Iron Cross Diamonds

Are you going to add the new General Service Medal 2008 to British Commonwealth decorations rack builder? It was introduced in 2016.

Thank you, O3fahnen. By the way, thank you to everyone with the Saxon General collar tabs. I was able to find a person on ebay who made a couple of them for me.

Dear Bayern: I found that website The Marshalls Baton sometime ago; however, I do appreciate you telling me about it. I found the section about the East German general collar tabs very interesting. I thought that cornfield blue German Coast Artillery General Collar tab would have been better on the Luftwaffe General uniform. In addition, I seem to like the German Admiral Navy Blue uniform much better when it had the admiral shoulder boards on it. The same thing for the Royal Navy Admirals when they have a gold admiral shoulder board place on the right shoulder of their navy blue uniform complete with aiguillettes.

Thank you for the information Bayern

Thank you for the measurements, O3Fahenen! Now all I need to know what materials they use to make the collar tabs.

May you can get one made; however, that would be expensive.

Does anyone know the dimensions, colors, material etc of the Saxon Imperial army general collar tab insignia in these pictures? There is someone on eBay who can make them for me; however, I can not give the information to him since I do not have that kind of information. Thank you.

Which era are we talking about? Pre 1918 there were many other awards availible. In WW2 there were also more than just the Iron Cross ? I am talking about both World War I and World War II with regards to officers particularly high ranking ones being award with the higher grades of the Knights Cross and the higher grade awards of the imperial German medals like the Order of the Red Eagle. In the imperial German state awards, there was usually only one grade for the enlisted men/NCOs while the higher grades were reserved for the officers. In World War II, as I have commented earlier, only 7 NCOs had won the Knight Cross with Oakleaves and no enlisted men/NCOs had won the Sword and/the Diamonds. Most of the Swords and Diamonds were won by the generals.

Jock Auld. I was quoting from Gordon Williamson, May 18, 2009, which is on page 1 of this topic. Since the end of World War II, countries are no longer declaring a state of war in public and over the airwaves anymore. You look at American history, there were no declarations of a state of war by the American government against the various Native Americans or when America was having its Banana Wars in Central America during the 1920s and 1930s.

"Quite apart from matters of political correctness, the Iron Cross can only be awarded when the nation is in a declared state of war. It is what is known as a temporary award, and has to be re-instituted each time the nation is at war." You look at the wars fought by France and the UK, many of their wars were not declared when they were expanding their empires or putting down armed uprisings in their colonies; whereby, their soldiers, civilians, and police officers were given VCs, the DCMs, Order of the Bath, Order of the British Empire, the CMG, the French Legion of Honor, the French Military Medal, the French Croix De Guerre Overseas medal, and various colonial police medals. When the Napoleonic Wars had finally ended, I am surprised the British didn't demand that the French abolish the Legion of Honor since it represents the amount of death and destruction that Europe suffered from those wars. The only people who like and support Napoleon were the Poles because he supported the Poles in their fight for their independence.

Well, the Germans had the Golden Oakleaves with Diamonds to the Knight Cross so I figure it might as well be added to the Iron Cross since Hans Rudel was awarded the Golden Oakleaves with Diamonds. Here is an Order of the Red Eagle medal with Golden Oakleaves. Just a thought. I agreed with some of the reviewers on this website that the Germans need to have more imagination when it comes to having more different colors for their ribbons. Even the East Germans had more imagination when creating different color ribbons for their decorations.

You also have the Russians bringing back many of their old civilian/military medals that were abolished after the Communists had come to power, plus some of their Communist medals have been kept; however, the red ribbon for those medals have been replaced by the white, blue, red ribbon of the today Russian flag and have been renamed. I am sure that many of those people who were conquered by the Russians (the Poles, the Baltic States, the various states in Asia, the Caucasus countries, etc.) still have collective bad memories of what those Russian medals represent. After World War II, the Italians kept some of their medals; however, they had to rename. them since the monarchy was abolished in the late 40s. The Austrians have kept a trifold form of ribbon when they pin the medal on your chest plus still using the modified Austrian eagle on their medals plus awarding certain medals in three different grades: bronze, silver, and gold. Finally, you don't see the Polish government getting rid of all the Communist Polish medals that were created.

After World War II, the Italians kept some of their royalist medals; however, they had to rename them since the monarchy was abolished in the late 40s. The Austrians have kept a Trapezoid form of ribbon when they pin the medal on your chest plus still using the modified Austrian eagle on their medals plus awarding certain medals in three different grades: bronze, silver, and gold.

You also have the Russians bringing back many of their old civilian/military medals that were abolished after the Communists had come to power, plus some of their Communist medals have been kept; however, the red ribbon for those medals have been replaced by the white, blue, red ribbon of the today Russian flag and have been renamed. I am sure that many of those people who were conquered by the Russians (the Poles, the Baltic States, the various states in Asia, the Caucasus countries, etc.) still have collective bad memories of what those Tsarist Russian medals represent. Finally, you don't see the Polish government getting rid of all the Communist Polish medals that were created.

If the French can still use their Colonial Medal which has been re-named to the Overseas Medal plus re-instituting the Croix de guerre des théâtres d'opérations extérieurs which was discontinued after the Korean War, the Indochina War, and the 1956 War, plus still using the Cross for Military Valour (which was created to recognizes bravery during the Algerian War 1954-1962) then I don't see why the Germans can not bring back the Iron Cross.

If they ever have the long service awards again, I would like to see them not only in cross form but also in the rounded versions like the various imperial German states (9 and 12 years of services) and 3rd Reich Luftwaffe and Heer ones (signifying 4 and 12 years of service). The front part of the medal would have the German eagle and the reverse side would be the number signifying it (4, 12, 18, etc). I would also add a device like a 40 golden oak leave one that was used on Heer 1936 25 Year cross to signified additional years after 25 years. Regarding the ribbon, I would use the old NVA military service ribbon since they have the colors green along with the gold, black, and red.

If the Iron Cross was brought back, here is how I would create it: Iron Cross 2nd class with 5 grades: 1) basic 2) Oak Leaves, 3) Swords, 4) Diamonds, and 5) Golden Diamonds. Iron Cross 1st class same thing as the Iron Cross 2nc class. The reasons are: 1) Some of the imperial German states had swords, oak leaves and crowns to designate their higher grades of their awards so why not do it with the Iron Cross. 2) When you look at German military history, once the enlisted men/NCO had won the Iron Cross 1st and 2nd classes, there were no more awards available to them unless they were commissioned as officers. Very few of the enlisted/NCOs won the Knight Cross and German Cross in Gold and only 7 army NCOs had won the Oak Leaves. None of them won the Diamonds, the Swords or the Blue Max. One NCO fighter pilot had won the Swords; however, he was given it after being killed in action. I don't know why the Germans did not adopt the various items that were worn by the British, French, and Americans to signified additional awards fo the medal they won. The British had rosettes, French silver and bronze stars, bronzes and silver palm leaves, Americans, bronze and silver oak leave clusters, silver and gold stars.