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August 31, 2012  

Knight’s Cross of the Iron Cross

Knight’s Cross of the Iron Cross –From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Awarded by the Führer and Reichskanzler of the Third Reich
Type Neck order
Eligibility Military personnel
Awarded for Awarded to holders of the Iron Cross to recognise extreme battlefield bravery or successful military leadership
Campaign World War II
Status Obsolete
Statistics
Established 1 September 1939
First awarded 30 September 1939
Last awarded 11 May 1945 / 17 June 1945[Notes 1]
Posthumous
awards		 Swords: 15
Oak Leaves: 95
Knight’s Cross:
Distinct
recipients		 Golden Oak Leaves: 1
Diamonds: 27
Swords: 160
Oak Leaves: 890
Knight’s Cross:7,365
Precedence
Next (higher) Grand Cross of the Iron Cross
Next (lower) Iron Cross 1st Class
Deutsch: Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes (ab 1. September 1939).
English: Knight’s Cross of the Iron Cross (from September, 1st 1939).
Русский: Рыцарского креста Железного креста (c 1oгo Ceнтяpя 1939г.).
August 14, 2012  

Soviet Defense Stalingrad

759,560 Soviet personnel were awarded this medal for the defense of Stalingrad from 22 December 1942.

August 14, 2012  

German Order (decoration)

German Order (decoration)

The German Order (German: Deutscher Orden) was the most important award that the Nazi Party could bestow on an individual for “duties of the highest order to the state and party” and designed by Benno von Arent. This award was first made by Adolf Hitler posthumously to Reichsminister Fritz Todt at his funeral in February 1942. A second posthumous award of the German Order was given to SS-Obergruppenführer Reinhard Heydrich at his funeral in June of that same year.

Cynics called the award the “dead hero order” as it was almost always awarded posthumously. The only two persons who received the German Order who survived the war and its consequences were Konstantin Hierl and Arthur Axmann.

The German Order was originally to be awarded in three grades, but only the neck order (the highest grade) was ever awarded. This award ranks the second rarest award in the Third Reich (second only to the National Prize for Art and Science). The holders of this award were supposed to form a confraternity.

Adolf Hitler viewed this award as his personal decoration to be bestowed only upon those whose services to the state and party he deemed worthy. For this reason, plus the fact that the reverse of the medal bears a facsimile of his signature, it was also informally known as the ‘Hitler Order’.

There were in all eleven confirmed recipients of this award between 1942 and 1945. According to some documents, the order was intended to be awarded to Reichsführer SS Heinrich Himmler and Grand Admiral Karl Dönitz, but this was never done.

Confirmed Recipients and Date of Award