By the turn of the century, German Red Cross volunteer medics and nurses were serving overseas and in colonial wars such as the Boxer Rebellion in China 1900-01, the Second Anglo-Boer War 1899-1902 (where they served on the Boer side) and the Herero Rebellion 1904-07. They also later served in Palestine during the First World War supporting the Asienkorps.

Uniforms of the German Red Cross in the Colonies and Tropics
On home duty German Red Cross uniforms were distinguished by large white collar patches bearing a red cross on each collar front and a white armband with a red cross worn on the left arm. They wore grey or white peaked caps with black hatbands and a white circular badge bearing a red cross above an imperial cockade.

Generally these same collar patches, badges and armbands were kept on khaki tropical uniforms when posted overseas. The different khaki uniforms seen in period photographs often vary in cut, with most having four pockets, six buttons down the front (bearing the Swiss cross symbol) with plain or gathered cuffs. The same peaked caps were worn or replaced by Südwester hats also sometimes bearing the red cross. Red Crescent armbands were worn when serving in the Ottoman Empire.

Red Cross nurses wore civilian style dresses with white pinafores and caps. Nuns also served as Red Cross nurses. They retained their traditional nun's habit costume. Red Cross nurses wore either a red cross armband or red cross badge on their pinafores or caps.

Figure 1 is based on a photograph of a Red Cross Volunteer, Emil Schwarz, taken in German South West Africa in about 1905, during the Herero Rebellion. He wears a Schutztruppe style khaki tunic without the Schutztruppe's blue piping or shoulder straps. Instead he wears large white collar patches bearing the red cross. His hat is the standard Schutztruppe Südwester with blue edging and hatband for South West Africa and a large imperial cockade holding up the right hand side.

His appearance is typical of several photographs of Red Cross volunteers in South West Africa. As the Herero were naturally not signatories of the Geneva Convention, German Red Cross volunteers in South West Africa frequently carried rifles and Schutztruppe Ammunition Pouches.

Figure 2 is based on a photograph of a Red Cross Volunteer, Küttner, taken in South Africa in about 1900, during the Second Anglo-Boer War. He again wears a Schutztruppe style khaki tunic without the Schutztruppe's blue piping or shoulder straps. In the original photograph upon which this illustration is based, the Swiss Cross symbol on his tunic buttons can be clearly seen. On each collar he wears an imperial crown badge. His hat is a privately made Südwester with a Red Cross badge on the front and a large imperial cockade holding up the right hand side.

Other photographs of German Red Cross Volunteers during the Second Anglo-Boer War show them wearing red cross collar patches and armbands.

Figure 3 is based on a photograph of a Red Cross Nursing Volunteer, taken in Palestine in about 1917, during the First World War. She wears a white nun's habit with a pinafore. On her left sleeve is a Red Crescent armband.