APPENDIX 1

THE AWARDS OF HYAZINTH GRAF VON STRACHWITZ

GRAF VON STRACHWITZ WAS ONE OF THE MOST DECOrated soldiers in the German armed forces. His decorations were centred around the Order of the Iron Cross, which was instituted in 1813 by the Prussian Emperor Frederick Wilhelm III to reward officers and men in the wars of liberation against the French under Napoleon Bonaparte. Designed by the architect Kalfred Schinkel, it was based on the black cross worn by the German Order, more often called the Teutonic Knights, who conquered medieval Prussia.

Schinckel’s design was a silver cross pattée with an iron centre painted or enamelled black, edged in silver or white. It came in three grades, the Grand Cross, Iron Cross (1st Class) and (2nd Class). Some 16,000 Iron Crosses (2nd Class), 670 Iron Crosses (1st Class) and seven Grand Crosses were awarded of the 1813 institution.

The Order was re-instituted on 19 July 1870 at the time of the Franco-Prussian War. The 2nd Class was given out 41,770 times, including 3,500 to non-combatants, among whom were four British officers, including Surgeon-General W.G.N. Manley, a Victoria Cross recipient who had been in charge of an ambulance unit. The Iron Cross (1st Class) was awarded on 1,300 occasions and the Grand Cross eight times, including one to General Field Marshall von Manteuffel a relative of the Grossdeutschland Division commander in World War II, Hasso von Manteuffel.

With the advent of World War I, Kaiser Wilhelm II reinstituted the Iron Cross on 5 August 1914. As with the previous 1870 Order it was open to all Germans, although the individual German states continued to award their own bravery awards and medals. Hyazinth Graf von Strachwitz was awarded both the 1st and 2nd Class of the 1914 Iron Cross. At that early stage of the war it was still a relatively scarce award and considered quite a feat to receive both grades so quickly. By the time the war was over on 11 November 1918, 163,000–250,000 Iron Crosses (1st Class) had been awarded and a staggering 4,000,000–5,000,000 of the 2nd Class.¹ Only five Grand Crosses were presented, including one to the Kaiser, which was given to him at the “request” of his generals.

The premier bravery award during World War I was the Pour le Mérite, nicknamed the Blue Max, which, unlike its World War II replacement, the Knight’s Cross, was reserved exclusively for officers. A total of 687 Pour le Mérites were awarded during World War I, a very small number compared to the Knight’s Cross, but it must be remembered that each German state issued its own awards, so the Kaiser could afford to be parsimonious with the Pour le Mérite.

Von Strachwitz’s reckless courage might well have earned him a Pour le Mérite had he not been captured so early in the war. Hermann Goering, Manfred von Richthofen, the Graf’s classmate from Lichterfelde, Erwin Rommel, Ferdinand Schörner and Robert Ritter von Greim, last chief of the Luftwaffe, were all prominent wearers of the Pour le Mérite. Hans Hube just missed out as the war ended before his recommendation could be approved.²

Adolf Hitler renewed the Iron Cross on 1 September 1939. His decree began as follows: “After arriving at the conclusion that the German people must be called to arms in defence of an imminent attack I will renew for the sons of Germany, as in the past great wars in the defence of the home and Fatherland, the Order of the Knight Cross.”³

He decreed five classes:

Iron Cross (2nd Class), worn in full on the day of the award and thereafter as a ribbon in the buttonhole or ribbon bar, unless in full on formal occasions.

Iron Cross (1st Class), worn as a breast badge.

Knight’s Cross, worn as a neck decoration.

Knight’s Cross with Oak Leaves, both worn as a neck decoration.

Grand Cross, a much larger version of the Knight’s Cross, also worn around the neck. The Pour le Mérite was abolished with the Knight’s Cross with Oak Leaves effectively replacing it, although World War I recipients were entitled to wear the decoration in full during World War II, and all in fact did so.

