Bulgarian 1915-18 Ribbon - A Question Of Swords

[Chris Taylor]

I was noticing on my ribbon bars that have the Bulgarian Weltkriegs-Erinnerungsmedaille 1915-18 ribbon, that some have swords & some don't.

The ones that do have swords also have the Hungarian Weltkriegs- Erinnerungsmedaille 1914-18 w/swords.

The ones that have the Bulgarian Weltkriegs-Erinnerungsmedaille 1915-18 by itself (w/out the Hungarian award) have no swords.

Now, is there a reason for this?

Was it a requirement that you had to have the Hungarian award w/swords to get swords on the Bulgarian?

Was it a simple matter of the recipient trying save money by not bothering to put swords on "that silly foreign award"?

Or is this all just happy coincidence that the bars I have are like this?

Anyone with the answer or even a plain old guess, please let me know.

[Dave Danner]

I have no idea what the appropriate German regulation for these was, but, properly, neither should have swords. The Hungarian and Bulgarian WW1 commemoratives have different ribbons for combatants and non-combatants. What are the swords, then, supposed to indicate? These are commoratives, not merit awards, so a distinction between a bravery and a merit award makes no sense.

[Rick Research]

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[Chris Taylor]

I agree with you Dave, I'm in the same dilema over the sword vs. no swords.

I have an example of a non-combatant bar for both of these awards (see below).
So if there is a non-combatant version, then the combatant version should have swords. Right?

Which leads me back to square one i.e., why some do & some don't.

[Rick Research]

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[Chris Taylor]

Ahhh Rick, I see.

That was another thought I had, that the Germans were just doing what they wanted & not how the Bulgarians/Hungarians had intended.

Thanks for clearing this up for me.

What was the criteria for receiving these awards?
Serving in these regions? or being a national from the area?

[Rick Research]

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[Chris Taylor]

Fascinating!

[erichcraciun]

I'll raise this question regarding the Bulgarian valour award (the not the Kriegserinnerungsmedaille) with swords and a Crown!

Has anyone seen this before?

[Rick Research]

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[Chris Taylor]

That looks like the same ribbon as the one before the Bulgarian Kriegserinnerungsmedaille on this bar, but mine only has swords.
I know this is a Bulgarian award, but not much else about it. Does anyone know about these awards & what the criteria for receiving them was?

[Dave Danner]

That looks like the same ribbon as the one before the Bulgarian Kriegserinnerungsmedaille on this bar, but mine only has swords.
I know this is a Bulgarian award, but not much else about it. Does anyone know about these awards & what the criteria for receiving them was?

That bar appears to have 3 Bulgarian awards:

1. Order of St. Alexander, 4th Class with Swords
2. Military Order for Bravery
3. Commemorative Medal for World War One

As has been discussed in another thread somewhere, the ribbon of the Military Order for Bravery was used to indicate valor awards on several Bulgarian decorations:

- Order of Merit
- Order of Military Merit
- Medal of Merit
- Soldier's Cross for Bravery

This was similar to the practice in Prussia with the Iron Cross ribbon and in Austria-Hungary with the Bravery Medal ribbon. Hungary and Romania also had a similar practice.

[Dave Danner]

That bar appears to have 3 Bulgarian awards:

1. Order of St. Alexander, 4th Class with Swords
2. Military Order for Bravery
3. Commemorative Medal for World War One

On reflection, I think the 2nd Bulgarian one (6th on the ribbon bar) is the Order of Merit, not the Military Order for Bravery. If the one before is the St. Alexander, the Military Order for Bravery should come ahead of it. So that leaves the Order of Military Merit and the Order of Merit, each on the ribbon of the Military Order for Bravery (the others are primarily enlisted awards). The Order of Military Merit should have golden swords.

Here is the Order of Merit on its regular ribbon:

[Dave Danner]

Now I'm just going in circles. The other possibility is that the recipient was enlisted in WW1, and came back as an officer in WW2. So we could have a WW2-issued St. Alexander followed by a WW1-issued Soldier's Cross for Bravery.

[Dave Danner]

Oh, Erich's is likely either (i) the Military Order for Bravery or (ii) the Order of Military Merit on the ribbon of the Military Order for Bravery.