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Jan 5, 2018 · Strachwitz had already earned the Iron Cross in WWI, for a spectacular long-range raid into France and his escape attempts as a POW. During WWII, he was awarded the Knight’s Cross with Oak Leaves, Swords, and Diamonds.
The Iron Cross was awarded to soldiers during the Wars of Liberation against Napoleon. Before a soldier could be awarded with the Iron Cross 1st Class, he needed to have been decorated with the Iron Cross 2nd Class. It was first awarded to Karl August Ferdinand von Borcke on 21 April 1813.
Apr 2, 2024 · From the time of its creation until the end of World War I, 5,719,300 Iron Crosses first and second class were awarded. During World War II, Hitler decreed the Cross could be conferred on Germans and citizens of countries allied with Germany for exceptional bravery and/or leadership
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Jan 3, 2016 · The Grand Cross of the Iron Cross, which was twice the size of the first and second class medals, was reserved for generals and marshals who made “outstanding strategic decisions affecting the course of [a] war.” Hermann Goering won the only Grand Cross given out in World War Two.
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.
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In addition to the Napoleonic Wars, the Iron Cross was awarded during the Franco-Prussian War, World War I, and World War II. In 1939 Adolf Hitler added a "marching swastika" in the center of the cross and reinstituted it in its original three classes, with the addition of the Knight’s Cross.
The award was instituted on 1 September 1939, at the onset of the German invasion of Poland. The award was created to replace the many older merit and bravery neck awards of the German Empire. A higher grade, the Oak Leaves to the Knight's Cross, was instituted in 1940.
