Ribbon bars are small decorations that are worn by military, police, and fire service personnel or by civilians. Ribbon bars are mainly used when wearing either full decoration, or when wearing medals is considered inappropriate or impractical. Each military force has its own rules on what ribbons are worn in which order of precedence. Some awards are "ribbon only", having no associated medal.

Design

The ribbon bar for a particular medal usually matches the ribbon on the medal. For example, the ribbon for the Purple Heart medal is purple with a white bar down the two side edges, and its ribbon bar is similarly purple with a white bar at each end.

However, there are some awards that do not come on a ribbon, but still have a ribbon bar. The Soviet Order of Victory is a badge that is worn on the parade uniform. However, a ribbon is worn instead when wearing a field uniform. The ribbon was designed by combining various other ribbons from other Soviet orders.

Construction

Ribbon bars are today mounted on what is known as a pin backing, which can then be pushed through the fabric of a uniform shirt and secured, with fasteners, on the inside edge. Ribbons may either be individually secured, and then lined up on the shirt, or mass-mounted to a single fastener. Previously, ribbons were sewn to individual garments; individual militaries authorized the ribbons for wear on certain uniforms only; for example, on dress shirts but not on working clothing.

Display

Ribbon bars are normally not worn on utility or combat uniforms, but instead for office or dress occasions. Some countries (such as Cuba) maintain a standard practice of wearing full ribbon bars on combat utility clothing. In other militaries, this is strictly prohibited as the wear of ribbons on combat gear could make higher ranking officers more noticeable as targets, and also negate the effect of camouflage.

Ribbon bars are worn in rows on the chest. This collection of bars is collectively referred to as a "ribbon rack".

Notable examples

U.S.A.

Richard Marcinko

General George S. Patton

General of the Armies John J. Pershing (during World War I)

John J. Pershing

Yugoslavia

President of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Josip Broz Tito

U.S.S.R.

Marshal of the Soviet Union Aleksandr Vasilevsky (foreign decorations not pictured)

Soviet Hero Vasily Grigoryevich Zaitsev

Australia

Keith Payne VC

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General Peter Cosgrove

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Ribbons and awards

Awards and decorations of Belarus

Awards and decorations of the Soviet Union

Awards and decorations of the United States military

Polish military awards and decorations

Awards and decorations of the military of Sri Lanka

External links

Ukrainian ribbon bars

Danish Ribbon bars

Category:Military awards and decorations Category:Award items

Coordinates	40°37′29″N73°57′8″N
Name	Josef Dietrich
Born	May 28, 1892
Died	April 21, 1966
Placeofbirth	Hawangen, Bavaria
Placeofdeath	Ludwigsburg, Germany
Nickname	Sepp, Ujac
Allegiance	Germany
Serviceyears	1911 – 1919; 1928 – 1945
Rank	OberstgruppenführerGeneraloberst of the Waffen-SS
Commands	5th Panzer Army6th Panzer Army
Awards	Ritterkreuz des Eisernes Kreuz mit Eichenlaub, Schwertern, und Brillanten

Josef "Sepp" Dietrich (28 May 1892 – 21 April 1966) was a German SS General. He was one of Nazi Germany's most decorated soldiers and commanded formations up to Army level during World War II. Prior to 1929 he was Adolf Hitler's chauffeur and bodyguard but received rapid promotion after his participation in the murder of Hitler's political opponents during the Night of the Long Knives. After the war, he was imprisoned by the United States for war crimes and later by Germany for murder.

Early life and career

Sepp Dietrich was born in Hawangen, near Memmingen in Bavaria, Germany on 28 May 1892, son of Pelagius Dietrich and his wife Kreszentia. He worked as a butcher and hotel servant. In 1911 he joined the Bavarian Army for a short time. Volunteering at the beginning of the First World War, he served with the artillery, as a paymaster sergeant and later in the first German tank troops.

After the war, Dietrich served briefly in a Freikorps Oberland against the Bavarian Soviet Republic, May 1919. Thereafter, he migrated from one job to another, including waiter, policeman, foreman, farm labourer, petrol station attendant and customs officer. He joined the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in 1928 and became commander of Hitler's Schutzstaffel (SS) bodyguard. Dietirch had been introduced to Nazism by Christian Weber, who was his employer at the Tankstelle-Blau-Bock filling station in Munich. He accompanied Hitler on his tours around Germany and received the nickname "Chauffeureska" from Hitler. Later Hitler arranged other jobs for him, including various SS posts, and let him live in the chancellery.

1930s and World War II

of Sepp Dietrich for war crimes trial.]]