In addition Hitler instituted in 1939 a clasp for those who had received the Iron Cross 1st or 2nd Class in World War I, and who were awarded one or both decorations again in World War II. It consisted of a silver eagle with wings outstretched, clasping a Swastika in its talons, with the year 1939 inscribed in a plaque below the swastika. Both clasps were awarded to Graf von Strachwitz who was awarded both classes of the Iron Cross in World War II. This meant he wore the black and white 1914 ribbon of Iron Cross (2nd Class) in his buttonhole with the 1939 clasp appended to it and his 1914 Iron Cross (1st Class) on his breast with the 1939 clasp pinned above it. It was a far more sensible solution than wearing two Iron Crosses of the same grade. Any World War I Iron Cross recipient not awarded a World War II Iron Cross simply wore the original 1914 ribbon or cross.

As the war progressed, the need arose for higher grades of the Knight’s Cross to reward further acts of courage and/or leadership. On 21 June 1941 Hitler instituted the Swords to be attached to the Knight’s Cross with Oak Leaves, with fighter ace Adolf Galland the first recipient, being awarded the Swords on the very day of its institution.⁴ Soon after, on 15 July 1941, Hitler proclaimed the award of the Diamonds to the Knight’s Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords. This was until 1945 the highest gallantry and military leadership award of the Third Reich.

A new Knight’s Cross was not presented with each grade after the original Knight’s Cross award. Instead the Oak Leaves, Oak Leaves with Swords, and Oak Leaves with Swords and Diamonds were all presented as a separate piece on each occasion in its own case, and having then to be attached to the original Knight’s Cross. The Diamonds were studded in the Oak Leaves and sword hilts, weighing in total 2.7 carats.⁵ Unlike the others, the Diamonds were not machine made, but individually handcrafted by a jeweller. Virtually all the Diamonds winners wore copies with paste diamonds, in order to preserve their original awards.

From the Iron Cross (1st Class) upwards, the actual decoration was worn on the uniform even during combat, rather than just a ribbon as was common in most other armies. This had several significant benefits. Firstly, the wearer’s courage, experience and/or leadership was clearly on display, a personal source of pride for the wearer and, in its higher grades, for his unit. The medals and decorations also informed any observer that they were in the presence of a man of proven bravery and combat experience. This was a confidence boost to others before going into battle, as Gunter Koschorrek recounts:

The three men from the ATG (anti-tank gun) crew are still being thanked by another group of soldiers. The Geschützführer (gun commander) is an unter-offizier. On his breast he is wearing the Iron Cross (1st Class) and the Silver Wound Badge proving that he has some experience behind him. In our eyes he is a hero, and had he not got the Iron Cross he would certainly be awarded one now.⁶

This also illustrates a gap in the German awards system. The Iron Cross (1st Class) and Iron Cross (2nd Class) could only be awarded once, so subsequent acts of bravery often went unrecognised. If a soldier, like the paratrooper Martin Pöppel, received his awards early in the war, then there was little left to reward him, as the German Cross in Gold and Knight’s Cross required higher standards than that for an Iron Cross (1st Class). Pöppel got his Iron Cross in 1940 during the invasion of Holland. He took part in the paratroop assault on Crete and while his comrades were awarded the Iron Cross, “I received as consolation one of the relatively few Crete Commemorative badges from General Student.”⁷ This unofficial badge highlights the problem of subsequent rewards. Pöppel was fortunate, most soldiers simply got a handshake and a bottle of wine or schnapps if they were lucky. By comparison, if he had been in the US Army he could have received an additional Bronze or Silver Star.

A similar situation existed with the Knight’s Cross, where a large gap existed between the Swords and the Diamonds. Someone given the Swords early in the war cold go unrewarded for further acts of gallantry or numerous tank or aircraft kills, as the Diamonds were the highest decoration generally given, and were extremely rare. The case of Lieutenant Colonel Heinz Baer (Bär) is a classic example. He fought in the Battles of France and Britain scoring 17 victories, and being shot down over the Channel once. He went to Russia in 1941, rapidly building his score to 60, earning the Knight’s Cross on 2 July 1941 and the Oak Leaves on 14 August 1941. By February 1942 he had 90 victories, including seven in one day, and was awarded the Swords. After this he went on to shoot down six more Russian aircraft and 107 British and American planes, including 24 heavy bombers. In all he flew over 1,000 missions, shot down 244 aircraft, was shot down 18 times, commanded the elite JG77, and was the highest scorer flying the Me-262 jet, with 16 kills. Despite this impressive record, the Diamonds eluded him, and he received no recognition after the Swords.

