Croix de Guerre 1943 with Bronze Palm awarded to HMS ‘Tarana’ for carrying out dangerous missions off the coast of France during World War II.

The trawler ‘Tarana’ was launched in 1932 and was owned by the Societe de Grande Peche de Boulogne sur Mer. In 1940 she was requisitioned by the Admiralty and converted into an auxiliary patrol vessel. In 1941 she was taken out of the auxiliary patrol and was employed on various clandestine missions landing agents into German occupied France and bringing out escapers. The crew carried no identification and wore civilian clothes (French) at sea and also when landing on the South Coast of France. Plage was the main pickup place and escaped prisoners of war and VIPs were rowed to ‘Tarana’ in a 12 foot wooden clinker-built dinghy. Among these were Andre Phillipe, French socialist MP, General Julian Kleeberg, head of the Polish Underground movement ‘Interallie’ and Squadron Leader Whitney Straight.

The Croix de Guerre was presented to the ship by Contre-Amiral Reboul-H.Berlioz in Algiers in 1944, ‘Du chalutier “TARANA”. A accompli avec son batiment de nombreuses et dangereuses missions sur les cotes de la France occupee permetant a plusiers personnalites francaises de rejoinder la GRANDE BRETAGNE ou l’AFRIQUE DU NORD pour y continuer le combat contre l’ennemi commun’.

The medal is in the form of a bronze cross pattée superimposed on two crossed swords. On the obverse are two crossed tricolours and on the reverse is inscribed ‘1943’. It is suspended from a red ribbon with four green stripes bearing a bronze palm.