paja

My previous reply very nicely illustrates how much of a watch expert am I Because that's a common procedure and considering just how much of them aren't working properly I presume they have other issues.

Serbian generals' pickelhaube M1873, full dress uniform. Two of them are kept at the Belgrade Military Museum, one belonged to Milojko Lešjanin, the other one to Kosta Protić. By the way pickelhaube was first introduced in Serbia in 1847. Unfortunately the image is very small, I'll try finding better ones.

Here's one more very nice photo of the general found on ebay. General is wearing medal bar with: -White Eagle 5th Class (4th class was supposed to be suspended from the buttonhole) -Legion of Honor 4th Class -Golden Bravery Medal 1877 -Silver Bravery Medal (1876 or 1877-78) -Petar I Corronation Medal -1876-78 War Commemorative Medal (?) Inscription is pretty interesting, I can't read all of it but here are some parts: "To dear friend Tanev S. Grujić ?? Serbo-Bulgarian Alliance October 5, 1912" Could Tanev be Aleksandr Tanev (Александър Танев), future general, colonel at that time?

Before Breitling Yugoslav pilots were using Zenith Cal. 143-6 and Heuer 1550SG. A friend of mine inherited Heuer and I had photos of it but unfortunately I can't find them. Pilots of the Army of Yugoslavia/Army of Serbia & Montenegro and Army of Serbia were and I think still use some of the Citizen's Blue Angels models! Some of the models I've seen have pilots' wings (FRY era type) engraved on the clasp.

According to information a fellow collector shared with us on another forum you supposedly had to use plastic tweezers or some other tool during the battery replacement avoiding all contact between the battery and the mechanism itself. Is that really true or not I can't say but I've heard stories like that before...

I did some reading and it looks like the first regulation that mentions medal bars is from 1889. If I'm not mistaken medals were being worn separately before that (just like we can see in the photo above). Here's one more photo of Sava Grujić taken after 1887 when he was prompted general. He's wearing a four, possibly five piece medal bar with four medals - Golden Bravery Medal 1877, Silver Bravery Medal (1876 or 1877-78), 1876-78 War Commemorative Medal and I'm not sure about the 4th one. Ribbon is not red so it should't be Medal for the Zealous Service in War 1877-78.

Dragomire, thank you once again! I think it's safe to conclude it really is the same medal bar that got sold over the ebay couple of years ago. We should be thankful to person(s) who recreated these medal bars for being careless, I can't find any other explanation for putting the women's decoration on medal bar attributed to Aleksandar Obrenović. I think there are a few mistakes regarding the medal bar attributed to Sava Grujić as well. Let's start from the beginning: -First thing that caught my attention is the absence of the 1876-78 War Commemorative Medal. -He was definitely awarded with the Takovo 1st Class and Takovo with Swords 2nd Class but I can't find any photo of him wearing the Takovo with Swords 4th and 5th Class on his medal bar. There's a photo of him from I think late 1870s wearing Takovo 5th class (not on the bar) but then again that decoration is not present on his medal bars from the later period. -Same thing goes for the Order of St. Sava. -When we read the description Dragomir was so kind to share with us we can see that the ribbon for the Golden Bravery Medal from 1877 is wrong. -I'm not sure if he received Golden and Silver Medal for the Zealous Service in War 1877-78, I can't find his name in the list of recipients published in 1879... Although that doesn't necessarily mean he's not among the recipients as these medals were awarded even post-1879. Doing some research I stumbled upon a name of my ancestor in the list of the recipients of the Medal for the Zealous Service in War 1877-78. He was one of around 40 people decorated with that medal in June 1881! One of them was also 2nd lieutenant Živojin Mišić, future vojvoda. -I think Grujić spent the Serbo-Bulgarian War of 1885 in Saint Petersburg as the Serbian representative to the Russian Empire which would explain why I can't find any photo of him wearing the 1885-86 Commemorative Cross! Based on the model of uniform and his rank I'd say this photo was made somewhere between 1882 and 1887. The quality of the image is bad but I think he's wearing the Golden Bravery Medal 1877, Silver Bravery Medal (1876 or 1877-78) and the 1876-78 War Commemorative Medal...

For the end one more photo of the Golden saber, inscription "For Bravery" (За Храбрость) is clearly visible. Gramota is kept at the Archive of Serbia.

