THE COMMEMORATIVE CROSS FOR THE GREAT WAR OF LIBERATION AND UNIFICATION |
The Medal (or Cross) was instituted on 1 December
1920 by the Prince-Regent Aleksandar, to commemorate the 1914-1918 War
against Central Powers, the liberation of the Serbian Homeland and the
unification of the Southern Slavs.
The Great War started with the attack of Austro-Hungarian Empire on
Serbia in 1914, but Serbian Army successfully maintained its positions
until German Imperial Army, assisted by Bulgarian and Turkish troops intervened.
The outnumbered Serbian Army was almost completely pushed into retreat
and exile. There the forces regrouped and later reassumed war operations
at the Salonika Front in Northern Greece, fighting on side of it's allies
until late 1918. The Commemorative Cross was awarded to the veterans of
the Great War, to officers, NCOs and enlisted men of the Serbian and Montenegrin
Armed Forces, as well as to the Allied military personnel who contributed
to the liberation of Serbia. The Medal was worn suspended from the tricolor (red-blue-white) ribbon;
the Author was Djordje Charapich. |
