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PECULIAR MEDAL
WE BELIEVE THIS IS A PIECE OF TRENCH ART
FROM WWI
THE ORIGINAL METAL IS A 
SWISS SHOOTING MEDAL
COMMEMORATING THE 500TH ANNIVERSARY OF SWITZERLAND

Country    Switzerland. Lucerne
Reign: Federation
Dedication: Commemorative Shooting Festival Medal.
Dedicate to "500th anniversary of Battle at Sempach"
Victory of 4 Cantons confederation over Austria
Date Struck: 1886
Engraver: Hugues Bovy
Obv: Arnold Winkelried holds lances in archway
Rev: Shields of Uri, Schwyz, Unterwalden and Luzern in corners of Swiss Cross.
Medal (43mm, 45.21 g, 6h). Commemorating the 500th Anniversary of the Battle of Sempach. By H. Bovy. Dually-dated 1386 and 1886 in Roman numerals. Soldier standing facing within portico, head left, holding spears; SЄmPACH in exergue / + HЄ ЄR HAT ЄInS LOЄWЄn mVT SIn mAnnLICH DAPFЄR STЄRBЄn WAS DЄn VIЄR WALTSTЄTTЄn GVT, Greek cross, with coat-of-arms in each angle. 

Swiss Commemorative Medal, 1886 Battle of Sempach. Another wonderful bit of Swiss engraving. The Battle of Sempach was fought in 1386 and consisted of the Old Swiss Confederacy against the forces of Duke Leupold III of Austria. 

THE AWARD HAS BEEN DOCTORED
SOLDERED / BRAZED
THE ALTERNATE PIECE
IS FROM THE BATTLES OF
AINES - MARNES
FRANCE
WWI ERA
CIRCA 1918
UNSURE WHAT THE TIE IS.
IT IS A PIN, THE CLASP IS DAMAGED
THE MEDAL CAN BE RESTORED
WITH SOME EASE IF SO DESIRED
 

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FYI

Sempach is a municipality in the district of Sursee in the canton of Lucerne in Switzerland.

It has retained some traces of its medieval appearance, especially the main gateway, beneath a watch tower, and reached by a bridge over the old moat.About half an hour distant to the north-east, on the hillside, is the site of the famous Battle of Sempach (9 July 1386), in which the Swiss defeated the Austrians, whose leader, Duke Leopold, lost his life. The legendary deed of Arnold of Winkelried is associated with this victory. The spot is now marked by an ancient and picturesque Battle Chapel (restored in 1886) and by a modern monument to Winkelried.

A few years later, in 1393, the so-called Sempacherbrief was signed between the Acht Orte (the original eight Swiss cantons), plus the associated Canton of Solothurn. It was the first document signed by all eight (plus Solothurn), but it also defined that none of them was to unilaterally start a war without the consent of all the others.

Some miles north of Sempach is the quaint village of Beromünster (973 inhabitants in 1900), with a collegiate church founded in the l0th century and dating, in parts, from the 11th and 12th centuries (fine 17th-century choir stalls and altar frontals), the chapter of secular canons now consisting of invalided priests of the canton of Lucerne: it was in Beromünster that the first dated book was printed (1470) in Switzerland, by care of the canons, while thence came Gering who introduced printing into France.

Sempach is the site of the Sempach Bird Observatory.

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The Third Battle of the Aisne (French: 3e Bataille de L'Aisne) was a battle of the German Spring Offensive during World War I that focused on capturing the Chemin des Dames Ridge before the American Expeditionary Forces arrived completely in France. It was one of a series of offensives, known as the Kaiserschlacht, launched by the Germans in the spring and summer of 1918.

The massive surprise attack (named Blücher-Yorck after two Prussian generals of the Napoleonic Wars) lasted from 27 May until 4 June 1918[1] and was the first full-scale German offensive following the Lys Offensive in Flanders in April.

The Germans held the Chemin des Dames Ridge from the First Battle of the Aisne in September 1914 to 1917, when General Mangin captured it during the Second Battle of the Aisne (in the Nivelle Offensive).

Operation Blücher-Yorck was planned primarily by Erich Ludendorff, who was certain that success at the Aisne would lead the German armies to within striking distance of Paris. Ludendorff, who saw the British Expeditionary Force as the main threat, believed that this, in turn, would cause the Allies to move forces from Flanders to help defend the French capital, allowing the Germans to continue their Flanders offensive with greater ease. Thus, the Aisne drive was to be essentially a large diversionary attack.

The defense of the Aisne area was in the hands of General Denis Auguste Duchene, commander of the French Sixth Army. In addition, four divisions of the British IX Corps, led by Lieutenant-General Sir Alexander Hamilton-Gordon, held the Chemin des Dames Ridge; they had been posted there to rest and refit after surviving the "Michael" battle.

The French had suffered over 98,000 casualties and the British around 29,000. German losses were nearly as great, if not slightly heavier. Duchene was sacked by French Commander-in-Chief Philippe Petain for his poor handling of the British and French troops. The Americans had arrived and proven themselves in combat for the first time in the war.

Ludendorff, encouraged by the gains of Blücher-Yorck, launched further offensives culminating in the Second Battle of the Marne.

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The Second Battle of the Marne (French: Seconde Bataille de la Marne), or Battle of Reims (15 July – 6 August 1918) was the last major German offensive on the Western Front during the First World War. The attack failed when an Allied counterattack by French and American forces, including several hundred tanks, overwhelmed the Germans on their right flank, inflicting severe casualties. The German defeat marked the start of the relentless Allied advance which culminated in the Armistice with Germany about 100 days later.

Following the failure of the Spring Offensive to end the conflict, Erich Ludendorff, Chief Quartermaster General (he had disapproved of "Second Chief of the General Staff" as a rank) and virtual military ruler of Germany, believed that an attack through Flanders would give Germany a decisive victory over the British Expeditionary Force (BEF), the most experienced Allied force on the Western Front at that time. To shield his intentions and draw Allied troops away from Belgium, Ludendorff planned for a large diversionary attack along the Marne.

Assessment
The Second Battle of the Marne was an important victory. Ferdinand Foch received the baton of a Marshal of France. The Allies had taken 29,367 prisoners, 793 guns and 3,000 machine guns and inflicted 168,000 casualties on the Germans. The primary importance of the battle was its morale aspect: the strategic gains on the Marne marked the end of a string of German victories and the beginning of a series of Allied victories that were in three months to bring the German Army to its knees.

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