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An extensive grouping of Major Paul Hüther serving as commander of Grenadier-Regiment 268. German Cross in Gold winner.
Certificate to German Cross in Gold. A5-size. Issued on 09.07.1942. Signed by Generalfeldmarschall Wilhelm Keitel, Knight's Cross winner. Two congratulatory telegrams on the award of the German Cross in Gold. One was sent by the Major of Bayreuth and SS-Standartenführer Fritz Kempfler (signed by him).
Certificate to 1939 Iron Cross 1st Class. Issued on 07.09.1941. Signed by Generalmajor Friedrich Zickwolff, Knight's Cross winner.
Certificate to Heer Long Service Award 3rd and 4th Class. Issued on 02.10.1936 and 01.04.1937. Both are signed by Oberst Franz Karl, Knight's Cross winner (his last Wehrmacht rank was Generalleutnant).
Certificates to Infantry Assault Badge in Silver, Wound Badge in Black and Silver.
Certificate of the municipality of Bioska-Užice (Serbia) for the liberation from the communist "Banden" (partisans). Dated 10.12.1941.
DRL German Sports Badge award booklet. Issued on 22.10.1928. Original photo in Reichswehr uniform.
Wehrmacht driver's license. Issued on 11.08.1944. The photo shows him as a Major and he is wearing the German Cross in Gold. A nice photo!
A corps order signed by General Joachim von Kortzfleisch, Knight's Cross winner. Dated "05.03.1942".
About 492 photos of his military service. Among them are excellent portrait photos showing him with the German Cross. Photos of the front in Russia, an excellent group photo with two Knight's Cross winners (Sturmgeschütz & Gefreiter), early photos of his Reichswehr service, and military training. Almost his entire military career is shown.
There are also numerous certificates and documents, mainly from the period before 1945. Please see the pictures for more details.
Signs of use. Good condition.
Condition
2/2-
Historical information
NAME
German Cross in Gold
DATE OF INSTITUTION
28. September 1941 as a military order in two grades. A special grade, the German Cross in Gold with Diamonds was planned and prototypes were made.
AWARD CRITERIA
The golden grade was awarded for multiple exceptional deeds of bravery or leadership and the silver grade for exceptional deeds in troop leadership. The award of the Iron Cross 1. Class, the Spange 1. Class , or the War Merit Cross 1. Class was a pre-requisite for the awarding of the German Cross. The German Cross was located above the Iron Cross 1. Class and War Merit Cross 1. Class but below the Knights Cross of the Iron Cross, respectively the Knights Cross of the War Merit Cross.
MANUFACTURERS
The German Cross was awarded by the decision of the supreme commanders of the three army branches.
The German Cross was produced by five known manufacturers and maybe one or two not yet known companies. The known manufacturers are Deschler & Sohn, who designed the cross, Gebrüder Godet, C.E. Juncker, C.F. Zimmermann, and Otto Klein.
Early crosses are unmarked and from the end of 1942/early 1943 onwards, the crosses were marked with the Präsidialkanzlei numbers of the companies.
Due to the heavy and slightly bulky nature of the award, a cloth version was authorized in June 1942. The cloth version can be found with eight different cloth backing colors: field gray (army), dark blue (navy), blue-gray (LW), black (tank forces), stone gray (assault gun), olive (Africa Heer), light khaki (Africa LW), and white (summer uniform).
AWARD NUMBERS
Accurate numbers are not known but the closest estimation based on surviving documents are 25,964 for the gold grade and 2,471 for the silver grade. A known total of eleven soldiers were awarded both grades.
The crosses were mainly stored and registered at the Präsidalkanzlei and were given out by this office. It is possible that smaller numbers were stored at the personnel offices of the three army branches.
AWARD DOCUMENTS
The Heer issued preliminary award documents in the format A5, followed by a larger (356 mm x 254 mm) formal document. The Luftwaffe and the Kriegsmarine never issued any preliminary documents, only the formal ones in the same size as the formal document of the Heer.
WEARING METHOD
The German Cross was worn at the right side of the uniform on the breast pocket.
.jpg "German Cross in gold \"20\" - light")
