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Combatant's Cross
The Combatant's Cross (french: "Croix du combattant") is a French decoration that recognizes, as its name implies, those who fought in combat for France. The Poilus (French combat soldiers) of World War I worked toward recognition by the government, of a special status to those who had participated in the bitter fighting of 1914-1918 (as opposed to those who served behind the lines). The law of 19 December 1926 created la "carte du combatant", or combatant's card, for veterans of 1914-1918, as well as for the veterans of 1870-1871 and colonial wars before the First World War. The decoration was created only three years later by the law of 28 June 1930. A decree of January 29, 1948 states that the provisions of the 1930 Act relating to the allocation of the combatant's card and the Combatant's Cross were applicable to participants of the 1939-1945 war. The law of 18 July 1952 extended the benefit of the award of the Croix du combattant for Indochina and Korea. The law of Decemb ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aeronautical Medal
The Aeronautical Medal (french: "Médaille de l'Aéronautique") is a state decoration of France established by the decree of February 14, 1945. It is awarded to both military personnel and civilians for outstanding accomplishments related to the field of aeronautics. Originally envisioned before the Second World War, it was intended as an equal to the Order of Maritime Merit. The intent was to create an aerial order of merit intended for civilian and military personnel working in aeronautics. The war temporarily put an end to the project until February 1945. Statute Recipients are chosen by a council presided by a member of the office of the secretary of state for the armed forces (air) that will be composed of: *the chief of staff of the air force, *the director of the aeronautical administration control department, *the technical and industry director to the secretary of state for the armed forces (air), *a member named by decree of the minister for public works, transport ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Zaire
Zaire (, ), officially the Republic of Zaire (french: République du Zaïre, link=no, ), was a Congolese state from 1971 to 1997 in Central Africa that was previously and is now again known as the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Zaire was, by area, the third-largest country in Africa (after Sudan and Algeria), and the 11th-largest country in the world. With a population of over 23 million inhabitants, Zaire was the most-populous officially Francophone country in Africa, as well as one of the most populous in Africa. The country was a one-party totalitarian military dictatorship, run by Mobutu Sese Seko and his ruling Popular Movement of the Revolution party. Zaire was established following Mobutu's seizure of power in a military coup in 1965, following five years of political upheaval following independence from Belgium known as the Congo Crisis. Zaire had a strongly centralist constitution, and foreign assets were nationalized. The period is sometimes referr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Charles De Gaulle
Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle (; ; (commonly abbreviated as CDG) 22 November 18909 November 1970) was a French army officer and statesman who led Free France against Nazi Germany in World War II and chaired the Provisional Government of the French Republic from 1944 to 1946 in order to restore democracy in France. In 1958, he came out of retirement when appointed President of the Council of Ministers (Prime Minister) by President René Coty. He rewrote the Constitution of France and founded the Fifth Republic after approval by referendum. He was elected President of France later that year, a position to which he was reelected in 1965 and held until his resignation in 1969. Born in Lille, he graduated from Saint-Cyr in 1912. He was a decorated officer of the First World War, wounded several times and later taken prisoner at Verdun. During the interwar period, he advocated mobile armoured divisions. During the German invasion of May 1940, he led an armoured ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Antoine Béthouart
Marie Émile Antoine Béthouart (17 December 1889 – 17 October 1982) was a French Army general who served during World War I and World War II. Born in Dole, Jura, in the Jura Mountains, Béthouart graduated from Saint-Cyr military academy and served as a platoon leader in the 159th Alpine Infantry Regiment during World War I. After the First World War, he served as an advisor to the Royal Yugoslav Army and was named an instructor at the French High Mountain Military School. Promoted to colonel in 1937, Béthouart was made a brevet brigadier in January 1940. This promotion was made permanent in April 1941 and was followed by promotion to major general in December 1942. Béthouart was promoted again to lieutenant general in November 1943, and then to general in 1948. Béthouart commanded the French 1st Division of ''Chasseurs'' (elite light infantry) in the Norwegian campaign in 1940, serving in the area of Narvik. Subsequently, Béthouart commanded the Casablanca Divi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pierre Garbay
Pierre Garbay (4 October 1903 – 17 July 1980) was a French Army General. Biography Of modest origins, after completing high school, Garbay was admitted to Saint-Cyr military academy in 1921 and graduated as a sub-lieutenant in 1924. He then followed a distinguished military career which led from Morocco (1925-1927) to China. He was captain when occurred the Armistice in 1940. He refused to accept it and as commander of the 3rd bataillon de marche of French Equatorial Africa played an active role in August 1940 in rallying Chad to ''France libre''. Involved in the Free French Forces, he followed Leclerc up to 1944. He fought in Africa and Italy, and then participated to the landing in Provence. He was promoted général de brigade in 1944 and after the accidental death of general Diego Brosset on 20 November 1944 , he succeeded him in the command of the 1st Free French Division. In April 1945, on the orders of General Charles de Gaulle, General Garbay took the 1st Free Fre ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Marcel Letestu
