[1] Shortly after its issuance, the government of Nazi Germany declared the award as the only official service decoration of the First World War and further forbade the continued wearing of most German Free Corps awards on any military or paramilitary uniform of a state or Nazi Party organization.

[3] The medal awarded to combatants (called the Frontkämpferkreuz) displayed a laurel wreath encircling a medallion with the dates "1914 1918", along with crossed swords between the arms.

[1] They were frequently worn with the ribbon fashioned into a bow, with a pin on the back, which the mother or widow in question attached to her clothing.

By 1940, it had also been approved for persons of German heritage from seized lands of the Sudetenland, Czechoslovakia, Danzig, Saar and Memel.

[1] Awarding of the cross to war participants of German heritage continued after the deadline for applications had closed within the previous boundaries of Germany.