Nicholas

Hi Lilo, Yes, this is it, the Greek War Cross 1916-17. No doubt, although I can not discern it very well. The dark colour of the ribbon though is self evident. Always at your disposal for any further enquiry. Best regards, Nicholas

Hi Lilo, Thanks for the info provided. You are indeed right, awards of War Cross 1916-17 were discontinued to a very large extend after 1920 and only very few were made during the Asia Minor Campaign 1919-1922. During this campaign and particularly after the restoration and return of King Constantine to Greece, the WC was replaced by the Cross of Valour. The reasons were mostly political as the WC was instituted by the Govt of prime minister Venizelos an arch-rival of King Constantine and the royalists identified this award with that political regime. The WC and the medal of Military Merit (in 4 classes) were created and awarded by the "National Defence" movement organised by Venizelos in Thessaloniki, the same movement that actually put Greece in WW1 (King Constantine wanted the country to remain neutral, besides his family is of Danish-German origin). So, during Asia Minor Campaign, WC awards were discontinued and officers were ordered to excange their WC with the Cross of Valour. Very few did that as WC was a very prestigious award, besides, most of them earned their Cross of Valour subsequently while fighting in the plains of Anatolia in Turkey so they had no real reason to bother. After the disastrous result of that campaign and the abdication of King Constantine, the first Hellenic Republic was created and lasted up to 1935 when the new Restoration took place, now with the son of Constantine, King George II. During the "Hellenic Republic" further WC awards were made to certain recipients that did not receive theirs before. We have seen several awarded documents with later dates to prove that. Many foreign officers received their WCs and Medals of Military Merit during that period, mainly for diplomatic and courtecy reasons. I admit that the Italians could have mixed the Medal of Military Merit with the WC as both were contemporary awards. If you ask me, your General is much more likely to have received the Medal of Military Merit First Class (common award to allied Officers) than the WC which actually involves real battle action and/or battle formation command during war operations. Beyond these two medals, I can not think of any other Greek award that would fit the description. The only order that was awarded during that period was the Order of the Phoenix (1st type) but as this was a real order and not a medal the Italians should have mentioned so. There is another Greek War Cross though with an "Albanian" flavor that might fit: The WC of the Autonomous Greek State of Northen Epirus (est in 1914), a rare and important award but I can not see how he could qualify for that one. Say, is there any chance that we can have a picture of this General waering his medals? That could definitely solve the mystery as I can immediately identify any Greek award that he might wear. Best regards, Nicholas

Dear Lilo, By mentioning "War Cross" at 1935 they could only refer to the Greek War Cross of 1916-17 a gallantry medal that came in 3 classes and it was pretty much the equivalent of the French "Croix de Guerre". Several such medals have been awarded to foreign nationals esp. senior officers of the "Armee d' Orient" in the Balkan Front around Thessaloniki in Northern Greece. Awards were made during WW1 and its aftermath but were altogether discontinued after 1936. What was the role of the said Italian General during WW1? It would be interesting to know. He must have had something to do with the Balkan Front or Greece altogether. Please do not hesitate to contact me for more info. Best regards, Nicholas

Hi Rob, These two are very fine pieces. Check the tiny letters on the reverse (at the bottom of the letters), they read "Salonique 1915" and the names of the (French) sculptor and designer. These are the very first medals to be awarded to Greek and allied troops for WW1 - Salonica Front. There were many variations made by other local or foreign makers afterwards but when you see such pieces, well its the real thing! Mind you, the medals were also awarded for the Asia Minor Campaign (1919-1922). Yet, at 1921 the war cross was virtually substituted by the Cross of Valour. IMPORTANT: Despite the fact that the Cross of Valour was established after the Balkan Wars, it was in fact ONLY awarded in Asia Minor Campaign. All authors of Greek awards got this one wrong. Basically, one started with this wrong assumption and the others just followed that without research. There are two notable exceptions though for the highest Rank of the order: one Commander was awarded to King Constantine himself in 1914 and another one to Admiral Pavlos Kountouriotis a little later at just about the same period of time. Hi Noor, Your ribbon bar looks good and like a contemporary piece, but hey, sorry to say, the mounting order is tottaly and utterly wrong: R.O. of the Redeemer takes absolute precedence over all other awards. War Cross must definitely come next as this is a gallantry award and Military Merit medal is just Merit as the name implies, war merit Ok, but not gallantry in the field of Battle. The only piece in right position is the Victory medal. There is no way that a Greek military tailor or outfitter must have made this mistake and an officer wearing such a bar would have definitely had some problems with his superiors! If we are to accept that the piece is genuine, we could only assume that it belonged to a foreign national that mounted them for wear abroad. Even so, its a far fetched assumption as the RO of the Redeemer is indeed too stunning to go unnoticed! Best regards, Nicholas

Hi Rob, Well, no12 is the Navy Medal (Royal issue), 2nd class in silver. This is an important award as the two-class medal is awarded either for services rendered to the Merchant Navy, or more importantly, for saving life at sea! The rest you've got them right and I'm impressed. My only comment is that The Phoenix is the military division type "with Swords". Since you've done such a good job, please find attached the picture of the man himself, a senior and distinguished naval officer who died in 1978 (b. 1891). No unfortunately there has never been a campaign medal awarded for the Greek-Turkish war 1919-1922 (Asia Minor Campaign). The ill-fated campaign ended up in such a disaster for the Greeks of Asia Minor in particular, that no time or appetite was left for gongs. In Asia Minor Greek and Turkish troops fought a very hard and bloody war but the rest of the world knows very little about it despite the fact that both countries were deeply scarred from this event. Somehow, its a "forgotten war" and only Greeks and Turks know about it (and not that much either, only what schoolbooks say, and afew articles here and there0. That is a shame as extreme acts of gallantry took place from both sides and a military historian or enthusiast would have been fascinated to read some of these stories. Greeks for this campaign, awarded War Cross 1916-17 and Medal of Military Merit 1916-17 in the initial stages (until 1920) and then the Cross of Valour in Gold (for Officers) and Silver (for all the rest). Only one Commander of the Cross of Valour was conferred upon an individual, the Commander in Chief of the Greek Expeditionary Force in Asia MInor. Yet several Commanders of The Cross of Valour have been awarded to the Flags of Divisions and other Military Formations that distinguished themselves in battle. Best regards, Nicholas

http://gmic.co.uk/uploads/monthly_01_2010/post-6446-126349904701.jpgHello from Athens! There is a growing domestic interest for Greek awards, new collectors have discovered this fascinating hobby so such groups of the Greek Balkan Wars and Great War are particularly sought after in Greece. Indeed, with all this demand, such groups do not appear that often. It is important to know that Balkan war medals as such are very common. Yet, bars (and the combination of them) is what makes the difference, pretty much as it happens with many British campaign medals. Yes, there are examples of groups spanning from Balkan wars, the Great War (WW1) and Greek-Turkish war 1919-1922 (Asia Minor Campaign) to later service in World War 2 and the Greek Civil War. But one should bring in mind that recipients of all these awards must have been very senior officers by 1940-45, hence, these are superb finds if you can get one (see picture)http://gmic.co.uk/uploads/monthly_01_2010/post-6446-126349904701.jpg. The Order Of The Redeemer that was given more or less rather sparingly before 1912-13, was awarded "en masse" to the officers of the Greek Army and Navy right after the (victorious for Greece) end of the Balkan wars and Great War. So many awards were made that eventually, 4th and 3rd class crosses (Officer and Commander crosses) of the order were for obvious reasons manufactured in silver-gilt and not solid gold as they used to be before. Until 1915 when the Order of George I was instituted, this was the only Greek order so it carried all the weight of the Greek award system. Gradually, and with the creation of more orders (such as the Phoenix, Welfare, etc) it was awarded more and more sparingly. Very few were awarded for WW2 and nowadays, small classes are not being awarded at all (although they exist). Only the Grand Cross is beeing awarded to heads of State and the like. Yes, it is a rank based award as this is an order and not a gallantry award. Officers were promoted to the next rank of the order along with their promotion to the next rank in military hierarchy. Also, please keep in mind that it is not a military but a universal award, open to civilians, civil servants, diplomats Greek and foreign alike. Best regards, Nicholas

