Although male characters such as soldiers or marines dominated war films in numbers, female characters also played a substantial role. One need only think of the respective spouses of czar Nicholas II, in 1914. DIE LETZTEN TAGE VOR DEMWELTBRAND, of KARL INWESTFRONT 1918 and of troop captain Von Arndt in TANNENBERG. Captain Liers's mother in Morgenrot, and the many lovers featured in nearly all war films either in the foreground or the background should not be forgotten. These characters often played a decisive role in the story. They represented not only the home front but also the female stereotype, that is, the pacifying, cherishing and romantic elements. These aspects were expected to make war films attractive to a female audience as well, for all these love stories and other matters of the heart were believed to appeal to them especially.

A sociological study carried out in 1914 proved that the percentage of women in an average film audience was remarkably high. As the American film historian Patrice Petro remarked, there is little reason to assume that this had decreased in the course of ten years. In view of the growing popularity of the cinema in the twenties and the more emancipated status of women after gaining the right to vote in 1919, it is not improbable that the number of women in the audience had actually increased. It was therefore commercially viable to create space for women in a film genre mostly associated with men. However, besides the possible role played by financial factors, directors could not hide the fact that women had actually been part of the realities of war. Besides representing the home front, in some films they also played a role at the war front as a Red Cross nurse or a soldier's lover. This meant the space that women could occupy was not limited to hearth and home. Nevertheless, only a small percentage of the films gave any attention to these ‘front women’.

War films in which women played striking parts explored the limits of the ‘genre’. Under the influence of the female aspect, the genre-specific characteristics change. When the female aspect is given a narrative position, such films become more ‘melodramatic’, the emotional and sentimental are brought into prominence. At the same time, it builds up tensions between the traditional, stereotypical poles of men/aggression/war and women/gentleness/peace.