Awards (OL, Sw. & Diam.) personally bestowed by Hitler

Dieter Zinke · Post by **Dieter Zinke** » 08 Apr 2004 16:02

freiherr wrote:Hi Oberstab,

Would you kindly post this? Never seen this before.

thanks
Freiherr

Sorry Freiherr,

the copyright is with John R. Angolia, 1980.

Happy Easter
Oberstab

Elwyn W · Post by **Elwyn W** » 10 Apr 2004 16:22

Hi Oberstab and John,

Good catch, John. It's Hans Jordan. Traut had the glasses but a rounder face

As to this............
The pic "25/05/44, Obersalzberg", displayed on "on the Field of Honor" (volume 2 - see entry for von Brese)

shows from left to right:
-?-, -?-, Griesbach, Hitler, Postel (?), Friedrich Schulz, Baade, Schwender, von Brese, Hogrebe.

Fortunately, Friedrich Schulz being a GenLt (EL428) and was standing as 5th from the left made guessing a but easier.

My other candidates for 4th from left are:
Gen Theodor Schoerner #398
GenLt August Schmidt #371 ( Maybe he had too much hair for the gen in the pic )
Gen Maximillian Fretter Pico #368
GenLt Gustav Schmidt #203

Could be Postel too. He would be standing ahead of Gen/GenLt not because of rank -- he was a GenMj -- but he was Sword#57

Third from left ..... I agree he did look like Griesbach. If he WERE Griesbach, then could well be Sword winners for 1st and 2nd from left as Griesbach was an Oberst when he was swords #53 and he was standing at a more senior position than the Gen/GenLt and Schulz.

That leaves two sword winners:
Dietrcih von Saucken S46 GenLt 01.04.43 ( right hair, right physique, hint of monocle on left eye )
Gerhard Graf von Schwerin S 41 GenLt 01.06.43 ( more junior GenLt, barrel-chested ) But has anyone ever seen von Schwerin without a hat?

cheers
Freiherr

Dieter Zinke · Post by **Dieter Zinke** » 10 Apr 2004 17:51

Lieber Freiherr (my happy man),

here are Friedrich Schulz und Graf Schwerin without had.
There is also another pic showing the oakleaves for Griesbach in 1943 together with (from left to right) -?- , Löwrick, Griesbach, Assmann, Hitler, Bärenfänger, Dieckmann, -?-, Kruse.

Sincerely
Oberstab

Elwyn W · Post by **Elwyn W** » 10 Apr 2004 19:06

Hi Oberstab,

Here is from the other side of the room.... your missing man is Niggemeyer.

For the record:

ObstLt Karl Löwrick #247
Mj Franz Griesbach #242 ... would have missed him from this angle!
(Neither Alois Assmann nor Walter Assmann made it to EL)
Mj Hans Günther von Stotten #236
Hptm Erich Bärenfänger #243
StbFhr August Dieckmann #233 ( Why was he standing behind a hptm?)
ObLt Wilhelm Niggemeyer #241
ObFwb Ernst Kruse #245

Never seen a decent closeup pic of von Stotten. Perhaps Paal could be persuaded to show us his clor pic?

Cheers
Freiherr

Waland66 · Post by **Waland66** » 10 Apr 2004 19:41

hi!

Don't have a close up picture in color (ehh well i have some, but not portrait), just this one:

regards
Paal

Waland66 · Post by **Waland66** » 10 Apr 2004 19:58

13.02.1944 Führerhaupquartier Rastenburg:

Bärenfänger gets his Swords

Regards
Paal

Elwyn W · Post by **Elwyn W** » 10 Apr 2004 20:31

Thanks Paal!

Is this what Denis is referring to? I apologize for the quality. But this is all I have.
1. Couldn't make out the face too well of the first from left -- a KpLt, so Liebe?
2. Herbert Emil Schultze?
3. a KpLt. Look at the profile at http://www.uboat.net. Most likely Endrass

Cheers
Freiherr

Waland66 · Post by **Waland66** » 10 Apr 2004 20:59

Hi!

On 2. february of 1944, Michael Wittmann received Oak Leafs to his Knights Cross from Führer's hands, in "Führerhauptquartier Wolfsschanze" (Wolfslair - Rastenburg in East Prussia) and 25.06.44 receives the Swords from Hitler at the Berghof.

