Description
- The Africa Star is a six–pointed star of yellow copper zinc alloy, with a height of 44mm and a maximum width of 38mm.
- The obverse has a central design of the Royal Cypher of King George VI, surmounted by a crown. The cipher is surrounded by a circle containing the words ‘The Africa Star.’
- The reverse is plain, although Stars issued to Australian, Indian, and South African personnel have recipient names impressed.
- The ribbon for this medal, along with those of the other Second World War campaign stars, is reputed to have been designed by King George VI. The sand of the desert is represented by pale buff, the Royal Navy (and Merchant Navy), British Army, and Royal Air Force are represented by stripes of dark blue, red, and light blue respectively.
History
The 1940-43 Africa Star was a campaign medal of the British Commonwealth, awarded for service in the Second World War.
The Star was awarded for a minimum of one day service in an operational area of North Africa between 10 June 1940 and 12 May 1943. The whole of the area between the Suez Canal and the Strait of Gibraltar is included, together with Malta, Abyssinia, Kenya, the Sudan, both Somaliland’s and Eritrea. The areas not bordering the Mediterranean only qualified for the Africa Star from 10 June 1940 to 27 November 1941.
Members of the Australian Imperial Force qualified for the Star for service in Syria from 8 June 1941 and 11 July 1941.
The creation of the Star was announced in July 1943, and in August it was announced that the first uniform ribbons would be issued to qualifying personnel later in that year – the medals themselves were not intended to be issued until after the end of hostilities. Some issues to overseas troops were delayed, but many had been received by the end of the year, and were worn throughout the remainder of the war.
Service in the Battle of Madagascar against forces led by Vichy France did not qualify for the Africa Star. It was instead covered by the 1939-1945 Star.
