It is worn after the War Memorial Cross and before the Medal for Order and Peace.

The obverse of the cross bears a vertical flaming sword, surmounted by the Dutch royal crown.

The cross is suspended by a ring from a ribbon coloured with asymmetric stripes: the left half is red-white-blue (for the Dutch flag) and the right half orange (the national color of the Netherlands) with a black border on each edge.

There was a belief after the War that awarding medals would make distinctions between different acts of resistance, all of which would have been punishable by death.

After a first round of awards were made of the Dutch Cross of Resistance in 1946, it became politically difficult to agree a list of further recipients.