Milan Obrenović and the portrait of Miloš with his brother's saber by Uroš Knežević from 1835. Miloš is wearing Order of St. Anna I Class, possibly II class with brilliants around his neck and Ottoman Nişan-ı Zişan. Milan, was awarded with Russian Silver Medal for Bravery and Zeal on St. Anna ribbon (Медаль "За храбрость и усердие") on April 4, 1810. Apart from him 7 more Serbs were awarded with silver and 17 with golden medal! Unfortunately only one golden medal on St. George ribbon awarded to vojvoda Luka Lazarević is preserved and kept in the Historical Museum of Serbia. Miloš is also one of the recipients of the same decoration.

Imperial Russian Golden saber for bravery presented to vojvoda Milan Obrenović by prince Bagration on December 21, 1809 (January 3, 1810). Milan was Miloš Obrenović's older maternal half-brother and one of five Serbs who were honored this way. The others were Karađorđe Petrović, Milenko Stojković, Petar Teodorović Dobrnjac and Hajduk-Veljko Petrović. Gramota is also preserved and it states that the saber was awarded to Milan not only for the shown bravery but also for his devotion to Russia. After 1903 it was kept in the National museum until 1915 when the occupying Austro-Hungarian forces looted almost all Serbian museums. During the war it was kept in Budapest and after the liberation it was returned together with a certain amount of stolen objects. After that it was once more kept in the National Museum until 1953 when it was given to the Military Museum but unfortunately no one knew just what it was... It took more that 4 decades for it to be "re-discovered" in 1995. This priceless piece of Serbian history is the only surviving Golden saber from the time of First Serbian Uprising. Information and some of the photos were found in Mr. Branko Bogdanović's article "Miloš's Saber - Pearl of the Museum" published in Politikin Magazin.

Dragomire, thank you very much for the photo and information! You mentioned Sava Grujić's medal bar, could it be the same one I posted earlier in this topic? It also consists of 9 decorations... If you have scans of it as well and if it's not too much trouble could you please show us how it looks like with the decorations?

One more photo from above, you can see the Cathedral Temple (Church of St. Trinity) on the right.

The book promotion will take place at the Moscow Book Fair on December 2nd. Large format, 260 pages, hardcover, 200 images in full color, price around 60 euros.

There was one more German WW1 military cemetery in Niš (within the Old cemetery). Unlike the one from Delijski vis which was moved to Belgrade this one was relocated to Germany, not only the earthly remains but also the central monument. I'd like to know where exactly was it relocated, when, and how many soldiers were buried there? Does anyone have more information about it? It can be seen on some old postcards and photos. Serbien Nisch Helden-Friedhof

Here's one more photo of the king wearing the same type of uniform.

This photo was passed on to me together with the one of King Milan I posted earlier. If I'm not mistaken he's wearing blouse M1886 and based on the eagles on his braid shoulder boards I'd say the photo was made after January 1901. According to regulations officers had to wear Order of Miloš the Great and Order of the White Eagle on every occasion. I think one was supposed to wear higher classes of Miloš only on the parade uniform, while the lowest class was worn on daily and other uniforms. Same rule applies to the White Eagle hence the two piece medal bar.

Legion of Honor 1st Class, 1936

Badge, sash and the letter of Italian foreign minister

Order of St. Maurice and Lazarus 1st Class, 1918

Greek Order of Redeemer 2nd Class (Pomonis), 1918

Thank you, Rush! I'm glad you think so, unfortunately I doubt I'll be able to make the complete list of Aleksandar's decorations just based on the photos and paintings... Paul, thank you as well, I appreciate your effort!

French War Cross 1914-17 with Bronze Palm

While visiting Serbian and British Military Cemetery (separate topic about it is here) in Niš I stumbled upon a new piece of the puzzle. There's a monument with a German inscription on the same lot where the Serbian collective tombs are located. Den Gefallenen des Balkanfeldzuges 1941-1942 zum Gedächtnis Hier ruhten auch 1623 soldaten des ersten Weltkrieges bis zu ihrer im Jahre 1942 erielgter Überführung auf den Ehrenfriedhof in Belgrad. So 1623 soldiers who died during WW1 and were buried there were exhumed and relocated by the Germans in 1942 to Belgrade, I presume on Banovo brdo military cemetery...

Just a few more details.

Great photos, thanks for sharing!