Not all troops were proud of their officers’ decorations, especially the Knight’s Cross and its higher grades, as Günter Koschorrek bitterly pointed out:

We soldiers know how it is with the handing out of decorations. One for all, they say—and the “one” is always the chief and the superior. When the chiefs are taken care of, then, something can also be dished out to the Indians. For example if a regular soldier is written up for an IC1, [Iron Cross 1st Class] then he really must have risked his neck. As a result, we the frontschwein, do not rate the decorations awarded to our superiors as highly as those at home do. Officers’ decorations are usually awarded on the basis of what their soldiers contribute, when, en masse, they manage to save their officers’ necks. In general, no one quarrels with this system as long as the superior has demonstrated his ability to lead. Unfortunately, I have also met those who never remotely deserved their decorations based on their own performance.⁸

The above comments highlight the fact that the Iron Cross Order was not only bestowed for courage in the field, but for leadership and the performance of a fighting unit as well. So the award of a Knight’s Cross could reward a single act of courage or a superlative display of leadership. An example of the former is Flemish SS volunteer Remy Schrijnen, who while wounded manned an anti-tank gun on his own and destroyed seven Russian T-34s. An example of the latter is Leon Degrelle, who by his own initiative and courageous leadership prevented a Russian breakthrough. For a general such as Rommel, von Manstein and Guderian, it was for winning a major battle or leading a formation that achieved significant results, as von Strachwitz did in eliminating the Eastsack and Westsack salients in the Baltics. Overall the Graf’s awards were for a combination of personal courage as in Barbarossa and the Stalingrad and Kharkov battles, along with his higher command results with Army Group North.

A junior officer or enlisted man invariably gained their Knight’s Cross for outstanding valour, although quite often a junior officer could and did, halt a Soviet advance by mounting a rapid counter-attack or cobbling together an ad-hoc blocking unit. Many higher commanders admitted that their Knight’s Crosses were due to the courage and fighting ability of their troops, and their men often felt proud of the award for this very reason. Nevertheless it was the commander who wore the decoration and not the men. Some commanders, such as SS General Sepp Dietrich who won the Diamonds, achieved little themselves, owing their award almost exclusively to their troops, in his case principally the SS Leibstandarte division. One only has to look at the commanders and Knight’s Cross winners in his division—Kurt Meyer, Joachim Peiper, Fritz Witt, Theodor Wisch, Max Hansen to name a few—to see where the grades of his Knight’s Cross really came from.

It would therefore be inaccurate to say that the roll of Diamonds winners is a pantheon of heroes. It was in fact a combined roll of superlative leaders and heroes, notable also for its omissions, such as Gerd Barkihorn, the 301-kill Luftwaffe ace, Kurt Buhligen (112 kills), Wilhelm Batz (237 kills), Heinrich Baer (220 kills), Joachim Brendel (189 kills), and others.

In other nations a distinction between valour and leadership was made, e.g. the American Medal of Honour and British Victoria Cross, given for outstanding courage only. Nevertheless the leadership requirement for the Knight’s Cross had to be extraordinary, and very often meant great personal risk and courage to the recipient. Graf von Strachwitz clearly demonstrated examples of both outstanding courage and leadership. Where his achievements were for the leadership role they were carried out with heavily outnumbered, understrength and often ad-hoc forces and involved inspired leadership from the front, undertaken at great personal risk. He always managed to achieve a great deal with very little in the way of resources, but a great deal in the way of initiative, courage, tactical knowledge and imagination. In all of the actions for which he received his awards, he personally made the difference, and it was not just a case of being rewarded for the fighting qualities and abilities of his soldiers.