Regards
Paal

Waland66 · Post by **Waland66** » 10 Apr 2004 23:24

Hi!

At the same time Gille got his swords and Degrelle got his Knights Cross, Theobald Lieb received the 400. Oakleaves personally by Hitler.

Regards
Paal

Elwyn W · Post by **Elwyn W** » 11 Apr 2004 03:42

Some more:

Mj Werner Streib?? #232
Mj Gustav Roedel #255
Maj Hajo Herrmann #269
Hptm Heinrich Ehrler #265
Hptm Werner Schroer #268
ObLt Joachim Kirschner?? #267

Cheers
Freiherr

Elwyn W · Post by **Elwyn W** » 11 Apr 2004 15:55

freiherr wrote:Gee, I can see this interests only Denis, Hans and Daniel! I think it is damn interesting!

date unknown
as far as I can seen on the photo, there are 5 WH officers, from left to right :
- unidentified WH officer ............Hptm Kilian Weimer EL478
- Max Sachsenheimer (OL) .........Hptm, EL472
- unidentified WH officer.............Hptm Wilhelm Drewes EL458
- Walter Elflein (OL) ...................ObLt, EL347
- unidentified WH officer .............ObFwb Martin Hrustak EL473

Cheers
Freiherr

Hi Denis,

I don't remember where I got this but it was also posted at the Close Combat Clasp thread. This is from the other side of the room again. There were 6 more recipients to Kilian Weimer's right.

My guesses are:
(1) #456 GenObst Heinrich von Vietinghoff or
#486 GenLt Friedrich Hochbaum or
#439 Gen Fridolin von Senger und Etterlin
(2) #445 Gen Johannes Friessner or
#488 GenLt Alfons Hitter or
#457 GenMj Egon von Neindorff
(3) Unidentifiable
(4) #476 GenMj Rudolf Frhr von Waldenfels
(5) #467 ObstLt Erich Lorenz
(6) #468 ObstLt Fredirich Wilhelm Eggemann

Comments welcome.

Cheers
Freiherr

Denis · Post by **Denis** » 13 Apr 2004 10:39

Hello friends,
Many thanks again for your interesting additions.
I have updated the list by taking into account the new additions. I have included this time a date. If this latter one is unknown, I have inserted the latest bestowal date for all the present recipients. I have sorted the data by date. New elements are clearly identified by a caption in bold.

29/06/41
(location and position of the 3 officers are not known)
- Kaleu. Engelbert Endrass (14. EL)
- Kaleu. Henrich Liebe (OL) (13. EL)
- Kaleu. Herbert Schultze (OL) (15. EL)

NEW NEW NEW !!
After 16/01/42, location unknown
Heer ceremony
From left to right :
- Obst. Hans Jordan (59. EL)
- Obst. Karl Eibl (50. EL)
- Major Günther Hoffmann-Schönborn (49. EL)
- Rittm. Georg Freiherr von Boeselager (53. EL)
- Oblt. Karl-Heinz Noak (63. EL)

NEW NEW NEW !!
After 12/03/42, location unknown
LW ceremony
From left to right :
- Hans Philipp (8. Schwerter)
- Kurt Ubben (80. EL)
- Oblt. Max-Hellmuth Ostermann (81. EL)

2nd semester, 1942
LW ceremony
From left to right :
- undientified LW officer (should be a Schwerterträger)
- Oblt. Max-Hellmuth Ostermann (10. Schw.)
- Hptm. Helmut Lent (98. EL)
- Oblt. Heinrich Setz (102. EL)
- Oblt. Friedrich Geisshardt (101. EL)

26/09/42
- Rommel receives his Schwerter Große Urkunde

After 11/10/42, location unknown
WH-LW ceremony
From left to right :
- unidentified LW officer (bearing an Afrikakorps cufftitle)
- Hptm. Johannes Kümmel (133. EL)

After 28/11/42, location unknown
LW ceremony
From left to right :
- Oblt. Alwin Boerst (149. EL)
- Lt. Josef Wurmheller (146. EL)

NEW NEW NEW !!
After 23/12/42, FHQ, Vinnitsa
WH ceremony
From left to right :
- Oblt. Ekkehard Kylling Schmidt (150. EL)
- Hptm. Harald von Hirschfeld (164. EL)

