Order of Liberation

Amongst the 1036 Companions of the Order, 65 were killed before the end of the war (8 May 1945) and another 260 received the distinction posthumously. Members of the French resistance, especially the more famous ones, often received the Order under their nom de guerre.

Six women were awarded the title:

• Berty Albrecht, co-founder of the movement Combat, who died in the prison of Fresnes in 1943[4]
• Laure Diebold, liaison agent of the "Mithridate" network and secretary to Jean Moulin, deported.[5]
• Marie Hackin, died at sea in February 1941 on a mission[6]
• Marcelle Henry of the VIC escape network, died shortly after returning from deportation[7]
• Simone Michel-Lévy, of the Postmen Resistance, died while deported[8]
• Émilienne Moreau-Evrard, hero of the First World War, agent for the "Brutus" network and later member of the Provisional Consultative Assembly[9]

Nearly 10% of the recipients of the Order were younger than 20 at the beginning of the war. The youngest, Mathurin Henrio, was 14 when he was shot dead by Nazi officers for refusing to answer questions on the whereabouts of Maquisards.[10]

The Order was re-opened twice to honour foreign personalities who helped liberate France:

• Former Prime Minister Winston Churchill (1958)
• King George VI (1960, posthumously)

• 
  Resistance fighter André Bollier, a posthumous recipient of the Order of Liberation
• 
  Fighter ace Pierre Clostermann, a recipient of the Order of Liberation
• 
  General Dwight D. Eisenhower, a recipient of the Order of Liberation

Military units as a whole have been awarded the title of Compagnon de la Libération.

On 18 June 1996, at Mont Valérien, the 18 military units which had been awarded the Cross of Liberation were given a green and black fourragère by President Jacques Chirac.

• Bataillon de Marche n°2
• 13th Foreign Legion Demi-Brigade
• Bataillon d’Infanterie de Marine et du Pacifique
• Régiment de marche du Tchad
• 2nd Colonial Infantry Regiment
• 1st Colonial Artillery Regiment
• 1/3ème Régiment d’Artillerie Coloniale
• 1st Moroccan Spahi Regiment
• 501e Régiment de chars de combat

• Sous-marin Rubis
• Corvette Aconit
• 1er Régiment de Fusiliers Marins

• 1ère Escadrille de Chasse
• Régiment de Chasse Normandie-Niemen
• 2ème Régiment de Chasseurs Parachutistes de l’Armée de l’Air
• Groupe de Bombardement Lorraine
• Groupe de Chasse Ile-de-France
• Groupe de Chasse Alsace

• Nantes: awarded on 11 November 1941

Heroic city which, since the crime of capitulation, has opposed a fierce resistance to any sort of collaboration with the enemy. Occupied by German troops and subjected to the harshest of repression, has given to the French, by numerous individual and collective actions, a magnificent example of courage and fidelity. By the blood of her martyred children, showed to the whole World the French will for national liberation.

• Grenoble: awarded on 4 May 1944

Heroic city at the vanguard of the French Resistance and of the fight for liberation. Draped in her pride, despite the arrest and the massacre of her best sons, put up a fierce fight to the Germans at every instant. Despising the interdictions given by the invaders and their accomplices, demonstrated on 11 November 1943 her certainty of Victory and her will to take part in it. On 14 November, and on 2 December 1943, responded to the reprisals and the execution of the chiefs of the Resistance movements by the destruction of the ammunition depot, barracks, power plants and factories used by the enemy. Has served the Motherland well.

• Paris: awarded on 24 March 1945

Capital faithful to herself and to France, demonstrated, under the enemy occupation and oppression, and in spite of the voices of abandonment and treason, her unshakable resolution to fight on and to win. By her courage in the presence of the invader and by the indomitable energy with which she sustained the harshest of trials, deserved to remain as an example for the entire Nation. On 19 August, in cooperation with the Allied and French armies, stood up to drive away the enemy through a series of glorious fights which began in the Cité and swiftly spread to all points of the city. In spite of heavy losses sustained by the French Forces of the Interior fighting within her, liberated itself through her own efforts and, united with the vanguard of the French Army that came to her rescue, has, on 25 August, reduced the German to his last stands and made him capitulate.

• Vassieux-en-Vercors: awarded on 4 August 1945

Village of the Vercors which, thanks to the patriotism of her inhabitants, totally sacrificed herself for the cause of the French Resistance in 1944. Main parachuting centre for the Allied air force on the plateau, always helped by all means possible the military of the Maquis in the gathering of arms. Violently bombed on 14 July, attacked by 24 German gliders on 21 and 22 July, had 72 of her inhabitants massacred and the entirety of her houses burned down by a merciless enemy. Martyr of her faith in the resurrection of the Motherland.

• l’Ile de Sein: awarded on 1 January 1946

Confronted by the enemy invasion, refused to abandon the battlefield which is hers: the Sea. Sent all of her children to fight under the flag of Free France, becoming the example and symbol of all Brittany.