Fighter and bomber pilots earned their decorations on a points system: for planes shot down in the case of fighters, and missions flown for bomber and ground-attack pilots, although a single act of great skill or courage could short-circuit the system. Hajo Herrmann, a bomber expert, is a case in point. His attack on allied shipping in Piraeus harbour destroyed the ammunition-carrying ship Clan Fraser. The subsequent cataclysmic explosion destroyed 10 other ships, totalling 41,000 tons, and demolished the harbour, rendering it out of commission for months. It was a major blow for the Allied cause.⁹ Another example is Hans Ulrich Rudel, who sank the Russian battleship Murat in Kronstadt harbour, in a brilliant piece of dive-bombing while under intense anti-aircraft fire. Erich Hartmann got his Diamonds for 352 aerial victories, Hans-Joachim Marseille for 158 kills (all British, the majority in North Africa). The amassing of aerial kills involved maintaining one’s flying skills, superb marksmanship and nerve over a sustained period. The fighter pilots earned their awards through personal effort, and not through the efforts of others.

Soldiers, pilots, and submariners all coveted the Iron Cross, although this didn’t apply to the Iron Cross (2nd Class) which was a relatively easy award to obtain. An idea of the relative values of the Iron Cross 1st and 2nd Class can be gauged by General Scherer’s request for these decorations to be dropped into his besieged fortress of Cholm in 1942. The Luftwaffe sent him 400 Iron Crosses (2nd Class) and only 40 1st Class.¹⁰ Certainly, however, the Iron Cross (1st Class) and the Knight’s Cross were particularly admired and sought after. Fighter pilots deliberately set out to acquire the Knight’s Cross and its higher grades, with Gerd Barkhorn, a 301-kill ace, lamenting after the war that he never received the Diamonds, as the points required always increased as soon as he drew close to the award.

Kurt Knispel, the highest-scoring tank ace of the war, with 169 kills as a gunner and then commander, never even received the Knight’s Cross, although tank aces with lower scores did so. His omission was largely attributed to his not getting on with his battalion commander. The whims of a commander could make all the difference to an award. Some commanders deliberately didn’t write up subordinates for awards, instead claiming all the credit for a particular action or result for themselves and ensuring their own promotion or award. So the awards system did not always operate as fairly or even-handedly as it should. Nevertheless it was a major motivating factor. Pilots vying for the Knight’s Cross were said to be afflicted with a sore throat or neck ache, so it was generally accepted among the experten in the Luftwaffe to be a major incentive to go out and get kills.

The desirability of earning awards, especially the Iron Cross, certainly played a greater part in the German armed forces than it did in other armies, and should not be discounted as a reason for the Wehrmacht’s outstanding performance. Even the Iron Cross (1st Class) inspired officers and men to excel, and keep fighting, as the young officer Armin Scheiderbauer pointed out:

For the time being I had to go to the front line again. I had enough of the barracks, its many shirkers and its defeatists …

I had an additional determining factor. I had won the Iron Cross Second Class, the Infanteriesturmabzeichen i.e. the infantry assault badge, in silver, and the Verwundetenabzeichen i.e. the wound badge. But I did not have the coveted decoration of the Iron Cross First Class and a hoped for Nahkampfspange, i.e. the close combat clasp. Without those, it appeared to me you were not a “proper” infantry officer. I had therefore voluntarily signed myself “kv” i.e. fit again, which the medical officer would not have done.¹¹

TOTAL AWARDS OF THE IRON CROSS DURING WORLD WAR II

Graf von Strachwitz was a relatively early recipient of the Knight’s Cross. The first non-General award was to Günter Prien, on 18 October 1939, for the sinking of the British battleship Royal Oak at Scapa Flow.

There is contention over some recipients who received their award at the end of the war, being approved by army or army group commanders, such as Ferdinand Schörner or Sepp Dietrich, who made and approved several awards on the very last days of the war. The chaotic conditions at war’s end, loss of documentation, and above all the singular lack of time remaining for an approval to go through official channels all played a part in the awards and their controversies afterwards. Poor record-keeping meant that some awards were not officially made until long after the war was over, with at least one recipient not even being aware that he had been recommended, let alone approved.

