- Adolf Galland
Adolf "Dolfo" Joseph Ferdinand Galland (19 March 1912–9 February 1996) was a World War II German fighter pilot and commander of Germany's fighter force ("General der Jagdflieger") from 1941 to 1945. He claimed a total of 103 victories in 705 missions and was awarded the Knight's Cross ("Ritterkreuz") with oakleaves, swords and diamonds, one of only 27 recipients of the highest German military decoration. His victory claims were all against the Western Allies.
- Hans-Ulrich Rudel
Hans-Ulrich Rudel was a Stuka dive-bomber pilot during World War II. Rudel is famous for being the most highly decorated German serviceman of the war (Hermann Göring was nominally more highly decorated, but he did not achieve his Grand Cross of the Iron Cross by combat action). Hans-Ulrich Rudel was the only person to be awarded the Knight’s Cross with Golden Oak Leaves, Swords, and Diamonds. Rudel flew 2,530 combat missions and successfully attacked many tanks, trains, …
- Michael Wittmann
Michael Wittmann was a German SS-Hauptsturmführer (SS-Captain) during World War II, and one of the most successful tank commanders in history. He is famous for his June 13, 1944, ambush of elements of the British 7th Armoured Division at the Battle of Villers-Bocage in a Tiger tank. Wittman's crews (chiefly gunner Balthasar "Bobby" Woll, also a Knight's Cross holder) are known to have destroyed at least 138 tanks and 141 artillery pieces, …
- Hanna Reitsch
Hanna Reitsch was a famous German test pilot. Reitsch was born in Hirschberg, Silesia. She was the daughter of an ophthalmologist and was in training to become a medical doctor in 1932 when she left that field to pursue a career as a test pilot. In the 1930s she became famous, setting many glider, aerobatic and endurance records, being the first woman to cross the Alps in a glider. Several of her gliding records stand to this day.
- Hermann Graf
Hermann Graf (24 October, 1912 - 11 April, 1988) was a German Luftwaffe World War II fighter ace. During the war he became one of only 27 people to be awarded the Knights Cross with leaves, swords, and diamonds. He served on both the Eastern and Western Fronts. He is credited with 212 victories, 202 of which were on the Eastern Front. He flew more than 830 sorties.
- Kurt Meyer
Kurt "Panzer" Meyer (December 23,1910-December 23,1961) served as an officer in the Waffen-SS during the Second World War. He saw action in many major battles, including the Invasion of France, Operation Barbarossa, and the Battle of Normandy. Over the course of his career, Meyer was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oakleaves and Swords, the third highest military decoration for bravery of the Third Reich.
- Otto Kretschmer
Otto Kretschmer (May 1, 1912 - August 5, 1998) was a German U-boat commander of the Second World War, and was the most successful Ace of the Deep. From September 1939 until being captured in March 1941, he sank 47 ships for a total of 274,333 tons. For this he received the Knights Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords, among other commendations.
- Fritz Bayerlein
Fritz Bayerlein was a German panzer general during the Second World War. Fritz Bayerlein was born in Würzburg, Bavaria, Germany. During the First World War, Bayerlein was drafted into the 9th Bavarian Infantry in 1917 and fought on the Western front. He was wounded and received an Iron Cross when he was in the 4th infantry regiment. After the war Bayerlein was briefly a member of a volunteer battalion but was transferred to Regiment 45 in May 1919.
- Sab Grey
Sab Grey (b. December 31, 1962) is the founder of Iron Cross, one of the United States' first skinhead hardcore/Oi! bands. Grey was born Frederick Prausnitz in Baltimore, Maryland to an English mother and a German father. As a teenager, he began to attend hardcore punk concerts in Washington DC, where he met Ian Mackaye, Henry Rollins, and others in the burgeoning Washington, DC hardcore subculture. In 1981, he founded Iron Cross, an Oi!-influenced hardcore band.
- Fritz Todt
Fritz Todt (September 4, 1891 - February 8, 1942) was a German engineer and senior Nazi figure, the founder of Organisation Todt. He died in a plane crash during World War II. He was born in Pforzheim, the son of a small factory owner. He studied engineering in Karlsruhe and the School for Advanced Technical Studies in Munich. He took part in World War I, initially with the infantry and then as an observer with the airforce, winning the Iron Cross.
- Helmuth Weidling
Helmuth Weidling (November 2 1891 - November 17 1955) was a German Army general and the last German commander of the Berlin Defense Area during the Battle of Berlin. Weidling attempted to foil the final assault by Soviet forces on the city of Berlin just before the end of World War II in Europe. During Weidling's military career he was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords (see also Knight's Cross).
- Dietrich von Saucken
Dietrich von Saucken was a general in the German Army (Wehrmacht) during World War II. Born May 16, 1892 in Fischhausen, East Prussia, von Saucken joined the army in 1910 and achieved the rank of lieutenant in June 1912. As a colonel he served in the pre-war Wehrmacht and was promoted to the rank of major general on January 1, 1942. Appointed to command the 4th Panzer Division at the end of 1941, …
- Werner Voss
Werner Voss was a World War I German fighter pilot and ace. Born in Krefeld, the first son of an industrial dyer, Voss was at one time a friend and rival of the renowned Manfred von Richthofen, but lacked the Red Baron's aristocratic background. Enlisting in the 2nd Westphalian Hussar regiment Nr. 11 in 1914, like many cavalrymen he eventually transferred to the Luftstreitkräfte or German Air Service, learning to fly at Egelsberg near his home town.
- Karl Mauss
Dr. Karl Mauss (May 17, 1898 - February 9, 1959) was one of the most distinguished tank commanders of the Wehrmacht during World War II. He was a lieutenant general and commander of the 7th Panzer Division, and one of only 27 ever to receive the Knight's Cross with Oakleaves, Swords, and Diamonds.
- Theodor Tolsdorff
Theodor Tolsdorff (November 3, 1909 to May 25, 1978) was a lieutenant general in the German Army and one of 27 carriers of Oak Leaves with Swords and Diamonds to the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross in the Second World War. An incredibly brave soldier whose meteoric career has little comparison anywhere, he was wounded fourteen times during the war.
- Hermann-Bernhard Ramcke
Hermann-Bernhard "Gerhard" Ramcke (January 24, 1889 - July 04, 1968) was a winner of the Knights Cross with Swords, Oak Leaves, and Diamonds, one of only 27 people in the German military so awarded.
- Sylvester Stadler
SS-Brigadeführer Sylvester Stadler was a German Waffen-SS officer, a commander of the 4. Panzer-Grenadier Regiment "Der Führer", 9. SS-Panzer Division "Hohenstaufen" and a winner of the "Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes mit Eichenlaub und Schwertern". He was one of the youngest German generals during World War II, being only 34 years old when the war ended in 1945.
- Max Immelmann
Max Immelmann was a German World War I Flying ace. He was born in Dresden, the son of a paper board container factory owner. After leaving school, he joined the "Eisenbahnregiment Berlin". During 1913 - 1914, he studied mechanical engineering in Dresden. When World War I started, Immelmann was recalled to active service, transferred to the "Luftstreitkräfte" and was sent for pilot training in November 1914.
- Otto Dix
Otto Dix (December 2, 1891 - July 25, 1969) was a German painter and printmaker. Noted for his ruthless depictions of Weimar society and of the brutality of war, he is one of the most important artists of the "Neue Sachlichkeit" (New Objectivity).
