Megan

4th Type (commander & officer only):

2nd Type (commander & knight only):

Instituted: 27 May 1939. Discontinued: 1 January 1964 & replaced by the National Order of Merit Awarded: For meritorious services to the national economy and foreign trade. There appear to be FOUR different versions, although I only have pictures of some grades from 3 of them. 1st Type (officer & knight only):

Instituted: 18 February 1938. Discontinued: 1 January 1964 & replaced by the National Order of Merit Awarded: For meritorious services in the cause of health, relief of the poor and child welfare.

Instituted: 25 October 1936. Discontinued: 1 January 1964 & replaced by the National Order of Merit Awarded: For meritorious services within institutions concerned with social legislation.

Instituted: 20 August 1926 Awarded: To prisoners of war who escaped and returned to service.

Instituted: 4 July 1935 Awarded: For voluntary enlistment.

The clasps I've found so far (does anyone know of others?) Guerre 1939-1945: Indochine: Cor?e: Afrique du Nord:

Instituted: 5 February 1953. Awarded: For voluntary enlistment, originally to serve in the 2nd World War but subsequently extended to other wars - each marked by a clasp worn on the ribbon.

Instituted: 15 April 1954. Awarded: For voluntary enlistment in the Resistance.

Reverse:

Instituted: 28 June 1930. Awarded: To active combatants in wartime. Obverse:

Military Merit Medal... but I cannot really tell you anything more than its name!

Lovely, thank you.

You are correct, Wilco - the first post shows the 1st class obverse & reverse, the second post shows the same for the 2nd class. What puzzles me is why there are two classes, when there is also provision for changing the ribbon depending on how many times an enemy marksman got lucky. All I have found on that is, if my German hasn't let me down, is that repeated awards of the SAME CLASS will get you the striped ribbons. Perhaps the class of award depends on the severity of the injury.

2nd Class. These are both for 1 wound... like the old Austrian Empire version, additional stripes are added to the ribbon for further awards (or continued lack of the ability to duck!).

Verwundetenmedaille, in 2 classes, instituted 11 June 1975. 1st Class.

In post-1962 Algeria, 3 medals on this theme are known. Unfortunately I don't have pictures of any of them, and only know the ribbon of one! 1. Medal for the Gravely Wounded, Invalids of War - awarded to those severely injured and left as invalids during the war of liberation. Ribbon: 2. Medal of the Martyrs of the War of Liberation - awarded to those who lost their lives in the struggle for liberation. 3. Medal of the Wounded - awarded to military personnel wounded in the course of duty.

Browsing around this place (remember I'm new here!) it seems that this thread is getting a bit unwieldy - my fault, keep adding the high-quality versions of what I'm putting on my website as France is the 'page a day' country for this month. What would be the best way to break it down? A thread per order/medal, or is that overkill the other way? It might give a coherent space to discuss variations and history, and so on... Thoughts?

Ordre des Arts et Lettres

Ordre du M?rite Maritime

Thank you, Guy. Does anyone know how many types of the Ordre du M?rite Agricole there were? Your Commander cross is the 1st type (date 1900 on it), yes? The one I posted (and the Officer) seem to be of better construction than the Knight, & I have seen Commanders & Officers of the quality of the Knight... so is that 3 different types? Aaaargh. Think I'll go & do the Order of Maritime Merit instead

Thank you, but it is only polite to ask... Too many people just grab whatever they fancy! However, anyone who wishes to use anything I post on here is more than welcome.

And the Knight (not as nice unfortunately!)

Ordre du M?rite Agricole