Circular bronze medal with integral bar for ribbon suspension; the face with the full-length figure of an Eritrean soldier running from left to right, a sword in his right hand, a rifle in his left, inscribed in Amharic and Latin characters ‘COME FALCO ENTRO’ / B’ AMORA’ GHEBBA’ ’ (Like a hawk in the loving mist), circumscribed above ‘CORPO • D’ARMATA • ERITREO’ (Eritrean Army Corps) and ‘F.BELESA 3-X-XIII-E.F ADDIS ABEBA 5-V-XIV-E.F.’ below, signed ‘P. MORBI / DUCCI’ (for the sculptor and medallist Publio Morbiducci, 1889-1963); the reverse inscribed ‘AMBA AVGER- 5-X-X111 / MONTE GVNDO-5-X1-XIV / MACALLE-8-XI-XIV / A. TZELLERE-ABBI ADDI-18-22-XII-XIV / 1A BATT. DEL TEMBIEN-20-24-I-XIV / IIA BATT. DEL TEMBIEN-27-II-3-11-XIV / BATT. L. ASCIANGHI-P.-MECAN / MAICEV-31-III-XIV / QVORAM-5-IV-XIV / DESSIE-15-IV-XIV / ADDIS ABEBA-5-IV-XIV’, a five-pointed star above, fasces axes below to either side, a knot at the base, maker’s mark ‘CASTELLI GERONA-MILANO’; on original age-faded ribbon with a bronze Roman gladius (sword) wrapped in laurel, the hilt inscribed ‘FERT’ (motto of the Royal House of Italy), indicating an award for combat, one of the two attaching pins now loose but present. The medal was instituted in 1936 to be awarded to the native Eritrean Army Corps for participation in the conquest of Ethiopia. The names on the reverse are those of the battles in which the Corps fought and the dates are all ‘E.F.’ (Fascist era), calculated from the seizure of power by Mussolini in 1922. The Corps was composed largely of Askaris from Italian Somalia and Eritreans from Italian Eritrea who were seasoned warriors and amongst the best shock troops available to the Italians. The medal is quite rare.
|