Karl Heinz Bühler
SS officer
Died when: 71 years 332 days (862 months)Star Sign: Leo
The Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross (German: Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes) and its variants were the highest award in the military and paramilitary forces of Nazi Germany.
During World War II, 457 servicemen of the Waffen-SS, including volunteers and conscripts from Belgium, Croatia, Denmark, Estonia, France, Hungary, Latvia, Netherlands and Norway, received the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross.
Of these, 411 presentations were formally made and evidence of the award is available in the German Federal Archives.One recipient, Hermann Fegelein, was court-martialed and executed on 29 April 1945.
According to German law he was deprived of rank and all awards previously.Fegelein must therefore be considered a de facto but not de jure recipient.
A further 46 Knight's Cross, 8 Knight's Cross with Oak Leaves and 4 Knight's Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords recipients are either lacking the evidence to sustain their listings or received the award under questionable legal terms.
All of them were accepted by the Association of Knight's Cross Recipients (Ordensgemeinschaft der Ritterkreuzträger des Eisernen Kreuzes e.V.) as legitimate recipients.
The Oberkommando der Wehrmacht kept separate Knight's Cross lists, one for each of the three military branches, Heer (Army), Kriegsmarine (Navy), Luftwaffe (Air force) and for the Waffen-SS.
Within each of these lists, a unique sequential number was assigned to each recipient.The same numbering paradigm was applied to the higher grades of the Knight's Cross, one list per grade.
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