The Legiào Portuguesa was a paramilitary organisation founded in 1936 in support of the right-wing dictatorship of António de Oliveira Salazar, then threatened by internal dissent and Spanish Republicans as the Civil War in neighbouring Spain flared.  Its aim was ‘defender o património espiritual da Naçào e combater a ameaça comunista e o anarquismo’ (to defend the spiritual heritage of the nation and combat the threat of Communism and Anarchism). From the 1940s, the regime's grip on power secure, it became largely a civil defence force. It was dissolved on 25 April 1974 after the fall of the Salazar government. 

The Cross came in three classes; bronze, silver and gold. The gold class is rare.