Graf von Strachwitz was an early recipient of the Oak Leaves, being presented with them by Hitler at the Führer Headquarters Wolfsschanze sometime shortly after 13 November 1942. Of those awarded the Oak Leaves, 234 were killed in action. Graf von Strachwitz was the 27th recipient of the Swords. He was awarded his Swords by Hitler, together with General Major Georg Postel, who was given the Oak Leaves (215th recipient). Thirty-eight Swords wearers were killed in action.

Graf von Strachwitz was the 11th recipient of the Diamonds. Hitler presented them to von Strachwitz at his Bavarian mountain retreat, the Berghof, on 15 April 1944. His former divisional commander Hans Valentin Hube received his Diamonds five days later, being the 13th recipient. It was while returning from this ceremony that Hube was killed when his plane crashed. Other notable recipients included Lieutenant Erich Hartmann, Luftwaffe Squadron Leader 12/JG52, with 352 aerial victories (awarded 25 August 1944); Korvette Kapitan Wolfgang Luth, commander of U-81, sinking 47 ships, 221,981 tons (awarded 9 August 1943), however he and the other naval recipient sank fewer ships with lower tonnage than U-boat ace Otto Kretschmer, who sank 56 ships totalling 313,611 tons, but only received the Swords for his efforts. Nine Diamonds wearers were killed during the war.

The majority of Knight’s Cross winners, from Oak Leaves and above, also earned the German Cross in gold. This was an intermediate award to bridge the rather large gap of award criteria for an Iron Cross (1st Class) and the Knight’s Cross. There was also a large gap between the 1st Class and German Cross, hence the problem of rewarding servicemen who had earned the first two grades of the Iron Cross still remained. There was a silver wreathed version of the German Cross but it was generally awarded for noncombat achievements. Many servicemen were submitted for a Knight’s Cross, only to have the recommendation downgraded to a German Cross in Gold of which some 24,204 were awarded during World War II. Graf von Strachwitz was one of the few Swords wearers who did not receive the German Cross. This could be because all his actions which were written up as meriting an award were sufficient for a higher grade of the Knight’s Cross rather than the lower-grade German Cross. In several books, articles and websites he is mentioned as being awarded the German Cross in Gold because it was common—almost expected of a Swords or Diamonds wearer—to have this award. There was also confusion because his eldest son, also called Hyazinth, did receive a German Cross in Gold.

The value and significance of the Knight’s Cross becomes clear when it is considered that there were some 17,800,000 men in the German armed forces during World War II, of whom some 13,000,000 were in the army. Far less than 0.1% of those in the army, just 4,524, received the Knight’s Cross.¹⁴ It should be mentioned that a significant number of Knight’s Crosses were awarded to NCOs and enlisted men, a total of 1,676. Junior officers—captain and below—received 3,413 awards, so the higher officers were a distinct minority.

The Diamonds were not the highest bravery or service award. This distinction went to the Knight’s Cross with Golden Oak Leaves, Swords and Diamonds which was instituted in December 1944, which was to be awarded to a maximum of 12 combatants. In the event only one was given out, to Hans Ulrich Rudel who received it on 1 January 1945. This experten flew over 2,500 combat missions, destroyed 519 tanks, sank one battleship, two cruisers, one destroyer, shot down 11 Soviet aircraft and destroyed more than 1,000 vehicles of all types. He was shot down 31 times and wounded five times. He also landed and rescued several of his comrades who were shot down. His record is unique, and surpasses that of any other flier in the world, past or present, and is unlikely ever to be surpassed. His last missions were flown against Hitler’s express orders, after his right leg had been amputated below the knee. He destroyed 26 Soviet tanks on these last missions, and his kills were credited to his squadron so his superiors would not find out that he was still flying. One could call him a Nazi—he was a staunch but apolitical admirer of Hitler as his memoir Stuka Pilot shows—but in truth he was a fervent nationalist, who was supremely good at his job. Von Strachwitz was in a similar mould, a born fighting man. It is more than fitting that the two warriors fought together in some battles, at Kursk, and in the Baltics and Upper Silesia.

