http://www.2worldwar2.com/knights-cross.htm

An interesting read, thought I might share with you all here.

I see how it is.

Originally Posted by Arclight

I see how it is.

Oh sorry I read it and it is interesting.

The german soldier was never replaced. He kept fighting until he was either killed or became invalid or was captured or until the last day of world war 2. Injured soldiers which recovered returned to their units and kept fighting. As german fighter pilot ace Gunther Rall (275 kills) said in an interview many years after world war 2, such endless combat activity simply meant that "It was either the iron cross or the wooden cross" - a medal or a grave.

I would imagine this would after a while become a rather morbid and grim reality for many experienced German troops.

A very interesting report on the Iron and Knights Crosses.

Although a 'bit' late, my congratulations to Oberst Rudel for winning the KC w/ Gold. Obviously, it was no ordinary feat to be able to accomplish what he did.

A good read. If you want to know more details check out the medals site at www.feldgrau.com

It struck me that many of the awards for the higher versions of the Knights Cross were wholly unjustified. For example, good as he was, Rommel's achievements in battle did not merit him receiving the Knights Cross with oak leaves, swords and diamonds. There were others too that did not deserve this award. It seems to me that as the war went on the difficulty of getting one of these medals went down drastically.