France Dardenelles and Orient medals

[muckaroon1960]

Thought I would share these 2 medals with you. The first being the Dardenelles campaign medal and the second the Orient campaign medal. unfortunately I have not yet photographed the backs and reframed them. But they are both original with all the necessary markings.

[muckaroon1960]

Orient medal.

[Michael Johnson]

Here's the diploma for the Orient Medal. The fine print at the bottom says that recipients are responsible for getting the medal at their own cost.

Maxime Fournat was a French railwayman who was in the FFL. He was shot by the Germans in 1942 at Mont Valerien.

Edited March 3, 2022 by Michael Johnson
correction

[muckaroon1960]

Thanks for posting the certificate Michael. Was this a common thing for the award of French Medals? Seems harsh that after going to war for your country, you had to pay for your medals?

I seem to remember a similar thing for the Belgian Yser cross and medal whereby cross recipients had to pay to change their medal to an updated version or it may have been the other way round?

Edited May 21, 2010 by muckaroon1960

[RobW]

Hello all,

Here is another certificate for the Orient medal, awarded in September 1926. This particular recipient was also awarded the Interallied victory medal in January 1932.

Regards,

Rob

[Veteran]

Here's the diploma for the Orient Medal. The fine print at the bottom says that recipients are responsible for getting the medal at their own cost.

Maxime Fournat was a French railwayman who was in the FFL. He was shot by the Germans in 1942 at St. Valerien.

To be quite precise, the place where Maximilien FOUNRAT was shot is MONT-VALERIEN, one of the old forts protecting Paris since the mid-XIXth century. Over 1.000 Frenchmen were executed there after they had been condemned by German court-martials. It is one of the most respected witnesses of French resistance to German occupation and an official commemoration is held there every year on June 18.

38 railwaymen were shot there for opposing the Germans in occupied France during the 1940-1944 after the fall of France in June 1940. They were not necessarily part of the FFL (Forces Françaises Libres, based in Great-Britain under the leadership of General De Gaulle).

Many were tried for sabotageing the railways in order to disrupt German transports or as members of the clandestine communist party after the Germans attacked the USSR. Others were members of intelligence networks keeping the Allied informed about German troup movements and strategic objectives, often allowing efficient bombing by the RAF & USAAF. The underground war waged by railwaymen during that period is know in France as "La bataille du rail". It claimed the lives of a large number of other railwaymen, shot, deported or killed during sabotage operations (blowing up railtracks or bridges for instance).

This additionnal story adds much to the value of the paper you have shown. A very moving award to a young man (then) who was to give is life for his country later in a heroic manner.

Edited May 24, 2010 by Veteran

[muckaroon1960]

Thanks Guys for all your input. Amazing what a couple of pictures of medals can bring about.

Very interesting information about Msr Fournat and the other resistance people executed by the Germans. I think this part of WW2 is sometimes overshadowed by the bigger events and its great to see that their memory is still kept alive today.

Merci et adieu.

[PKeating]

Just to add a footnote to Vétéran's post: he mentioned La bataille du rail. There is an extraordinary film of that name - http://www.amazon.com/Bataille-du-Rail-Charles-Boyer/dp/B000CEV3BO - which won the International Prize at Cannes in 1946 and is one of the few seriously gritty, realist French films dealing with the Occupation and the Resistance. It was filmed in 1945 and released in 1946 and cannot be too highly recommended for students of this period in French history. Below is a location still showing the filming of the scene where several cheminots are summarily shot following acts of sabotage in the marshalling yards.

PK

[PKeating]

Here's another interesting scene in which a light tank is dispatched into the woods lining the track to chase down the maquisards. Anyway, get the DVD. Even if you don't speak French, it's usually subtitled and it is in any case very interesting from the viewpoint of the original equipment, vehicles and some of the more spectacular sabotage scenes.

PK

Edited May 24, 2010 by PKeating

[Michael Johnson]

Along with Maxime Fournat's diplome I have a list of contributors (from the cheminots, usually 20 francs) to a memorial service at his grave after the Liberation, and a letter from a Resistance group to a Madame Louis, asking the widow how she is making out. A Hubert Louis was shot at Mont-Valérien December 4, 1941.

Edited May 25, 2010 by Michael Johnson