Hi Rob, I'm glad that was helpful. I would like to see please these 4 items. If there is a a French Croix de Guerre it's definitely WWI era. Let me guess... there must be the 2 Balkan war medals there as well. What's the fourth? Would it be the Greek Victory medal or Greek War Cross 1916-17? A Redeemer maybe? The 1953 Army Uniform Regulation manual mentions that medals are mounted court style upon a rectangular base (made of thin sheet metal or hard cardboard usually) 6cm in height (top to bottom). The overall width of the rectangular base has to do with the number of medals to mount really, but it was never too long. The back of the medal group is covered with some black fabric, usually felt or another similar garment. There was also fastened in the back, either a long horizontal pin or a couple of hooks for mounting on the uniform. Mind you though, as I have already mentioned, before WWII, officers were most usually wearing their medals in the French manner i.e. hanging from a horizontal suspension bar (made of wire or thin metal stripe) in two or three rows, depending on how many medal they had. Yet you can also find even German style mounted groups as many officers were trained in the German military academy before the Balkan wars. Please have a look at the picture, I hope it will give you an idea. Best regards, Nicholas

Hello Rob, You are right, foreign awards are mounted right after the Greek awards, first the orders (by rank, i.e. Knight preceeds officer) and then medals (by date of award). The rationale of the latter seems very reasonable as nobody can really tell if a foreign personal valour award like Milosh Obilitch for example is more important than Croix de Guerre. Yes, Greek military 'court mount' their medals and as a matter of fact they still do it today. Yet, I must make this clear: Until 1930's and almost up to WWII, the Greek Army uniforms were heavily influenced by the French model. Officers were wearing "Kepi" hats for example and medals indeed, were swing mounted as you have correctly mentioned, in pretty much the way the French wear them. On the contrary, the Greek Navy uniforms, protocole, etc was definitely British in style since before the Balkan wars (1912-13) as the Navy was organised and modernised by British naval advisors like Sir Lionel Truffnel. Until today, Greek navy uniforms are almost identical to the British ones in every detail (Greek sailors even sport the famous "Nelson's knot"). After WWI and definitely after the monarchy restoration of 1936 when King George II returned to Greece, military uniforms of all services followed closely the British model. This was done for practical purposes as Greece was a close ally of Britain but also because King George II (a relative of the British Royal family) loved the British ways excessively. It was then that court style mounting became obligatory for officers as many of them still used the previous French manner. Warrant Officers, NCO and men were not allowed to use court style but mere mounting their medal from a suspension bar in a simple line (ribbon was not folding behing the medal). After WWII and the subsequent Civil War (1944-1949) Greece passed into the US sphere of influence and Army military uniforms after 1960's gradually followed the US style. Yet Hellenic Air Force and Navy uniforms still follow the British tradition! I hope this was of assistance.

The ribbon bar is ok but for some mysterious reason the R.O. of Redeemer ribbon is at a wrong place given it takes precedence before all other awards (apart from the Cross of valour 1912 that we can not see here). The right order of mounting the ribbons should have been: Royal Order of the RedeemerWar CrossMedal of Military Merit and,Interallied Victory Medal.There should have been more ribbons in this ribbon bar and there aren't any. Redeemer and Military Merit medal were awarded only to officers so one would expect to see more medals in the bar, esp, the ones for the two Balkan wars plus any foreign awards such as the French Croix de Guerre or the Serbian Milosh Obilich medal. The explanation is simple: a couple of rows are missing! The mounting of the ribbons is typical of the period 1917-1936 where ribbons were in many cases fited not upon a piece of supporting cloth (or fastened upon a metal bar that was introduced quite later during the 1930's) but directly upon the tunic. As you understand that is not very practical as one would have to remove them from the old or damaged tunic to the new one. Military outfitters and taylors always kept spare ribbons from old tunics in a shoe box for possible future use, hence loose an isolated pieces like the one in question.