On 5 January 1930, Dietrich was elected to the Reichstag as a delegate for Lower Bavaria. By 1931, he had become SS-Gruppenführer. When the NSDAP took over in 1933, Dietrich rose swiftly through the Nazi hierarchy. He rose to the rank of SS-Obergruppenführer, commander of Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler, General of the Waffen-SS and member of the Prussian state council. As one of Hitler's intimates, Dietrich was often able to disregard his SS superior, Himmler, at one time even banning Himmler from the Leibstandarte barracks.

In 1934, Dietrich played an active role in the Night of the Long Knives. Hitler told him to take six men and go to the Ministry of Justice to kill a number of Sturmabteilung (SA) leaders. Shortly thereafter, he was promoted to SS Obergruppenführer. Dietrich's role earned him a nineteen month sentence from a postwar court.

When World War II began, Dietrich led the Leibstandarte in attacks on Paris and Dunkirk. Dietrich remained in command of the Leibstandarte throughout the campaigns in Greece and Yugoslavia before being promoted to command of the I.SS-Panzerkorps, attached to Army Group Center, on the Eastern Front. In 1943, he was sent to Italy to recover Benito Mussolini's mistress Clara Petacci. He received numerous German military medals but also became notorious for his mistreatment of prisoners of war.

Dietrich commanded the I.SS-Panzerkorps in the Battle of Normandy. Because of his success, Hitler promoted him to command of the 6.SS-Panzer-Armee as well. Dietrich commanded the 6.SS-Panzer-Armee in the Battle of the Bulge in 1944. He had been assigned to that task because, due to the 20 July Plot, Hitler distrusted Wehrmacht officers. On 17 December, Kampfgruppe Peiper, (an SS unit) under his overall command killed between 77 and 82 U.S. prisoners of war near Malmedy, Belgium, in what is known as the Malmedy massacre.

At this point, Dietrich began to protest Hitler's unwillingness to let officers act upon their own initiative. In April 1945, after the failure of Hitler's planned Spring Awakening Offensive at Lake Balaton, spearheaded by Dietrich's troops, a frustrated Hitler ordered Dietrich to tell members of Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler to give up their cuff titles, but Dietrich did not pass on the order.

Dietrich commanded tank troops in Vienna but failed to prevent Soviet troops from taking the city. Accompanied by his wife, Dietrich surrendered on 9 May 1945 to Master-Sergeant Herbert Kraus of the U.S. 36th Infantry Division at Krems an der Donau north of St. Pölten in Austria.

Post war

Dietrich was tried as Defendant No. 11 by U.S. Military Tribunal at Dachau ("United States of America vs. Valentin Bersin et al.", Case No. 6-24), from 16 May 1946 until 16 July 1946. On 16 July 1946, he was sentenced to life imprisonment in the Malmedy massacre trial for ordering the execution of U.S. prisoners of war in Malmedy. Due to testimony in his defence by other German officers, his sentence was shortened to 25 years. He was imprisoned at U.S. War Criminals Prison No. 1 at Landsberg am Lech in Bavaria. Dietrich served only ten years and was released on parole on 22 October 1955. However, he was rearrested in Ludwigsburg in August 1956. He was charged by the Landesgericht München I and tried from 6 May 1957 until 14 May 1957 for his role in the killing of SA leaders in 1934. On 14 May 1957, he was sentenced to nineteen months for his part in the Night of the Long Knives and imprisoned at Landsberg. He was released due to a heart condition and circulation problems in his legs on 2 February 1958. By then he had already served almost his entire 19-month sentence. He then settled in Ludwigsburg where he devoted himself to HIAG activities and hunting. Dietrich was sentenced to death in absentia by a Soviet court in connection with war crimes committed by Leibstandarte in Kharkov in 1943.

In 1966 Dietrich died of a heart attack in Ludwigsburg at age 73. Seven thousand of his wartime comrades came to his funeral. He was eulogized by former SS-Obergruppenführer und General der Waffen-SS Wilhelm Bittrich.

Personal life

Dietrich was married twice. His first wife was Barbra Betti Seidl (b. 24 April 1896). They were married on 17 February 1921 and were divorced in April 1937. On 19 January 1942, Dietrich married Ursula Moninger-Brenner (born 26 March 1915 and died in 1983), a former spouse of SS-Gruppenführer und Generalleutnant der Polizei Karl-Heinrich Brenner (they had married in 1935). Dietrich and Mrs. Moninger-Brenner had a son, Wolf-Dieter Dietrich, who was born out of wedlock in Karlsruhe in 1939, before Brenner’s divorce was finalized. The two SS generals nonetheless remained friends. A second son, Lutz, was born in Karlsruhe on 20 March 1943. (Heinrich Himmler was his godfather.) Dietrich's third son, Götz-Hubertus, was born in Karlsruhe on 23 November 1944. (Himmler was again a godfather.)

