Italo Turkish War Medal 1911 - 1912

Italo Turkish War Medal 1911-12. Unnamed as issued. Obverse: The bust of Vittorio Emanuele III facing right with the inscription 'VITTORIO EMANVELE III RE D'ITALIA' around the circumference. Reverse: 'GUERRA ITALO-TURCA 1911-12' on three lines surrounded by a laurel wreath. The medal is fitted with a fixed bar loop suspender and a piece of 36 mm ribbon of six blue stripes and five red stripes of equal widths.

Awarded to Italian troops who seized the North African Ottoman provinces of Tripolitania and Cyrenaica, together known as Libya today, as well as the island of Rhodes and the Greek-speaking Dodecanese archipelago near Anatolia. The war was fought between 29 September 1911 and 18 October 1912. The Italo-Turkish War saw a number technological advances used in warfare; notably the use of the aeroplane. On 23 October 1911 an Italian pilot flew over Turkish lines on a reconnaissance mission, and on 1 November the first ever aerial bomb was dropped on Turkish troops in Libya. This medal is part of a collection assembled by the late Hon. Sir Thomas Hughes, Member of the Legislative Council of New South Wales. It was presented to the Memorial in memory of his son, Captain Roger Forrest Hughes, Australian Army Medical Corps, who died of wounds in France on 11 December 1916 and his grandson, Flying Officer Peter Roger Forrest Hughes, 12 Squadron, Royal Australian Air Force, who was killed on active service while flying in the Northern Territory on 3 October 1942.