Vichy War Cross

The Vichy War Cross (CROIX DE GUERRE DE VICHY)

Issued by the Vichy Governemt to honor 1939-1940 veterans. (the former medal was a 1939 war cross because one thought the war would not last mor ethan a few weeks......

the ribbon is green with a 1.5mm line on each side and 5 black vertical lines in between

on the back one reads 1939-1940 (not to be confused with the 1939 ) one.

-This medal is quite difficult to find becasue those who were entitled to have it were either dead , pow or mia.

-Resistants and anti Vichy people would not accept a Vichy reward

-As a result these were worn by the milice vets and by Petain regime followers.
These men obviously would not parade with this medal after 1944 and the pows who returned never claimed these doomed medals after 1945.

The ones I have in my collection come with their original box. They are in mint condition (never claimed by those who were entitled to have them and forgotten after the war in a drawer by a former Vichy civil servant)
4 were recently for sale and I bought two , each with a citation star

-Garrigues Emile , 13th R.C. A. one citation awarded on August 14th 1941

-Dupuis M D L 44th G.R.D.J. from Lille. Awarded September 24th 1942

 

very nice piece skipper,very similar to the german war merit cross..

 

It was actually inspired by the French 1915 Croix de Guerre.

 

Hi Skipper, you never fail to amaze me with the stuff you come up with. Many many thanks fro showing this piece off ;-))

Aint allowed to give you any reps or salutes yet-so ill owe ya. )

 

you have a varied collection for sure skipper,is anyone thing your forte in collecting...ray..

 

Note the Republique "Francaise" whereas Vichy used "Etat Francais" but they used the pre-occupation term becasue it matters about 1939 and 1940 . Also this bronze medal has the circle in the middle in relief compared to other medals.

 

Very impressive Skipper and in the original box. You have the Midas touch for finding great things. Thanks for sharing

 

Cheers 107th it's a 24h our search . Those two were for sale in the South of France and were send to me in the mail. I was lucky enough to be the first one to answer the add and call the man . I believe a few hours later they would have been gone. He had another with palms but that was a bit more expensive

 

well done skipper,good nose for buying obviously,you do pick up some gems,thats a fact,ray..

 

It would be interesting to find out who the recepients were. Were they awarded this posthumously, did they survive the war? I don't really have the time, but in the future I might check this out

 

Great find Skipper! Thanks for sharing!

 

nice medal indeed skipper - great find

 

I'm learning every day. There are apparently some non official variant with other dates for the Milice with years going up to 1944-45 and there is also an official LVF (Charlemagne one) which is very rare and was hardly awarded. The ribbon is however apparently the same.. but the text says "CROIX de guerre Legionnaire" see picture below

 

these are nice too,cheers for showing more of your pieces skipper,ray..

 

I'm afraid the Charlemagne medals ar enot mine, I wish they were, they are worth way too much for my modest purse.

 

ah! wishful thinking then,with your knack! you'll bump into some one day...

 

I see also! the rarity creates faking too,removal of swords too for deception skipper,according to this website..

http://axis101.bizland.com/FrenchAwards1.htm

 

from here skipper World War 2 Awards.com - Croix de Guerre L.V. F. (Vichy) 6 known recipients in their data base..

 

heres one that just sold on ebay recently skipper at 151 euro's,a bad price? do you think ,as it says old copy?,ray.. Google Translate

 

Hi Skipper, I too wish those werre yours so that I could say more than-those are nice medals ;-))