Italy, Kingdom. A Medal Of The 38Th "Puglie" Mountain Infantry Division For The Albanian And Greek Campaigns 1941

In bronze, obverse illustrating a woman representing Victory, flanked by a man looking skyward on her right and a helmeted soldier on her left, a castle tower in the background, with four swords in the foreground below, inscribed in Art Deco style text "DIVISIONE di FANTERIA PVGLIE" and engraver marked "AFFER", reverse illustrating an upward-pointing sword wrapped in a flame upon a pedestal, with mountains in the background, inscribed in Art Deco style text "MONASTERO.Q731" with an under rule, with an arrow extending from the under rule and pointing to the mountain below, measuring 32.3 mm in diameter, original ribbon, extremely fine.

Footnote: The medal was issued to Italian soldiers of the 38th "Puglie" Mountain Infantry Division that participated in the battles with the Greek army during 1941. Those battles included the battle of Monastero (Monastery)/Quota (Hill) 731 in southern Albania, which began on March 9, 1941. Quota 731 was considered to be the heart of the Greek defensive line. The initial assault was personally observed by Benito Mussolini, and during the next fifteen days, the Italian army and air force threw everything they had at the Greek positions on the hill, but the Greek army held until the Italian army withdrew on March 24th. The battle of Quota 731 has been referred to as the Greek "Verdun" of the 1940-1941 war with Italy.