The Waffen-SS, the armed combat branch of Nazi Germany's Schutzstaffel (SS), was formally established in 1933 as the SS-Verfügungstruppe (SS-VT) under Heinrich Himmler and Adolf Hitler’s direct authority as an elite, ideologically driven paramilitary force intended to serve as the Nazi Party’s personal army, distinct from the regular Wehrmacht. Initially composed of carefully screened “racially pure” Aryan volunteers who underwent rigorous physical and political indoctrination, it expanded dramatically during World War II, evolving into a multi-division force that fought on every major front from the invasion of Poland in 1939 through the final battles in 1945, participating in operations such as the blitzkrieg in the West, the invasion of the Soviet Union, the defense of Normandy, and the Battle of the Bulge. By 1945 it had grown to nearly one million personnel across more than 38 divisions, incorporating not only German conscripts but also large numbers of foreign volunteers and later forced recruits from occupied Europe, including Scandinavians, Dutch, Belgians, French, Balts, Ukrainians, and even small numbers from non-European regions, though its leadership remained committed to Nazi racial hierarchy. Renowned for superior training, equipment, and fanatical combat motivation—often fueled by SS propaganda and the promise of elite status—the Waffen-SS units frequently operated with greater independence and ruthlessness than regular army formations, earning a reputation for both tactical effectiveness and extreme brutality. Numerous divisions, including the Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler, Das Reich, Totenkopf, and Wiking, were directly implicated in systematic war crimes such as the massacre of civilians at Oradour-sur-Glane in France, the Malmedy massacre of American prisoners in Belgium, widespread reprisal killings during anti-partisan campaigns in the East, and the execution of Soviet commissars and Jews under the ideological banner of fighting “Judeo-Bolshevism.” While primarily a frontline combat organization, elements of the Waffen-SS also provided guards for concentration camps and participated in the broader machinery of the Holocaust and ethnic cleansing. At the Nuremberg Trials after the war, the entire SS—including the Waffen-SS—was declared a criminal organization responsible for crimes against peace, war crimes, and crimes against humanity, leading to the prosecution of many of its leaders and members, although post-war debates have continued over the degree to which ordinary soldiers were aware of or complicit in the regime’s genocidal policies versus their role as conventional combatants.
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BRILLANTENTRÄGER
SS-Oberstgruppenführer Josef "Sepp" Dietrich (1892-1966), who rose to the rank of Generaloberst der Waffen-SS, had built a long career in the elite formations of the Waffen-SS, beginning with his command of the Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler in the campaigns in Poland, France, the Balkans, and the Soviet Union before taking higher responsibilities. He had already received the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes on 4 July 1940 for his independent initiative in securing a bridgehead over the Aa canal during the Battle of France, the Eichenlaub on 31 December 1941 for offensive successes at the Sea of Azov and the capture of Rostov, and the Schwerter on 14 March 1943 for the outstanding role of his division in the recapture of Kharkov. The final and rarest upgrade, the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes mit Eichenlaub, Schwertern und Brillanten, was conferred on him on 6 August 1944 while he served as Kommandierender General des I. SS-Panzerkorps; this highest distinction recognized his achievements during the Battle of Normandy, where his forces kept the British and Canadian troops in check around the key city of Caen for two months of hard combat and prevented an early Allied breakout from the beachhead despite intense defensive fighting. This prolonged stand in the Caen sector, achieved through resolute leadership and tactical direction of his armored and motorized units amid heavy Allied pressure, was the specific action and performance that earned Dietrich the Brillanten zum Ritterkreuz, one of only twenty-seven such awards made during the entire war.
