In some photographs from the Second World War, you can see German soldiers and officers wearing some kind of mysterious red and black ribbons with white stripes on their jacket. As a rule, these ribbons were very small and were attached next to one of the buttons. What were they for and what did they mean?
As you might guess, the ribbon on the jacket, passed through the button loop, is an award ribbon. A sort of "purely German" analogue of the premium bars. However, not every award was worn by soldiers and officers in the form of a ribbon through a button loop. In total, at the time of World War II, there were five particularly revered medals in Germany, the ribbon of which was considered normal to be worn every day.
The tradition of award ribbons on a jacket in the German army dates back to before the First World War. Initially, this was done only with the most prestigious medal - the Iron Cross. The tradition was born from below, among the military. The fact is that the Iron Cross could only be worn on holidays and on the day of the award. However, this restriction did not apply to his ribbon, so many holders of the honorary symbol tied it on a button loop.
Interesting fact: The Iron Cross was approved by William III in 1813. The medal was awarded to soldiers who showed courage in the liberation of German lands from the troops of Napoleon Bonaparte. Subsequently, several degrees of honor of the Iron Cross were introduced, depending on merit. At the time of World War II, there were 9 types of this award in Germany.
The second honorary award, which began to be worn on a tunic in the form of a ribbon, was the Second Class Military Merit Cross. This is because, in terms of prestige, this award went right after the Iron Cross itself. The third award, the ribbon of which the German soldiers tied in the same way, was the medal for "For the Winter Campaign in the East 1941/42". She relied only on the fact that she fought for a specified period at the front with the Soviet Union, provided that they took part in the battle, lasting at least 14 days, they served in sectors of the front where battles were constantly going on for 2 months or were injured (including frostbite).
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There was another award, which was tied to clothes as a ribbon not only by German military personnel, but also by civilians. This is the Order of the Blood. The original award was only given to the participants of the Beer Putsch, but from 1938 it began to be given out to all German citizens who were prosecuted for National Socialist activities prior to 1933 of the year.
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Continuing the topic, you can read about Balkenkreuz: what does the white cross mean on German military equipment.
A source: https://novate.ru/blogs/280720/55474/