Italy Al Valore Militare after 1945

[dedehansen]

Hi Gents,

I got this Al Valore Militare, but I´m not sure if it´s

original or a fake. All Opinions desired !

[dedehansen]

Reverse

[claudio2574]

Hello,

actually this model was set only in 1949.

The "true" medal should have the mark of the State Mint (a "Z" at the bottom of the front) and your medal does not have it.

There are many copies made by many private producers; strictly speaking, they are not fakes, because quite often the recipients of the medal do not wear the original one.

As you can see in this image, taken in the Italian Air Force museum (Vigna di Valle, close to Rome), the bravery medal of General Silvio Napoli does NOT have the "Z".

[dedehansen]

Ciao Claudio,

did I understand right, that the medal only was awarded in 1949.

What was the reason ?

Grazie

Andreas

[claudio2574]

No sorry, I mean it was defined with a 1949 law. Since then it has remained unchanged.

In the period 1946-1949 the State Mint (no longer royal mint) coined one temporary model, having the front face changed: no more the Savoia arms, just two branches like the ones of the back and the words REPUBBLICA ITALIANA - AL VALORE MILITARE.

Several private firms made their models too, more or less close to the official one.

I don't have got any photo to attach, sorry for this.

[Ulsterman]

http://gmic.co.uk/uploads/monthly_03_2013/post-171-0-65168400-1364267324.jpgCool. Are there two classes? Is it the custom to pin awardees' medals to a unit flag, or has the unit also been decorated with the medal here? My Italian is sadly lacking-is this a unit flag? Its from last years Italian Army Parade -along with this snapshot of a newer awardee (presumably for Iraq). Or is that only the merit medal in first place?

Edited March 26, 2013 by Ulsterman

[claudio2574]

Hello,

There are three levels for the bravery medal (gold - silver - bronze).

According to Sézanne, the gold medals given in the period 1833-1993 have been 2536. Among them, 81 (kingdom) + 114 (republic) were given to units and not single soldiers.

Its ribbon is solid blue. Here a picture of a bronze medal of the kingdom (first World War).

There is also the Chivalry order of military merit. Here a picture of the kingdom period (early XX century), knight level:

Your first image shows the "labaro" (=unit flag) of the Associazione Nazionale Partigiani d'Italia (National Association of Italian Partisans) - section of Vicenza, having 10 gold medals.

The second image does not show any bravery medal. The very first on the left is the long command medal. It also exists in gold (30 years), silver (20 years) and bronze (10 years). It was created in 1935. Here the pictures of the kingdom (bronze) and republic (silver) medals, both from the State Mint:

Your second picture shows also several mission badges, which are by themselves an intriguing world. Actually the men wears too many of them, since the rules allow for three only. However, I see Lebanon, Iraq, Albania and can't recognize the two others.

Here you can see my collection of mission badges:

http://www.faleristica.it/collezione.php?id=100

Edited March 26, 2013 by claudio2574

[Ulsterman]

Thanks! I did not even know mission badges existed. Are they official awards?

[claudio2574]

Yes, many are official, many are simple variants of the officials, some are unofficial but used very often and actually allowed.

The web site of the Italian Army shows its official badges here:

http://www.esercito.difesa.it/Equipaggiamenti/Militaria/Distintivi/IDistintivi/DistintiviRicordo/Pagine/default.aspx

They are used by other Armed Forces too.

There is not an equivalent page for the other Forces (Navy, Air Force, Carabinieri, Guardia di Finanza, Polizia di Stato).

Several official badges, not listed in the page of the Army, were created for the Police forces (Carabinieri, Guardia di Finanza, Polizia), like the following (many are for international missions for ONU or EC or other multinational teams):

Navy (Ship Groups 22 and 28, Albania):

Collecting these badges has some advantages over the normal medals: they need a small space, they are generally nicer than the (ugly!) modern medals, their price is usually (but not always!) cheap. Furthermore, they are an occasion to know in how many places our Armed Forces are involved now and in the recent years.

There are also patches. Actually, the patches are the ONLY allowed in mission, due to the danger coming from metal objects while flying with helycopters. Here is a very rare patch, for the Task Force 45 (Afghanistan, Herat and Farah). Officially speaking, the TF 45 DOES NOT exists. But it DOES exist and works well. Here a link to a web page describing the TF (Italian only, sorry...) http://www.colmoschin.it/task-force-45.html

[Ulsterman]

Wow! I had no idea the Italian military was in as many places since 1945!

Claudio- have you ever considered an article for the JOMSA about these perhaps?

[claudio2574]

Hey! No, I did not considered this opportunity. It could be a great idea.

