Belgian WW1 Medals : The Interallied Victory Medal

Hello All,

The Victory Medal 1914-1918

Awarded to those who served in the mobilized Belgian Army between 1 August 1914 and 11 November 1918.
This bronze medal, originally proposed by the French Field-Marshal Foch as an inter-allied medal and later thus accepted, was instituted on 15 July 1919. It is worn immediately after the IJzer Medal. Later Royal Decrees extended the award of this medal to various other recipients, e.g. participants of the African campaigns, merchant navy personnel and fishermen etc.

The obverse has the usual Victory with spread wings, standing on a globe. In her left hand she holds a laurel wreath, in her right, a sword and a laurel wreath. The reverse has the Belgian coat of arms in a central laurel wreath. Surrounding it are the shields of the 9 Allied countries, lying on a large laurel wreath. Around the medal's edge is the bilingual text "LA GRANDE GUERRE POUR LA CIVILISATION. DE GROOTE OORLOG TOT DE BESCHAVING" (The great war for civilization). The ribbon is of the usual "rainbow"-type.

Cheers,
Hendrik