Italian 1915-1918 War Medal

Italian 1915-1918 War Medal with four bronze laureated bars dated '1915', '1916', '1917' and '1918'. Unnamed as issued. Obverse: The bust of Victor Emanuele III wearing a steel helmet facing left surrounded by an inscription between oak leaves 'GVERRA PER L'VNITA D'ITALIA 1915 1918' around the circumference. Reverse: Winged Victory standing on a shield supported by two soldiers. On each side is the legend 'CONIATA NEL BRONZE NEMICO' (minted from enemy bronze). The medal is fitted with a fixed loop bar suspender and a piece of 37 mm wide ribbon with 18 stripes in six divisions of green, white and red. The bars bend around the ribbon and have small 'D' joining clips at the back.

This medal was instituted on 29 July 1920 and was awarded to members of the Italian armed forces for service in the First World War. The Italian government originally authorised a ribbon bar on 21 May 1916, which was awarded after a year's service in a war zone. Additional war service years were indicated by a small silver star on the ribbon. In 1920 this ribbon was replaced by War Medal and a number of bars could be attached to the ribbon according to the recipients war service. The laureated bars have either a service year, between 1915 and 1918, or the word Albania followed by a service year, between 1916 and 1920. The medals can be found in light and dark bronze and were manufactured by various contract companies.