tigre wrote: ↑04 Mar 2019 15:00
It was granted in three versions, Ehrenkreuz für Frontkämpfer (for active military in the World War with swords), Ehrenkreuz für Kriegsteilnehmer (for civilians who contributed to the war effort) and Ehrenkreuz für Witwen und Eltern gefallener Kriegsteilnehmer (for widows and parents of fallen soldiers). It was a very common decoration and in total 10 million crosses were awarded.
Sorry, but this is not correct.
The
Ehrenkreuz für Frontkämpfer was for military personnel who had engaged in actual combat; the
Ehrenkreuz für Kriegsteilnehmer for military personnel who had served in the war without actually engaging the enemy.
The only civilians eligible for the
Ehrenkreuz für Kriegsteilnehmer were voluntary medical personnel (such as Red Cross medics and nurses) and the uniformed armed forces auxiliaries of the Volunteer Automobile- and Motor Boat Corps, but only if they had been deployed to war zones and thus actively served under the same conditions as the fielded troops.
The 13 July 1934 decree with which the award was instituted regulated:
"
Als Kriegsteilnehmer gilt jeder Reichsdeutsche, der auf deutscher Seite oder auf Seite der Verbündeten Kriegsdienste geleistet hat. Frontkämpfer ist jeder reichsdeutsche Kriegsteilnehmer, der bei der fechtenden Truppe an einer Schlacht, einem Gefecht, einem Stellungskampf oder an einer Belagerung teilgenommen hat."
["Rated as a participiant in the war is every German national who had rendered war service on the German side or the side of her allies. A frontline combatant is every national German participiant in the war who had participated in a battle, a skirmish, an instance of stationary warfare or a siege while serving with combat troops."]
The implementing provisions of the same date specified:
"
Kriegsdienste im Sinne der Verordnung hat jeder Reichsdeutsche geleistet, der im Weltkriege zur Wehrmacht eingezogen war, sowie das Personal der freiwilligen Krankenpflege, des freiwilligen Automobilkorps und des freiwilligen Motorbootkorps, soweit es sich im Kriegsgebiet aufgehalten hat."
["War service in the sense of the decree has been rendered by every German national who had been called up for the armed forces as well as the personnel of the voluntary nursing service, the Volunteer Automobile Corps and the Volunteer Motor Boat Corps, provided they stayed within the theatre of war."]
; taking advantage of an image a brief summary..............................
.
. Cheers. Raúl M