The Iron Cross ( ), sometimes mistakenly called the Maltese cross, is a military decoration of the Kingdom of Prussia, and later of Germany, which was established by King Frederick William III of Prussia and first awarded on 10 March 1813 in Breslau (now Wrocław). In addition to the Napoleonic Wars, the Iron Cross was awarded during the Franco-Prussian War, the First World War, and the Second World War.
The Iron Cross has not been awarded since May 1945 and is awarded only in wartime. It is normally a military decoration only — though there were instances of it being awarded to civilians for performing military functions. As an example, the civilian pilot Hanna Reitsch was awarded the Iron Cross First Class by Adolf Hitler for her bravery as a test pilot and was one of only two women awarded the Iron Cross First Class during World War II.
The Iron Cross originally was the symbol of the Teutonic Knights (a heraldic cross pattée), and the cross design (but not the specific decoration) has been the symbol of Germany's armed forces (now the Bundeswehr) since ca. 1870.