- Walther von Reichenau
Walter von Reichenau (October 8, 1884 - January 17, 1942) was a German "Generalfeldmarschall". Von Reichenau was born in Karlsruhe to a Prussian general in and joined the German Army in 1902. During World War I he served on the Western Front. He won the Iron Cross and by 1918 was a captain. Von Reichenau stayed in the army under the Weimar Republic as a General Staff officer. From 193] he was Chief of Staff to the Inspector of Signals at the Reichswehr Ministry, …
- Henning von Tresckow
Henning Hermann Robert Karl von Tresckow (January 10 1901 - July 21 1944) was a Major General in the German Wehrmacht who is known for organizing German resistance against Hitler. Tresckow was born in Magdeburg into a Prussian noble family with a long military tradition; his father, a cavalry general, had been present at Versailles in 1871. Tresckow fought as one of the youngest soldiers with the rank of Leutnant during World War I on the Western Front.
- Hans Lammers
Hans Heinrich Lammers was a prominent Nazi and head of the Reich Chancellery. Born in Lublinitz in Upper Silesia, the son of a veterinarian, Lammers completed law school in Breslau and Heidelberg, and was a judge in Beuthen in 1912. Lammers received the Iron Cross, First and Second Class, during the First World War, then resumed his career as a lawyer and joined the German National Peoples Party (DNVP), reaching the position of Undersecretary of the Interior by 1922.
- Bernhard Rust
Bernhard Rust was Minister of Education of the Reichserziehungsministerium in Nazi Germany. He was born in Hannover, and studied Germanistics, Latin and Greek in the university, before serving in the army during the First World War. He was awarded the Iron Cross for bravery. He joined the NSDAP in 1922. He worked as a high school teacher, but lost his job in 1930, Rust had a history of mental instability and often issued contradictory policy directives.
- Franz Gürtner
Franz Gürtner was a German Minister of Justice in Adolf Hitler's cabinet, responsible for coordinating jurisprudence in the Third Reich. Detesting the cruel ways of the Gestapo and SA in dealing with prisoners-of-war, he protested unsuccessfully to Hitler, but nevertheless stayed on in the cabinet, hoping to reform the establishment from within.
- Otto Georg Thierack
Otto Georg Thierack (19 April 1889 - 22 November 1946) was a Nazi jurist and politician. Thierack was born in Wurzen in Saxony. He took part in the First World War from 1914 to 1918 as a volunteer, reaching the rank of lieutenant. He suffered a face injury and was decorated with the Iron Cross, second class. After the war ended, he resumed his interrupted law studies and ended them in 1920 with his "Assessor" (junior lawyer) examination.
- Helmut Wick
Major Helmut Wick was one of the greatest Aces of the German Luftwaffe and a renowned Messerschmitt Bf 109 fighter pilot, winner of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oakleaves.
- Karl August Nerger
Karl August Nerger was a naval officer of the Imperial German Navy in World War I, who achieved fame and recognition during the was for his command of the auxiliary cruiser "SMS Wolf". Nerger, as captain of the "SMS Wolf", led the commerce raider on a 451-day expedition, the longest voyage of a warship during World War I. For his exploits, Nerger was awarded the highest military decorations of the five main states of the German Empire, …
- Otto Weddigen
Otto Eduard Weddigen was a German U-boat commander during World War I. He was born in Herford and started his military career in the Kaiserliche Marine in 1901. In 1910 he was given command of one of the first German submarines, U-9. On 22 September, 1914, while patrolling in the region of the southern North Sea known to the British as the "Broad Fourteens", U-9 intercepted the three warships of the Seventh Cruiser Squadron, also known as the "Live Bait Squadron".
- Siegfried Knappe
Siegfried Knappe was a German artillery and corps staff officer during World War II. At the end of the war, he was stationed in Berlin and made daily briefings at the Führerbunker. His memoirs have been published under the title "Soldat: Reflections of a German Soldier, 1936-1949". As a young artillery lieutenant Siegfried Knappe participated in the invasion of France as part of Army Group Kleist. He was decorated for actions that took place on the night of June 14, …
- Bernhard Rogge
Bernhard Rogge was a Kapitän zur See of the German Kriegsmarine who, during World War II, commanded a merchant raider. Born in Schleswig, he was one of many German officers who were forced to apply for a German Blood Certificate, that would allow their racial background to be overlooked (he had a Jewish grandparent).
