Zinc alloy (zama) cross pattée with integral loop for ribbon suspension; the face with ribbed edges, the field white-painted; the reverse inscribed ‘C.S.I.R.’ (Corpo di Spedizione Italiano in Russia) centrally, the left, upper, right and lower arm ends inscribed ‘BUG’ ‘DNJEPR / DONETZ’ ‘DON’ and ‘LUGLIO 941 / LUGLIO 942’ (July 1941 / July1942) respectively; diameter 25.41mm (1 inch); age-toned; on original ribbon.
The Cross was created in August 1942 to be awarded to members of the Italian Expeditionary Corps in Russia who took part in the German invasion of the Soviet Union (Operation Barbarossa). Italian casualties were heavy and less than a quarter of the sixty-two thousand officers and men of the three Italian divisions that comprised the C.S.I.R. survived. The first examples of the Cross were made by F. M. Lorioli Fratelli of Milan and bear their mark on the lower arm of the reverse at the base on the right.
The Cross was produced without the maker’s mark, as in this example, from 1945 to 1947. Poor quality later reproductions abound.
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