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SCHWERTERTRÄGER
SS-Standartenführer August Dieckmann (1912-1943) was born on 29 May 1912 in Cadenberge and joined the SS on 4 November 1933 with membership number 183.917. After attending the SS-Junkerschule in Braunschweig he was promoted to SS-Untersturmführer in 1936 and served in the SS-Standarte 1 „Deutschland“. As SS-Hauptsturmführer he commanded the II. Bataillon of the SS-Regiment „Deutschland“ during the Polish campaign of 1939, receiving the Eisernes Kreuz II. Klasse on 28 September, and again in the Western campaign of 1940, earning the Eisernes Kreuz I. Klasse on 3 June. Following a period as tactics instructor he was transferred in early 1941 to the SS-Division „Wiking“ and given command of the I. Bataillon of the SS-Regiment „Germania“. Promoted to SS-Sturmbannführer on 26 December 1941 he later became Kommandeur of the regiment. For his decisive personal intervention during the defence of the village of Otscheretino in February 1942, where he directed a gun crew that destroyed four enemy tanks and then led a successful counter-attack that cleared the settlement of superior Soviet forces, he was awarded the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes on 23 April 1942. Further outstanding leadership of Kampfgruppen during the capture of Rostov in July 1942, the establishment of bridgeheads across the Kuban, and subsequent fighting in the Caucasus, combined with later defensive successes, resulted in the award of the Eichenlaub on 16 April 1943 while he still commanded the I. Bataillon of the SS-Panzergrenadier-Regiment „Germania“. On the same day he assumed leadership of the SS-Panzergrenadier-Regiment „Westland“ within the SS-Panzergrenadier-Division „Wiking“ and was confirmed as its Kommandeur four days later; he was promoted to SS-Obersturmbannführer on 21 June 1943. From July 1943 onward the regiment under his command fought continuous defensive battles on the southern sector of the Eastern Front, particularly west of Kharkov, where it repelled more than one hundred enemy attacks, many by far stronger forces. Dieckmann repeatedly placed himself in the foremost line, conducted personal reconnaissance under fire and restored critical situations by immediate counter-action. On 10 October 1943, while leading an attack to seize the "Fuchsschwanzinsel" (Fox's Tail Island) in the middle Dnepr during heavy bridgehead fighting, he was killed in action. That same day he was posthumously awarded the Schwerter to the Ritterkreuz as the 39th recipient; he was later promoted posthumously to SS-Standartenführer.
SS-Brigadeführer Hinrich Schuldt (1901-1944) was born on 14 January 1901 in Blankenese near Hamburg as the son of a HAPAG captain and later shipowner, and he entered the Reichsmarine in 1922 as an Offiziersanwärter, rising to Leutnant zur See in 1926 while serving aboard the battleship SMS Elsass before leaving the navy in the early 1930s. In 1933 he transferred to the newly formed SS-Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler, taking command of its 3. Kompanie, and later held posts in the SS-Standarte Deutschland and the 4. SS-Totenkopfstandarte Ostmark. By the start of the Second World War he commanded a regiment of the SS-Totenkopf-Division, and as SS-Obersturmbannführer and Kommandeur of SS-Totenkopf-Infanterie-Regiment 4 he led successful defensive and offensive actions with Heeresgruppe Mitte near Juchnow, the middle Ugra and Kolodosi during the winter of 1941–42, for which he received the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes on 5 April 1942; his regiment was subsequently honoured with the additional designation Langemarck. Promoted to SS-Standartenführer, he formed and commanded the improvised SS-Brigade Schuldt (also known as Kampfgruppe Schuldt) from December 1942 to March 1943, assembling units drawn from the Leibstandarte, Das Reich, Polizei-Division and Luftwaffe elements and directing them in the fiercest fighting on the Don front and around the Stalingrad sector under the 6. Panzer-Division, earning the Eichenlaub on 2 April 1943 as the 220th recipient for outstanding leadership under extreme conditions. After recovery from wounds he took command of the 2. Lettische SS-Freiwilligen-Brigade (later redesignated 19. Waffen-Grenadier-Division der SS) in late 1943, rapidly transforming largely untrained Latvian volunteers into a combat-effective formation capable of mobile operations in the difficult swampy terrain of the Wolchow bridgehead and subsequent defensive battles. On 15 March 1944, while leading his grenadiers near the village of Petschane north of Newel, he was killed by a direct hit from an anti-tank gun; the following day he was posthumously promoted to SS-Brigadeführer und Generalmajor der Waffen-SS, and on 25 March 1944 he was awarded the Schwerter to the Ritterkreuz mit Eichenlaub as the 56th recipient for his exceptional organisational skill, personal bravery and energetic command that had turned the Latvian brigade into a highly capable fighting force.
SS-Gruppenführer Hermann Fegelein (1906-1945) was born on 30 October 1906 in Ansbach and began his career in 1925 with the Reiter-Regiment 17 before joining the Bavarian State Police and transferring to the SS in 1933, rising rapidly through equestrian units to command the Haupt-Reitschule München and later the SS-Totenkopf-Reiterstandarte, which evolved into the SS-Kavallerie-Brigade deployed on the Eastern Front. As SS-Standartenführer and Führer of the SS-Kavallerie-Brigade under the XXIII. Armee-Korps of the 9. Armee in Heeresgruppe Mitte, he received the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes on 2 March 1942 for his leadership in the fighting around Rzhev, where from late January 1942 the brigade held a sector against breakthroughs, then on 5 February attacked and captured the road junction and station at Tschertolino against superior forces, followed by a night assault on 9 February that destroyed an enemy group of over 1,800 men, and the seizure of Jersowo on 14 February that enabled the final annihilation of the encircled Soviet forces southwest of Rzhev. In December 1942, as SS-Oberführer commanding Kampfgruppe Fegelein in the great bend of the Don with Heeresgruppe B, he earned the Eichenlaub on 22 December after launching a personal counterthrust with staff elements and Sturmgeschütze against a Soviet penetration into a gap in his lines, defeating the attackers in close combat, sealing the breach, and on a reconnaissance thrust capturing a Russian corps headquarters including its commanding general, chief of staff, and operations documents, though he was twice wounded by snipers on 21 and 22 December. Appointed commander of the 8. SS-Kavallerie-Division “Florian Geyer” in May 1943 and promoted to SS-Brigadeführer und Generalmajor der Waffen-SS, then later SS-Gruppenführer und Generalleutnant der Waffen-SS, Fegelein received the Schwerter on 30 July 1944 for the division’s successes near Orel, extensive anti-partisan operations in the Pripet Marshes during summer 1943 including Operations Weichsel, Zeithen and Seydlitz, and defensive fighting south of Kharkov in late summer 1943, where between 26 August and 15 September the division repulsed five assaults of divisional strength and about eighty-five of battalion strength, notably around Bespalowka and Bol’shaya Gomol’sha. After severe wounds in September 1943 he became Waffen-SS liaison officer at the Führerhauptquartier, married Gretl Braun on 3 June 1944, was lightly wounded in the 20 July bomb plot, and on 28 April 1945 was arrested in civilian clothes in Berlin, court-martialed for desertion, and executed by firing squad in the garden of the Reichskanzlei.
SS-Obergruppenführer Felix Steiner (1896-1966) was born on 23 May 1896 in Stallupönen, East Prussia, and entered the Preußische Armee in March 1914 as Fahnenjunker in the Infanterie-Regiment „von Boyen“ (5. Ostpreußisches) Nr. 41 at Tilsit, serving through the First World War where he was severely wounded, rose to Oberleutnant, and received the Eisernes Kreuz first and second class together with the Verwundetenabzeichen in Schwarz. After the war he joined an East Prussian Freikorps, was absorbed into the Reichswehr, and left active service in 1933 as Major before entering the NSDAP and SA and transferring in 1935 to the SS as Obersturmbannführer, soon commanding the newly formed SS-Standarte „Deutschland“ of the SS-Verfügungstruppe. As SS-Oberführer he led this Standarte through the occupation of Czechoslovakia, the Polish campaign and the Westfeldzug of 1940; for his decisive leadership in the three-day advance that captured the island group of Zeeland from French forces, the rapid thrust to Vlissingen, the storming of strong positions at the Beveland Canal and the causeway to Walcheren Island, and subsequent fighting in northern France, he was awarded the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes on 15 August 1940, becoming the first member of the Waffen-SS to receive the decoration. Promoted SS-Brigadeführer und Generalmajor der Waffen-SS, he formed and commanded the SS-Division „Wiking“ from December 1940, leading it with marked success yet also harsh methods during the invasion of the Soviet Union; for outstanding performance on the Eastern Front, particularly the fighting along the Terek river, the relief of the 13. Panzer-Division near Gisel and the destruction of a Soviet Guards division that threatened the sole supply road near Tschikola, he received the Eichenlaub to the Ritterkreuz on 23 December 1942 while holding the rank of SS-Gruppenführer und Generalleutnant der Waffen-SS. In 1943 he assumed command of the newly created III. (germanisches) SS-Panzerkorps, organising the Division „Nordland“ and the Brigade „Nederland“ under its banner, conducting successful defensive operations against breakout attempts from the Oranienbaum pocket, and preserving the integrity of his forces during the withdrawal from Leningrad and their redeployment on the Narva front, achievements for which he was awarded the Schwerter to the Ritterkreuz on 10 August 1944 as SS-Obergruppenführer und General der Waffen-SS. After illness, brief command of the 11. SS-Panzerarmee and the theoretical Armeegruppe Steiner in the final defence of Berlin—orders he declined to execute—he surrendered to American forces in May 1945, was released in 1948, later helped found HIAG and published apologetic works on the Waffen-SS, dying in Munich on 12 May 1966.
SS-Oberstgruppenführer Paul Hausser (1880-1972) was born on 7 October 1880 in Brandenburg an der Havel into a Prussian military family and entered the army as a Kadett in 1892, graduating in 1899 as Leutnant in Infanterie-Regiment 155 before attending the Kriegsakademie and serving in staff roles during the First World War, reaching Major by 1918 and remaining in the Reichswehr to retire as Generalleutnant in 1932. He then led the Stahlhelm in Berlin-Brandenburg, transferred into the SS in 1934 as SS-Standartenführer, and became instrumental in forming the Waffen-SS as Inspekteur of the SS-Verfügungstruppe and commander of the SS-Junkerschule, rising to SS-Gruppenführer. In October 1939 he took command of the SS-Verfügungsdivision, later SS-Division „Reich“, leading it through the French campaign of 1940 and the early stages of Operation Barbarossa; for his outstanding leadership between the Beresina and the Dnieper, where he personally directed attacks that annihilated strong Soviet forces including the 100th Moscow Division, enabling the corps advance across the Dnieper, and for prior decisive actions such as the capture of Walcheren, he received the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes on 8 August 1941 as Kommandeur of SS-Division „Reich“. Severely wounded on 14 October 1941 and losing an eye, he recovered to command the II. SS-Panzer-Korps, directing the recapture of Kharkov in 1943 against orders and the corps’ operations in Operation Zitadelle at Kursk, for which he was awarded the Eichenlaub on 28 July 1943 as Kommandierender General for repeatedly intervening at crisis points, inspiring troops under fire, and achieving breakthroughs against superior forces. In June 1944 he assumed command of the 7. Armee in Normandy; for his determined leadership during the heavy fighting and the breakout from the Falaise pocket, despite being wounded again, he received the Schwerter on 26 August 1944 as Oberbefehlshaber of the 7. Armee and was promoted to SS-Oberst-Gruppenführer und Generaloberst der Waffen-SS. After further commands of Heeresgruppe Oberrhein and Heeresgruppe G he surrendered in 1945, later founding and leading HIAG to advocate for Waffen-SS veterans until his death on 21 December 1972 in Ludwigsburg.
SS-Brigadeführer Kurt Meyer (1910-1961) was born on 23 December 1910 in Jerxheim to a working-class family and joined the Hitlerjugend in 1925, the NSDAP in 1930 and the SS in 1931 before transferring to the Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler in 1934 as SS-Untersturmführer. He commanded the 14. Panzerabwehr-Kompanie during the Polish campaign, receiving both classes of the Eisernes Kreuz, and later led the SS-Aufklärungs-Abteilung of the Leibstandarte through the Western campaign and the Balkans. On 18 May 1941 he was awarded the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes as SS-Sturmbannführer for the bold capture of the Klisura Pass and the subsequent cutting-off of Greek forces near Kastoria during the Greek campaign. On the Eastern Front his reconnaissance battalion fought in Operation Barbarossa and the Third Battle of Kharkov; for a series of aggressive thrusts that shattered Soviet cavalry formations and blocked enemy withdrawal routes east of Kharkov he received the Eichenlaub on 23 February 1943 as SS-Obersturmbannführer, the 195th award. In mid-1943 he became Kommandeur of SS-Panzergrenadier-Regiment 25 in the newly formed 12. SS-Panzer-Division “Hitlerjugend”. After the death of SS-Brigadeführer Fritz Witt on 14 June 1944 he assumed command of the division itself, becoming one of the youngest divisional commanders in the German forces. For his determined leadership of the heavily outnumbered division in the bitter defensive battles around Caen and during the breakout from the Falaise pocket he was awarded the Schwerter on 27 August 1944 as SS-Standartenführer, the 91st award, and promoted to SS-Oberführer and later SS-Brigadeführer und Generalmajor der Waffen-SS. Captured near Namur on 6 September 1944, he was later convicted of war crimes related to the shooting of Canadian prisoners, had his death sentence commuted, and was released in 1954; he died of a heart attack in Hagen on his fifty-first birthday, 23 December 1961.
SS-Brigadeführer Otto Kumm (1909-2004) was born on 1 October 1909 in Hamburg as the son of a merchant and trained as a typesetter before joining the SS-Verfügungstruppe on 1 June 1934, initially serving with the SS-Standarte "Germania" and later transferring to the SS-Standarte "Deutschland" and then the SS-Standarte "Der Führer". He took part in the Polish campaign and the Western campaign of 1940, where he earned the Eisernes Kreuz II. and I. Klasse while leading elements of the regiment, and from July 1941 commanded the SS-Regiment "Der Führer" of the SS-Division "Reich" on the Eastern Front. As SS-Obersturmbannführer he distinguished himself during the advance and the destruction of Soviet forces in the Kiev pocket in September 1941 through rapid advances, night reconnaissance and the crushing of enemy columns and the 5th Cavalry Division, capturing thousands of prisoners and much equipment. In January 1942 his regiment held out for four weeks against massive Soviet attacks near Rzhev and Cholm, blocking a key advance road and cutting off breakthroughs despite being reduced from around 2000 men to only 35, actions for which he received the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes on 16 February 1942. During the Third Battle of Kharkov in February 1943, still as commander of the now SS-Panzergrenadier-Regiment "Der Führer", he ordered decisive independent attacks without full panzer support south of Merefa and pursued retreating forces toward Jefronowka and Bereka, destroying substantial enemy units and securing key terrain under harsh winter conditions, earning the Eichenlaub on 6 April 1943. After serving as Chef des Stabes of the V. SS-Gebirgskorps he assumed command of the 7. SS-Freiwilligen-Gebirgs-Division "Prinz Eugen" on 30 January 1944, leading it in anti-partisan operations and the difficult Balkan withdrawal against superior Bulgarian and Soviet forces; he personally held critical positions with tiny ad-hoc groups to cover the evacuation of the Nisch bridgehead and motorized columns in October 1944, for which he was awarded the Schwerter on 17 March 1945 as SS-Brigadeführer und Generalmajor der Waffen-SS. In February 1945 he took command of the 1. SS-Panzer-Division "Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler", participating in Operation Frühlingserwachen before surrendering to American forces on 8 May 1945. After the war he worked as a production leader in a printing firm, co-founded the HIAG veterans’ organization, and died on 23 March 2004 in Offenburg.
SS-Oberführer Georg Bochmann (1913-1973) was born on 18 September 1913 in Albernau, Saxony, to a family of modest textile workers and studied at the University of Leipzig. After joining the Hitlerjugend he entered the NSDAP in 1933 and the SS in 1934, serving initially with the SS-Totenkopfverbände at Dachau and later in the SS-Totenkopf Standarte Oberbayern. In November 1939, as SS-Obersturmführer, he helped form the SS-Totenkopf-Division and commanded an armoured unit during the 1940 campaign in France at Cambrai, Arras and Dunkirk, earning the Eisernes Kreuz II. Klasse. Transferred east for Operation Barbarossa, he fought with Heeresgruppe Nord toward Leningrad, receiving the Eisernes Kreuz I. Klasse in July 1941. During the Demjansk Pocket in early 1942, as SS-Hauptsturmführer and Kommandeur of the SS-Panzerjäger-Abteilung Totenkopf, he led an assault that captured Nowo-Ramuschewo on 21 April after hard fighting, taking 13 guns and six tractors and establishing contact with Gruppe von Seydlitz; for this he was awarded the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes on 3 May 1942 and promoted to SS-Sturmbannführer. In March 1943, commanding the II. Abteilung of the SS-Kradschützen-Regiment Thule of the 3. SS-Panzergrenadier-Division Totenkopf, he conducted a deep reconnaissance to Katschalowka, then skilfully captured Krassnokutsk, a forest near Ssorokowka and the villages Saroshnoje and Tetlega through personal leadership and rapid flanking attacks; these actions earned him the Eichenlaub on 17 May 1943 as the 246th recipient. He later commanded the SS-Panzer-Regiment 3 through the Battle of Kursk before wounds forced his temporary withdrawal. In January 1945, as SS-Standartenführer, he took command of the 18. SS-Freiwilligen-Panzergrenadier-Division Horst Wessel in Silesia. Although wounded, he rallied stalled attacks north of Ratibor, directed fierce defensive fighting around Oberglogau and led a successful breakthrough of Soviet encirclement, for which he received the Schwerter on 26 March 1945 as the 140th recipient and was promoted to SS-Oberführer. Briefly commanding the 17. SS-Panzergrenadier-Division Götz von Berlichingen, he refused suicidal orders, participated in the Battle of Castle Itter and surrendered to U.S. forces on 9 May 1945 near Rottach-Egern. Bochmann died on 8 June 1973 in Offenbach am Main.
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EICHENLAUBTRÄGER
SS-Obergruppenführer Theodor Eicke (1892-1943) was a German military officer who rose to prominence as a senior SS functionary and Waffen-SS commander, playing a pivotal role in shaping the Nazi concentration camp system before leading combat forces on the Eastern Front. Born in Hampont, Alsace-Lorraine, Eicke served in the Bavarian Army during World War I as a paymaster and infantryman, earning the Iron Cross 2nd Class, before joining the Nazi Party and the SS in the late 1920s; he became the second commandant of Dachau concentration camp in June 1933, reorganizing it with strict discipline, the iconic striped prisoner uniforms, and death's head insignia for guards, then expanded this model nationwide as Inspekteur der Konzentrationslager and commander of the SS-Totenkopfverbände, while also participating in the Night of the Long Knives by executing SA Chief Ernst Röhm alongside his adjutant Michael Lippert. In 1939, he assumed command of the newly formed SS-Division Totenkopf, leading it through the Battle of France—where the division committed war crimes such as the Le Paradis massacre—and into Operation Barbarossa, where it fought with noted ferocity and brutality. Eicke received the Ritterkreuz on 26 December 1941 as SS-Gruppenführer and Generalleutnant der Waffen-SS for his division's determined defense and breakout actions amid the heavy fighting in the Demyansk pocket, where SS-Division Totenkopf under his leadership distinguished itself particularly at villages such as Kobylkino and Wassiljewschtina despite encirclement and extreme conditions; he was further awarded the 88th Eichenlaub on 20 April 1942 as SS-Obergruppenführer und General der Waffen-SS for the outstanding overall performance of his division in sustaining the pocket's defense. Eicke was killed in action on 26 February 1943 when his Fieseler Fi 156 Storch aircraft was shot down by Soviet anti-aircraft fire near Lozova during the Third Battle of Kharkov.
SS-Obergruppenführer Alfred Wünnenberg (1891-1963) was born on 20 July 1891 in Saarburg, Alsace-Lorraine, in the German Empire, and entered military service on 25 February 1913 as a Fahnenjunker in the Infanterie-Regiment „Vogel von Falckenstein“ (7. Westfälisches) Nr. 56 of the Prussian Army; during the First World War he served as a Kompaniechef, was wounded on both the Western and Eastern fronts, trained as a pilot from June 1916, and flew as an Aufklärungsflieger with Feld-Flieger-Abteilung 47 from August 1917, earning the Eisernes Kreuz 2. Klasse on 10 February 1915 and 1. Klasse on 9 September 1915 along with other decorations including the Königlich Preussisches Flugzeugbeobachter-Abzeichen and the Ritter des Königlicher Preussischer Hausordens von Hohenzollern mit Schwertern. After the war he briefly served with Grenzschutz Ost and a Freikorps in Oberschlesien before joining the Preußische Schutzpolizei as a Polizei-Oberleutnant in September 1920, rising through various police commands and training roles in Essen, Potsdam-Eiche, Krefeld, Köln, Charlottenburg, Hindenburg, Beuthen, Gleiwitz, Saarbrücken, Bremen, and Mannheim, joining the NSDAP on 1 May 1933 (Mitgliedsnummer 2.222.600) and the SS (SS-Nr. 405.898), and by December 1938 serving on the staff of the Inspekteur der Ordnungspolizei in Stuttgart. On 2 October 1939 he became Kommandeur of Polizei-Schützen-Regiment 3 of the Polizei-Division (later SS-Polizei-Division) with the rank of SS-Standartenführer and Oberst der Schutzpolizei, participating in the Western campaign of 1940 and the invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941; for his leadership in the Luga sector—particularly his personal bravery on 11 August 1941 in capturing the hills at Stojanowschtschina (taking seventeen enemy tanks and numerous heavy bunkers), his advance on 23 August to seize Ssyrez, the hills west of it, and the heights at Turowo that enabled the capture of Luga, and