Breaking the Balkan Front | French plaque
This is a uniface, test-strike of a French plaque that shows a winged angel appearing over some mountains and looking over a ruined castle. In French, the upper text reads 'AUBE DE LA VICTOIRE', the Dawn of Victory, and below, it reads 'RUPTURE DU FRONT DES BALKANS SEPTEMBRE 1918', Breaking the Balkan Front, September 1918. The other side of this 1926 plaque, in the final version, would have had an image of French Marshal d'Esperey in profile. Marshal d'Esperey would, in mid-September 1918, order a major offensive in Macedonia against the Bulgarians which, a couple of weeks of fighting later, would result in a decisive victory that took the Bulgarians out of the war, leading to the collapse of the Southern Front. The engraver of the plaque was Frenchman Paul Roger-Bloche and, because this is a test-striking of the plaque, the other side of the medal is not engraved in this example.
Uniface, test-striking of plaque
CONTRIBUTOR
Špiro Vranješ
DATE
-
LANGUAGE
eng
ITEMS
2
INSTITUTION
Europeana 1914-1918
PROGRESS
METADATA
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French General Guillaumat's memorial plaque to the Army of the Orient and Distant Lands
10 Items
Plaque for the memorial to the Army of the Orient and Distant Lands. A postcard of the memorial in Marseille. The 24 December 1916 edition of ‘Le Petit Journal’, and a 5 January 1918 edition of ‘J’ai Vu’, both of which have General Giullamaut on the cover. || This is a silvered bronze commemorative plaque that was given to French General Adophe Guillaumat at the April 1927 inauguration of the memorial in Marseille dedicated to the Army of the Orient and Distant Lands, which had taken five years to complete. One side of the plaque shows the memorial gate at Marseille with palm leaves below, and the French text, ’AUX HEROS DE L’ARMEE D’ORIENT ET DES TERRES LOINTAINES’, which translates as ‘The Heroes of the Army of the East and Distant Lands’. The other side shows French banners, a shield, oak and laurel leaf branches, with the French text, ‘COMITE DU MONUMENT NATIONAL’, which translates as ’National Monument Committee’, and the name of the recipient, General Guillaumat. The General commanded the Second Army at Verdun in December 1916 before going on to command the multi-national (French, British, Serbian, Russian, Italian, Greek, and others) Allied Army of the Orient in Salonika a year later. He stayed on the Salonika Front for another 6 months before becoming Governor of Paris, and ending the war commanding the Fifth Army in the Ardennes. The architect, Gustave Martin’s signature also appears on the plaque, which has, on its edge, a hallmark and the word ‘BRONZE’. Also shown is a French post card of the Marseille memorial, as well as a 24 December 1916 edition of ‘Le Petit Journal’, showing a colour picture of General Guillaumat on the cover, and a 5 January 1918 edition of ‘J’ai Vu’ with a photo of General Guillaumat on the cover and the announcement of his taking over the Army of the Orient from General Sarrail.
