WW1 BELGIUM CROIX DE GUERRE MEDAL CROSS CROSS OF WAR

Offered is an original WW1 Croix de Guerre 1914-1918 with palm citation

39mm wide bronze Maltese cross with ball-tipped finials, crossed swords between the arms, on swivel crown suspension; the face with a circular central medallion bearing the lion rampant of Belgium within a circular beaded border; the reverse with a circular central medallion bearing the cipher of King Albert I within a circular beaded border; on the original unmounted ribbon, the face slightly age-faded, with a bronze palm citation bearing the cipher of King Albert I for a mention at Army level.

Created on 5 October 1915 to reward ‘military virtue on the field of battle’, the Cross was awarded not only for acts of bravery but in a number of other circumstances, such as the completion of 3 years’ front-line service, to escaped prisoners of war who rejoined their unit and to those whose injuries sustained in combat required them to be invalided out of service. The Cross was awarded not only to Belgians but also to other nationalities and, indeed, became the foreign award most frequently attributed to French military.