Von Strachwitz’s other awards are worth mentioning. The Tank Assault Badge in Gold for 100 engagements was instituted in June 1943, and only around 14 were awarded, all in 1944 and 1945, to men of the panzer arm. The badge consisted of a Panzer III surrounded by a gold wreath with a plaque inscribed with the number 100. A similar badge was awarded with plaques for 75, 50, and 25 engagements, becoming more common as the number of tank actions dropped. The basic award with bronze wreath and no numerals was awarded after three separate combat days. Wearers of the 25 engagements badge were numerous, it was only with the 75 engagements did it become scarce, and rare for the 100. A total of 22,000 silver badges were issued during the war covering three to 50 engagements. There were only a few hundred in the 50 and 75 categories. The 14 wearers of the “100” were, like the Diamonds holders, a very small elite band indeed.

Of those who received the “100” badge, only Kurt Knispel, 503rd Heavy Panzer Battalion, may have achieved more kills than the Panzer Graf. Knispel’s total was 168, while von Strachwitz’s tally was somewhere between 150 and 200. Graf von Strachwitz is not usually found in lists of tank aces as he did not keep score, so that his tally is an estimate only. Based on the number of engagements he took part in, his tally may have been closer to the 200 mark. Sean McAteer credits von Strachwitz with 200 kills.¹⁵ He was always in the thick of the action, usually ambushing a much larger Russian force with often only a handful of tanks. He also commanded a properly equipped tank rather than a command tank. He also added to his kill tally while serving with Army Group North. The Panzer Graf was responsible for destroying many hundreds of Russian vehicles, probably in excess of a thousand, as in one action alone his small force took out over 300 vehicles together with a large number of anti-tank guns and artillery pieces. The German tankers didn’t often bother counting vehicles destroyed as a personal tally except for purposes of unit records. Many German aces also destroyed large numbers of anti-tank guns which were a dangerous adversary and often harder to “kill” than a tank. SS ace Michael Wittman is credited with destroying over 130 anti-tank guns.

Almost all of the recipients of the Tank Assault badge in Gold were from heavy panzer battalions. These were equipped with Tiger tanks; however, the aces from these battalions also acquired kills while serving in prior units using medium tanks or even assault guns. For instance Michael Wittman started out with Stug.III assault guns. Balthazar Woll and Kurt Knispel scored many of their kills as tank gunners as well as tank commanders. A gunner was vital in scoring kills, so tallies as a gunner count to an individual total. No matter how skilled the commander in placing his tank for the greatest effect, without a skilled gunner those command skills could often be wasted, or worse, result in his own tank being hit by a quicker, more accurate adversary. A tank commander and gunner were both indispensible for success. For this reason Michael Wittman insisted that his gunner Balthasar Woll also be awarded a Knight’s Cross. Most ace tank commanders began their careers as gunners. Fritz Lang was Germany’s top scoring assault gun ace with 112 kills. In addition, there were at least 11 tank aces with between 50 and 100 kills and numerous aces with a score below 50.

Von Strachwitz’s other badge of note was the gold wound badge, awarded for five or more wounds. One to two wounds merited a black badge, two to four, in silver. Given the intensity of the fighting and the length of the war, the Gold Wound Badge was not uncommon, nevertheless it was highly valued by its recipients, including the Graf. However, not all ascribed any value to it. Some armchair generals who had never faced the enemy or suffered front-line hardships regarded it with derision, as General Guderian related in his memoir. He was defending a brave newly promoted lieutenant colonel, whom Hitler wished to demote to a mere lieutenant:

Tried and trusted officers as the front were, in the heat of the moment and without any proper inquiry, being demoted one or more ranks. I saw this happen to the commander of an anti-tank battalion, a man who had been wounded seven times and had won the Golden Decoration for Wounds… . An important personage who during the course of the whole war had never once seen the front, thereupon remarked drily: “The Golden Decoration for Wounds means absolutely nothing!”¹⁶

Yet it did for every front-line soldier, and was the mark of a true veteran. Hitler himself had a high regard for it; he always wore his Wound Badge in Black for being gassed in World War I, one of only three decorations he ever wore, the other two being his World War I Iron Cross (1st Class), and Gold Party Badge.