his regiment’s breakthrough of the outer defensive lines of Leningrad on 13 September by securing bridges and key positions while advancing toward Pushkin via the Ishora position—he was awarded the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes on 15 November 1941 as SS-Standartenführer and Oberst der Schupo. He assumed command of the SS-Polizei-Division on 15 December 1941, and for his successful leadership of the division at the Volkhov, where he closed the ring around the Volkhov pocket by attacking through extremely swampy terrain to achieve surprise against an enemy expecting an advance along the road, he received the Eichenlaub zum Ritterkreuz (91st award) on 23 April 1942 as SS-Brigadeführer and Generalmajor der Polizei. Promoted further to SS-Gruppenführer and Generalleutnant der Polizei in July 1942 and then to SS-Obergruppenführer und General der Waffen-SS und Polizei in July 1943, he briefly commanded the IV. SS-Panzer-Korps from 10 June 1943 until 31 August 1943, after which he succeeded Kurt Daluege as Chef des Hauptamtes der Ordnungspolizei, a post he held until the end of the war (and briefly as Chef der Deutschen Polizei in the final days); he fled via the Rattenlinie Nord to Flensburg, was interned as a POW in Dachau in 1946, released in 1947, and died on 30 December 1963 in Krefeld, West Germany.
SS-BrigadeführerFritz Witt (1908-1944) was born on 27 May 1908 in Hohenlimburg as the son of a textile salesman and worked in the textile trade until losing his position in 1931. He joined the NSDAP and the SS in December 1931, entering the SS-Stabswache Berlin in March 1933 as one of its earliest volunteers and later serving as Zugführer before becoming Kompaniechef of the 3. Kompanie in the SS-Standarte „Deutschland“. During the 1939 campaign in Poland he received both classes of the Eisernes Kreuz, and on 19 October 1939 he was appointed Kommandeur of the I. Bataillon of the SS-Infanterie-Regiment „Deutschland“. In the Western campaign of 1940, while holding the rank of SS-Sturmbannführer, his battalion came under attack on the evening of 27 May near Estaires by approximately twenty British tanks advancing without supporting anti-tank weapons available to the defenders; through determined leadership from the front line using only infantry weapons the battalion immobilized nine tanks and repelled the assault, actions for which Witt was awarded the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes on 4 September 1940. Transferred to the Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler, he commanded a battalion in the Balkan campaign of 1941, distinguishing himself at the Klidi-Pass and Kleisoura-Pass where his brother Franz was killed, then served on the Eastern Front and received the Deutsches Kreuz in Gold in February 1942. As SS-Standartenführer and Kommandeur of the SS-Panzer-Grenadier-Regiment 1 of the Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler he led his regiment with notable success during the defensive fighting east of Kharkov, the recapture of the city in March 1943, and engagements between the Donez and Dnjepr, earning the Eichenlaub zum Ritterkreuz (Nr. 200) on 1 March 1943, which was presented personally by Adolf Hitler. In July 1943, promoted to SS-Oberführer, he assumed command of the newly formed 12. SS-Panzer-Division „Hitlerjugend“, rising to SS-Brigadeführer und Generalmajor der Waffen-SS in 1944 and becoming one of the youngest officers of that rank. He led the division during the opening phase of the Normandy fighting in June 1944 until, on 14 June 1944, a heavy naval artillery barrage from British warships struck the divisional headquarters at Venoix near Caen and killed him at the age of thirty-six; he was later reinterred at the German war cemetery Champigny-Saint-André.
Source :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Knight%27s_Cross_of_the_Iron_Cross_recipients_of_the_Waffen-SS
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