EK11 mounting

[Gliderinf]

EK11 and also Osrfront - ive put these on kit before - but always seems to be a bit of a botch job

What is the correct method for mounting them ( what happens behind the buttonhole ?)

Also - mounting on left chest ( like British ribbons) was there any rime or reason to this or just personal choice ? Obviously you see this method more on senior officers with lots of ribbons (WW1 etc) but you do see it on its own or with the Ostfront Ribbon. And how are these attached ? Can you get Ribbon bars in Differant lengths (again like Brit/US) Where from ?

[Crazy Feldgendarme]

There is a laid down regulation for what ribbon goes where on the ribbon bar, i suggest you get hold of a book
German Military Ribbon Bars 1914-1957 by Mark Hayden, published by Schiffer ISBN 0-7643-1205-5 this has a complete list of the priority of awards.
Its hard (and expensive)to get the ribbon and devices to make your own bars but various people sell small one however if you want a bar with 5 or 6 ribbons it will come very expensive and i know of only two people that do them one in the US and one in Australia .

[Gliderinf]

Thanks ,mate - i actually meant is there any reason for putting them on the left chest rather than in the Buttonhole, not which order they go in if theres a few (sorry post could mean either - the way i wrote it )

1-2 ribon bar - where can you get these ?

How does the ribbon in the buttonhole work (is there a neet way - or does everyones look a mess behind the scenes ?

[Crazy Feldgendarme]

No problem mate thats the trouble with forums some times things dont come over as we mean them. Lots of dealers at militaria fairs do 1/2/3 ribbon bars for a reasonable choice just depends which ribbons you want to fit your persona and awards your group has given you. In general the regulations said that ones worn in the button hole are the EK11, the Ostfront medal and the War Merit cross 2nd class. When any of these are worn in the button hole they should not be worn on the ribbon bar as well (though there are numerous photos showing this regulation being ignored). One reason for the ribbon bar on the chest is that a man with say 6 medals would look bloody silly with them all in the button hole and of course some are neck orders.

Dont know about anyone else but my button hole ribbon looks very untidy from the back (lets face it aint no one going to see it), perswonally i sewed mine down with half a dozen stitches at both ends but others may do it differently.

[pzrwest]

Here is a pic of my KVKII ribbon stitched in place on the inside of the button hole. I just used small neat stitches. My Uboot vet Edgar told me I did it correctly.

[Kolya]

My Uboot vet Edgar

What do you do, keep him in a box?

[Gliderinf]

Fair enough (i just thought there might be some prescribed "neet " manner that i hadn't thought of)
Thanks chaps sorry Kamerad.

[pzrwest]

No I don't keep him in a box just he is about 1/2 drive from me and we talk all the time. Matter of fact he dropped into the Jamboree I played music at last night for a cpl hours. He and I both play musical instruments and even at the age of 83 he has learned to use a computer for recording his music he plays. It was hard at first to teach him and he had to take alot of notes and phone calls till he got the hang of it. One of his many talents is he is a master tailor with papers from Germany.