BalkanCollector

1 hour ago, Elmar Lang said:

Just as an example of an original "Al Valore di Marina" medal, I would like to post the pictures of the piece awarded to another U-Boot officer, but Austrian: Egon Lerch, the famous officer who died in the attempt to force Venice's Harbour.

His italian award, received some years earlier, for having saved from drowning, the life of an italian worker in Fiume, was found in the wreck of the U-XII, when it was demolished at the Arsenal of Venice. The suspension is broken away, perhaps due to the circumstances of the explosion and sinking.

This is very interesting, thank you very much for sharing! Fiume is the Italian name for Croatian city of Rijeka which was part of Austria Hungary back then.

I'm not familiar with researching of Bulgarians but maybe this will be of help. Bulgarian transcription of his name would most likely be "Иван Стоянов", according to my modest knowledge of the language. The English transcription would be "Ivan Stoyanov". Also, it's a very common name so it will probably be hard to find him but who knows.

Good luck with your research!

The last one, taken probably after WW2.

Another photo with his signature. Does anyone recognize the stamp? 

The other photos I have aren't related to military but I'd still like to share them. I especially like this one since it's from the Sokol organization and it is signed by Lopašić.

The article in newspaper Pravda from April 13th 1930 where it is mentioned that a number of Yugoslav medical personnel among of which was dr. Radoslav Lopašić were awarded with various Polish awards.

dr. Radoslav Lopašić, Order of Polonia Restituta (Officer's Cross)

Dr. Radoslav Lopašić was born in 1896 in Požega (died in 1979 in Zagreb), Austria-Hungary (now Croatia). In 1914 he enrolled at Innsbruck Medical University and graduated in 1921 in Prague. After the assasination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo in 1914, Lopašić was arrested and later in 1915 mobilised in the KuK. He was heavily wounded on the Eastern Front in the Brusilov Offensive in 1916. After recovery he continued with his studies but was again sent to Albania to fight within the Bosnian unit of the KuK. He was an assistant of the Battalion's medic. The end of the war had caught him with the rank of Lieutenant at the hospital for infectious diseases in Koprivnica, Croatia. 

After the Great War he had worked in various hospitals in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia and eventually became one of the most recognized neuropsychiatrists. He was even a personal psychiatrist of the Yugoslav royal family. 

During the Second World War, with the creation of Independent State of Croatia he was removed from his scientific positions because a newly formed fascist regime didn't like him.

After the Second World War, he was a member of the Yugoslav Academy of Sciences and Arts (today Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts), a very prestigious Academy with a membership of only a few hundred members.

Also he is from a famous family Lopašić from Karlovac, Croatia. They were well respected in various scientific fields and the most famous of them all was historian dr. Radoslav Lopašić (1830-1893), a great-uncle of dr. Radoslav Lopašić (1896-1979). He was also a member of the Yugoslav Academy of Sciences and Arts and a few streets in Croatia bear his name today.

I have a few photographs of dr. Radoslav Lopašić (1896-1979) and I would like to share them.

The first photo and the reason why I've made this topic is a photograph of him as a medical Captain 1st class in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. He is wearing an unusual combination of medals.

- Order of the Yugoslav Crown 4th or 5th class

- Order of Saint Sava 4th or 5th class

- Order of Polonia Restituta 4th class

- Order of the White Lion of Czechoslovakia 4th or 5th class

Such a lovely combination!

On 17/09/2019 at 19:30, Wessel Gordon said:

My surname is Gordon so this thread immediately caught my eye..makes we wonder if me and your uncle is somehow related assuming his surname was Gordon.

I'm pretty sure his name was Gordon and not the surname.

I've been expecting such an answer but it's not the answer I was looking for. I knew it from the start that it will be a hard task.

Thank you for the reply! 

Does anyone know if there is a way to find service records from Serbian soldiers who had fought in the Great War? I'm interested in finding any information possible on a Serbian volunteer from Croatian region of Lika which was part of Austria-Hungary at the time.

I would greatly appreciate any help!

20 hours ago, Lukasz Gaszewski said:

Certainly a copy. Look at the "cloudy" surface of the reverse. I guess it was cast from an original medal rather than struck.

To make you happier I will tell you that some recipients wore similar replicas instead of the original medals.

I stand corrected and thank you for the clarification! An excellent quality on these replicas have deceived me.

Thank you very much for the clarification Eddie! 

Does anyone have any information about this medal? What was it awarded for and how many were awarded/made? Should have been a name engraved in the center of it's reverse?

Thanks in advance!

No problem! Glad I could help.

Are you looking for this? There's a post in this topic which contains Albanian Partisans rank chart.

11 hours ago, Egorka said:

It just takes 10 years, right? But here is something to cheer up a fellow phalerist!

It certainly did cheer me up.

What an amazing find! What are the odds?

I took a glimpse at your pictures first and was quite shocked but then I read your post and felt a huge amount of relief knowing the documents are copies.

Nicely done Eric!

10 hours ago, Egorka said:

SUKHETSKIY Petr Romanovich, 1926.

A pontoon layer of the 108 separate pontoon battalion, 18 motorised engineer brigade, 2 Guards tank army. He received a Bravery medal for the battle of Berlin after 16 April for constructing the pontoon bridge across Spandauer Schifffahrtskanal and passing 27 tanks to the other bank, while under enemy fire.

You are really the best when it comes to research!  

Kind of a late reply as I haven't seen this until now but thank you for sharing! It's really nice to see a family still preserving the memory of their ancestors.

Such a nice medal bar!

How rare are Albanian medal bars? I haven't seen many of them.

I'm far from being an expert on Polish medals but it looks alright to me, mostly because it looks well made. 

I would rather transcribe it as Sukhetskiy because it's much more accurate to pronounce it like that in English.

Thank you for the answer!

Hello,

it's a Bulgarian WW2 Naval Engineer and Radio Operator Badge. As for the holes, I think they were drilled after it's original creation and I don't know why.

Hope this helps you with your possible further research!