Hitler personally awarded the Knight’s Cross to his field marshals and senior generals, but only to lower ranks for propaganda purposes or to a particular favourite of his, or someone he wished to meet. The higher grades of Knight’s Cross he awarded personally, although towards the end of the war some Oak Leaves were awarded by his subordinates; for instance, Otto Carius was presented with his Oak Leaves by Heinrich Himmler.

For his awards of Swords and Diamonds, von Strachwitz went to Berchtesgaden, being flown there in a Focke Wulf 200 Condor transport, accompanied by his wife Alda. The Panzer Graf would have found Hitler much changed from when he met him to receive his Diamonds.¹⁷ Von Strachwitz would also have seen how much security had increased since the July bomb attempt. SS guards were ever present and when the Graf reached into his pocket, his wrist was quickly and firmly grasped. He slowly withdrew his hand to show the handkerchief he was reaching for.¹⁸

Each of von Strachwitz’s Knight’s Cross awards also meant publicity, particularly his Diamonds award, which was his last home leave period while still healthy. The local press did an article, and he had to pose for an official portrait which was used for a postcard. These cards were avidly collected by many Germans, the most popular being those of the dashing young fighter pilots and U-boat commanders. Naturally the Graf’s hometown and surrounding areas were particularly impressed so that he had to meet delegations and review parades of Hitler Youth and the League of German Girls, as well as other groups. He also gave radio interviews. All this publicity attracted a great deal of fan mail, which he replied to, assisted by his eldest son who was also on leave, and his daughter-in-law. It also meant attending numerous functions, parties and presentations. Best of all however, was the period of leave he received, which he could spend with his wife who also accompanied him to the various social and public functions. The time spent with his eldest son, who as a serving officer rarely got home, was particularly welcome. It would have been a period of tranquillity, the last he would enjoy before injury and captivity claimed him.

The Panzer Graf also wore his Grossdeutschland cuff title as an honorific even after he had left the division.

The official recognition of the Silesian Eagle in 1933 did not include the Swords and Oak Leaves, and so were worn unofficially only.

1.  Numbers cited for awards in all periods are approximate only. Sources vary as to the actual numbers involved while the exact numbers are unknown. The major sources for Iron Cross data are: Gordon Williamson, The Iron Cross: a History 1815–195J (Bland-ford Press, UK, 1985); John R. Angolia, For Führer and Fatherland: Military Awards of the Third Reich (R.J. Bender Publishing, USA, 2nd ed, 1985); John R. Angolia, On the Field of Honour: A History of the Knight’s Cross Bearers Vols 1 & 2 (R. J. Bender Publishing, 1980).

2.  John R. Angolia and Clint R. Hackney Jr, The Pour le Merite and Germany’s First Aces (Hackney Publishing, USA, 1984).

3.  Gordon Williamson, The Iron Cross.

4.  J. R. Angolia, For Führer and Fatherland.

5.  J. R. Angolia, On the Field of Honour Vol 1.

6.  Günter Koschorrek, Blood Red Snow, p.97.

7.  Martin Pöppel (trans. Dr L. Willmot), Heaven & Hell: The War Diary of a German paratrooper (Spellmount Publishing, 1996).

8.  Koschorrek, Blood Red Snow.

9.  Hajo Herrmann, Eagle’s Wings (Airlife Publishing, 1991).

10. Jason D. Marks, Besieged (Leaping Horseman Press).-

11. Adventures in My Youth, p. 83.

12. Sources vary as to the exact number, Bender cites 3,000,000. The exact number is unknown. Despite the high number awarded, it is nevertheless a grade higher than a campaign medal or shield. It had to be earned by a specific action or a series of actions over a period.

13. Again figures vary, John R. Angolia cites 450,000 while Gordon Williamson lists 750,000.

14. Gordon Williamson.

15. Panzer Leader, p. 407.

16. Sean McAteer, 500 Days: The War in Eastern Europe, 1944–1945.

17. Panzer Leader, p. 442.

18. Von Gersdörff, Soldier in the Downfall.