Croce al Merito senza spade Kriegsverndiestkreuz ohne schwerter 1a Classe

The honor was created by Adolf Hitler in 1939 as the main decoration of merit, thus reserving
 the Iron Cross only for shares of value. The prerequisite for the iron cross were in fact acts 
of valor in the face of the enemy or exceptional merits of command. In previous wars the Iron
 Cross was awarded both for value and merit, but in the latter case it was worn with a white
 ribbon instead of black.

The war merit cross was granted for war merit and had two variants: with swords (granted to
 soldiers for exceptional services related to the battle, but not directly on the front line)
 and without swords (granted for worthy service behind the lines of combat as well as civilians).