Description
French Medal of the Resistance
In order to honour the “great deeds of faith and heroism which, in France, in Europe, and abroad, contribute to the resistance of the French people against the enemy and his accomplices since 18 June 1940,” the Comité National Français designed the medal on February 9, 1943. The legendary plea by General de Gaulle to the French People was made on June 18, 1940. The Commission de la Médaille de la Résistance, which alone was in control of the awards, assigned roughly 48,000 medals in total. With the exception of deportees and those who were detained, to whom it might be given posthumously, it ceased to be given on March 31, 1947. This an excellent illustration of a medal that is getting harder to locate.
