Auction Catalogue

13 & 14 September 2012

Starting at 10:00 AM

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Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Washington Mayfair Hotel  London  W1J 5HE

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Lot

№ 1091

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14 September 2012

Hammer Price:
£1,300

A rare Great War M.M. group of eleven awarded to Lieutenant M. Blahovec, a Czechoslovakian Legionnaire who had earlier served in the Austro-Hungarian Army

Czechoslovakia, Order of the Falcon, breast badge, with swords, bronze-gilt and enamel, in its (damaged) card box of issue; War Cross 1918; Revolutionary Medal 1918; F.I.D.A.C. Medal for Veterans of the Great War; Commemorative Cross for Volunteers 1918-19; Zborov Memorial Medal 1917-47; Commemorative Medal of the 1938 Meeting of 1918-19 Veterans at Brno; 2nd Rifle Regiment 30 Years Anniversary Medal 1948; Belgium, Victory Medal 1918, official type, as often worn by Czechs; Great Britain, Military Medal, G.V.R., unnamed as issued; Serbia, War Commemorative Medal 1914-18, together with assorted Sokol and memorial badges (10), generally very fine or better (21) £1200-1500

Matej Blahovec was born in Vacovice, a village in the district of Strakonice in Southern Bohemia, close to the borders of Austria, in October 1885. Enlisting in the Austro-Hungarian Army in October 1910, he served in the 11th and 29th Infantry Regiments, and was placed on the Reserves in September 1910. Having then worked as a locomotive driver, and attended reservist exercises in 1911 and 1913, he was called up in July 1914 and ordered to the Eastern Front.

Wounded and taken P.O.W. by the Russians on 10 February 1915, he was made to work as a farm labourer until successfully applying for the newly established Czechoslovakian Legions in September 1917. He subsequently served in the 2nd Rifle Regiment as a Sergeant and was subsequently commissioned for his gallantry and good conduct in the Field, following which he was awarded the Order of the Falcon and, later still, for his services in Vladivostok, the British Military Medal. Latterly attached to the 2nd Division, he was present at the battles of Marianovka, Sadrinsk, Kazan, Celjbinsk, Zlatoust, Trojick and Niznyj Tagil, and he returned to the newly formed Czechoslovakia via Japan, Ceylon, Egypt and Italy in July 1920.

Blahovec remained on the Active Army Reserve after being demobilised and was a member of the Czechoslovak Legionnaires Veterans Association. He was also active in the Sokol Movement, which promoted exercise and fitness.

Sold with a quantity of original documentation, including numerous stamped, signed, etc., official documents in respect of the recipient’s military career, a selection of Great War period photographic postcards, including a portrait of the recipient wearing his M.M. and Belgian Victory Medal, and a water colour illustration entitled, ‘Casopis Legie, Prosinec 1930’, with related poem.