Ulsterman

It just gets more interesting. Apparently there were @ 18,500 Italians in the Crimea and several hundred more aboard warships. see here for the Sardinian order of battle: http://marksrussianmilitaryhistory.info/Sardinia1854.htm I found A portrait on-line that seems to show an Italian officer wearing ALL THREE campaign medals (the British one, no clasps, in last place )

Honestly, I do not know. I thought they were issued together. According to Haywards' article (I believe he is a member here) on Crimean medals, about 235,000 British Crimean medals were sent to the Turks, French and Sardinians for distribution. A total of 380,000 Crimean medals were struck. 330,000 were struck by the Royal Mint and 50,000 by a contractor. The medals sent to the Allies were NOT named. They were sent @ 1855. It is estimated that @ 190.000-200,000 medals were given to the French-with awards to them starting @ 1856. Back to the research mines. Italian medals are a mystery.

Thanks! Theodor is the or was there a BCP Central Committee biography book?

JACKPOT!!!!!! Toshkov, Lyubcho Gregoriev, Lt. General: Member of the Bureau of the BCP Stara Zagora District Committee. 1978; Head of the Sofia Garrison May 1982-; (!) Promoted to Lt. general in 1982. Bulgarian military adviser to the Congo in June, 1985. Member of the Bureau of BCP Sofia City Committee on March 13, 1986. Candidate member of the BCP Central Committee elected at the XIII party Congress on April 5, 1986. Deputy to the National Assembly on June 8, 1986. BCP= Bulgarian Communist party A political general.

1. click on "reply" button then- 2. type text 3. look below reply box to "Attachments" -click on "Browse" tab, which should take you to the uploaded image in your computers' pictures file. Click upon image desired. when the picture marker text appears within the "browse box" (usually takes 30 seconds or so), then - 4. Click upon RED "Attach this File" box at bottom 5. Click upon "Add reply" button...and.... -Viola! :cheers:

Well, according to my research (flounderings) about 18,000 Italian troops and naval personnel were involved in the Crimean war and this seems to jive with the 15,000 strong expeditionary force sent off. There were some replacements sent as well. 1,500 died of disease, 200-250 were KIA and @1,000+ were WIA. One would presume @18,000 Italian medals? They certainly seem rare and are THE most expensive Italian campaign medal extant ($650 in Vernons' Guide-OF 1990!). Groups to infantry men (a few of whom later joined the imperial French army after Nice/Savoy was split between Italy and France in 1860) seem to include the Italian Unification medal, the Crimea medal, a British Crimean medal and a Turkish Crimea medal .

Do I note a certain Mecklenburgish attraction? Those photos look interesting too-esp. the two navy officers with the little girl.

Hmmm...I am trying to click on the link and receiving a "bad request" message. However, I googled "authorhouse" and managed to order the book in 2 minutes flat! You've made sale #1 today! Now I'll haunt my mailbox for the next week.

Fascinating, fascinating thread!! Since this started I have spent the better part of two days reading (on-line) reading all sorts of odd bits (The Crimean war research society is very good). The Sardinian 15,000+ strong contribution to the war seems to be almost completely ignored in the English speaking world. This speaks volumes about the circular nature of research and primary sources. Only the great Nafziger has a Sardinian order-of-battle (which I have ordered) and the Italian contributions, along with casualties, uniforms and equipment are fascinating and very, very obscure. I find NO mention of Sardinian troops at Balaclava, but I had no notion that more than 50% of the troops on the battlefield were French and Turkish. Even more interestingly, there were a LARGE number of Napoleonic (esp. Waterloo) veterans OF BOTH SIDES at the battle. One of the commanders of the French Chasseurs picquets started his career as a lancer at Waterloo. If I was going back to do a PHD. in history somewhere, this would be my topic. Below is a French naval officer named Henri Saillard @ 1870. Note his British Crimea at the end of his medal bar. He served in Mexico too.

A VERY interesting Czech group of international medal documents just sold on ebay that might answer your question. Along with the mans' partisan badges (I have his bio. in the CIA's 1989 Warsaw Pact Who is Who book) were a slew of other documents. I believe the war medal you refer to is the one with the eagle and the yellow (mostly) ribbon? If so, he got one. I do not know what an SIO and ROH medal is/are though.

What are SIO and ROH short for exactly?

see the OMSA database: "Ehrenlegon" medal or "Flanders' cross". A paid for medal, but OFTEN worn by navy vets. http://www.omsa.org/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=3071

Alas, the family digicam is my daughters' "my little pony" instasnap, so an up loadable pic. probably won't be possible....unless Stogie can bring his camera to the Lowell show(hint hint). The rim inscription seems to be "typed" font. Why the unlaut above the "y" in Meyer?

whoa- NICE group. I have never seen an Egypt dead group before. Did he die of disease?

Wow!!! you really do good work with oils there-the blending is fantastic! BMSS competition level stuff there!! Do you subscribe to Military Modeling? Their website forum is cracking!

Cool- I smell JOMSA article! Any pictures of these being worn? Theodor? :cheers:

"formerlly" isn't a german word?..."vorgenamt"? Any chance "F." could be "Freiheer"?

Weimar era Great War Navy veterans' "honoraward"?

My earliest little German medal bar...and perhaps my favorite. It is rim enscribed: "A. Meyer (unlaut above the y,which I find odd) v. F. Moller" (unlaut above the o) Does anyone know if there is a Hanoverian roll for Laganzala out there? I had assumed the v. stood for "Von" which would strongly hint at an officer. But maybe I am wrong? Thanks for any help.

Hmmm..this goes to show that I have been far too dependent upon British Battles and Medals. I had NO idea that Sardinian Crimean medals were named or even issued. However, I just spent an enjoyable 4 hours researching this question on the British medals forum and found-nothing- However, there is a Sardinian order of battle for the Crimea out there. Any Italian speakers out there? Claudio? Claudio?

Chilling. What did he do to merit execution, own a cow? Welcome back. How's the orphanage?

ribbon bar #3, ribbon 3 is almost certainly a town or county WW1 service medal of some sort. The red/white/blue ribbon was very,very popular for local awards.

#71 and #91.... Expect a LOT of bids!

Have you seen some of the German Admirals' wives? :rolleyes: