The Allgemeines Ehrenzeichen has been described as the Grand Duchy of Hesse’s ”default award for a variety of situations” — the front of the medal was the same, but the reverse differed depending upon what the award was for, which could be meritorious military or civilian service. Awards made to naval officers that commanded U-boats were of the Allgemeines Ehrenzeichen für Tapferkeit (for bravery).

The Allgemeines Ehrenzeichen für Tapferkeit variant was a single class award open to both officers and enlisted personnel. The total numbers of such awards during World War I is not known as the archives at Darmstadt were destroyed during the Second World War but has been estimated at about 150,000.

Photo source: Wikipedia Commons.