- Oskar Dirlewanger
Oskar Dirlewanger was a World War II officer with the Schutzstaffel (SS). He commanded the infamous SS-Sturmbrigade "Dirlewanger" unit made out of amnestied Germans convicted of major crimes.
- Wilhelm Balthasar
Major Wilhelm Balthasar was German WWII Luftwaffe Ace, commander of JG 2 and a winner of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oakleaves.
- Georg Lassen
Georg Lassen (May 12 1915) is a former German U-boat captain who served with the Kriegsmarine during World War II. He was a Watchkeeping Officer on U-29 at the outbreak of the war and later the skipper of the U-160 and winner of the Iron Cross. He sank 26 ships for a total tonnage of 156,082 GRT during 4 patrols, leading to a remarkable average of 39,020 GRT per patrol. His total tonnage made him the 10th most successful U-boat ace of the war.
- Heinrich Liebe
Fregattenkapitän Heinrich Liebe was a highly decorated German naval officer who served as a U-boat commander during World War II until transferred to Oberkommando der Kriegsmarine ("German Navy High Command"). He sank 34 ships for a total of 187.267 GRT, placing him fourth on the Aces of the Deep list.
- Fritz Rumey
Fritz Rumey (March 3, 1891 - September 27, 1918) was a German fighter pilot in the First World War. A prewar infantryman, he saw action against the Russians and was decorated with the Iron Cross 2nd class. Subsequently he applied for aviation and completed an observer's course. Later he was accepted for pilot training and was sent to France in early 1917. After a brief period with Jasta Boelcke he went to Jagdstaffel 5 where he found success and fame.
- Otto Dietrich
Dr. Otto Dietrich was the Third Reich's Press Chief, and Hitler's confidant. He was born in August 1897, and died at the age of 55 in 1952, after serving time in Landsberg Prison following the Subsequent Nuremberg Trials, where he was convicted of crimes against humanity and being a member of a criminal organization, namely the SS in the Ministries Trial and sentenced to seven years' imprisonment.
- Prince Leopold Of Bavaria
Leopold Maximilian Joseph Maria Arnulf, Prinz von Bayern (February 9, 1846 - September 28, 1930) was born in Munich, the son of Prince Regent Luitpold of Bavaria (1821-1912) and his wife Archduchess Augusta of Austria (1825-1864). He was a Field Marshal ("Generalfeldmarschall") who commanded German and Austro-Hungarian forces on the Eastern Front in World War I.
- Alfred Meyer
Dr. Alfred Meyer was a Nazi official, achieving the rank of "Staatssekretär" and Deputy Reichsminister in the Reich Ministry for the Occupied Eastern Territories ("Reichministerium für die Besetzten Ostgebiete" or "Ostministerium"). Meyer was born in Göttingen, the son of a government official. He was educated at the Gymnasium in Soest, graduating in 1911. In 1912 he became a "Fahnenjunker" (cadet officer) with Infanterieregiment 68 (Koblenz), …
- Josef Terboven
Josef Antonius Heinrich Terboven (May 23, 1898 - May 8, 1945) was a Nazi leader, best known as the Reichskommissar (commissioner) during the German military occupation of Norway. Terboven was born in Essen, the son of minor landed gentry. He served in the German field artillery and nascent air force in World War I and was awarded the Iron Cross, rising to the rank of lieutenant. He studied law and political science at the universities of Munich and Freiburg, …
- Georg Keppler
SS-Obergruppenführer und General der Waffen-SS Georg Keppler was a German, Heer, Polizei and Waffen-SS, officer who served in both World War I and World War II. During World War II, Keppler commanded the 2. SS-Division "Das Reich", 3. SS-Division "Totenkopf", I. SS-Panzerkorps, III.(germanische) SS-Panzerkorps and the XVIII.SS-Armee-Korps. He was also a winner of the "Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes".