Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross

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Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross

Leutnant Hans Ulrich Fischer - Award Document to the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross

Leutnant Hans Ulrich Fischer - Award Document to the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross

LOT 62-0001
SOLD
Sold through our auction in October 2022
RESULT
$ 6.985,00*
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DESCRIPTion, DETaILS & Photos
SAVE FOR LATER
PERIOD 1918 — 1945
COUNTRY Germany 1918 - 1945
MATERIAL
DIMENSIONS 43.8 x 35.5 cm
MAKER view maker
WEIGHT
US LOT 62-0001
EAN 3000000016138
US LOT 62-0001
PERIOD 1918 — 1945
COUNTRY Germany 1918 - 1945
EAN 3000000016138
MATERIAL
DIMENSIONS 43.8 x 35.5 cm
MAKER view maker
WEIGHT
PERIOD 1918 — 1945
COUNTRY Germany 1918 - 1945
US LOT 62-0001
MATERIAL
DIMENSIONS 43.8 x 35.5 cm
EAN 3000000016138
MAKER view maker
WEIGHT
Germany 1918 - 1945
Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross


Description

Leutnant Hans Ulrich Fischer (March 26, 1914 – November 14, 1941)

Leutnant Hans Ulrich Fischer was Führer of the 11th Kompanie, III. Bataillon, Infanterie-Regiment 431, 131. Infanterie-Division.

“Leutnant Fischer conducted a series of purposeful actions that not only cut off the retreat of considerable enemy elements still west of the Desna River, but also enabled his Regiment to cross over the river on the same day. This thrust by his Regiment caused the enemy to pull back behind the Wjetma, which in turn triggered the ultimate collapse of the north wing of the Russian 5th Army (which was fighting near Briansk).  Annotation: Near Gomel Fischer and his Kompanie broke through the hostile positions and stormed a howitzer battery. Later, after breaking through enemy positions in the Desna area, he determined that a river crossing existed to the north of his assigned sector. He immediately continued thrusting forward on his own initiative and captured the newly created wooden bridge over the Desna on the October 02, 1941, following bitter close combat.” (From Traces of War)

Knights Cross of the Iron Cross formal award document issued to Leutnant Hans Ulrich Fischer on parchment with an integral blank front leaf, Führerhauptquartier, October 23, 1941. The ornately lettered document is executed in India ink and gold with a hand-inked signature of Adolf Hitler at the bottom. The parchment is just the slightest bit wavy, as is very common in such documents, but otherwise fine condition. Award documents for the Knight’s Cross are rare, even though Hitler granted over 7,000 of them. A severe backlog soon developed and, in the end, very few recipients of the award ever received their large formal award documents.

The document is part of a veteran bring-back that we proudly offer here for the very first time. The GI opted to bring 9 single formal documents in one red presentation leather folder (Mappe) which will be auctioned with Ratisbon’s through a couple of auctions.


Condition
1-

Seller
History Trader Inc., 521 Thorn Street #165, Sewickly, PA 15143-0165, USA
Historical information

NAME

Knights Cross of the Order of the Iron Cross

DATE OF INSTITUTION

1. September 1939 as the third and new grade of the re-instituted Order of the Iron Cross

AWARD CRITERIA

The Knights Cross of the Iron Cross was awarded for exceptional bravery in the face of the enemy and for outstanding merit in troop leadership. The awarding required the previous awarding of the two lower grades. The Knights Cross was solely awarded by the Führer upon the proposal of the soldiers unit and issued by the Heerespersonalamt. The Knights Crosses were stored at the Ordenskanzlei in Berlin, to be sent to the awardee after approval. There were no Knights Crosses stored at any level of the Wehrmacht before the end of April 1945.

MANUFACTURERS

The Knights Cross of the Iron Cross was produced by seven manufacturers, not including variations amongst the individual companies. The Knights Crosses can be found either unmarked (early Juncker and 3/4 Ring), with a silver content mark, with an LDO number (L/12 and L/52), and later on with the company’s Präsidialkanzlei number (2, 20, 65, and 4). Private sales were forbidden after October 1941.

AWARD NUMBERS

Accurate numbers are not known but the closest estimation is around 7,200, and most likely another couple of hundred on stock at the Präsidialkanzlei.

AWARD DOCUMENTS

The awardee received a preliminary document in A5 format and issued in the name of the Führer by the responsible personnel offices of the three branches of the Wehrmacht. The formal document (Große Mappe) was issued later and only until date of late 1942 / early 1943 due to the huge backlog.

WEARING METHOD

The Knights Cross was worn around the neck on a wider red white and black ribbon which came within the black award case of the Knights Cross.

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