Belgian Croix de Guerre for British troops

[Bob Chandler]

Apart from the obvious one that I presume they must have see active service on Belgian soil, were there any other specific conditions to receiving this medal? I get the impression that these were given to the British army authorities in batches and that it was our command which then decided who received them...or have I got that completely wrong and they were awarded individually by the Belgians themselves?

As ever, apologies if this has been covered in a previous thread and I haven't spotted it.

Cheers

[tony paley]

Your post interests me and I quote the following from an excellent book called, ' As from Kemmel Hill'. Written by Arthur BERHEND. It recounts his experiences as the Adjutant to a Heavy Artillery Groupd of the RGA during WW1.

In writing about his CO. " Because he considered it a soldier's duty to be brave at all times he despised honours and awards, even immediated ones, and I had standing orders to send in a nil return whenever Corps asked us for half yearly recommendations. This CO. also despised leave , which he thought unecessary as it interfered with winning the war. Corps compelled him to take leave, and during his absence a signal arrived from Corps requesting details of a Senior NCO. for what was described in the signal as a 'French Military Medal'. In the absence of the CO the adjutant forwarded the name of the RSM. Six weeks later, when the CO had returned to the unit a signal was received from Corps to the effect that a senior French General would be visiting the Group HQ. He duly arrived and presented the Medaille Militaire on the breast of the RSM, duly kissed him and both cheeks followed by the same for the Colonel.

It appeared that the Colonel took it in far better spirit than was expected and seemed to see the funny side of it. So it does seem that some swards were forwarded between the allies and were then 'issued' out ad hoc. I did read an account where a batch of French medals arrived at a Corps HQ. and some were picked out by staff officers for themselves. Having read the above account in 'As from Kemmel Hill', I was slightly miffed for my Grandfather. He was the RSM. of a Heavy Artillery Group from the time it was formed until his discharge in 1920, when the unit was in Cologne. He had served for 26 years, mostly overseas and had been with the Group during many of the major actions in 1917/18. Whereas his Lt.Col. was awarded a CB. DSO. Croix de Geurre (France) and a Croix de Guerre (Belgium) he received his Long Service Medal, BWM, and VM.

Tony P

[Ken Lees]

The foreign awards were given to the British High Command to be distributed as the High Command saw fit. There was no necessity to have served in the country of origin of the award. The British distributed our awards to our allies in a similar way.

[ForeignGong]

Hi

There was a system were all the allied countries exchanged their awards, ie the British Commonwealth gave DSO's, MC's, DCM's, MM's etc & in return they received French, Belgium, Russian etc awards to give out to deserving soldiers, sailors, airmen & service women.

To be awarded a Russian medal for example, the recipient did not even have to serve on Russian soil or with Russian troops. I have researched numerous service personel who only served in France & were awarded Russian, Serb & Japanese awards.

Most of the time, it was as you state "these were given to the British army authorities in batches and that it was our command which then decided who received them" but sometimes the country that supplied the award had a say in who got what. One nurse that I am researching was actually serving in the "Anglo- Russian Hospital" in Petrograd, when she was awarded a Russian Medal of St George 4th Class for bravery under fire.

Hope this answers your question

Peter

[bantamforgot]

Albeit a damaged copy this is an original of a French citation C de G.to my uncle regarding an action at Kemmel in 1918 when 19th. Div. RFA were assisting the French. I have a translation by Siege Gunner & he suggests the award did not come up with the rations.