French Croix De Guerre

[WASMAN]

French Croix De Guerre

May sound like a daft question, but how do I tell if a Croix De Guerre, is genuine or a later copy, also how do I know if the medal awarded was bronze (awarded by the army), silver (awarded by a division), silver-gilt (awarded by a corps), silver star (awarded by a division) and bronze star (awarded by a regiment or brigade), all seems very confusing, the recipient in question was Lieutenant C W Hayes-sadler, London Gazette 18th April 1918, I have attached a copy of the LG entry, cheers Wayne.

Doc4.doc

[HarryBettsMCDCM]

The "trouble" with French & other European awards is that they are & were being manufactured by the official makers,long after the War's end & could be purchased directly,so it can be very difficult to distinguish a Great War "period" piece from a later purchased award,as a rough guide,the finish on contemporary pieces is generally of a higher standard & some had a dark bronzed patination,unless the LG actually states that a "Star" or "Palme" was awarded it may well be that it was awarded sans any embellishment as would be common with awards to UK & Commonwealth recipients,those generally being reserved for Awards to French Nationals,where the difference would be pertinent.

[rbrauerei]

I can't help much with telling the precise time period a particular piece may have been made (or if it's a copy), as has been stated manufactures could produce them long after the war.

You may certainly already know this; but, for sure you want a CdG with '1914-1918' on the reverse.

Crosses were issued with the date of award/manufacture; ie 1914 together with the year in which they were struck (1915, 1916, 1917 or 1918).

[James Blonde]

French Croix De Guerre

May sound like a daft question, but how do I tell if a Croix De Guerre, is genuine or a later copy, also how do I know if the medal awarded was bronze (awarded by the army), silver (awarded by a division), silver-gilt (awarded by a corps), silver star (awarded by a division) and bronze star (awarded by a regiment or brigade), all seems very confusing, the recipient in question was Lieutenant C W Hayes-sadler, London Gazette 18th April 1918, I have attached a copy of the LG entry, cheers Wayne.

Hallo WASMAN

the French Croix De Guerre Cross, itself, was only ever awarded in Bronze material, however the stars on the ribbon could be in Bronze, or Silver It was awarded to individuals of any rank who distinguished themselves by heroism in combat against enemy forces and also to anyone mentioned in dispatches for bravery in action.

Subsequent acts of bravery on the part of recipients earned a bronze star for Regimental and Brigade citations, a silver star for Divisional citations, a gold star for Corps citations and a bronze palm leaf for Army citations.

The Croix de Guerre could also be awarded to units that distinguished themselves, what that means is the unit recieves one Cross, normaly pinned to their battle-flag and each member of the unit receives the fourragère. (lanyard, for wear on the uniform).

While the Bronze Palm represented a citation in Army dispatches. French Pilots got one for each aerial victory. A silver class Palm instituted later in the war to replace five bronze palms. (French WW1 Pilot Guynemer had 27 palms also with dozens of bronze and silver stars.)

Silver palm : replacing 5 bronze palms.

Bronze palm : for a citation on the order of the day on army level.

Gold star : same but on army corps level.

Silver star : same but on division level.

Bronze star : same but on regimental or battalion level.

Note: The Gilt-palm was only ever found with the 1939 WW2 version of the French Croix De Guerre Cross.

Any French Croix De Guerre Cross found in silver / gilt has been privately done by the reciepiant, and it was never officialy issued this way.

Connaught Stranger