Order of Liberation

L'Ordre de la Libération

• Order instituted on 17 November 1940.
• Order awarded to heroes of the Liberation of France during World War II.
• The medal of the Order is called the Croix de la Libération (“Cross of Liberation”). It is a 31 mm wide by 33 mm high rectangular bronze shield bearing a 60 mm high vertical gladius on its obverse. On the blade of the gladius, a black enamelled cross of Lorraine (symbol of the Free French Forces). On the reverse in Latin, the relief inscription in bold letters on four rows, “PATRIAM SERVANDO VICTORIAM TULIT” (“By serving the Fatherland, he/she achieved Victory”).
• The award is suspended by a rectangular loop going through the hilt of the gladius to a 36 mm wide silk moiré green ribbon with 4 mm wide black edge stripes and narrow 1 mm wide black longitudinal stripes 11 mm from the edges. The green colour represents hope, the black represents mourning, symbolizing the state of France in 1940. The original ribbon had diagonal black stripes but was only awarded as such in the period of August–September 1942.

France