The Commemorative medal of the 1870–1871 War was awarded to veterans of the Franco-Prussian War who could prove with an official document, their service under French colours in France or Algeria, or on board armed naval vessels, between the months of July 1870 and February 1871, in:
the sedentary National Guard of open cities, attacked in 1870–71, whose courage was recognized by the government with the addition of the cross of the Legion of Honour in their coats or arms.
The law of 27 March 1912 enlarged this list of potential recipients to include doctors, medics, nurses and chaplains able to prove their presence on the battlefield, in ambulances and hospitals, as well as to balloon pilots who escaped from besieged Paris to carry out a public service. A decree of 17 September 1921 added all veterans of the war of 1870-1871 that were wounded or maimed in combat, or that particularly distinguished themselves in the face of the enemy, as potential recipients of the Military Medal. Finally, a new law of 13 July 1923 added as recipients:
children under fourteen years of age at the 1870 declaration of war, who volunteered and were enlisted in the battalions of the National Guard to receive the medal with the clasp "ENGAGÉ VOLONTAIRE". The accompanying scroll will bear the title "ENFANT VOLONTAIRE" as well as the company and battalion numbers.
children under the age of eighteen who, although not enlisted during the war, accomplished acts of civic courage that could be proven as authentic.
Award description
The Commemorative medal of the 1870–1871 War was a 30-mm-in-diameter circular medal struck from bronze. Its obverse bore the relief image of the effigy of the "warrior republic" in the form of the left profile of a helmeted woman's bust wearing armour. On either side, the relief inscription along the outer medal circumference "RÉPUBLIQUE FRANÇAISE". The reverse bore at its lower center, a rectangle bearing the relief inscription "AUX DÉFENSEURS DE LA PATRIE", superimposed over the relief images of military weapons, a naval anchor and a flowing banner, at its top, the relief years "1870 1871" bisected by the banner's mast. The medal hung from a ribbon passing through a ring itself passing through a ball shaped suspension loop at the top. The 36-mm-wide green silk moiré ribbon bore four 4-mm-wide equidistant vertical black stripes, the whole forming nine alternating 4 mm stripes. The clasp "ENGAGÉ VOLONTAIRE" could be worn on the ribbon. The medal was engraved by artist Georges Lemaire, his model to represent the effigy of the republic was Miss Fernande Dubois, an artist at the Opéra-Comique.
