Fourragère
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The Fourragère is a French military award, distinguishing military units as a whole.
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[edit] History
The Fourragère was instituted by Napoleon I, Emperor of the French, but actually has prior historic significance: after a hasty retreat from battle by a unit of Flemish troops, the Duke of Alva ordered that any further misconduct in that unit be punished by hanging, regardless of rank. Those Flemish troops then wore a cord tied into a hangman's noose on their shoulder going into their next battle, and fought so valiantly that the cord became a mark of distinction.
The fourragère is awarded to all members of military unit which, as a whole, was awarded a mention in dispatches. It should not be confused with unit awards of particular decorations, where the medal itself is hung on the flag of the unit. For example, there are many units wearing the fourragère of the médaille militaire, whereas only six units wore the medal on their flags.
During the First World War, the French Ministry of War awarded the Fourragère to units which distinguished themselves more than once in the orders of the Army. There were then six fourragères, depending on the numbers of mentions in Dispatches awarded to the unit:
- two or three mentions : fourragère aux couleurs du ruban de la croix de guerre (fourragère in the colours of the ribbon of the War Cross) - green and red for the Croix of WWI and WWII, and light blue and red for the Croix de Guerre Théâtres d'Opérations Extérieurs (Overseas War Cross).
- four or five mentions : fourragère aux couleurs du ruban de la médaille militaire (fourragère in the colours of the ribbon of the Military Medal) - yellow and green
- six, seven or eight mentions : fourragère aux couleurs du ruban de la légion d'honneur (fourragère in the colours of the ribbon of the Legion of Honour) - bright red
- nine, ten or eleven mentions : fourragère aux couleurs des rubans de la croix de guerre et de la légion d'honneur (fourragère in the colours of the ribbons of the War Cross and the Legion of Honour)
- twelve, thirteen or fourteen mentions : fourragère aux couleurs des rubans de la médaille militaire et de la légion d'honneur (fourragère in the colours of the ribbons of the Military Medal and the Legion of Honour)
- fifteen mentions and above : fourragère double aux couleurs du ruban de la légion d'honneur (double fourragère in the colours of the ribbon of the Legion of Honour)
In addition, further distinction awards to units wearing fourragères may be worn as barrel-shaped slides on the fourragère cords, resting on the decorative metal finial tip. These olives indicate the war in which the unit were mentioned : for WWII the olive is green and red, and for an overseas conflict the olive is light blue and red. Some units wear two half-olives because they were mentioned in many conflicts.
During the Second World War, the medal of the Ordre de la Libération was awarded to the flags of 17 military units, whose members now wear a fourragère since June 18, 1996. This fourragère is considered the top unit award in the French military, as the ordre de la Libération award is seen to be more important than any mention in Dispatches.
Certain French military units wear combinations of fourragères. Fourragères used by the French Foreign Legion are:
- 2e REI (2nd Foreign Legion Infantry) - Croix de Guerre TOE
- 2e REP (2nd Foreign Legion Paratroops) - Légion d'Honneur
- 1er REC (1st Foreign Legion Cavalry - Croix de Guerre (WW2); Médaille Militaire
- 3e REI (3rd Foreign Legion Infantry)- Légion d'Honneur, Médaille Militaire, Croix de Guerre
[edit] Units awarded the fourragère
- During WWI, the 5th S.S.U. was awarded the fourragère aux couleurs du ruban de la médaille militaire.
- During WWII, the 16th, 18th and 26th Infantry Regiments U.S., the 5th and 7th Field Artillery Battalions U.S., the 1st Engineer Battalion U.S. and the 1st Signal Company U.S. were awarded the fourragère aux couleurs du ruban de la médaille militaire.
- 17 French military units wear the fourragère of the Ordre de la Libération (see article for the list).
- The 5th Marine Regiment and the 6th Marine Regiment of the United States Marine Corps were awarded the Fourragère for having earned the Croix de Guerre with palm leaf twice during World War I.
- U.S. 370th Infantry Regiment (World War I) [1]
- BEF Units of World War I[2]
- Active members of the National Society of Pershing Rifles are authorized to wear the fourragère of the Society, which is distinct in being one of only two fourragères with an organization-specific metal tip (the other being the Air Force Honor Guard). (Reference: Vanguard Industries, Inc. [3])
- Active members of Arnold Air Society in uniform wear the blue and gold fourragère of the society. (Reference: Baird's Manual of American College Fraternities, 20th edition p. VII-17)
- U.S. 82nd Airborne Division during the battle of Normandy in June 1944.
