Feldgrau.net

Who was the first to be awarded a Knight's Cross? (of the Iron Cross)
just wanted to know out of curiosity.

Hello Lennardq!

The first Knight's Crosses that where awarded was on 30.09.1939 and the ten recipients were:

General der Infanterie Johannes Blaskowitz
Generaloberst Walter von Brauchitsch
Generalfeldmarschall Hermann Göring
General der Flieger Albert Kesselring
General der Artillerie Georg von Küchler
Generaloberst Wilhelm List
General der Flieger Alexander Löhr
Grossadmiral Erich Raeder
General der Artillerie Walter von Reichenau
Generaloberst Gerd von Rundstedt


Thereafter came the first more individually awarded KC that went to Kapitänleutnant Günther Prien of U-47 fame after his exploits at Scapa Flow, sinking the HMS Royal Oak. Prien recieved his KC on 18.10.1939.


Then came another batch of eleven recipients on 27.10.1939 for their action and duty in the Polish campaign.


Regards,

Krollspell

a very thorough reply.

And the eleven Ritterkreuzträger that where awarded on 27.10.1939...

Generalleutnant Kurt von Briesen
General der Panzertruppe Heinz Guderian
General der Artillerie Franz Halder
General der Kavallerie Erich Hoepner
General der Infanterie Hermann Hoth
Generalmajor Ludwig Kübler
Generalleutnant Friedrich Olbricht
Oberst August Schmidt
Hauptmann Dietrich Steinhardt
Leutnant Josef Stoltz
General der Infanterie Adolf Strauss


So all-in-all, 22 Ritterkreuzträger or Knight's Cross winners in the year 1939.


Regards,

Krollspell

The interesting thing with Leutnant Josef Stolz was that a mere infantry platoon leader was singled out to be one of 22 recipients of the Reich's highest military award in 1939. Leutnant Stolz commanded a platoon in 10./IR 51 of the 18. Infanterie-Division and led an assault and captured Fort I and subsequently broke through the inner defence line in Warzaw.
Stolz was killed in action as an Oberleutnant and company commander on the Eastern front in 27.06.1941. See also link:

http://www.lexikon-der-wehrmacht.de/Per ... StolzJ.htm


Leutnant Josef Stolz

http://www.lexikon-der-wehrmacht.de


Regards,

Krollspell

Dear Doctor K. - not Warzaw, but Warsaw, or even Warszawa.

Pozdrawiam

TPMM wrote:Dear Doctor K. - not Warzaw, but Warsaw, or even Warszawa.

Oh, come now! He's a Swede, citing a Polish city, in English!

Cut him a little bit of slack, eh?

Warschau!


Hals- und Beinbruch!

Krollspell

Doktor Krollspell wrote:Warschau!

Wow! now you wrote in German and Dutch

Capital regards,

Paul

Fellow Forum Members, thanks for the spelling instructions! Have to study more...


But to get this thread back on the original track... the first german that was awarded the Ritterkreuz in 1940 was Kapitänleutnant Herbert Schultze who recieved the RK on 01.03.1940 for his succesful command of the U-48. Like Günther Prien, Herbert Schultze also became an Eichenlaubenträger. See link:

http://www.lexikon-der-wehrmacht.de/Per ... ultzeH.htm


Herbert Schultze

http://www.lexikon-der-wehrmacht.de


Regards,

Krollspell

I suspected Hermann Goering would to be among the first to receive a KC... but it's interesting to learn that men of the Kriegsmarine got some of the earliest for individual acts of bravery.

And the bonus questions:

First KC of the SS... (Joseph Dietrich perhaps?)

and

first to get the oakleaves...

(and then you could just go on and on, I guess)

First of all, the first recipient of the Eichenlauben (Oakleaves) was the famous Gebirgsjäger Generalleutnant Eduard Dietl, who recieved the Eichenlauben no. 1 on 19.07.1940 for his command of Gebirgs-Korps "Norwegen" during the battle for Narvik. Eduard Dietl went on to win the Schwerten (Swords) post-humously on 01.07.1944 to be Schwertenträger no. 71. See link:

http://www.lexikon-der-wehrmacht.de/Per ... DietlE.htm


Eduard Dietl

http://www.lexikon-der-wehrmacht.de


When it comes to the first Ritterkreuzträger of the Waffen-SS I also think that it must have been Josef "Sepp" Dietrich who recieved the RK on 04.07.1940 as an SS-Obergruppenführer und General der Waffen-SS while commanding SS-IR (mot) "LSSAH" during the french campaign.
There were several other Waffen-SS Ritterkreuzträger during that campaign in 1940, for example Fritz Witt and Ludwig Kepplinger, who both recieved their RK in September 1940. I'll have to check this up... Meanwhile see link:

http://www.lexikon-der-wehrmacht.de/Per ... etlE-1.jpg


Josef "Sepp" Dietrich

http://www.lexikon-der-wehrmacht.de


Regards,

Krollspell

And so I'm back with the six (6) Ritterkreuzträger of the Waffen-SS in the year 1940. These are...

Josef "Sepp" Dietrich who recieved the RK on 04.07.1940 as a SS-Obergruppenführer und General der Waffen-SS while commanding SS-IR (mot) "LSSAH".

Georg Keppler who recieved the RK on 15.08.1940 as a SS-Oberführer and Kdr. SS-Standarte "Der Führer".

Felix Steiner who recieved the RK on 15.08.1940 as a SS-Oberführer and Kdr. SS-Standarte "Deutschland".

Ludwig Kepplinger who recieved the RK on 04.09.1940 as a SS-Hauptscharführer and Stosstruppfhr. u. Zugfhr. i. d. 11./SS-Standarte "Der Führer".

Fritz Vogt who recieved the RK on 04.09.1940 as a SS-Obersturmführer and Zugfhr. i. d. 2./SS-AA d. SS-Div. Verfügungstruppe.

Fritz Witt who recieved the RK on 04.09.1940 as a SS-Sturmbannführer and Kdr. I./SS-Standarte "Deutschland".


Regards,

Krollspell

Hello to all ; bumping up..........................

Walther von Brauchitsch.

Source: Berliner Illustrirte Zeitung Nr. 25 vom 20. Juni 1940 / 49. Jahrgang

Cheers. Raúl M .