After 08/01/43, location unknown
KM ceremony
From left to right :
- Kaleu. Friedrich Guggenberger (171. EL)
- Kaleu. Wolfgang Lüth (142. EL)
- Korv.Kapt. Karl-Friedrich Merten (147. EL)
- Kaleu. Werner Töniges (143. EL)

After 08/01/43, location unknown
LW ceremony
From left to right :
- Hptm. Bruno Dilley (174. EL)
- Major Ernst Kupfer (173. EL)

NEW NEW NEW !!
After 25/01/43, FHQ, Vinnitsa
WH ceremony
From left to right :
- Oblt. d.R. Georg Michael (187. EL)
- Hptm. d.R. Konrad Hupfer (136. EL)

After 08/02/43, Wolfsschanze
From left to right :
- Hptm. Erwin Fischer (191. EL)
- Hptm. Hermann Hogeback (192. EL)

NEW NEW NEW !!
After 17/05/43, location unknown
WH-WSS ceremony
From left to right :
- unidentified
- Obst. Karl Löwrick (247. EL)
- Obst. Franz Griesbach (242. EL)
- Hptm. Hans-Günther von Stotten (236. EL)
- Hptm. Erich Bärenfänger (243. EL)
- SS-Stubaf. August Dieckmann (233. EL)
- Oblt. d.R. Wilhelm Niggemeyer (241. EL)
- Ofw. Ernst Kruse (245. EL)

After 04/07/43, location unknown
KM ceremony
From left to right :
- Freg.Kapt. Gerhard von Kamptz (225. EL)
- Kaleu. Siegfried Wuppermann (226. EL)
- Kaleu. Otto von Bülow (234. EL)
- Kaleu. Georg Lassen (208. EL)
- Kaleu. Werner Henke (257. EL)

NEW NEW NEW !!
after 02/08/43, location unknown
LW ceremony
From left to right :
- Major Werner Streib ?? (197. EL)
- Major Gustav Rödel (255. EL)
- Major Hans-Joachim Herrmann ?? (269. EL)
- Hptm. Heinrich Ehrler (265. EL)
- Hptm. Werner Schroer (268. EL)
- Oblt. Joachim Kirschner (267. EL)

28/08/43, FHQ
Heer Ceremony
From left to right :
- Gen. d. Inf. Hans von Obstfelder (251. EL)
- Gen. d. Inf. Paul Laux (237. EL)
- Gen.Lt. Gustav Hoene (238. EL)
- Major Bruno Kahl (270. EL)
- Major Karl Langesee (211. EL)

NEW NEW NEW !!
After 04/09/43, location unknown
LW ceremony
From left to right :
- Hptm. Hartmann Grasser (288. EL)
- Hptm. Heinrich Prinz zu Sayn-Wittgenstein (290. EL)
- Oblt. Günther Rall (134. EL)
- Oblt. Walter Nowotny (293. EL)

After 07/09/43, location unknown
WSS ceremony
From left to right :
- SS-Staf. Heinz Harmel (296. EL)
- SS-Ostubaf. Otto Baum (277. EL)

15/10/43
- Wolfgang Lüth receives his Brillanten Große Urkunde

- After 03/10/43, location unknown
Heer Ceremony
From left to right :
- Oblt. Bodo Spranz (2182. RK + 308. EL)
- Gen. d. Pz.Tr. Joachim Lemelsen (294. EL)

december 1943, location unknown
KM ceremony
From left to right :
- Korv.Kapt. Friedrich Kemnade (249. EL)
- Kaleu. Carl Emmermann (256. EL)

NEW NEW NEW !!
After 10/12/43, location unknown
WH ceremony
From left to right :
- Gen.Major Hasso von Manteuffel (332. EL)
- Obstlt. Ernst Wellmann (342. EL)
- Obstlt. Willi Langkeit (348. EL)
- Obstlt. Karl Baacke (352. EL)

20/01/44, Wolfsschanze
14 LW officers receive their Schwertern grosse urkunden (sorted by alphabetical order)
- Heinrich Bär
- Werner Baumbach
- Alfred Druschel
- Adolf Galland
- Gordon Gollob
- Hermann Graf
- Joachim Helbig
- Herbert Ihlefeld
- Helmut Lent
- Günther Lützow
- Walter Nowotny
- Walter Oesau
- Dietrich Peltz
- Wolf-Dieter Wilcke

