WThe Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross and its variants were the highest awards in the military of the Third Reich. Recipients are grouped by grades of the Knight's Cross. During or shortly after World War II, 318 German sailors and servicemen of the Kriegsmarine received the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross. Of these, 316 presentations were formally made. Two recipients received the award after 11 May 1945, when Großadmiral Karl Dönitz ordered a cease of promotions and illegalized subsequent awards. The final two recipients are therefore considered to have received the medal without legal authority.
WThe Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross and its variants were the highest award in the military of the Third Reich. Recipients are grouped by grades of the Knight's Cross. During World War II, 23 German sailors and officers of the Schnellboot service, which was a part of the Kriegsmarine, received the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross. Of these, 8 officers received the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves.
WThe Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross and its variants was the highest award in the military of the Third Reich. Recipients are grouped by grades of the Knight's Cross. During or shortly after World War II, 145 German sailors and officers of the U-boat service as part of the Kriegsmarine received the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross. Among them, 29 officers received the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves, five the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords, and two won the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves Swords and Diamonds. Of these, 144 presentations were formally made and one recipient received the award after 11 May 1945, when Großadmiral Karl Dönitz ordered a cease of all promotions and illegalized all subsequent awards. The final recipient is therefore considered to have received the medal without legal authority.
WAlwin-Broder Albrecht was a German naval officer who was one of Adolf Hitler's adjutants during World War II.
WNiels Bätge was a German Schnellboot commander with Baltic German origin in World War II and recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross. Bätge was promoted to Korvettenkapitän on 1 September 1943. Shortly after his promotion he took command of the destroyer Z35 on 25 September 1943. The destroyers Z35 and Z36 both ran into a German naval mine in the Gulf of Finland on 12 December 1944. Bätge and 24 members of the crew managed to save themselves in a life boat. However, they all froze to death and were later washed ashore near the Åland Islands.
WWerner August Josef Betz was a German philologist who was Chair of German and Nordic Philology at Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich.
WHermann Leopold Ludwig Eugen Hans Heinz Bonatz was a German naval officer during World War II. He was most notable for being chief of B-Dienst until January 1944. B-Dienst was Division III Radio Intelligence of the Naval Intelligence Service of the Oberkommando der Marine (OKM). This division dealt with the interception and recording, decoding and analysis of the enemy, in particular British, radio communications.
WTheodor Detmers was the commanding officer of the German auxiliary cruiser Kormoran. He was a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross of Nazi Germany.
WWilhelm Ehm a World War II Wehrmacht veteran and East German Admiral who was Deputy Minister of National Defense of the German Democratic Republic and head of the People's Navy (Volksmarine).
WWalther Forstmann was one of the most successful and highly decorated U-boat commanders in the Kaiserliche Marine during World War I. He also served in the Kriegsmarine during World War II in different staff positions.
WWaldemar Grzimek was a German sculptor.
WHans Howaldt was a successful and highly decorated German U-boat commander in the Kaiserliche Marine during World War I and also active in World War II. By the end of World War I he was promoted Kapitänleutnant.
WGert Gustav Paul Jeschonnek was an officer in the Kriegsmarine during World War II. Following World War II, he became commander of the post-war German Navy.
WFriedrich Walter Karl Kemnade was a German naval commander during World War II who later served with the Federal German Navy, reaching the rank of Konteradmiral. He was a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves of Nazi Germany.
WHerbert Klein was a German swimmer. Competing in the 200 m breaststroke, he won the European title in 1950 and an Olympic bronze medal in 1952. During his career, he concurrently held two world records in the 200 m breaststroke in short course with a time of 2:27.3, long course with a time of 2:34.4, one world record in the 100 m breaststroke with a time of 1:05.5. and a world record in the 500 m breaststroke with a time of 7:07.3. In 1950, he was elected German Sportspersonality of the year.
WBernd Klug was an admiral in the West German Navy. During World War II, he served in the Kriegsmarine and was a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves of Nazi Germany.
WSiegfried Lenz was a German writer of novels, short stories and essays, as well as dramas for radio and the theatre. In 2000 he received the Goethe Prize on the 250th Anniversary of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's birth.
WOtto Ernst Lindemann was a German Kapitän zur See. He was the only commander of the battleship Bismarck during its eight months of service in World War II.
WGünter Luther was a German admiral who became Inspector of the Navy and Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Europe for NATO. During World War II, he served as a military pilot in the Kriegsmarine and a paratrooper in the Luftwaffe. After the war, he joined the newly founded West German Bundesmarine in 1956.
