Fourragère

The fourragère is a military award, distinguishing military units as a whole, in the form of a braided cord. The award was first adopted by France, followed by other nations such as the Netherlands, Belgium, Portugal, and Luxembourg. Fourragères have been awarded to units of both national and foreign militaries, except for that of Luxembourg, which has not been awarded to any foreign units.

As a regimental distinction the fourragère should not be confused with the aiguillette (distinctive insignia of the aide-de-camp) which was introduced by Napoleon I and which it closely resembles (the aiguillette is merely a golden fourragère).

The modern fourragère of the French Army is awarded to all members of military units which have been awarded a mention in despatches. It should not be confused with unit awards of particular decorations, where the medal itself is hung on the flag of the unit. For example, there are many units wearing the fourragère of the médaille militaire, whereas only six units wore the medal on their flags. See also the article dealing with the Croix de Guerre.

It was introduced during the First World War, when the French Ministry of War first awarded the fourragère to units which had been recorded as distinguishing themselves more than once in the Orders of the Army. There were then six fourragères, depending on the numbers of Mentions in Dispatches awarded to the unit:

If a unit received this distinction in both the First and Second World Wars, its fourragère bears two olives, one for each conflict it earned mentions. These olives are different:

During the Second World War, the medal of the Ordre de la Libération was awarded to the flags of 17 military units, whose members now wear a fourragère since June 18, 1996. This fourragère is considered the top unit award in the French military, as the ordre de la Libération award is seen to be more important than any mention in Dispatches.

Certain French military units wear combinations of fourragères, if they were mentioned in Orders in both one of the World War and an overseas (colonial) war. For example, the famous Foreign Legion regiment the 3rd Foreign Infantry wears a double fourragère red and green with red stripes (9 mentions during World War I), with an olive red with green stripes (3 mentions during World War II) and a fourragère yellow with green stripes, with an olive red and blue (5 mentions during Overseas Wars).

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