gribkov- Soviet Army I think the task could be difficult. All of these individuals used to be on first pages of newspapers when they were in power and today it is even difficult to find any information about them on the Net, perhaps with the exception of Kessler, Jaruzelski Gribkov and Kulikov. Sic transit gloria mundi. The winner is of course SergioV, please feel free to ask the next question.

Good answer Sergio, that is absolutely correct! Can you also recognize the two military on the left of Jaruzelski?

Congrats! I have been looking for it for 10 years.

Thank you JapanX and Ferdinand for response. Boris Tkach would be more logical, as he had served in Afghanistan, although we shall not know until we see what was inside the application for his order. At least we know that the Order of Suvorov went to marshal Sergey Sokolov, as he was the only recipient in 1982. BTW: I wonder if he ever set foot on the Afghan soil.

The Order of Kutuzov 1st Class was awarded last time in 1981 and 1982 to 8 persons. Who obtained it for Afghanistan?

OK, I am not sure if it is going to develop, but let's try. I am opening a new Soviet Quiz for 2014. As far as I could find, there was no quiz in 2013, so maybe this year... Let me put forward the first question. On the photo below you can see a group of individuals who held very important military (and not only) posts in the 1980s. 1. Identify all identifiable ones (including rank and country they were from). 2. What were the highest posts they held? And an additional question for experts: 3. Try to estimate when this photo was taken. Enjoy and good luck!

Gents, it is known that ribbon bars were never officially intoduced in the army of the Russian Empire up to its end and the first bars appeared only in the Red Army as late as in 1943. My question is if somebody knows if there ever were any unofficially worn ribbon bars, either in the Russian Army or in any of the forces related to it (Czechoslovak Legion, Polish Corps in Russia, "white" armies during the Civil War etc.) Perhaps someone has seen photos or even original bars. I will owe for any information.