Croix de guerre
| Croix de guerre | |
|---|---|
 |
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Awarded by  France |
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| Type | Military decoration |
| Eligibility | Military personnel only, often bestowed to members of allied countries |
| Awarded for | individuals who distinguish themselves by acts of heroism involving combat with enemy forces. |
| Campaign(s) |
World War I World War II Other wars not fought on French soil |
| Status | Active |
| Description | A bronze cross with swords |
| Statistics | |
| Established | April 2, 1915 |
 _-_ribbon_bar.png){kind=small}  Croix de guerre avec Palme ribbon bars and streamer (1914–1918 & 1939–1945) |
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The Croix de guerre (French: [kʁwa də ɡɛʁ], Cross of War) is a military decoration of France. It was first created in 1915 and consists of a square-cross medal on two crossed swords, hanging from a ribbon with various degree pins. The decoration was awarded during World War I, again in World War II, and in other conflicts. The Croix de guerre was also commonly bestowed on foreign military forces allied to France.
The Croix de guerre may either be awarded as an individual or unit award to those soldiers who distinguish themselves by acts of heroism involving combat with the enemy. The medal is awarded to those who have been "mentioned in dispatches", meaning a heroic deed or deeds were performed meriting a citation from an individual's headquarters unit. The unit award of the Croix de guerre with palm was issued to military units whose members performed heroic deeds in combat and were subsequently recognized by headquarters.
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.
For the unit decoration of the Croix de guerre, a fourragère (which takes the form of a braided cord) is awarded; this is suspended from the shoulder of an individual's uniform.
As the Croix de guerre is issued as several 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 specifying French Croix de guerre, French Croix de guerre (WWI), etc.
There are three distinct Croix de guerre medals in the French system of honours:
Furthermore, the French collaborationist government created two croix during World War II. These croix are now illegal under French law and wearing them is outlawed:
The Croix was created by a law of April 2, 1915, proposed by French deputy Émile Briant. The Croix reinstated an older system of mentions in dispatches, which 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.
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