It was first issued in April 1920 during a large ceremony presided by the Duke of Brabant (the future King Leopold III) and Lieutenant General the Count Gérard-Mathieu Leman, military commander of the defence of Liège during the battle which raged from the 5th to the 16th of August 1914.

It was also later awarded to residents of the city of Liège who were condemned to imprisonment by a German tribunal following the battle and received the Political Prisoners' Medal.

The obverse bore the relief image of the Liège Perron superimposed over a decoration akin the French Legion of Honour and bisecting the year "19" "14".

The reverse bore the relief image of a battle scene including soldiers fighting on near a partly destroyed bunker on the bank of the Meuse river.

The medal was suspended by two interlocking rings, the lower one passing through a suspension loop atop the medal, to a 38mm wide silk moiré half red and half yellow ribbon, the colours of the city of Liège.