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__TOC__ The Croix de Guerre may either be bestowed as a unit award or to individuals who distinguish themselves by acts of heroism involving combat with enemy forces. The medal is also awarded to those who have been " Mentioned In Despatches ", meaning a heroic deed was performed meriting a citation from an individual's headquarters unit. The unit award of the Croix de Guerre was issued to military commands who performed heroic deeds in combat and were subsequently recognized by headquarters. APPEARANCE The Croix de Guerre medal varies depending on which country is bestowing the award and for what conflict. Separate French medals exist for the First and Second World War, and the French medals are different in appearance from the Belgian design. For the unit decoration of the Croix de Guerre, a Fourragère is awarded which is suspended from the shoulder of an individual's uniform. Because the Croix de Guerre is issued as several different medals, and as a unit decoration, situations typically arose where an individual was awarded the decoration several times, for different actions, and from different sources. Regulations also permitted the wearing of multiple Croix de Guerre, meaning that such medals were differentiated in service records by specifing ''French Croix de Guerre'', ''Belgian Croix de Guerre'', ''French Croix de Guerre (WWI)'', etc. FRENCH CROIX DE GUERRE There are three distinct ''Croix de Guerre'' medals in the French system of honours : The ''Croix'' was created by a law of April, 2 1915 , proposed by deputy Émile Briant. The croix reimplace an older system of mentions in dispatches, wich were only administrative honours with no medal. The sculptor Paul-André Bartholomé created the medal, a bronze cross with swords, showing the effigy of the republic. The french croix represents a mention in dispatches awarded by a commanding officer, at least a regimental commander. Depending on the officer who issued the mention, the ribbon of the croix is marked with extra pins.
The croix des guerres des TOE was created in 1921 for overseas wars. It was awarded during Indochina War , Corean War , etc up to Kosovo War in 1999 . In 1939 a new croix de guerre was created by PM Édouard Daladier . It was abolished by Vichy Government in 1941 , wich created a new croix de guerre. In 1943 General Giraud in Algiers created an other croix de guerre. Both Vichy and Giraud croix were abolished by General De Gaulle in 1944 , who reinstaured the 1939 croix. The croix de guerre takes precedence between the Ordre National Du Mérite and the Croix De La Valeur Militaire , the World War Icroix being senior to the World War IIone, itself senior to TOE croix. BELGIAN CROIX DE GUERRE OR OORLOGSKRUIS The Belgian Croix de Guerre also included attachments, pinned into the ribbon, to designate the degree of citation:
The ''Croix de Guerre'' or ''Oorlogskruis'' would be referred with the different type of attachment, such as the ''Croix de Guerre avec palme et étoile'' (War cross with palm and star) or the ''Croix de guerre avec palme et lion'' (with palm and lion). The multiple attached pins can also designate the number of Croix de Guerre citations earned, but displayed with only one medal. Some soldiers earned more than 10 or 20 Croix de Guerre citations. UNIT AWARD The Croix can be awarded to military units, as a manifestation of a collective Mention In Despatches . It is then displayed on the unit's flag. A unit, usually a Regiment or a Battalion , is always mentionned at the army level. The croix is then a croix de guerre with palm. Other communities, such as cities or companies can be also awarded the croix. When a unit is mentioned twice, it is awarded the '' Fourragère '' of the Croix de Guerre. This ''fourragère'' is worn by all men in the unit, but it can be worn on a personal basis: those permanently assigned to a unit, at the time of the mentions, were entitled to wear the fourragère for the remainder of service in the military. Temporary personnel, or those who had joined a unit after the actions which had been mentioned, were authorized to wear the award while a member of the unit but would surrender the decoration upon transfer. This temporary wearing of the fourragère only applied to the French version of the Croix de Guerre. UNITED STATES ISSUANCE In the United States Military , the Croix de Guerre was commonly accepted as a foreign decoration. In the modern age, however, it remains one of the most difficult foreign awards to verify entitlement. This is since the Croix de Guerre was often presented with original orders, only, and rarely entered into a permanent service record. The unit award was virtually never entered into U.S. records, especially since in most cases it was considered a temporary decoration which was surrendered when an individual departed a unit. An added complication is that the 1973 National Archives Fire destroyed a large number of World War II personnel records, meaning that there are very few sources from which to verify a veteran's entitlement to the Croix de Guerre. Today, members of United States 5th Marine Regiment or 6th Marine Regiment s and the Army's 2nd Infantry Division, & the 1st BN U.S. 28th Infantry Regiment , are authorized to wear a fourragère signifying that brigade's award of three Croix de Guerre during the First World War, but only while that individual is assigned to the unit. The wearing of the decoration is considered ceremonial and the fourragère is not entered as an official military award in permanent service records. LUXEMBOURG WAR CROSS During the Second World War, a decoration known as the Luxembourg War Cross was issued to those members of the Allied forces who had performed combat duty in Luxembourg during the liberation of Europe. The decoration was frequently referred to as the ''Luxembourg Croix de guerre'' or simply as the Croix de Guerre. This was, however, a separate award from the French and Belgian versions of the Croix de Guerre with different criteria for issuance. Also, in World War II two black-Americans were awarded this medal for heroism, becoming the first Americans to receive such a distinction. NOTABLE RECIPIENTS
being awarded the Croix de Guerre with palm, in 1944. USAF photo.]]
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