Medal of the III CC.NN. Division “XXI Aprile”

Medal of the III CC.NN. Division “XXI Aprile”, connected with the operations at Scirè, recorded in the inscription as 29 February – 3 March Year XIV. The “XXI Aprile” Division belonged to the CC.NN., the Blackshirt formations of the Milizia Volontaria per la Sicurezza Nazionale. Its name referred to 21 April, the traditional date associated with the foundation of Rome.

During the 1935-1936 Ethiopian campaign, the division served within the Italian forces operating in East Africa. The medal belongs to the broader context of commemorative pieces associated with the units mobilised for that theatre, where unit names, dates and symbolic imagery were used to preserve the memory of specific operations.

The design is concise and strongly military in character: at the centre appears an arm driving a dagger into the ground, a motif associated with offensive action, possession of the field and the harsh conditions of operations on the Ethiopian highlands. The inscription “3ª Divisione CC.NN. XXI Aprile” identifies the unit, while “Scirè 29 Febbraio – 3 Marzo XIV” links the medal to a precisely dated episode of the campaign.

The reference to Year XIV follows the Fascist-era calendar and corresponds to 1936. The historical model is known in several versions, including silver-struck examples, which are especially sought after when preserved with their period ribbon.

Collector’s note: the dagger driven into the ground was not merely decorative. In military medals and badges of the period, this type of image was often used to convey the ideas of advance, occupation of terrain and the unit’s assertion on the battlefield.