Bison

Another illustration with Colonel Larrieu, officer commanding the 326? and 50? R?giment d'Infanterie during all WW1, and the 126? R?giment d'Infanterie after WW1. You can see five palms on the croix de guerre. Commandeur de la L?gion d'honneur and I assume star of Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George, Plus another palm on a Belgian croix de guerre. Plus the Italian Order of the Crown, the bravery medal and the War Merit... He wears seven chevrons on his left arm. The first chevron is for one year in the front, the others stand for six additional month = 4 years in the front. He wears one chevron on the right arm. This is for one wound. Note he wears another wounded badge (star on a little bar) placed just under the French WWI commemorative. I like this picture, which is a true story you can continue in watching at colonial medals he had... in particular the Nichan Iftikhar and the Etoile Noire du B?nin. Regards Bison

Yes Josef, it was . But the most rare one is the full scale model. Yours was a reduction, and is far more easy to find. The ring was missing, but could be easily restaured. However, for 12 Euros, it was a good bargain, for the buyer I mean. Regards Bison

O God, do you want really to kill me? Here is a classification : SECOND EMPIRE 1st Model ? PRESIDENCE ? Head of Napol?on III ? mention "LOUIS NAPOLEON" VALEUR ET DISCIPLINE The eagle touches the medal 2nd model, "SECOND EMPIRE" Head of Napol?on III ? mention "LOUIS NAPOLEON" VALEUR ET DISCIPLINE The eagle does'nt touch the medal. IIIrd R?publique 3rd Type called "MONOBLOC AUX CANONS" single piece Head of CERES ? mention "REPUBLIQUE FRANCAISE ? 1870" "VALEUR ET DISCIPLINE" Trophy of arms, single face 4th Model "MONOBLOC A LA CUIRASSE" single piece Head of CERES ? mention "REPUBLIQUE FRANCAISE ? 1870" "VALEUR ET DISCIPLINE" Trophy of arms, double face (breastplate only) 5th model "BIFACE AUX CANONS" two pieces Head of CERES ? mention"REPUBLIQUE FRANCAISE ? 1870" "VALEUR ET DISCIPLINE" trophy of arms articulated with a ring, double face (canons only ) 6th model "BIFACE A LA CUIRASSE " two pieces Head of CERES ? mention REPUBLIQUE FRANCAISE ? 1870 VALEUR ET DISCIPLINE trophy of arms articulated with a ring, double face (canons and breastplate) 7th model "MONOFACE A ANNEAU" two pieces Head of CERES ? mention "REPUBLIQUE FRANCAISE ? 1870" "VALEUR ET DISCIPLINE" trophy of arms articulated with a ring, single face 8th model "MONOFACE A CHARNIERE" Head of CERES ? mention "REPUBLIQUE FRANCAISE ? 1870" "VALEUR ET DISCIPLINE" Trophy of arms articulated with a hinge, single face IVth & Vth R?publique (27/02/1951) 9th model, trophy single face Head of CERES ? mention "REPUBLIQUE FRANCAISE" - * (star) or***(stars) other nothing, or ?? (dots) "VALEUR ET DISCIPLINE" Trophy (single face) of arms articulated with a hinge or a ring... Regards Bison

Sorry, I have forgotten to mention that this is one type of the 9th model... Regards Bison

Reverse:

The Trophy :

Reverse:

Ouh la la! This is a huge issue, and I am afraid that few people in France know exactly how many different variations they are. I can start with this model of the 4th Republic, made by the jeweller Paul Delande :

Yes they are scarce but not too much. Since Hendrik has shown a 1st model, 2nd type, let me present a 1st type of my collection. This one is very rare and I keep it preciously: http://gmic.co.uk/uploads/monthly_11_2008/post-2068-1228064952.jpghttp://gmic.co.uk/uploads/monthly_11_2008/post-2068-1228064984.jpg Note the eagle posture and the colors of the ribbon wich are different. Regards Bison

To conclude, a beautiful picture of Adjudant-Chef Vandenberghe, commando platoon leader in Indochina "the black tigers" : You can count the number of mentions and wounds A legendary heroe... a serious guy I would say.

