APPENDIX A
Not one of the champions … was able to deliver us fromthe tyranny of the foreign hordes … because of the greatness of their bravery and ferocity.
Early tenth-century Irish chronicle, ‘Wars of the Irish with the Vikings’.
As with all things in the Wehrmacht, when it came to bravery awards there was a thorough system and process in place. Courage, and the citations and medals that went with it, were taken very seriously and based on a pyramid structure, with the Iron Cross being the standard basis of measurement, along with a series of specialist awards such as the Close Combat Badge, the Wound Badge etc. Up the pecking order from the Iron Cross was the German Cross, the Honour Roll Clasp and then finally on to the pinnacle, the Knight’s Cross. Most of the awards had at least two grades, with the Knight’s Cross having four; the Knight’s Cross itself, then awarded with Oak Leaves, then Swords and finally Diamonds.
Close Combat Day – (Nahkampftag)
A Close Combat Day was designated as fighting the enemy hand-to-hand. These days were acknowledged in a soldier’s individual Soldbuch by his superior officer and noted as such. The Norwegian volunteer, SS-Unterscharführer Sverre E.H Larsen, who also won the Iron Cross 1st Class and lost an arm during the retreat from Oranienbaum, was known as ‘Sverre Nahkampf’ due to his combat proficiency and the many close combat days he achieved.
Iron Cross – (Eisener Kreutz)
Awarded in two classes, the Iron Cross 2nd Class was authorised for a single act of bravery in combat beyond normal duty, some 2.3m were awarded during the war, including 214 to Finnish volunteers.
The Iron Cross 1st Class required you to already have the 2nd Class award and a further three to five additional acts of bravery; some 300,000 were awarded. Thirty-eight Norwegians, 16 Finns and 10 Swedes were among the recipients including Heinz Harmel’s personal radio operator, SS-Oberscharführer Sven-Erik Olsson.
Honour Roll Clasp of the German Army –
(Ehrungsblattspange des deutschen Heeres)
The Honour Roll Clasp required the recipient to have both classes of Iron Cross as a prerequisite, and was then awarded for an additional act of unusual bravery which just fell short of deserving a Knight’s Cross. Some 166 Waffen-SS soldiers won this prestigious award including five Scandinavians – the Swede Hans-Gösta Pehrsson for his leadership and courage in the fighting for the hill at Trekni in 1944, the Danes Alfred Jonstrup and Per Sörensen in Courland, and the two Finnish machine-gunners Kalevi Kønønen and Yrjø Pyytia in the Caucasus.
German Cross – (Deutsches Kreuz)
Awarded in two classes, the lower being Silver, the higher in Gold. This award was instituted by Hitler personally as a median award between the Iron Cross and a full-blown Knight’s Cross. It only required the winner to already have the Iron Cross 2nd Class, and was awarded for repeated acts of exceptional bravery in combat that did not merit a Knight’s Cross. One thousand and sixteen Waffen-SS soldiers won this award, including Fredrik Jensen who in so doing became the most decorated Norwegian Waffen-SS volunteer of the war.
There were 20 men in the Waffen-SS who held both the Honour Roll Clasp and the German Cross in Gold; seven were in the SS-Wiking Division (one then served in the Nordland in the 1st Battalion the SS-Norge Regiment), and two in the SS-Nordland Division (one having served in the Horst Wessel Division first) and the other being Per Sörensen.
Knight’s Cross – (Ritterkreuz)
Highly coveted, this was the highest award for bravery available to members of the Wehrmacht. Worn on a ribbon around the neck it was colloquially known as ‘curing your throat ache’. While it could be earned by all ranks for exceptional acts of courage, it was also awarded to officers as recognition of the deeds of the units under their command; hence many were earned by battalion, regimental and divisional commanders. No Norwegians, Swedes or Finns won the Knight’s Cross, but three Danes did; SS-Unterscharführer Egon Christophersen for his bravery at Narva, SS-Untersturmführer Sören Kam on 7 February 1945 while serving with the SS-Wiking, and SS-Obersturmführer Johannes Hellmers (who also won the German Cross in Gold) on 5 March 1945 while serving with the Dutch SS-Nederland Division during the Fourth Battle of Courland. Hellmers was commanding the De Ruyter’s 6th Company when it was dug-in around the town of Kaleti. Subjected to furious attacks from large formations of Russian infantry and armour, Hellmers personally led counter-attack after counter-attack to keep the Soviets at bay. As a direct result the line held and a major disaster was averted.