webr55

Ah ok, I was unaware of that old thread!

What exactly is that breast star?

Came across this impressive photo of Samuel Morse, taken apparently between 1865 and 1872, showing a Danebrog, Legion of Honor, Mauritius Lazarus, and others, could not ID them all:

From the unpublished but not lost Brabant Roll:

Ritterkreuz 1. Klasse

24.6.1914 Kabinettssekret?r Dr.Wilhelm Wehner, Darmstadt

Greetings

Daniel

There is a Brabant roll??? Don't want to hijack this thread, I'm bringing up my old one from three years ago:

http://gmic.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=7309

I bring up this old thread here --- because I heard for the first time that there is a Brabant roll!

Daniel - please - how many are in there with Ritterkreuz 1. Klasse mit Krone?

Can you find Hans Eberhardt? Other possibilities?

Or Oakleaves Winner Heinrich Hoffmann, as Kapit?n zur See:

But pictures with full medal bars are rare... like RK winner Heinz Knoche als Bw Oberst:

I am not sure what exactly the regulations say. But I have seen German soldiers in uniform with ribbon bar many times, although - I think - a maximum of eight decorations can be worn. Here is Generalinspekteur Wolfgang Schneiderhan with his bar (most of it are foreign decorations, among them the Legion of Merit and the Legion of Honor):

I wonder what update there'll be on this in 2013....

Wow - what an amazing photo - and what amazing research!!

Well said. And nothing more I could add.

Hmmmmmm. I don't know. I see very straight up and down marks at the outsides of the missing devices like the flat ends of a cross would make.

If it was Wehrmacht eagles, I bet a 12 and 4 replacing an old XII. Some sort of Etappen type in BOTH wars?

The pics still don't show it very clearly. The original "clean" ribbon has been preserved where the devices were - and the ribbons show clean areas only in three directions, left, right and down. Nothing pointing upward - I'd bet there have been WM eagles.

MAYBE Etappe... but nothing from WW1? Especially if he wasn't just a Gefreiter volunteer?

...

Any chance the seller has more and is one of those "I'll sell off a group one piece at a time geniuses?

Wish there was, lol.

However, the two blue ribbons show traces of removed WM eagles. Can't be seen on the first photo, better on this one:

Tab-back, yes, but this is original -- traces of soldering even..

I just got this ribbon bar, most probably the lower of a two-row set. What's interesting is that the second to last ribbon MIGHT be the Duke Ernst Medal from Saxe-Altenburg. The two missing devices on the blue ribbons should indicate Wehrmacht LS eagles. So a former member of IR 153 --- like that infamous Baron Rechenberg?

And another one with ribbon bar, bad angle though:

I've never seen a photo of him wearing his full ribbon bar o medal bar...

Oh, there are a number of other pictures, though you can't really get a closeup. This one I think is on the occasion of his promotion to Generaloberst:

The Iron Cross - in a modernized version (see below) - is the official symbol of the Bundeswehr. This is official policy, if you take a look at the pages of the Ministry of Defence, for example.

TacHel, I really like that idea!

Btw, there has been some confusion in this thread over the different grades of the "Ehrenzeichen der Bundeswehr". The ones with the red borders are NOT the new Honor Cross for Bravery, they existed already before 2008, as awards for single outstanding deeds, not necessarily involving bravery in combat, but also life-saving. But since October 2008, there are five grades of the Ehrenzeichen (seven if you count the ones with red borders):

1. Ehrenmedaille der Bundeswehr

2. Ehrenkreuz der Bundeswehr in bronze

3. a) Ehrenkreuz der Bundeswehr in silver

3. b) Ehrenkreuz der Bundeswehr in silver with red border (for single outstanding deeds, no minimum service time needed)

4. a) Ehrenkreuz der Bundeswehr in gold

4. b) Ehrenkreuz der Bundeswehr in gold with red borders (for single outstanding deeds, no minimum service time needed)

5. Ehrenkreuz der Bundeswehr f?r Tapferkeit (Honor Cross of the Federal Armed Forces for Bravery) : This is the NEW one, with the golden oakleaves, but NO red borders (first picture in this thread).

It will never happen, as the reputation of the Iron Cross is shot after WW2.

Good to hear that there's someone who knows what will never happen.

The Iron Cross IS and CONTINUES to be the symbol of the Bundeswehr. No one has ever questioned this. It is on every Bundeswehr car and aircraft.

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.

Historically, this is of course correct. But who says this cannot be changed? Why not re-institute the Iron Cross with a different policy? So do other countries who are not much likely to get into a state of declared war either.

Btw, I believe this Honor Cross award is only a temporary makeshift one. I think there will be something else, in time.

--

hmmm yes, I found it - "Medaglia di benemerenza per volontari guerra italo-austriaca". Never had a crown though. AND - it seems IF they took precedence seriously, this one would have been behind the Unita d'Italia.

Many thanks! I was unaware of the Italian commem medal. The fading looks indeed very blue on #4 and 5.

#3 I thought Belgian Crown Order because of the purple colour... the precedence is strange but maybe the wearer thought orders before medals...

Hello,

I'm not an expert for Italian decorations, but it looks to me like this bar I got is Italian. Could that be

- Maurizio Lazaro, Knight

- Italian Crown Order, Commander (crown is colored gold)

- ?? (Belgian?)

- French Postal Decoration??

- ?? (center stripe is faded green)

What era? 20s? or post-1945?

Thanks

Chris