- Time Period: The Great War
- Institution: 23 March 1924
- Country: Italy
The Orient Balkan Cross (or Croce Commemorativa del Corpo di Spedizione dell’Oriente Balcanico in Italian) was an unofficial medal awarded to the expeditionary corps that had taken part in war operations in the Balkans (Albania and Macedonia) from 1914 to 1919, during the First World War.
The medal was advertised on nr. 8 of the Domenica del Corriere on 23 March 1924, with an announcement that specified that the first specimens would be offered in homage to the king, to generals Diaz and Cadorna and to all general officers who had had a command in Albania and Macedonia. The cross was put up for sale, equipped with a special ribbon, for the benefit of the “National Union of Veterans East Balkan”, Turin, via S. Tomaso, 6.
The Commemorative East Balkan Expeditionary Corps Cross Design
The medal was designed by the painter Adolfo Caly, and advertised in the popular magazine “Domenica del Corriere” and coined by the Fassino firm of Turin. The shape is a Greek cross and it was struck in gilded bronze. The ends of the arms are crenelated and intersected by a ribbon with eyelets and corners.
The obverse has a central medallion with golden beads and a representation of a mosque with a minaret in and orange enameled background. The arms of the cross have blue enamel and black and white borders around the cross arms.
The reverse has no enamels and bears the inscription “ORIENTE BALCANICO / 1914 = 1919 / ALBANIA = MACEDONIA”. Some versions have a trademark on the lower arm.
The ribbon has a black central stripe measuring one-third of the overall width, flanked on both sides by five narrow stripes in red-orange-blue-orange-red.