WErhard Maertens or Eberhard Maertens was a German Vizeadmiral of the Kriegsmarine during World War II. From 16 June 1941 to 5 May 1943, he was Chief of Office of Naval Intelligence, Naval War Command in the Oberkommando der Marine. Maertens was known for underestimating British intelligence, and specifically, overrating the security of the Naval Enigma cipher machine. In 1941, he held a naval enquiry into the strength of Naval Enigma security after the capture of U-boat U-570, and attributed all the suspicious losses in U-boats at the time to the British Huff-Duff. In the second enquiry, ordered by the Commander-in-Chief of the Navy Karl Dönitz, in May 1943, he investigated a number of areas, in which exculpated Enigma security in the end, for the second time, incorrectly blaming British 9.7 centimetre centimetric radar for the massive losses in U-boats by mid 1943.
WGötz Freiherr von Mirbach was a naval captain with the Kriegsmarine during World War II. He was a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves of Nazi Germany.
WUlrich Mohr was a German naval officer and the adjutant on the Kriegsmarine auxiliary cruiser Atlantis during the Second World War, where one of his functions was to board captured ships and search for secret papers that might be of use to the German war effort.
WKarl-Heinz Narjes was a German Christian Democratic (CDU) politician. From 1969 to 1973 he was Minister for Economy and Transport of the State of Schleswig-Holstein and from 1981 to 1988 he was a European Commissioner.
WWalter Ohmsen was a highly decorated Oberleutnant zur See in the Kriegsmarine during World War II. On 6 June 1944 the Western Allies launched Operation Overlord, the amphibious invasion of Normandy, France. Ohmsen was the first German defender of Fortress Europe to sight the invasion force. His battery engaged in heavy fighting and subsequently Ohmsen was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross for the defense of the Crisbecq Battery against the American 4th Infantry Division, which landed on Utah Beach. The Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross recognised extreme battlefield bravery or successful military leadership.
WHans-Jürgen "Hansjürgen" Rudolf Reinicke was a Kapitän zur See, commander of heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen, in Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine during the Second World War and recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross.
WJürgen Rohwer was a German military historian and emeritus professor of history at the University of Stuttgart. Rohwer wrote over 400 books and essays on World War II naval history and military intelligence, which gained him worldwide recognition as a prominent historian and a leading authority on U-boats.
WHans Rose was one of the most successful and highly decorated German U-boat commander in the Kaiserliche Marine during World War I. He sank 79 ships for a total of 213,987 gross register tons (GRT) during the war.
WHenri Salmide, named Heinz Stahlschmidt at birth, was a German naval officer who, in August 1944, refused to blow up the port of Bordeaux, France when so ordered by his superiors during World War II. Instead, he blew up the bunker containing the ordnance that had been stock-piled for the purpose of destroying the port.
WAdalbert Schneider was the First Gunnery Officer on board the battleship Bismarck, and was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross for the sinking of HMS Hood on 24 May 1941 in the Battle of the Denmark Strait. Less than a week later, on 27 May 1941, Schneider and the majority of Bismarck's crew were killed in action during Bismarck's last battle.
WBerthold Alfred Maria Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg was a German aristocrat and lawyer who was a key conspirator in the plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler on 20 July 1944, alongside his younger brother, Colonel Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg. After the plot failed, Berthold was tried and executed by the Nazi regime.
WWerner Töniges was a Korvettenkapitän with the Kriegsmarine during World War II. He was also a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves. He sailed with the Schnellboot "S 24", "S 26" and "S 102", sinking eighteen ships on 281 combat patrols, for a total of 86,200 gross register tons (GRT) of Allied shipping.
WWilhelm Tranow was a very successful German cryptanalyst, who before and during World War II worked in the monitoring service of the German Navy and was responsible for breaking a number of encrypted radio communication systems, particularly the Naval Cypher, which was used by the British Admiralty for encrypting operational signals and the Naval Code for encrypting administrative signals. Tranow was considered one of the most important cryptanalysts of B-service. He was described as being experienced and energetic. Little was known about his personal life, when and where he was born, or where he died.
WOttmar Kurt Herrmann Walter was a German footballer who played as a striker.
WMax-Eckart Wolff was a naval commander in the Kriegsmarine of Nazi Germany during World War II. He was a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross.
WKarl-Adolf Zenker was an officer in the Kriegsmarine during World War II. He served as a member of the Naval Historical Team and later became commander of the post-war German Navy.
WArmin Zimmermann, was a German admiral and Inspector General of the Bundeswehr from 1 April 1972 until 30 November 1976. He joined the Kriegsmarine in 1937.
WProf. Dr. Felix Zymalkowski was a German Schnellboot commander in World War II, recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross and since 1963 professor of pharmaceutical chemistry. The Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross was awarded to recognise extreme battlefield bravery or successful military leadership.