Bidspirit auction | A pair of Belgian awards,

A pair of Belgian awards, consisting of the badge of an Officer of the Order of Leopold II, together with a Belgian Croix de Guerre (avec Palme). Both of these awards bear the cypher of King Leopold III, and so date from the Second World War period. The Order of Leopold II is the third most senior award in the Belgian honours system and is named in honour of King Leopold II who established it on 24 August 1900 as Sovereign of the Congo Free State.  It was incorporated into the Belgian awards system in1908 when Congo was handed over to Belgium, . The order is awarded for gallant or meritorious service in peace and war and can be awarded to both Belgians and foreigners. The Belgian Croix de Guerre was established by royal decree in October 1915 and was intended to reward gallantry or distinguished service on the battlefield. The award was reinstated by the Belgian government in exile in July 1940 for recognition of bravery and military virtue during World War II. The palm on the ribbon indicates a citation at Army level. The Order of Leopold II was awarded fairly freely to British military personnel during both world wars and it is not uncommonly seen in British medal groups. It is understood that during the Second World War the award of the Order of Leopold II to British military personnel was usually (possibly always?) accompanied by the award also of the Croix de Guerre, and so these two awards are generally seen together in British medal groups, although the Croix de Guerre could be awarded on its own (such recipients included Generals Montgomery, Patton and Crerar). Generally Good Very Fine (GV) condition, the Order of Leopold II in case of issue.