Gold Medal of Military Valor

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Gold Medal of Military Valor
Medaglia d'oro al valor militare
Gold Medal of Military Valor
(Royal version & Republican version)
TypeMilitary decoration
Awarded forDeeds of outstanding gallantry in war
CountryItaly
EligibilityJunior officers and soldiers
Established21 May 1793
Ribbon bar of the medal
Precedence
Next (higher)Military Order of Italy[1]
Next (lower)Gold Medal for Army Valor[1]

The Gold Medal of Military Valor (

King Victor Amadeus III of Sardinia
for deeds of outstanding gallantry in war by junior officers and soldiers.

The face of the medal displayed the profile of the king, and on its reverse was a flag decoration and the words "for Valor".

On 14 August 1815,

Victor Emmanuel I of Sardinia replaced it with the Military Order of Savoy, now known as the Military Order of Italy
.

Charles Albert of Sardinia revived it on 26 March 1833, and added to it the Silver and bronze medals. These had, on their faces, the coat of arms of Savoy with laurel branches, the royal crown, and the words "for military Valor". On the reverse were two laurel branches enclosing the name of the decorated soldier, and the place and date of the action.

With the proclamation of the Republic on 2 June 1946, the coat of arms of the House of Savoy was replaced with the emblem of the Italian Republic.[2]

For actions performed by individuals during

Czar Nicholas II of Russia. The other three were for acts of gallantry in which the recipient was killed in action or died from his injuries (the Frenchmen John O'Byrne and Roland Morillot, and the American Coleman deWitt).[3] The Gold Medal of Military Valor was one of the most parsimoniously awarded medals of World War I, granted less frequently than even the Victoria Cross which was awarded 628 times.[4]

During

Esercito Nazionale Repubblicano from 1943 to 1945. This version of the award was not given recognition by the postwar Italian government.[5]

The Gold Medal for Military Valor is still awarded by the Italian state, and it, along with Silver and bronze medals for Military Valor as well as the War Cross of Military Valor (which can only be awarded in time of war) was established by the Royal Decree of 4 November 1932, in which the purpose of these medals is defined as, "to distinguish and publicly honour the authors of heroic military acts, even ones performed in time of peace, provided that the exploit is closely connected with the purposes for which the Armed Forces are constituted, whatever may be the condition or quality of the author."[6]

Notable recipients

The first recipient was Domenico Millelire[7] of the Royal Sardinian Navy on 6 April 1793 and the latest recipient was in 2014 Chief Corporal-Major Andrea Adorno[8] of the 4th Alpini Paratroopers Regiment for combat operations in Bala Murghab, Afghanistan in 2010.

Individuals

Military units

The first military unit awarded a Gold Medal was

Italian Campaign of World War II.[10]

The following list contains only the military units, which were awarded the Gold Medal of Military Valor twice. In total 112 gold medals were awarded to units of the Italian army: 105 to regiments and 7 to battalions.

The

4th Alpini Regiment
currently also displays two Gold Medals of Military Valor on its flag, however the two medals were awarded to the regiment's Alpini Battalion "Aosta", and the Alpini Skiers Battalion "Monte Cervino".

Locations

The first geographic entity to be awarded a Gold Medal of Military Valor was the city of Vicenza in 1866 for its five days long resistance to Austrian assaults during the First Italian War of Independence. Vicenza is also the only city to be awarded the medal twice: the second time for its participation in the Italian resistance movement during World War II.

The latest city to be awarded was

Partisan Republic of Alto Tortonese
between September and December 1944.

Examples:

A full list of regions, provinces and cities, which were awarded for their bravery can be found at it:Città decorate al valor militare per la guerra di liberazione.

University of Padua

The University of Padua is the only educational institution which was awarded a Gold Medal of Military Valor. The university received it on 2 November 1945 for its furious resistance to German occupation in 1943–1945.[11]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b "Esercito Italiano- Nastrini delle decorazioni in uso" (in Italian). Esercito.difesa.it. Archived from the original on 2 July 2012. Retrieved 30 May 2012.
  2. ^ Preceding paragraphs translated and adapted from "CCM - Consorzio Culturale del Monfalconese :: View.DocDetail". Archived from the original on 12 August 2011. Retrieved 12 June 2011. which describes the book "Le medaglie d'oro al valor militare: volume primo, Roma, [Gruppo Medaglie d'Oro al Valor Militare d'Italia], 1965, 804 p.; 22 cm"
  3. ^ The website of the Italian Presidency: List of all recipients can be obtained by going to http://www.quirinale.it/elementi/onorificenze.aspx, going to "onorificenza" (under "Maschera di recerca"), selecting "Medaglia d'oro al valor militare" and pressing "avvia". Also see "Nel 1° Centenario della istituzione della Medaglia al Valor Militare" edizione del 1933 dell' Ufficio storico dell' esercito
  4. ISBN 0-902633-74-0
  5. ^ "Italy's WW2 Medals". Archived from the original on 13 August 2013. Retrieved 30 May 2014.
  6. ^ "le Onorificenze - Medaglia e Croce di Guerra al Valor Militare" (in Italian). Quirinale.it. Retrieved 30 May 2012.
  7. ^ "Millelire Domenico". Presidenza della Repubblica. Retrieved 17 December 2018.
  8. ^ "Adorno Andrea". Presidenza della Repubblica. Retrieved 17 December 2018.
  9. ^ "3° Reggimento Zuavi". Presidenza della Repubblica. Retrieved 17 December 2018.
  10. ^ "Brigata Ebraica". Presidenza della Repubblica. Retrieved 17 December 2018.
  11. ^ "Università di Padova". Presidenza della Repubblica. Retrieved 18 December 2018.
  • Ceva, Bianca (1964). Cinque anni di storia italiana 1940-1945: da lettere e diari di caduti [Five Years of Italian History 1940 - 1945: Letters and diaries of the fallen]. Edizioni di comunità. pp. 143–144. OCLC 3658871.
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