Finland Finnish 1941 Cross

Riley1965 · August 9, 2008

This came to me from my Russian friend. Is this the 4th Class, Military Division? I only have a few Finnish Medals so my knowledge is not great. :unsure:

:beer: Doc

OBVERSE

Riley1965 · August 9, 2008

THE REVERSE...

:beer: Doc

August 9, 2008

That is actually the Cross of Liberty 4th Class (military) for the 1941 Continuation War. There was a 1918 issue for the War of Independence, and a 1939 issue for the Winter War.

47,959 of this issue/clss were awarded during the second World War, with 200 more late bestowals as late as the 1990s. 4th Class was normally given to Lieutenants, though awards tended to be courtesy bumped for foreigners, so a German senior NCO might also have gotten one. The 4th Class also had an odd "Croix de Guerre"-like secondary function, so that a senior officer who had received all of the grades relevant to him might get one of these as a symbolic last-possible decoration. Starting in 1941, a long oakleaf device was placed above the suspension for a second award of a same grade Cross and BOTH were worn together side by side--the total above does not distinguish how many of this class were first or second awards of the 4th class.

The civil version did not have the battling arms. (Rather ironic design, since there were no Finnish armored knights-- being the last country Christianized in Europe!). There were also types with Red Cross and on solid black ribbon for next of kin. The bow tie is a hold over from Tsarist Russian practice, and was only applied to military suspensions with swords. Ribbonsvaried from the 1918 to 1941 crosses, and from civil and military versions.

You could spend a lifetime collecting all the varieties of these.

The only thing we NEVER :shame: do is discuss numbers awarded of types HIGHER than this. :unsure: Why give lazy dealers any easy way to charge us more for what MIGHT still be "sleeper" finds? :rolleyes: