The Kreuztratte military cemetery is located in the Carnic Alps that formed a section of the so-called Southwestern Front – this was the front dividing Austria-Hungary and Italy from May 1915 onwards. A total of ten military cemeteries are found in the complete section of the Carnic front. Those in the Angerbachtal and Valentinbachtal were set up by Austro-Hungarian troops especially near to the front. As well as military cemeteries in the Plöcken region, other cemetery facilities are found in the Gailtal and Lesachtal (Maria Luggau in the Lesachtal, St. Lorenzen in the Lesachtal, Liesing in the Lesachtal, Birnbaum in the Lesachtal, Mauthen, Griminitzen, Dellach in the Gailtal, Rattendorf, Tröpolach, Nassfeldkapelle and Thörl-Maglern).

The Southwestern Front stretched over a length of around 600 kilometres in a linear distance from the Swiss border to the Adriatic coast. Italian, Austro-Hungarian and German soldiers mainly faced each other on this part of the front between 1915 and 1918, primarily in high-Alpine terrain and usually at an altitude of 2,000 to 3,900 metres above sea level. In 1915, soldiers on both sides initially had to make the complete terrain suitable for military operations. Apart from a few mountains made accessible for tourists and trails used by the indigenous population in summer for cattle driving, hardly any well-developed paths or tracks existed between the Ortler (3,899 m) near to the Swiss border and the Julian Alps.

In the Plöcken region the Frischenkofel/Cellon (2,238 m) had major military importance for the Austro-Hungarian and Italian troops because of the Plöckenpass/Passo di Mt. Croce Carnico (1,357 m) and because of the Austro-Hungarian Plöcken blockade at this location. In the early summer of 1915 it was occupied alternately by the Italian and Austrian-Hungarian troops during the course of several operations. Italian troops then finally brought themselves into position. Austria-Hungarian troops on the other hand positioned themselves on the Cellon shoulder.