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The Great War (1914-1918) Forum

Unknown medal on french soldiers


Picsou

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Hi, 

I'm trying to identify the medals on these picture 
The_Battle_of_the_Somme%2C_July-november

and I have trouble with one medal...

We can recognize the French and the British military medal, the french war cross 

Military_Medal_%28UK%29.png Medaille_Militaire_5e_Republique_France.Croix-De-Guerre-Francis-Browne.jpg

But the last one is very mysterious...

723450w01.png

The picture said " French soldiers receive the Military Medal for acts of bravery ?during the Battle of the Somme?. France, 1916 "

Could you help me please?

thank you all :)

Picsou

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Looks like a British Military Medal, a Medaille Militaire and a Croix de Guerre Avec Palme. 

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Staffsyeoman,

 

I don't see the MM , not really into medals but ribbon and shape of medal don't look anywhere like an MM to me

 

Simon

 

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I see it as an MM - The clue coming in the caption "French soldiers receive the Military Medal for acts of bravery ?during the Battle of the Somme?. France, 1916". I understand the difficulty with the image being an exact MM "match", but I think most of that is down to tricks of the light or blurring through movement. I can see the feint red stripes in the ribbon that Picsou has kindly enlarged.

 

Very nice picture Picsou!

 

Mike

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British Military Medal,, Medaille Militaire & Croix de Guerre w/Palm.

The British medal was likely not named as was awarded to troops of Allied forces.

The man int eh middle with the odd shaped ammo pouches was a Chauchat automatic rifle gunner. It  used an odd half moon magazine & these pouches carried such mags. Some considered it a lightmachine gun but it was really an auto rifle. 
 

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I would agree that this is the British MM.... A fantastic image though, in the IWM Roster I believe, Photographer was LT John Warwick.

 

Anyone any idea how many MM'S were awarDed to French troops during WW1?

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thank you all for the answer 

I agree with you, it's probably just an artifact, 
we can see a similar one on the right shoulder of the soldiers at his right

This one has the same ribbon, the same laurel crown...

The thing is, i colourise old photos for fun, 
and I don't want to post incorrect ones :)
it's about respect for those mens and history accuracy

BTW, I was a bit surprised too that french soldiers are awarded of the Military Medal, the french one is Highly prestigious, just below the legion d'honneur (and nowadays, many soldiers consider it above)

504948w01copie.jpg

Hope you'll like it, if you have any concern about a detail, please tell me :)

i post them on my fb page
https://www.facebook.com/mementocolores/?fref=ts

and if you like it, we are several contributors on this one
https://www.facebook.com/WW1-Colourised-Photos-450822585061599/?fref=ts

Edited by Picsou
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That is fantastic!

 

I admire your skill (and your patience!)

 

:D

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thank you :)

It's a truely addictive hobby

I've always been keen on history but colorizing those pictures I've learnt a lot more! gears, weapons, uniforms, life conditions etc
which are truely interesting once studied!
But I think you already knew that :P

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  • 2 years later...

Here is a French group in my collection (unidentifiable recipient sadly) with a British MM

3E2F1C41-FD6A-4504-8B59-B1464EAFC07B.jpeg

D83B343A-2BC1-49E9-B9EF-1044F6D07084.jpeg

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Something in the order of 1,400,000 Medaille Militaire were awarded during the Great War, the majority of them posthumous - it is officially the third ranked French military decoration.

I say "during", I mean for the Great War, many were awarded post hostilities.

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Before i read anything I recognised it as a British military medal

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On 31/08/2016 at 00:50, Kitchener's Bugle said:

I would agree that this is the British MM.... A fantastic image though, in the IWM Roster I believe, Photographer was LT John Warwick.

 

Anyone any idea how many MM'S were awarDed to French troops during WW1?

Yes, there were 3,291 MMs awarded to French troops from the inception of the medal, up to 15 May 1920. Each of these 3,291 men is listed in Howard Williamson's book, published in 2018.

As an aside, when I saw the colourised version of this picture, I thought the poilu with the Chauchat pouches bore a striking resemblance to Mickey Pearce from "Only Fools and Horses".

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  • 1 year later...

The French medal\portrait photo in post 11. The MM has had its original suspension replaced by a Crimea medal suspension, issued approx 60 yrs prior!

 

Thanks for posting, its a nice grouping.

Bryan

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