Suspensions, Ribbons, Ribbon Bars And Order Of Precedence.

[Tal Inbar]

Hi

Some of you might remember the question from the old forum:

What were the meaning of the colours in the ribbons of orders and medals? (I know that the medals for the 20,30,and 40 years of the soviet army have 2, 3, and 4 red lines - each represent 10 years).

all insight will be helpfull

Tal

[CZ]

Dear Tal,

you are right, if there are commemorative years for a medal or classes at a order, they are indicated at the ribbon.

There is only one order-ribbon - Glory (look at my avatar) - and one medal-ribbon - victory over germany - with a shining example in the great history of czarist awards: The order (officiers) and cross (soldiers + NCOs) of St. George. Their ribbons are identical. But that's all. You can find the Glory/St. George ribbon integrated into the ribbons of the medals "Capture of Berlin" and "40th anniversary ot the victory". The order and the cross of St. George had been the most "heroic" military decorations before the revolution.

With a lot of fantasy you might see some paralles in the ribbon of the czarist order of St. Anne and the order of Lenin, but Lenin has an extra yellow line at the border of the ribbon.

You might also see the inner part of the ribbon of Lenin's 100th birthday medal centrally integrated into the ribbon of the order of friendship.

But I imagine, that all ribbons - except the order of Glory and victory over germany medal - where purley created in the heads of these excellent artists and craftsman, who designed the decorations. Maybe the 2 navy medals have blue colour in their ribbons, because they are marine decorations. Maybe the 2 partisan medals have green colour in their ribbons, because the partisans lived in the woods. Maybe the order of the october revolution has a lot of red in the ribbon, because red is the colour of the communist revolution. But that is all private speculation.

Regards from Vienna

[Tal Inbar]

Here is an example for a very impressive set of ribbons, belonged to Gorskov:

[Art]

Thanks Tal,

I was hoping you were there :) if this guy had to wear all those awards..good luck. He'd need a back brace.

[Tal Inbar]

Here are 3/4/5 ribbon wide sets.

[Mahdi]

Hi, I guess this may be a little late, but I thought it may be useful. To answer the question about ribbons, depending on the type of the uniform and the size of the person, the number of adjacent mounted ribbons may vary between 3 and 5, each of which is the same width as the ribbon on the actual medal/order (if present). Moreover, their order would be as follows (skipping any awards that the person was not presented):