Summary of his SS career

Dates of rank

SS-Sturmführer: 1 June 1928

SS-Sturmbannführer: 1 August 1928

SS-Standartenführer: 18 September 1929

SS-Oberführer: 10 October 1930

SS-Gruppenführer: 18 December 1931

SS-Obergruppenführer: 1 July 1934 und General der Waffen-SS: 19 November 1940

SS-Oberstgruppenführer und Panzer-Generaloberst der Waffen-SS: 1 August 1944

Notable decorations

Kampfwagen-Erinnerungsabzeichen (1921)

Eastern Front Medal (1942)

Panzer Badge in Silver

Iron Cross Second (1917) and First (1918) Classes

SS-Honour Ring (?)

Clasp to the Iron Cross Second (1939) and First (1939) Classes

Golden Party Badge (1933)

Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves, Swords and Diamonds

Knight's Cross on 4 July 1940 as SS-Obergruppenführer and general of the Waffen-SS and commander of SS-Infanterie-Regiment (mot.) "Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler"

41st Oak Leaves on 31 December 1941 as SS-Obergruppenführer and general of the Waffen-SS and commander of SS-Division "Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler" (mot.)

26th Swords on 14 March 1943 as SS-Obergruppenführer and general of the Waffen-SS and commander of SS-Panzergrenadier-Division "Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler"

16th Diamonds on 6 August 1944 as SS-Obergruppenführer and Generaloberst of the Waffen-SS and commanding general of the I. SS-Panzerkorps "Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler"

Blood Order-(Nr. 10) (1933)

Sudetenland Medal (?) with Prague Castle bar (?)

Anschluss Medal (?)

Wound Badge (?)

Combined Pilots-Observation Badge in Gold with Diamonds(?)

Cross of Honor (1934)

Bavarian Military Merit Cross 3rd Class with Swords and Crown (?)

Austrian Bravery Medal in Bronze (?)

Silesian Eagle 2nd Class (1934)

Bavarian Long Service Award 3rd Class (?)

Armed Forces Long Service Award(?)

NSDAP Long Service Award in Silver (?)

Italian Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus, Grand Officer (?)

Order of the Crown of Italy, Grand Cross (?)

Italian Military Order of Savoy, Grand Officer (?)

Order of the Crown of Romania, Grand Officer (?)

Recommendations

Outstanding in the defence, especially on the return path to Riga. Refer to the Georgian Staff Corps.

References

Notes

Bibliography

There are two biographies about Sepp Dietrich: one by Charles Messenger (of which there are two versions [see below]) and another by the French historian, Jean Mabire. Additional information about Dietrich has to be pieced together from many separate sources, which are mostly in English and in German. The following are among the more relevant and accessible sources. They are obtainable through larger research libraries (and their Interlibrary Loan), or through online vendors.

In English:

Charles Messenger, Hitler's Gladiator: The Life and Wars of Panzer Army Commander Sepp Dietrich (London, 2005), ISBN 1844860221 & ISBN 978-1844860227 .

Charles Messenger, Hitler's Gladiator: The Life and Times of Oberstgruppenfuhrer and Panzergeneral-Oberst Der Waffen-SS Sepp Dietrich (London, 1988), ASIN: B000OFQ62W .

Speer, Albert. Inside the Third Reich: Memories by Albert Speer. New York: Macmillan, 1

In German:

Fellgiebel, Walther-Peer (2000). Die Träger des Ritterkreuzes des Eisernen Kreuzes 1939-1945. Friedburg, Germany: Podzun-Pallas. ISBN 3-7909-0284-5.

Schaulen, Fritjof (2003). Eichenlaubträger 1940 - 1945 Zeitgeschichte in Farbe I Abraham - Huppertz (in German). Selent, Germany: Pour le Mérite. ISBN 3-932381-20-3.

Scherzer, Veit (2007). Ritterkreuzträger 1939–1945 Die Inhaber des Ritterkreuzes des Eisernen Kreuzes 1939 von Heer, Luftwaffe, Kriegsmarine, Waffen-SS, Volkssturm sowie mit Deutschland verbündeter Streitkräfte nach den Unterlagen des Bundesarchives (in German). Jena, Germany: Scherzers Miltaer-Verlag. ISBN 978-3-938845-17-2.

tags

Category:1892 births Category:1966 deaths Category:German military personnel of World War I Category:German military personnel of World War II Category:German Roman Catholics Category:Military of Bavaria Category:Nazi leaders Category:Nazis convicted of war crimes Category:People from the Kingdom of Bavaria Category:People sentenced to death in absentia Category:Recipients of the Knight's Cross Category:Recipients of the Order of the Crown of Italy Category:SS generals Category:20th-century Freikorps personnel Category:Recipients of the Cross of Honor