Chris Dale

Hi Heiko and Avadski, Thanks for the kind words, very glad you liked the website. I'm aware it's still in need of correctioins, work and updates.... Cheers Chris I've taken your advice with the signature, Avadski!

Hi Chris and Alex, Thanks for the advice and comments, I see your vaild points. Here's a bar on that page that I find most curious, it's from the Chris Handisides Collection. I'd be keen to hear what anyone thinks of it and who would have these awards and especially in this order... Cheers Chris

Yes, I see the problem. As far as I know the Turkish War Medal had many names. Both the osmanischen Kriegsmedaillen and eiserne Halbmond refer to the same medal. It is also known as the Galipolli Star in English and the Harp Madalyasi in Turkish. Cheers Chris

One hundred people have read this thread and not one commented. Is that a good thing? Anyway, just to let you know there's a few more ribbon bars added to that page now. Any comments appreciated. Cheers Chris

Hi David, In that photo the Ottoman Kriegsmedaillen is the red "Gallipoli" star. The two medals on the bar are the Imtiyaz Meda, silver first class with swords on the left and the Liyakat Medal, silver second class with swords on the right. This is a helpful link for Ottoman medals- http://www.turkishmedals.net/ Cheers Chris

Thanks for the confirmation and the great photo of Falke, makes me more determined to get to that museum... Cheers Chris

Thanks for that SPM! Cheers Chris

Thanks for these photos. Here's a museum I will have to go to one day! Do you happen to recall the names of the pilots in Picture 12? Is that Oberleutnant Gerhadt Felmy of FA300 on the right? Cheers Chris

Great photos Claudio, thanks for sharing them. Cheers Chris

Looks great Sergio, thanks for posting the pictures. What's the last medal on the ribbon bar with a purple centre? Cheers Chris

Great work is being done here! Cheers Chris

This is a great thread. Keep them coming! It's good to see there's people who understand the order of medals less than me.... the people who wore them! Cheers Chris

Hello Gentlemen, I have recently updated my website with photos of a large collection of medal bars all with the DSWA, China or Colonial Service medals. Some of you have quite probably seen many of these bars before. The photos are at www.germancolonialuniforms.co.uk , scroll down to "Militaria Photographs" / "Uniform and Equipment Details" then see "Medal Bars"... or click on "Latest Updates". I'd really appreciate any comments or additional information on them. I'm sure some of you can deduce far more about their original owners than my limited knowledge reveals to me. Also please point out any errors on my part. Cheers Chris

Hi Chris, Great photo! Thanks for sharing it. I've seen photos of the Schutztruppe around this period (probably 1904-05) before showing bayonets that shouldn't be fitted to the rifles they had. But never seen one where it's not actually fixed on. Interestingly I've only seen photos of the G88 used by the Schutztruppe in these German photo studios, never seen one in Africa.... I'm sure they had the G88 out there, just never seen it done. Cheers Chris

Hi Wayne, Best £12 I've spent in a while! Yes, I just bought a subscription. Rick has lived up to his name and done the research hasn't he? I think that's pretty much answered my question... Thanks gentlemen, Cheers Chris

Hi Wem, Thanks, for the explanation there. I suspected it was going to be that complex but what you're saying is starting to explain some of the bars I've seen. Then again this topic would be no fun if it wasn't so confusing. Ah, I've just noticed there's more clues over at this excellent thread http://gmic.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=31638&st=0 , written by your good self, Paul. Sadly the link you offered me, Wem and the link inside the thread I mentioned is not accesible to me as a lowly junior member. What do I have to do to qualify myself for access to those parts of the site? Let me guess, is it 9 years service at the forum? Cheers Chris

Hi Paul, Thanks for that very quick and helpful response. That's roughly what I was figuring. On the "not always followed" bit, to what extent could recipients vary their medals order? I notice Bavarians and Saxons sometimes wearing their state medals in front of the EK2 and other Prussian awards. To what extent was this authorised by their own war ministries or was that just personal preference? Did that also apply to Wuerttmebergers, Badeners and Hessians? Cheers Chris

Dear learned Gentlemen, What was the order of seniority on medal bars in Imperial Germany? I have gleaned from this website so far that senior Prussian medals came first, followed by other senior medals, followed by less seniors, long service, campaign and centenary medals, with foreigners at the end. But I suspect the true answer to be a lot more complex than that with other states (Bavaria, Saxony etc) wearing their medals first, orders changing over the years and some medal bars just being wrong. Any help would be appreciated. Cheers Chris

A few years late in noticing that photo, but I'm pretty sure those are New Guinea Polizeitruppe wearing their brown kepis worn before 1902. See http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Polizei_Neuguinea_1885.jpg Cheers Chris

I think this story has got mixed up somewhere along the way. According to "Askari und Fita-Fita" by Thomas Morlang Maigumeri was awarded the Kriegsverdienstmedaille for African soldiers, not the Iron Cross. Cheers Chris PS I have just read "For Valour", an excellent read with everything I needed to know about the Iron Cross in South West Africa. If only someone would write a book about the Iron Cross in the other colonies!

Thanks for the reply MIlitaria, I understand a lot of official records were lost in WW2. I'll try to look into it some more and popst back here when I find some information. In the meantime here's a photo of a Schutztruppe officer wearing an EK I. In this case it's Hauptmann Hermann Detzner who evaded Australian forces on New Guinea until the end of the war. This photo was taken after 1918. Cheers Chris

Hello learned Gentlemen, Having just read "For Valour - The history of the Iron Cross and Wound Badge in German Southwest Africa 1914-1918" by Gordon McGregor I'm curious about other EK awards in the German colonies in the First World War. I know very little about the EK in the colonies generally. I know some Iron Crosses made their way to East Africa on board blockade running ships. I've also seen photos shwoing what looks like Ersatz EKs similar to the Hildegard Order on troops in Cameroon. Gunther Pluschow got an EK for his actions at Tsingtao. But that's about it. I was wondering if anyone knows figures for the total of EKs awarded for service in East Africa, Cameroon and Tsingtao? Were any awarded for actions in New Guinea or Togo? Cheers Chris

I was a bit wrong there. DSWA bayonets are indeed marked KS + weapon number, but East African ones are marked Sch. DOA + weapon number and Cameroon are marked either Sch.K or SK + weapon number. KA markings have been seen on bayonet frogs and are believed to refer to the Kolonialamt, Colonial Office. There's plenty more on colonial bayonets at www.germancolonialuniforms.co.uk Cheers Chris

Have a look at this intersting fellow, Rafael de Nogales Méndez- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rafael_de_Nogales_M%C3%A9ndez I can see he's got a German Iron Cross and a Turkish War Medal, but what else has he got? Possibly Venuzuelan medals? Cheers Chris

Thanks for the close up scans, Naxos. Now maybe those arm badges look different, it's still difficult to make them out for certain. Another curious feature, most of them seem to be wearing line eagles on their Pickelhauben, but one looks to have a Saxon Star. It's not clear enough to be certain. Saxon stars (and Bavarian, Wuerttemberg and Baden Wappen) were worn by the East Asian Infantry before Feb 1901, but by infantry from Saxon companies (or B, W and B), in which case this photo shows a group of soldiers from different units put together. Another curious feature of the original photograph is that while most of the men are wearing 1893 Dark Blue Litwekas, one is wearing a 1900 Khaki Drillichrock. This is the only time I've seen the Pickelhaube worn with a khaki uniform, interesting... Cheers Chris