Circular gilt bronze medal with laterally-pierced ball suspension; the face with a female standing figure with head bowed, her right wrist in chains, her left hand letting fall a flaming torch, a ruined village beyond, signed ‘M Delannoy’ (for the renowned French medallist Maurice Delannoy, 1885-1972); the reverse inscribed ‘PRISONNIERS CIVILS DEPOTREES ET OTAGES DE LA GRANDE GUERRE’ above laurel leaves and with Paris Mint bronze cornucopia assay mark, all within a chain border; on possibly replaced correct ribbon.
The Medal was instituted on 14 March 1936 to recognise and remember the sacrifices of civil prisoners, deportees and hostages from the German-occupied parts of France in World War I. In all, some 11,000 awards of the medal were made.
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