List of Knight's Cross recipients 1st SS Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler

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Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross
Awarded by Nazi Germany
Type Neck order
Eligibility Military personnel
Awarded for Awarded to holders of the Iron Cross to recognize 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[a]
Precedence
Next (higher) Grand Cross of the Iron Cross
Next (lower) Iron Cross 1st Class
1. SS-Panzer-Division Leibstandarte-SS Adolf Hitler.svg
Divisional Emblem 1st SS Division LSSAH

The 1st SS Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler (SS-LAH) founded in September 1933 was Adolf Hitler's personal Bodyguard Regiment. In 1939 the SS-LAH became a separate unit of the Waffen-SS aside the SS-TV and the SS-VT.[1] The SS-LAH independently participated in combat during the Invasion of Poland (1939). Elements of the SS-LAH later joined the SS-VT prior to Operation Barbarossa in 1941 and by the end of World War II they had been increased in size from a Regiment to a Panzer Division, a number of the Division's members were awarded the Knight's Cross during World War II. 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[2] of September 1, 1939 instituted the Iron Cross 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[3] of June 3, 1940. In 1941 two higher grades of the Knight's Cross were instituted. The enactment Reichsgesetzblatt I S. 613[4] of September 28, 1941 introduced the Knight’s Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords and the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves, Swords and Diamonds. At the end of 1944 the last and final grade, the Knight's Cross with Golden Oak Leaves, Swords, and Diamonds, based on the enactment Reichsgesetzblatt 1945 I S. 11[5] of December 29, 1944 concluded the variants of the Knight's Cross.

Prerequisites

To qualify for the Knight's Cross, a soldier had to already hold the 1939 Iron Cross First Class, though the Iron Cross I Class was awarded concurrently with the Knight's Cross in rare cases. Unit commanders could also be awarded the medal for exemplary conduct by the unit as a whole.

Joachim Peiper Knights Cross

Grades

The Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross was divided into five grades, excluding the Grand Cross of the Iron Cross:

  • Knights Cross
  • Knights Cross with Oak Leaves
  • Knights Cross with Oak Leaves and swords
  • Knights Cross with Oak Leaves, Swords and Diamonds
  • Knights Cross with Golden Oak Leaves, Swords and Diamonds

Knights Cross with Oak Leaves, Swords and Diamonds

Knight's Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords

Josef Dietrich Knight's Cross with Oak Leaves

Knight's Cross with Oak Leaves

Knight's Cross

SS Division (mot) and SS Infantry Regiment (mot) LSSAH

SS Panzer Regiment 1 LSSAH

SS Panzer Grenadier Regiment 1 LSSAH

SS Panzer Grenadier Regiment 2 LSSAH

SS Sturmgeschütz Battalion 1 LSSAH

SS Panzerjäger Battalion 1 LSSAH

SS Reconnaissance Battalion 1 LSSAH

SS Flak Artillerie Battalion 1 LSSAH

SS Training and Reserve Battalion 1 LSSAH

References

  1. ↑ Waffen-SS at Encyclopædia Britannica
  2. ↑ @ALEX Österreichische Nationalbibliothek Reichsgesetzblatt Teil I S. 1573; 1 September 1939
  3. ↑ @ALEX Österreichische Nationalbibliothek Reichsgesetzblatt Teil I S. 849; 3 June 1940
  4. ↑ @ALEX Österreichische Nationalbibliothek Reichsgesetzblatt Teil I S. 613; 28 September 1941
  5. ↑ @ALEX Österreichische Nationalbibliothek Reichsgesetzblatt 1945 I S. 11; 29 December 1944
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External links

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