Serbian Day ('Journée Serbe') medal and stamped medallion. Also paper labels, identity cards, organising committee envelope, and flag pins. Copy of 'Excelsior' news journal dated 26 June 1916. Poster advertising the Serbian Day event.
During the course of the war, France organised themed charity days, with help from the Red Cross, schoolchildren, municipal workers, and other volunteers to raise awareness and money for numerous causes. The various themes for such days included: Belgium and its refugees; the famous, French 75MM cannon; National Emergency; Orphans of War; those Tested/Proven by War; Soldier's; Tuberculosis in Veterans; Rivers Seine and Marne; the African Army, and so on. France's Serbian Day ('Journée Serbe') took place on 25 June, 1916. Volunteers solicited donations and donors were given commemorative items in return such as flag pins and medals. Here is a French medal to commemorate Serbian Day in France, and is in the outline shape of the Serbian heraldic eagle. One one side is an image of King Peter and his son, the Prince Regent Alexander along with their names, respectively, as 'Pierre I' and 'Alexandre'. Beneath this is the bilingual, French-Serbian text 'GLORIEUX DEFENSEURS DE LA LIBERTE SERBE' and, in Cyrillic 'СЛАВНИ ЗАТОЦНИЦИ СРПСКЕ СЛОБОДЕ' (translating as 'Honour to the Defenders of Serbian Freedom'), followed by the years 1914-1915. Beneath this, in miniature text, is the engraver, given as 'T.S.M. LORDONNOIS GRAVEUR EDIT', and below this is the text 'JOURNEE SERBE'. The other side of the medal features the coats of arms of the Allies with, surrounding this, the French text ‘GLOIRE AUX INTREPIDES HEROS SERBES’, which translates as 'Glory to the intrepid Serb heroes', and the year 1916 below that. There is also a stamped metal medallion with the text 'JOURNEE SERBE', a figure of a woman, and the year 1916 impressed onto it. Also shown is an envelope addressed to the organising committee, plus paper labels, pin flags, and decorative identification card labels for dignitaries with spaces on the back for their names to be written. Of documentary interest is a copy of 'Excelsior' news journal, published in France, dated 26 June 1916, the day after Serbian Day, showing photos on the cover of people participating in the day, giving money to the cause. Finally, there is a large poster, 114cm by 78cm in size, in French, advertising Serbian Day to the French, saying what it was for and why it was needed. To put it into further context, the Serbian Army and many civilians retreated 100 miles for over 3 weeks, with disastrous loss of life, through Albania to avoid being overrun on multiple fronts once Bulgaria invaded on the side of the Central Powers. It wasn't until summer 1916, around the time of France's Serbian Day, that the Serbian forces, who had evacuated initially to Corfu and North Africa, were ready to return to the fight, this time on the Salonika Front, having recuperated and been refitted and re-equipped by France. Serbia is grateful and will never forget, even in the 21st century and looking back a century or so, the kindness, help, and charity of the French people at that almost impossibly difficult time for the nation. Vive la France!