NEW NEW NEW !!
02/02/44, Rastenburg
WSS ceremony
- SS-Ustuf. Michäel Wittmann (380. EL)

13/02/44, Rastenburg
Heer ceremony
From left to right :
- Gen. d. Inf. Kurt von der Chevallerie (357. EL)
- Gen.Lt. Hans Gollnick (282. EL)
- Gen. d. Inf. Friedrich Wiese (372. EL)
- Gen.Lt. Hans Schlemmer (369. EL)

NEW NEW NEW !!
13/02/44, Rastenburg ??
Heer Ceremony
- Major Erich Bärenfänger (45. Schwerter)

UPDATED UPDATED UPDATED !!
18/02/44, Rastenburg ??
WH-WSS ceremony
From left to right :
- SS-Hpstuf. Léon Dégrelle (2474. RK)
- SS-Gruf. Herbert Otto Gille (47. Schw.)
- Gen.Lt. Theobald Lieb (400. EL)

NEW NEW NEW !!
After 24/03/44, location unknown
LW ceremony
From left to right :
- Major Kurt Bühligen (413. EL)
- Hptm. Hans-Joachim Jabs (430. EL)
- Major Bernhard Jope (431. EL)
- Major Hansgeorg Bätcher (434. EL)

After 13/04/44, location unknown
Heer ceremony
From left to right :
- Gen. d. Geb.Tr. Hans Kreysing (63. Schw.)
- Gen.Lt. Johannes Mayer (453. EL)

05/05/44, Obersalzberg
LW ceremony
From left to right :
- unidentified (LW)
- unidentified (LW)
- unidentified (LW)
- unidentified (LW)
- unidentified (LW)
- Major Wilhelm Herget (451. EL)
- Major Martin Möbus (463. EL)
- Major Erich Rudorffer (447. EL)
- Hptm. Alfred Grislawski (446. EL)
- Hptm. d.R. Emil Lang (448. EL)
- Lt. Günther Schack (460. EL)
- Lt. Otto Kittel (449. EL)
- Lt. Anton Hafner (452. EL)

after 14/05/44, location unknown :
Heer ceremony
From left to right :
- Obstlt. Kilian Weimer (478. EL)
- Obstlt. Max Sachsenheimer (472. EL)
- Major Wilhelm Drewes (458. EL)
- Hptm. d.R. Walter Elflein (347. EL)
- Ofw. d.R. Martin Hrustak (473. EL)

UPDATED UPDATED UPDATED !!
25/05/44, Obersalzberg
WH ceremony
as far as I can see on the photo, at least 9 Heer officers (several generals). This photo is displayed on "on the Field of Honor" (volume 2 - see entry for von Brese) . From left to right :
- unidentified
- unidentified
- Obst. Franz Griesbach (53. Schwerter : cannot be Oakleaves since he has already been listed in the "after 17/05/43" ceremony)
- Gen.Lt. Georg-Wilhelm Postel (57. Schwerter) to be confirmed
- Gen.Lt. Friedrich Schulz (428. EL)
- Obst. Ernst-Günther Baade (402. EL)
- Obst. Herbert Schwender (442. EL)
- Major Heinz von Brese-Winiary (441. EL)
- Hptm. d.R. Heinrich Hogrebe (454. EL)

after 09/06/44, Obersalzberg
Heer ceremony
From left to right :
- unidentified (WH) (should be at least a Gen.Major, or upper rank)
- Gen.Major Gottfried Weber (490. EL)
- Gen.Major Wolf Hagemann (484. EL)
- Obstlt. Ernst Wilhelm Hoffmann (494. EL)
- Obstlt. Fritz Müller (477. EL)
- Hptm. Bernhard Flachs (381. EL)
- Hptm. Theodor von Lücken (469. EL)
- Hptm. d.R. Konrad Zeller (495. EL)
- Ofw. Hans Strippel (485. EL)

