WW1 BELGIUM MILITARY CROSS OF WAR FOR GALLANTRY (CROIX DE GUERRE) MEDAL

40mm wide bronze Maltese cross with ball-tipped finials, crossed swords between the arms, on swivel crown suspension; the face with a circular central medallion bearing the lion rampant of Belgium within a circular beaded border; the reverse with a circular central medallion bearing the cipher of King Albert I within a circular beaded border; age-toned; on original ribbon with 'mention in dispatches' palm leaf. The Cross was instituted on 5 October 1915 to reward ‘military virtue on the field of battle’ and was awarded not only for acts of bravery but in a number of other circumstances, such as the completion of 3 years’ front-line service, two escaped prisoners of war who rejoined their unit and to those whose injuries sustained in combat required them to be invalided out of service. The Cross was awarded not only to Belgians but also to other nationalities and, indeed, became the foreign award most frequently attributed to the French military. A good example.