For sure there are people with far more infos than me, at least in Italy.

Probably we don't speak enough of our good things, usually we complain about everything and give everybody (including ourselves) a worst image of what we really are.

I wish to bring your attention to one mission which is for sure unknown to many.

In 1979 many people run away from Vietnam, using every possible way. Many boarded onto any floating vessel, trying to find a new country. Many were refused by the countries all around, simply leaving them on board and not allowing to land.

While all other countries were talking about a Conference, a meeting of the Security Council of UN or other useless words, we DID something.

The 8th ships group (cruisers "Veneto" and "Doria" and supply ship "Stromboli") went to them to give help, sailing for half world and having no political or economical target to reach. No oil, no power to gain. Just poor people to help.

895 people came to Italy with those ships, many of them are still here.

Here is the unofficial medallion for that mission, we call it "boat people".

[claudio2574]

The last badge created, for Lybia missions. It is an official one, created on nov.2012. Unfortunately I haven't seen it yet.

[922F]

Thanks to all for this informative and highly useful information!!

[Ulsterman]

Thanks Claudio! This was a really interesting thread. I was so inspired I went and bought my first Italian medal bar.

Thanks again.

[claudio2574]

Happy to see that there is some interest about Italian military.

May be we could start different topics, since this one now contains a mix of very different things: bravery, orders, long service/command, international missions...

Does anyone agree? Is there any preference?

[dedehansen]

Happy to see that there is some interest about Italian military.

May be we could start different topics, since this one now contains a mix of very different things: bravery, orders, long service/command, international missions...

Does anyone agree? Is there any preference?

Hello Claudio,

I didn´t neither know that italian soldiers were involved in this action.

If it is possible I would like some Infos from the italian cina medal, I know

that it also was awarded to foreigners.

Kind Regards

Andreas

[claudio2574]

Andreas, do you mean the Cina 1900 medal?

I don't have it, but some infos are available from the Brambilla book.

There are two models.

The first one has the head and the name of king Vittorio Emanuele III on the front. The back has the laurel crown (similar to the Valore Militare medals, but closer to the rim) and the words CINA 1900-1901. The ribbon is blue/yellow (7 lines).

It was instituted on june 1901 and 2325 medals were given (as far as I know to Italians only). 7 years later the silver bar CINA 1900-1901 was created.

The "original" medal was made by the Royal Mint (F.Speranza), but there are at least three variants from Stefano Johnson, having the head of the king with different shapes.

For the people being in China after Dec, 31 1901 and the Navy people who went to Seul (1903, protection of the embassy during the war between Russia and Japan), a new medal was instituted. Quite similar to the first one, the back had only the word CINA. Only the original model from the Royal Mint (F.Speranza) is known. Only 736 medals were assigned. According to the two Royal Decrees, Italian militar and civil personnel only were included into the list. Rather scarce.

Royal mint medals were made in bronze, Johnson's ones in bronze and silvered bronze.

Hope this was what you asked for.

[dedehansen]

Ciao,

yes I´m looking for informations from the

Medalgia Commemorativa per la Campagna nell´Estremo Oriente ( cina )

A few years ago I had a contact to Generale Giorgio Dotti at Merano, but I´ve lost

his email of course of problems with my old computer and also all facts are lost.

He told me that a few medals Cina were awarded to foreigners. If You have further

Informations we could start a new thread.

Best Regards and thanks

Andreas

[claudio2574]

I will try to do some archive research. Not in a hurry...

[dedehansen]

I will try to do some archive research. Not in a hurry...

That would be fine, but I have a general question to a Brevetto I own,

top left side it has a numbering N. 2601 is this the consecutive number

for the equivalent medal ?

Best wishes

Andreas

[claudio2574]

It should be, may I see your Brevetto?

[dedehansen]

It should be, may I see your Brevetto?

Ciao,

if this is right there must have been more than 2325 awards from the cina medal.

Here is the main part from the Brevetto

And if there is further interest, we should start a new thread ?!

[claudio2574]

Yes, it is the number of the register. Hope I can find something when I will go to the AUSSME (Archivio Ufficio Storico Stato Maggiore Esercito), which is here in Rome. I've been there several times for searching facts about my father's war. The only problem is to find time...

[tjnier]

You may be interested to know that Journal OMSA will be publishing my in-depth article on the Al Valore MIlitare medals. I am told it is scheduled for the May-June 2013 issue. The article covers AVM varieties dating from 1849 to World War 1. Regards to all, Tom Nier

[medalman90]

Hello everyone. Sorry I'm late to this party. But I just wanted to ask a quick question. I have a VM and it has a mint mark but it's not a Z, does that make it a private mint?