Sudan Defence Force General Service Medal

The Sudan Defence Force General Service Medal was a campaign medal instituted in 1933 to reward service in minor operations within the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan. It was last awarded for service in 1941.

Sudan Defence Force General Service Medal
Obverse and reverse of the medal
TypeCampaign medal
Presented bythe Governor-General of the Sudan
EligibilitySudan Defence Force and police.
Campaign(s)Small campaigns, 1933-41
Established1933
Last awarded1941
Total recipientsCirca 9,000
Ribbon bar
RelatedKhedive's Sudan Medal (1897)
Khedive's Sudan Medal (1910)

Criteria

The medal was established in November 1933 by the Governor-General of the Sudan, it superseding the Khedive's Sudan Medal (1910). It was awarded on the recommendation of the Commandant of the Sudan Defence Force (SDF)[1] to locally recruited personnel of the SDF, police and other approved Sudanese who served in minor operations classed by the Governor-General as of sufficient importance to warrant the grant of the medal.[2][3]

All qualifying operations were within the Sudan, and included the combatting of Italian forces who encroached into the Southern Sudan from Italian East Africa between June 1940 and November 1941.[2] Members of the SDF were also eligible for British World War II campaign medals.[4]

No further awards were made after 1945, with the medal becoming obsolete with Sudanese independence in 1956.

In total, about 9,000 SDF General Service Medals were issued.[2]

Appearance

The medal is silver, 36 millimetres (1.4 in) in diameter with a plain, straight bar ribbon suspender. It has the following design:[2][5]
Obverse: The seal of the Governor General of the Sudan, in Arabic script.
Reverse: A group of Sudanese soldiers, including two mounted on camels and one on horseback, with 'The Sudan' (in Arabic: السودان) below.
Naming: The medal was issued unnamed.
Ribbon: 31.7 millimetres (1.25 in) wide, with a central stripe of royal blue flanked by two yellow stripes, with a narrower black stripe at each edge.
Clasps: None were awarded.
Manufacture: Struck at the Royal Mint in London.[6]

References
  1. In Arabic: Kaid el’Amm, or leader of the Army. Until 1954 the post was held by a British Army officer, usually a major-general.
  2. John Mussell (ed). Medal Yearbook 2015. p. 185. Token Publishing Ltd. Honiton, Devon.
  3. Captain H. Taprell Dorling. Ribbons and Medals. page 143. A.H.Baldwin & Sons, London. 1956.
  4. War Medal Eligibility Rules, 64.iii (Access date 21 December 2018)
  5. "Medal Encyclopaedia: Sudan Defence Force General Service Medal". Online Medals. Retrieved 21 December 2018.
  6. "Sudan Defence Force medals: General Service; Distinguished Service; Officers' Decoration; Long Service Medal. MINT 20/1249". The National Archives. Retrieved 21 December 2018.
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