The Belgian Orders with swords

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The Belgian Orders with crossed swords on the ribbon

By royal decree of 14 February 1939 silver coloured crossed swords were created for the Belgian national orders (Order of Leopold I, Order of the Crown, Order of Leopold II), for award to war veterans and taking into account the number of "war titles" gained by their war services. The number of "war titles" is arrived at by adding up several criteria e.g. decorations awarded, citations received, promotions in rank, escape, front stripes, combat service etc.

FOR WORLD WAR I :


*Order of Leopold I, knight, military division, with silver swords device*	*Order of the Crown, Officer with silver swords device*	*Officer of the Order of Leopold I, military division with non-regulation gilt swords device*

For WW1 only silver crossed swords were officially created and awarded from 6 war titles onwards. However, gilt crosses have been manufactured for wear with gilt officer class decorations although these thus are not officially recognized.

FOR WORLD WAR II :


*Knight of the Order of Leopold I, military division, with silver swords device*	*Knight of the Order of Leopold II, with bronze swords device*

Depending on the number of war titles, the war veteran is entitled to either a gilt, silvered or bronze crossed sword device on the ribbon for resp. 6, 9 or 11 such war titles.

FOR THE KOREAN WAR :

Order of Leopold II, Korean War swords

Knight of the Order of Leopold II, with silver swords device

The same criteria as for the WW2 swords device apply.

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