Serbia Serbia - Serbian retreat medal?

[Chris Boonzaier]

A green ribbon with two black stripes, apparently awarded to allied soldiers who elped with the fighting retreat...

Any idea what it is and the value?

[Laurence Strong]

Might have something to do with this:

....Against Serbia were marshalled the Bulgarian Army, a German Army, and an Austro-Hungarian Army, all under the command of Field Marshal Mackensen, totalling more than 420,000 soldiers. The Germans and Austro-Hungarians began their attack on October 7 with a massive artillery barrage, followed by attacks across the rivers. Then, on the 11th, the Bulgarian Army attacked from two directions, one from the north of Bulgaria towards Ni?, the other from the south towards Skopje (see the map). The large Bulgarian Army broke through the weaker Serbian forces that tried to block its advance. With the Bulgarian breakthrough (battle of Morava, battle of Ovche Pole, Battle of Kosovo (1915)), the Serbian position was hopeless; either their main army in the north could try to retreat, or would be surrounded and forced to surrender.

Serbian Army during its retreat towards Albania Marshal Putnik ordered a full retreat, south and west through Montenegro and into Albania. The weather was terrible, the roads poor, and the army had to help the tens of thousands of civilians who retreated with them with almost no supplies or food left. But the bad weather and poor roads worked for the refugees as well, as the Central Powers forces could not press them hard enough, and so they evaded capture. Most of the fleeing soldiers and civilians didn't make it to the coast, though - they were lost to hunger, disease, attacks by enemy forces and Albanian tribal bands. The circumstances of the retreat were disastrous, and all told, some 155,000 Serbs reached the coast of the Adriatic Sea, 30,000 of them soldiers, and embarked on French transport ships that carried the army to various Greek islands (many went to Corfu) before being sent to Salonika. The survivors were so weakened that thousands of them died from sheer exhaustion in the weeks after their rescue. Marshal Putnik had to be carried during the whole retreat and he died a bit more than a year later in a hospital in France.

The French and British divisions marched north from Salonika in late November under the command of French General Maurice Sarrail. However, the British divisions were ordered by the War Office in London not to cross the Greek frontier. So the French divisions advanced on their own up the Vardar River. This advance was of some limited help to the retreating Serbian Army as the Bulgarian Army had to concentrate larger forces on their southern flank to deal with the threat. By mid-December, General Sarrail concluded retreat was necessary in the face of determined Bulgarian assaults on his positions.

This was a nearly complete victory for the Central Powers. The railroad from Berlin to Constantinople was finally opened and as a result, Germany was able to prop up its weak partner, the Ottoman Empire. The only flaw in the victory was the remarkable retreat of the Serbians Army, which was almost completely disorganized though and had to be fully rebuilt from scratch. However, they took part in the fighting throughout the rest of the war on various fronts and performed well....

Hope this helps

Edited February 13, 2007 by Laurence Strong

[Chris Boonzaier]

A good write up, thanks.

Question still remains... who got the medal and what couldi pay for it?

[Kev in Deva]

Hallo Chris,

from what I know, military survivors of the retreat through Albania were awarded this medal and a small pension for life for their suffering. They were also issued with a pension entitlement book as well as the medal, In good condition with original ribbon can be classed as scarce, In good condition with ribbon and book can be classed as RARE, always seem to sell for in and over 100 Euros

I am searching for more info, so watch this space ( - As it turns up on French Ebay now and again I believe French troops received it, but I am not sure if they qualified for a pension - )

Old Pictures from my computer reference files of medals sold on the Internet.

Kevin.

Edited February 13, 2007 by Kev in Deva

[leigh kitchen]

Another item on this medal on this forum.

My ones got a replacement ribbon, far prefer a manky old original..........

http://gmic.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=9434

[Jacky]

Must have been some quite high precedence, since it goes before the order....

Might be due to the entitlement towards pension.

Kind regards,

Jacky