AVF, Amis des Volontaires Français badge (1940-1944)
A small (15mm diameter) WW2 enamel pin badge issued for the AVF (Amis des Volontaires Français – Friends of the French Volunteers), set up after France’s defeat in 1940. There were a number of AVF badge variants but this one is a scarcer type. The badges were sold to help raise funds. This is reproduced here by kind permission of Benny Callaghan.
The AVF was an Anglo-French organisation authorised by Charles de Gaulle and who co-ordinated all offers of help and gifts for the welfare of the French Volunteers*. The AVF aimed to establish a link between organisations and individuals who wished to extend moral and material aid to the French Volunteers and also assisted French Forces fighting for the Allied cause. The latter would include setting up of canteens, hostel facilities and clubs for French troops and French civilian evacuees in Britain.
The AVF, also known as ‘The Association’ were founded in September 1940 and had their headquarters in London. By October 1943 they had grown to 57 branch committees throughout the British Isles with over 30,000 associate members, of whom most were British. As the war progressed, AVF membership increased to over 40,000 by August 1944. However, there was much tension between de Gaulle’s French Volunteer force and the British authorities so after the Liberation in 1944, these tensions become more open. Amid much disagreement and squabbling the AVF had broken up before the end of the war in Europe.
Thank you for reading.
Stuart.
* The Free French Volunteers (Forces Françaises Libre, FFL) were fighting forces under the control of de Gaulle and pledged to fight against the Nazi occupiers. Charles de Gaulle had selected the Croix de Lorraine as their symbol and this features on all variants of AVF badges.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_French_Forces
www.ina.fr/video/AFE00002931/a-londres-la-maison-des-amis... (AVF HQ in London - visit of General Koenig).
‘The forgotten French: exiles in the British Isles 1940-1944’ by Nicholas Atkin, pp217-218.
AVF, Amis des Volontaires Français badge (1940-1944)
A small (15mm diameter) WW2 enamel pin badge issued for the AVF (Amis des Volontaires Français – Friends of the French Volunteers), set up after France’s defeat in 1940. There were a number of AVF badge variants but this one is a scarcer type. The badges were sold to help raise funds. This is reproduced here by kind permission of Benny Callaghan.
The AVF was an Anglo-French organisation authorised by Charles de Gaulle and who co-ordinated all offers of help and gifts for the welfare of the French Volunteers*. The AVF aimed to establish a link between organisations and individuals who wished to extend moral and material aid to the French Volunteers and also assisted French Forces fighting for the Allied cause. The latter would include setting up of canteens, hostel facilities and clubs for French troops and French civilian evacuees in Britain.
The AVF, also known as ‘The Association’ were founded in September 1940 and had their headquarters in London. By October 1943 they had grown to 57 branch committees throughout the British Isles with over 30,000 associate members, of whom most were British. As the war progressed, AVF membership increased to over 40,000 by August 1944. However, there was much tension between de Gaulle’s French Volunteer force and the British authorities so after the Liberation in 1944, these tensions become more open. Amid much disagreement and squabbling the AVF had broken up before the end of the war in Europe.
Thank you for reading.
Stuart.
* The Free French Volunteers (Forces Françaises Libre, FFL) were fighting forces under the control of de Gaulle and pledged to fight against the Nazi occupiers. Charles de Gaulle had selected the Croix de Lorraine as their symbol and this features on all variants of AVF badges.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_French_Forces
www.ina.fr/video/AFE00002931/a-londres-la-maison-des-amis... (AVF HQ in London - visit of General Koenig).
‘The forgotten French: exiles in the British Isles 1940-1944’ by Nicholas Atkin, pp217-218.