Order of Victory (above all the awards, on its own pinback device)
Order of Lenin
Order of October Revolution
Order of the Red Banner
Order of Suvorov 1st Class
Order of Ushakov 1st Class
Order of Kutuzov 1st Class
Order of Nakhimov 1st Class
Order of Bogdan Khmelnitsky 1st Class
Order of Suvorov 2nd Class
Order of Ushakov 2nd Class
Order of Kutuzov 2nd Class
Order of Nakhimov 2nd Class
Order of Bogdan Khmelnitsky 2nd Class
Order of Suvorov 3rd Class
Order of Kutuzov 3rd Class
Order of Bogdan Khmelnitsky 3rd Class
Order of Alexander Nevsky
Order of the Patriotic War 1st Class
Order of the Patriotic War 2nd Class
Order of the Red Banner of Labor
Order of the Friendship of Nations
Order of the Red Star
Order for Service to the Homeland 1st Class
Order for Service to the Homeland 2nd Class
Order for Service to the Homeland 3rd Class
Order of the Badge of Honor
Order for Personal Courage
Order of Glory (they all get one ribbon)
Order of Labor Glory 1st Class
Order of Labor Glory 2nd Class
Order of Labor Glory 3rd Class
Medal for Valor
Medal of Ushakov
Medal for Combat Service
Medal of Nakhimov
Medal for Valiant Labor
Medal for Distinguished Labor
Medal in Honor of the Centenary of Lenin's Birth
Partisan Medal 1st Class
Partisan Medal 2nd Class
Medal for Distinction in Guarding the USSR State Border
Medal for Distinguished Military Service 1st Class
Medal for Distinguished Military Service 2nd Class
Medal for Distinguished Service in Maintaining Public Order
Medal for Bravery in a Fire
Medal for Saving Life From Drowning
Medal for the Defense of Leningrad
Medal for the Defense of Moscow
Medal for the Defense of Odessa
Medal for the Defense of Sevastopol
Medal for the Defense of Stalingrad
Medal for the Defense of Kiev
Medal for the Defense of the Caucasus
Medal for the Defense of the Soviet Polar Region
Medal for Victory over Germany
Medal for the 20th Anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War
Medal for the 30th Anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War
Medal for the 40th Anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War
Medal for Victory over Japan
Medal for the Capture of Budapest
Medal for the Capture of Koenigsberg
Medal for the Capture of Vienna
Medal for the Capture of Berlin
Medal for the Liberation of Belgrade
Medal for the Liberation of Warsaw
Medal for the Liberation of Prague
Medal for Meritorious Labor During the Great Patriotic War
Veteran of Labor Medal
Veteran of the Armed Forces Medal
Medal for Strengthening Military Cooperation
Medal for the Restoration of the Ferrous Metal Industry of the South
Medal for the Restoration of Coal Mining in the Donbas
Medal for the Development of the Virgin Lands
Medal for the Construction of the Baikal-Amur Railroad
Medal for the Development of the Non-Black Earth Region of the RSFSR
Medal for the Development of the Oil and Gas Fields of Western Siberia
Medal for the 20th Anniversary of the Workers’ and Peasants’ Red Army
Medal for the 30th Anniversary of the Army and Fleet
Medal for the 40th Anniversary of the Soviet Armed Forces
Medal for the 50th Anniversary of the Soviet Armed Forces
Medal for the 60th Anniversary of the Soviet Armed Forces
Medal for the 70th Anniversary of the Soviet Armed Forces
Medal for the 50th Anniversary of the Soviet Militia
Medal for the 800th Anniversary of Moscow
Medal for the 250th Anniversary of Leningrad
Medal for the 1500th Anniversary of Kiev
Medal for 10 Years of Irreproachable Service
Medal for 15 Years of Irreproachable Service
Medal for 20 Years of Irreproachable Service

If the person has any foreign awards, the ribbons go after these, regardless of how high the award is in it's native country.

[CZ]

Dear Mahdi,

is someone oblieged to show the ribbons of his foreign awards? Imagine the hundreds of foreign ribbons from Brezhnev - he must have fixed them at his trousers, backside ...

Our Marshall Tito showed only his YU-awards ribbons (+ miniatures), never foreign ribbons, not even the "Order of Victory"-ribbon.

See photograph.

Regards from Vienna

[Mahdi]

Dear Christian,

As far as I know, there are not a lot of veterans with "too many" awards to wear on their uniforms. I also do not recall coming across any regulations stating that Soviet soldiers are required to wear any foreign awards given to them. However, there are cases where only the most significant awards would be worn (Soviet, that is) and others would be left out. Check out these two photos of Zhukov wearing ALL of his Soviet and foreign awards (at the time the picture was made), and of Brezhnev wearing ribbons for all his Soviet and foreign awards. Oh, one more thing - some Soviet soldiers that were awarded German awards before WWII did not wear these after and during the war.

Take care!

Brezhnev had (still has, I guess) a nickname in Russia --- "kollektsioner," which is the Russian word for collector.

[Tal Inbar]

Some veterans do have a lot of awards...:

[Mahdi]

Indeed some do, but in the picture that Tal posted it is important to mention that:

1) The awards are not worn on a military uniform, which usually has slightly larger surface area for attaching awards.
2) The awards are not worn according to the Ministry of Defense regulations, thus using the "space" less efficiently.

This makes the awards seem like there are many more than there actually is...

But Tal is right indeed, some veterans do have a whole lot of orders, medals, and badges.