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I asked this question a few months ago, and the upshot of answers seemed to be that:
(1) Straight crosses were a lot easier to paint
(2) The change roughly coincided with the 1918 German 'Michael' Offencive.
So perhaps the German brass hats had been thinking about the change for a while; and then in early '18, decided to order it in the hope that it would reduce friendly-fire incidents during the coming 'push'. I'm thinking here mainly of ground fire. In 1918 there were a lot more ground attack planes buzzing low overhead, and infantrymen would base their recognition not on silhouettes but on national markings. (A bit like the D-Day stripes applied in 1944.) Just an educated(?) guess though.
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