Croix de guerre 1939–1945

• Name — Croix de Guerre 1939–1945 • Presenter — France • Type — Bravery award • Eligibility — Members of the French Armed Forces, foreign allied military personnel • Awarded For — Military duty during World War II mentioned in dispatches • Status — No longer awarded • Clasps — silver-gilt palm silver palm bronze palm silver-gilt star silver star bronze star • Established — 26 September 1939 • Firstawarded — 1939 • Higher — Croix de guerre 1914–1918 • Lower — Croix de Guerre TOE • Caption2 — Ribbon bar & streamer of the French Croix de guerre 1939–1945

The suspension and service ribbon of the medal has a red background crossed with four green lines in its center.

On every medal and ribbon, there is at least one ribbon device, either in the shape of a palm or of a star, and fashioned from either bronze, silver, or silver-gilt (vermeil). The relative importance of the six possible combinations is detailed below. The total number of devices on a "Croix de Guerre" is not limited.

The lowest degree is represented by a bronze star while the highest degree is represented by a bronze palm: * • Illustration — x25px Bronze star (étoile en bronze) for those who had been mentioned at the regiment or brigade level. * • Illustration — x25px Silver star (étoile en argent), for those who had been mentioned at the division level. * • Illustration — x25px Silver-gilt star (étoile en vermeil), for those who had been mentioned at the corps level. * • Illustration — x25px Bronze palm (palme en bronze), for those who had been mentioned at the army level. * • Illustration — x25px Silver palm (palme en argent), represents five bronze ones. * • Illustration — x25px Silver-gilt palm (palme en vermeil), for those who had been mentioned at the Free French Forces level (World War II only). The clasps are awarded for gallantry to any member of the French military or its allies and are, depending on the degree, roughly the equivalent to the U.S. Bronze Star and Silver Star or UK Military Cross and Military Medal. The awarding of the Military Cross is carried out in a solemn ceremony with the presentation of the award. For example, the Soviet personnel of the Normandie-Niemen air regiment received their second Military Crosses 1939 (and Major S.D. Agavelyan received his third Military Cross 1939) in addition to the ones they had previously received in the USSR, personally from Charles de Gaulle.

Following the German invasion and occupation of France in May 1940, the French collaborationist government (Vichy France; officially called État français, the "French State") created two croix during World War II, both utilizing a black-and-green ribbon pattern instead of the original red-and-green. These croix were both disavowed by the Free French government and the postwar French government, and wearing them is illegal in France. The Vichy Croix de Guerre employed the same tiered citations for the award as the officially-recognised version, excluding the added gilt palm. The Vichy War Cross 1939-1940 (Croix de guerre 1939–1940) was not prohibited as such, but it was suspended, and awards that did not fall under the provisions of Article 3 of the Decree of January 7, 1944, had to be reviewed separately. Those who received the "Vichy" Croix de guerre 1939-1940 for the campaigns in France and Norway in 1939-1940 (i.e., the first review of awards in 1940) automatically received the right to wear the Croix de guerre 1939 on a red-and-green ribbon. However, according to specialized foreign phaleristics sources, no review of the awards has been carried out, and there is currently no information about such a review or its results, as well as no regulations on the procedure for replacing the ribbon or the cross itself. • Ribbon — Awards • — Croix de guerre (Vichy France; for World War II service) • — Croix de guerre de la Légion des Volontaires Français (for Eastern Front World War II service)

• William George Barker • Omar Bradley • Joseph Collins • Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. • Haile Selassie • Virginia Hall • Courtney Hodges • Samuel M. Hogan • Lyman Lemnitzer • Douglas MacArthur • Robert Mellard • Draža Mihajlović • Malcolm Muggeridge • Audie Murphy • George S. Patton, Jr. • Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh • Denis Rake • Rainier III, Prince of Monaco • Matthew Ridgway • Robert Rosenthal (USAAF officer) • James Stewart • Maxwell Taylor • Strom Thurmond • John William Vessey, Jr. • Paul F. Warburg • William A. Wellman • William Westmoreland • Earle Wheeler • Richard Winters • Joseph Wolhandler • Tommy Yeo-Thomas • Mohammad Reza Pahlavi

Due to the large extent of the war zone, recipients included those who fought during, with, at, or in the following: • Battle of France • French Forces of the Interior • Free French Forces • Western Front • Middle East Theater • Mediterranean Theater • African campaigns

The Croix de Guerre was designed by the sculptor Paul-Albert Bartholomé. The medal is 37 mm in size and is in the shape of a Maltese cross with two swords criss-crossed through the center. In the center of the front is the profile of the French Republic crested by a Phrygian cap. Around this portrait, are the words République française ("French Republic"). On the reverse of the medal are the dates of the conflict: 1939–1940, 1939–1945, or simply 1940.

• Illustration — Reverse of the 1939–1945 War Cross