The Tank Badge was instituted by the Minister of Defence Otto Gessler on 13 Jul 1921 and laid down in the Heeres-Verordnungsblatt Nr.

[1][2] It was to be issued to veterans of World War I who qualified by: being a crewman (commander, driver, gunner, loader, mechanic, signaller or messenger) of a tank; either an A7V or a Beutepanzer (captured tank), and either participated in three armored assaults or being wounded during an armored assault.

[2] Potential recipients had to apply to the Inspectorate of Motorized Troops to receive a certificate; the actual badge had to be obtained privately.

Because of this unusual method of application the badge was officially certified in only 99 cases.

The central piece was a stylized A7V tank crossing a barbed wire entanglement from east to west with three bursting shrapnels above it.