Military History Photo Friday: World War One Medals and Mementoes

Hello from Oxford! I'm here for my usual research trip, and as a matter of fact this is my tenth year. It's been a rainy summer so I haven't gotten to explore much of the countryside like I usually do. Luckily last weekend the clouds cleared and my family and I went on a hike to visit Minster Lovell, a fine old ruin of a medieval manor. Follow the link for an article I did on it.

We set out from the small town of Whitney, which has a fine little local history museum. Here are a couple of shots from the World War One section. I've always enjoyed small-town museums since the collection comes from old neighbors instead of some rich patron. I wonder who donated these?

Military History Photo Friday: WWI Moroccan Soldiers Receiving Medals

This photo shows General Joffre, Commander-in-Chief of French forces on the Western Front, decorating soldiers of the French Moroccan Division in 1914 or 1915. The general is seen giving one lucky soldier a friendly peck on each cheek, a French (and North African) tradition. One of those things you have to get used to when traveling in North Africa!

It's hard to see what medal they are receiving but an enlarged image of this photo suggests that at least for the man to Joffre's right it is a Medaille Coloniale ("Colonial Medal"). That's what it looks like to me anyway, although that medal was generally given to soldiers fighting in the colonies, not colonial soldiers fighting in France! It certainly isn't the Croix de Guerre I wrote about earlier on this blog.

Anyone else out there have a guess?

Photo courtesy Wikimedia Commons.

Military History Photo Friday: A WWI Medal from Morocco

As I mentioned before, I just got back from a one-month writing retreat in Tangier. I’m not much for buying souvenirs, but I do like rummaging around the city’s many little antique shops. They tend to be cramped little cubbyholes in the medina, the traditional market, shops about the size of a walk-in closet and stuffed with old bits and pieces, everything from old clocks and porcelain to stacks of mildewed books.

This sort of shop rewards a close look. Amid all the chipped plates, faded old postcards, and tarnished silverware you can find some interesting pieces, including this Croix de Guerre from World War One. This is not a rare medal. More than two million were distributed by the French government to reward bravery in battle to French and allied soldiers. At times they were given to entire regiments who had done something especially impressive.

The obverse shows a young woman wearing a Phrygian cap, symbol of the French Republic, surrounded by the words République française ("French Republic"). The back of the medal shows the dates of the conflict up to the point when they were minted: 1914–1915 then 1914–1916, 1914–1917 and finally 1914–1918. Mine ends with 1918 so it was made in the last year of the war or shortly thereafter. The cross hung from a green ribbon with seven narrow vertical red stripes. Especially brave individuals got extra attachments such as a silver palm.

Moroccan colonial troops were in the war from the start, including the Battle of the Aisne in September 1914. That’s the scene of the action in Trench Raiders, the first novel in my WWI series. The regiment I follow, the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry, fought alongside a French Colonial regiment from Morocco during that battle and so I included some Moroccans as characters. As far as I know, the Oxs and Bucks never fought alongside a Moroccan regiment again, so I’m glad I got to include them in the first book.

Who knows? Maybe this medal belonged to some Moroccan who fought at the Aisne. As the war escalated, more colonial troops flowed into the Western Front from sub-Saharan Africa and southeast Asia. More than 72,000 French colonial soldiers died during the war. You can read more about it here.

More Morocco photos coming soon once I figure out how to get them off my phone!