Marcel Letestu (8 April 191829 August 2006) was a Général de brigade of the French Army and Commandant of the Foreign Legion. Military career Marcel enlisted in the French Army in 1936 and became a Sergent (Sergeant) in 1938. A Sous-Officiers in the Franc Corps of the 160th Infantry Regiment (french: 160e Régiment d'Infanterie de Forteresse) in 1939 to 1940 at the front, he was made captive during the Phoney War. He managed to escape a stalag and joined the free zone. He entered to the École militaire interarmes of Cherchell. He graduated as a Major of his promotion. At the end of war, he was named as an instructor at the Perfection Officer School (french: école de perfectionnement des officiers) of Achern. In 1950, he was the champion of France for precision shooting and recordman for rapid shooting. Promoted Captain in 1951, he joined the 5th Foreign Infantry Regiment 5e REI where he was cited and wounded in 1952. He then served in Algeria where he comman ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jeannou Lacaze
Jeannou Lacaze, was a French Général d'armée of the French Army and Chef d'État-Major des armées (1981-1985), who also served in the French Foreign Legion. Biography Preliminary years Jeannou Lacaze was born in French Indochina, the son of a colonial functionary and an annamite of Chinese origin. He studied in a French school in Bordeaux. Military career 1944 to 1950 At the age of twenty, in 1944, he joined the French Forces of the Interior FFI and participated to the liberation. Received at Saint-Cyr in 1945, he pursued the infantry school application at Auvours where he graduated in 1947. Detached at from his commencement, he was assigned to the 1st Foreign Infantry Regiment at Kef in Tunisia, he then joined the 2nd Foreign Infantry Regiment 2e REI in Indochina, where he served until 1951. Section chief of the 3rd battalion, he was severely wounded at the head of his section during an assault on the village of Ho Chi Minh, on 5 January 1948. Repatriated sanita ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
André Girard (1909–1993)
André Girard (born 22 April 1909 in Cahors, died 4 June 1993 in La Mulatière, near Lyon) was a French civil servant and Resistance worker with the ALLIANCE network. Life Pre-war Girard worked for the ''Société d'exploitation industrielle des tabacs et des allumettes'' in France from 1929 onwards. French Resistance He was captured at the Battle of Dunkirk in 1940, but escaped from Germany in 1941 to Brive-la-Gaillarde and soon joined the French Resistance. Under the pseudonym "Pointer", Girard was the regional head of the Alliance or "Arche de Noé" resistance network in occupied France from 1940 to 1945, the only network whose supreme commander was a woman, Marie-Madeleine Fourcade (Alias "Hérisson"). This network was notable for giving almost all of its three thousand agents codenames based on animals : Bleu d'Auvergne, Setter, Labrador, Bichon, Abeille, Aigle... Divided up by region, the network's central command was "Hôpital" (centre-west sector), which Girard led fr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Adrian Helmet
The Adrian helmet (french: Casque Adrian) was an influential design of combat helmet originally produced for the French Army during World War I. Its original version, the M15, was the first standard helmet of the French Army and was designed when millions of French troops were engaged in trench warfare, and head wounds from the falling shrapnel generated by indirect fire became a frequent cause of battlefield casualties. Introduced in 1915, it was the first modern steel helmet and it served as the basic helmet of many armies well into the 1930s. Initially issued to infantry soldiers, in modified form they were also issued to cavalry and tank crews. A subsequent version, the M26, was used during World War II. History World War I At the outbreak of World War I in August 1914, soldiers in the French Army wore the standard kepi cap, which provided no protection against injury. The early stages of trench warfare proved that even basic protection of the head would result in a signif ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Marianne
Marianne () has been the national personification of the French Republic since the French Revolution, as a personification of liberty, equality, fraternity and reason, as well as a portrayal of the Goddess of Liberty. Marianne is displayed in many places in France and holds a place of honour in town halls and law courts. She is depicted in the ''Triumph of the Republic'', a bronze sculpture overlooking the Place de la Nation in Paris, as well as represented with another Parisian statue on the Place de la République. Her profile stands out on the official government logo of the country, appears on French euro coins and on French postage stamps. She was also featured on the former franc currency and is officially used on most government documents. Marianne is a significant republican symbol; her French monarchist equivalent is often Joan of Arc. As a national icon Marianne represents opposition to monarchy and the championship of freedom and democracy against all forms o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cross Pattée
A cross pattée, cross patty or cross paty, also known as a cross formy or cross formée (french: croix pattée, german: Tatzenkreuz), is a type of Christian cross with arms that are narrow at the centre, and often flared in a curve or straight line shape, to be broader at the perimeter. The form appears very early in medieval art, for example in a metalwork treasure binding given to Monza Cathedral by Queen Theodelinda (died 628), and the 8th-century lower cover of the Lindau Gospels in the Morgan Library. An early English example from the start of the age of heraldry proper (i.e. about 1200) is found in the arms of Baron Berkeley. Etymology The word ''pattée'' is a French adjective in the feminine form used in its full context as ''la croix pattée'', meaning literally "footed cross", from the noun ''patte'', meaning foot, generally that of an animal. The cross has four splayed feet, each akin to the foot, for example, of a chalice or candelabrum. In German it is called ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Geneva Convention
upright=1.15, Original document in single pages, 1864 The Geneva Conventions are four treaties, and three additional protocols, that establish international legal standards for humanitarian treatment in war. The singular term ''Geneva Convention'' usually denotes the agreements of 1949, negotiated in the aftermath of the Second World War (1939–1945), which updated the terms of the two 1929 treaties and added two new conventions. The Geneva Conventions extensively define the basic rights of wartime prisoners (civilians and military personnel), established protections for the wounded and sick, and provided protections for the civilians in and around a war-zone; moreover, the Geneva Convention also defines the rights and protections afforded to non-combatants. The treaties of 1949 were ratified, in their entirety or with reservations, by 196 countries. The Geneva Conventions concern only prisoners and non-combatants in war; they do not address the use of weapons of war, w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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