Italy - Kingdom / Fascist Period: Commemorative Cross of the Italian Expeditionary Corps in Russia 1942, 2nd type, often known as the ‘Ice Cross’, in copper alloy with a silver wash, and with painted enamel centre. No ribbon. Scarce.
Condition: silver wash rubbed in centre on reverse, Good Very Fine.
The Cross was created in August 1942 to be awarded to members of the Italian Expeditionary Corps in Russia who took part in the German invasion of the Soviet Union (Operation Barbarossa). Italian casualties were heavy and less than a quarter of the sixty-two thousand officers and men of the three Italian divisions that comprised the C.S.I.R. survived. The first examples of the Cross were made by F. M. Lorioli Fratelli of Milan and bear their mark on the lower arm of the reverse at the base on the right. The Cross was produced without the maker’s mark from 1945 to 1947.