NEW NEW NEW !!
After 24/06/44, location unknown
LW ceremony
From left to right :
- unidentified (to be confirmed) : there is seemingly a sleeve which can be seen near Hartmann's one : see luft_EL_1.jpg
in the related thread posted by Freiherr)
- Lt. Erich Hartmann (420. EL) : might it be possible that Hartmann was there to be awarded the Schwerte ? This owul d be the only possiblity coming to my mind to explain why he is before Heinz-Wolfgang Schnaufer. If so, the date would be included between 02/07/44 (Hartmann's Schwerter) and 30/07/44 (Schnaufer's ones).
- Hptm. Heinz-Wolfgang Schnaufer (507. EL)
- Major Horst Kaubisch (505. EL)
- Hptm. Eduard Skrzipek (509. EL)
- Lt. Adolf Glunz (508. EL)

NEW NEW NEW !!
25/06/44, Obersalzberg
WSS ceremony
- SS-Ostuf. Michäel Wittmann (71. Schwerter)

NEW NEW NEW !!
After 25/07/44, location unknown
LW ceremony
From left to right :
- Major Herbert Lamprecht (532. EL)
- Hptm. Wilhelm Batz (526. EL)
- Hptm. Heinz Strüning (528. EL)
Note that the photo doesn't allow to see if more soldiers attended to this specific ceremony

28/08/44, FHQ
- SS-Ogruf. Felix Steiner (86. Schw.)
- SS-Stubaf. Léon Dégrelle (EL + NKSiG)

The following ones comes from single photos wher only one soldier is seen receiving the award. Due to lack of information and until a new larger photo can be found, we can only suppose that the following soldiers received their respective award without any fellow counterparts. They are sorted by alphabetical order.

- Gen.Major Fritz Bayerlein (258. EL)
- SS-Stubaf. Georg Bochmann (246. EL)
- Gen. d. Inf. Walter Graf v. Brockdorff-Ahlefeldt (103. EL)
- SS-Ogruf. Theodor Eicke (88. EL)
- SS-Ogruf. Paul Hausser (261. EL)
- SS-Ostuf. Bruno Hinz (559. EL)
- Obstlt. Ludwig Kirschner (135. EL)
- Obst. Hartwig v. Ludwiger (163. EL)
- Obst. Kurt-Jürgen Frhr. v. Lützow (37. EL)
- Oblt. Hans-Joachim Marseille (97. EL)
- SS-Hpstuf. Erwin Meierdress (310. EL)
- Gen.Obst. Walter Model (74. EL)
- SS-Stubaf. Joachim Peiper (377. EL)
- Gen.Major Hermann-Bernhard Ramcke (145. EL)
- Major Otto-ernst Remer (325. EL)
- Gen.Major Theodor Scherer (92. EL)
- Gen. d. Geb.Tr. Ferdinand Schörner (398. EL)
- Obst. Rainer Stahel (169. EL)
- Obst. Helmuth Thumm (166. EL)
- SS-Stubaf. Christian Tychsen (353. EL)
- SS-Ostubaf. Karl Ullrich (480. EL)

Best regards
Denis

Daniel L · Post by **Daniel L** » 13 Apr 2004 11:16

Oberstab wrote:There is also another pic showing the oakleaves for Griesbach in 1943 together with (from left to right) -?- , Löwrick, Griesbach, Assmann, Hitler, Bärenfänger, Dieckmann, -?-, Kruse.

Oberstab, I believe that the person next to Kruse is Wilhelm Niggemeyer. If someone could be kind enough to provide me with a bigger and better scan of this photo I will be able to tell you for sure.

Edit: Noticed that Freiherr identified him in the following post. I'm still looking for these two photos though. Anyone who knows where I can find them?

Best regards/ Daniel

Daniel L · Post by **Daniel L** » 13 Apr 2004 11:25

Here's a photo of a person who hasn't been mentioned yet. Josef Dietrich. "Sepp" Dietrich receives the swords by der Führer on the 31. March, 1943.

Best regards/ Daniel

Denis · Post by **Denis** » 13 Apr 2004 14:02

Hello
Regarding the pic posted by Oberstab and then by Freiherr (see below) :
I am not sure that the 3rd soldier (who wears tropical jacket) is Hans-Günther von Stotten. Can he be Waldemar von Gazen (gen. Gaza) ?? Just a guess
I am going to post several pics of von Gazen for illustration purpose.
To Freiherr, yes, the pic you had postezd and displaying the 3 KM RKT is the ceremony of 29/06/41.