Commemorative Medal for the Liberation of the Northern Regions of Yugoslavia 1918/19
Commemorative Medal for the Liberation of the Northern Regions of Yugoslavia 1918/19, and a cap badge of the Slovenian-led, and majority Slovene, 'Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes' forces used late 1918 to around mid-1919
The Medal for the Liberation of the Northern Regions of Yugoslavia 1918/19 was established in 1939 and was to be awarded to all of those, both military and civilian, who were involved in the liberation of the Slovenian regions of the northern part of the Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes, later to become the Kingdom of Yugoslavia in 1929. The purpose of the military actions of late 1918, early 1919, was to establish a demarcation line between what would remain of Austria and the bordering province of Slovenia, and that raised a question over the future of Austria's southern provinces of Carinthia and Styria, which was under consideration in the Paris peace conference. By spring 1919, the Austrians had managed to push back, in part, the majority Slovene forces, and it took the intervention of several regiments of Serbian forces to back up the Slovenes to beat back and turn away the Austrians. The border issue was finally settled by a plebiscite in June 1919 where the first of two Austrian zones voted to stay within Austria, rendering a vote in the second zone redundant. One one side of the medal is a Royal Yugoslavian eagle looking over several, symbolic heraldic shields and, on the other side, in Serbian Latin script, the text 'SPOMENICA NA BORBE ZA OSLOBOĐENJE SEVERNIH KRAJEVA JUGOSLAVIJE 1918-19', and which translates to 'Commemoration of the Struggle to Liberate the Northern Territories of Yugoslavia 1918-19', with laurel and oak branches surrounding this and a torch at the top. The medal show here is predominantly red with white and blue edgings, which was the type awarded for military personnel. Civilian versions had ribbons that were predominantly blue, with red and white edgings. Also shown is a short-lived cap badge that was worn by the self-declared 'Serb, Croats, and Slovenes' forces during this time, which did not include the Serbian Army to begin with, but did include ethnic Serbs living outside of Serbia, as well as Croats and Slovenes, the latter of whom made up the majority of this force. By the first half of 1919, the Serbian Army had joined up with the allied 'Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes' forces, and which would become the armed forces of the Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes. The cap badge has a round, metal back, woven red cloth insert, and the initials 'S.H.S.', the acronym of 'Srbe, Hrvate, i Slovence', which stood for 'Serbss, Croat, and Slovenes'.
CONTRIBUTOR
Špiro Vranješ
DATE
/
LANGUAGE
eng
ITEMS
6
INSTITUTION
Europeana 1914-1918
PROGRESS
METADATA
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