List of Knight's Cross of The Iron Cross Recipients | List Knight Cross Iron Cross Recipients

List Of Knight's Cross Of The Iron Cross Recipients

The Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross (German: Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes) and its variants were the highest awards in the military of the Third Reich. Recipients are grouped by grades of the Knight's Cross. Within each grade the recipients are ordered chronologically. An exception is the lowest grade, here the recipients are ordered alphabetically by last name. The rank listed is the recipient's rank at the time the Knight's Cross was awarded. Broken out into sub lists are the recipients of the Knight's Cross with Oak Leaves, one list for every year between 1940 and 1945 the award was presented. Also listed separately are the alphabetical lists of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross recipients. The foreign recipients of the Knight's Cross and the foreign recipients of the Knight's Cross with Oak Leaves are listed separately as well.

The Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross and its higher grades were based on four separate enactments. The first enactment Reichsgesetzblatt I S. 1573 of 1 September 1939 instituted the Iron Cross (Eisernes Kreuz) and the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross. As the war progressed, some of the recipients distinguished themselves further and a higher grade, the Oak Leaves to Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross, was instituted. The Oak Leaves, as they were commonly referred to, were based on the enactment Reichsgesetzblatt I S. 849 of 3 June 1940. In 1941, two higher grades of the Knight's Cross were instituted. The enactment Reichsgesetzblatt I S. 613 of 28 September 1941 introduced the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords (Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes mit Eichenlaub und Schwertern) and the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves, Swords and Diamonds (Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes mit Eichenlaub, Schwertern und Brillanten). At the end of 1944 the final grade, the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Golden Oak Leaves, Swords, and Diamonds (Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes mit goldenem Eichenlaub, Schwertern und Brillanten), based on the enactment Reichsgesetzblatt 1945 I S. 11 of 29 December 1944, concluded the variants of the Knight's Cross.

This along with the * (asterisk), indicates that the Knight's Cross was awarded posthumously.
This indicates that historian Veit Scherzer has expressed doubt regarding the veracity and formal correctness of the listing.

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