TacHel

I checked 4 French web sites about the 89th. No mention whatsoever of colonial campaigns.

The regiment was stationed at the "Caserne Gémeaux" in Sens from the mid 1850s to 1914. It spent the entire war of 14-18 as part of the 10th Infantry Division.

IMHO, the 2 most likely candidates would be a Croix de Guerre (1915 or 1916 due to your 1916 end date) and a Médaille Militaire. There were no long service awards in those days for French NCOs and the medal for the wounded did not yet exist (even today's version is non official). The only other possibility would be if he had served in another unit prior to going to the 89th, but that is unlikely, just in like many other armies of the day, soldiers usually remained with the same unit for their entire length of service.

Another interesting point for your uniform, the 89th was awarded a fourragère in the colours of the WW1 Croix de Guerre for 2 mentions. 2 of its 3 WW1 battle honours precede 1917 meaning the owner of the uniform most probably took part in these engagements. A fourragère always looks great on a period uniform!

Hope this helps!

About the ribbon mounted swords... If the awards are simply hooked under the ribbons, he might've used the very same bar in the undress "sans gongs"... No?

Quite the rack for an NCO! He is a feldwebel, correct?

Nice!

Translation of the page:

Top: The 110 years of Lazare Ponticelli

Bottom:

Mother to son: Don't participate in this war Lazare! I don't want to see my child die!

Lazare to mother: Mom, I enlisted at a young age. In order to relate it all in my old age.

Sweet! Seems to be in immaculate condition too! Great find for a 100+ year old tunic!:jumping:

Hi François,

No need "courtesy", this is public information from the Kremlin, as published on their website...

Cheers.

Ch.

My motto is give credit where credit is due. You're the one that sought them out and found them.

This is the Sovereign's badge of the Order of Military Merit of Canada.

This is the Sovereign's badge of the Order of Canada

Cheers!:beer:

President Medvedev has approved a new medal:

Jubilee medal "65 YEARS OF VICTORY IN THE GREAT PATRIOTIC WAR 1941 - 1945"

Decree 238 dated 4 March 2009.

Link to President Medvedev's speech (in English) of 4 December 2009 during the first award ceremony (courtesy of Christophe)

Link to the actual Presidential Decree (in Russian) (courtesy of Christophe)

But what about some Medal Bars with Croix de guerre?

I never saw a French one...

Emanuel,

I've never seen a French medal bar, period. They wear their medals all individually pinned on the uniform. I've seen the odd attempt at a bar but since they wear their medals only 3 wide, it gets complicated and quite cumbersome really fast.

Eight months later...

L to R, Excellent Marksman, Excellent Sailor, Excellent Airborne, Excellent Space Troop.

I have yet to see a single picture of Russian servicemen or women wearing these. The above model is easily found on Russian ODM auction sites, while the model with the flag mostly shows up on eBay.

No pics...:(

The SVR is 70% pure military, simply not under the Defense Ministry. Look at the SVR's long service medals my friend, they're military medals. Go on the SVR's web site and scan through the press releases, all military uniforms on the pictures.

But that doesn't explain this ribbon now does it?:unsure:

This is yet another "non-governmental" medal denoting the same event.

No , not curious at all... this bar dates exactly from the years 1895-1897 because the oakleaves were given out in 1895 for the 25 year jubilee of the 1870 war !!! Centennial medal comes in 1897 , so we have the small time gap of two years when this bar must have been made....

Good point...

This is the first time I've seen a Red Eagle Order on a non-combattant ribbon, absolutely awesome set!:jumping:

Emanuel, AWESOME bar!

What are the other medals on it?

Outstanding! What a great thing to learn of such people! Thanks for sharing!:cheers:

Komtur, that's a BE-AU-TI-FUL set!! Why no Wilhelm der Grosse Centennial medal? The bearer made it to 1897 since he has the 25 year leaves on his Ek2...

Just curious...

This medal with the GRU emblem is one of the unofficial medals being pawned off as the real thing. I'm actually quite surprised that a non government organization was allowed to hang it from a ribbon that closely ressembles real Defense Ministry colours.

I've looked through a few Russian heraldic sites but couldn't find it...

The one thing that surprised me about this medal was the choice of ribbon. It's in the colors of the Foreign Intelligence Service, a completely separate organization, almost a rival within Russia. They merely used the ribbon from the Medal for "Veteran of the Foreign Intelligence Service" and reversed it.

Just found some more swindles on eBay.

Be extremely weary of so called official medals not found on my Wiki page! I've seen 2 sellers who post a reverse pic showing an official ministerial affiliation that is NOT the reverse of the actual medal being sold!

As usual, OUTSTANDING!:jumping:

Nice Haul

Mostly from Ebay?

Cheers

Chris

Actually NADA from eBay. I've reached the limits of what eBay offers. I now have a dealer supplying me directly from Russia.

Fourragères are not individual awards, they are unit awards. An individual earning a CdG will not get a fourragère. A fourragère is worn by all of the unit members when the unit as a whole was awarded a CdG.

Now, as far as design goes, my knowledge is a bit limited, but I believe the cords (over and under arm) differ because of the makers. Many wore French made fourragères which differed from the later US made ones. I have both French and US made example and although similar in color, it stops there! The US made examples are much simpler in design then their European counterparts.

I'll take pictures of the ones I have as sson as I have a few minutes, you'll see the differences.

The outer cords were for citations numbering above 9 times if memory serves...

Award document.

Official medal of the defense ministry. Several non official medals were also struck to commemorate the same department but this is the one and only official/governmental medal.