And another, different model, two wounds : And there are many other different variations of 'wounded badges'

And we find also this, for four wounds :

And to be more precise, here is an example : Cheers Bison

Mais vous parlez parfaitement fran?ais ! Un v?ritable plaisir ! Yes, you are absolutely right, it should be an official award, and it must be ! Bien amicalement Yours Bison

The "insigne des bless?s" was never officialized in France. The only official way of wearing a wounded badge in France is to place a small red star on the ribbon of the commemorative medal corresponding to the war or operation. Therefore, if you were wounded during WWI, the red star would be on the Commemorative 14-18 and so on... But the veterans were never content with this regulation and continued to wear a big red star with ribbon (and an additional small red star for each wound). With respect to the wounded, I can understand, it was 'tolerated'. Nowadays, this medal is still worn by the wounded in recent operations. There is a project to officialize it... Regards Bison

Thanks again IVB and Christophe for your help ! Regards Bison

Thanks a lot IVB. What do you hear by "thugra"? Is this a phonetic translation of the word in the center?

Amazing picture, thanks Hardy ! It is amazing because this veteran wears a "mix" of official an unofficial medals. First raw : - Croix du combattant - M?daille de la R?sistance - Insigne des bless? (Wounded badge) (unofficial, but allowed) Second raw : - Comm?morative 1914 - 1918 WWI - Association du M?rite International (unofficial) - M?daille Interalli?e WWI Third raw : - Oeuvre Humanitaire (unofficial) - M?rite Philanthropique (unofficial) Thanks again for sharing :beer:

I have forgotten the point, sorry. The mention "d?cembre 1875" is probably dedicated to a special event or a special gift. This is not a regular mention, I mean.

You can email to the museum of this factory at this adress : musee.armes@ville-tulle.fr I would not garantee an answer, but you can try... :rolleyes:

Hello Bear This means : Manufacture d'Armes de Tulle = Weapons Factory of Tulle. Tulle is a town in Corr?ze, French department #19, in which was settled a famous factory of weapons from the XVIIIth century up to the 90s... Nice bayonet ! Yours Bison

Very nice model! It looks to be old. This Order was the first of a long series managed by Ministries. The majority of them were suppressed in 1963, but the M?rite Agricole, Palmes acad?miques, Ordre des Arts et Lettres and M?rite Maritime. From 1883 to nowadays, a lot of manufacturers made it and we can find many different models. For sure the oldest are the goodest like yours ! Two of mine to illustrate some differences: Thanks again for sharing :beer:

It is my pleasure if it could help, Doc Bison

Hello DOC Thank you for sharing! Some additional information: - The academic palms you show are not exactly "Palmes Acad?miques", this term appears only in 1952 with a different medal. Yours is an "Officier d'Acad?mie", dated approx around the 1870s. Therefore it is not a 3rd class one, because this award has been transformed into Order only in 1952. Before this date there were just "Officier d'Acad?mie" (like yours) and "officier d'Universit?" (with a rosette). Here is the current "Palmes Acad?mique" order, 3rd Class : - The medal "des postes et t?l?communications" is a Type 2 (1902 - 1984). The first types 2 wear the mention "postes et t?l?graphes" - The "m?daille de la R?sistance" is a model with rosette, which was scarcely awarded. Waiting for your other pics Bison

I found this in a catalog Here, and the #74 is perfectly corresponding to mine, presented above. The comment is : "Silver gilt and enamels (Durov, type 5) reverse with mint mark, struck serial no. (below 191.000) ans "D" for a duplicate award (see Durov pages 114-116); original ribbon. Extremely fine, rare. In 1955-56, a small series of unnumbered pieces was made at Leningrad mint to re-numbered and given to rehabilitated survivors of the repressions in the 30s-early 50s, or their next-of-kins; apparently, the present piece is a duplicate of a 1945-awarded type 4 Red Banner." What do you think about this? Regards Bison