During the German retreat on the Eastern Front Wehrmacht forces were cut off on the Courland Peninsula in Latvia from July 1944.

[1] The cuff title was approved on 12 March 1945 by Adolf Hitler, on the recommendation of the commander of the Army Group Courland.

Due to difficulties in transporting supplies to the Courland Pocket, the award was manufactured locally, initially on hand looms and later by machine.

[5] While many awards were re-designed to remove the swastika, the original cuff title could be worn unaltered as it did not bear this symbol.

[6] Members of the Bundeswehr who were qualifying veterans wore the award on their ribbon bar, represented by a small replica of the cuff design on a white ribbon with decorative black edges, similar to the original cuff design.