WW2 Italian 32nd Infantry Division MARCHE Medal Albanian Invasion Mountain

Description

WW2 Italian 32nd Infantry Division MARCHE Medal Albanian Invasion. Italian Mountain troops medal. This medal was very hard to research. It appears to have been awarded to the Italian 32A Infantry Division "MARCHE" for the Invasion of Albania April 7-12th 1939. Albania was over run in less then a weak by the more formidable Italian Troops under Benito Mussolini. This medal is listed as being given to these troop by a medal collecting website and it is the only accruate ID i could find. Everything points to this medal being EXTREMELY SCARCE. Possibly only a handful in existence. The 32nd Infantry Division Marche was founded in 1939 it was labeled as a Mountain division. It was involved in the invasion of Albania and then would move forward into the invasion Yugoslavia. It would fight in all notable campaigns and then be sidelined for anti partisan activites for a large part of the war. It would see combat with partisan in yugoslavia for the next 2 years. It was not favored by the german and was held in reserve during the battle of Neretva and Sutjeska. It was largely considered unfavorable by the german army due to its pro jewish sentiment. After the Italians surrendered the Division would be sent in to combat the 7th SS Volunteer Moutain Division. It last only 2 days in combat and would be completely routed and destoryed. The survivors fled and the division was dissolved. Lasting only 4-5 years from creation to destruction and serving as both an Axis and Allied nation Division make this a very rare piece of history. 29 members of the division would be wanted for war crimes during partisan activities in Yugoslavia. In summary it was a unit looked down upon seemingly both by the Axis and Allied powers during the war. Its combat record is rather poor though they did fight in some greatly out numbered engagments. This medal is i can assume very scarce due to all of these things i think most veterans would have hidden or disposed of there ties to this division making this medal a great rarirty. I really have no idea how to price it but this ripe with rarity it certainly shouldnt be cheap! Medal does exhibit use and wear. I would bet its arrival here in america certainly has an interesting story behind it. It was found with a WW1 US victory medal no story was attached though to how that could have happened. If you have any record of what these actually sell for let me know!