Original Color Photographs of Ferdinand Schörner by Walter Frentz

Generaloberst Ferdinand Schörner (Oberbefehlshaber Heeresgruppe Nord) in a picture taken on 16 January 1945 by Walter Frentz, during Brillanten award ceremony with Hitler at the Neue Reichskanzlei in Berlin, Germany. Schörner formally received the Brillanten zum Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes mit Eichenlaub und Schwertern on 1 January 1945 as the 23rd recipient for his determined leadership as Oberbefehlshaber of Heeresgruppe Nord during the defensive battles in the Baltic region in late 1944. After taking command of Heeresgruppe Nord in July 1944, he faced the massive Soviet Baltic Offensive that began on 14 September 1944 against German forces still holding positions in Estonia and northeastern Latvia. Under Schörner’s direction the troops of Heeresgruppe Nord conducted an orderly withdrawal from these territories without suffering significant losses, despite being heavily outnumbered and repeatedly cut off. Once the remaining formations of the 16. Armee and 18. Armee were compressed into the Kurland-Kessel, Schörner organized the defence of the Courland Peninsula and directed the first three of the four major Kurland battles that followed. In these prolonged and bitter engagements the Soviet forces, employing overwhelming numerical and material superiority in infantry, armour and artillery, launched repeated large-scale assaults but were able to achieve only limited territorial gains at the cost of severe personnel and equipment losses. Schörner’s personal presence at the front, his energetic reorganization of the defensive lines, and the resolute resistance he inspired among the isolated units of Heeresgruppe Nord prevented a complete collapse of the pocket and tied down substantial Soviet strength that might otherwise have been transferred to other sectors of the Eastern Front. For these sustained defensive successes, which were among the last German operational triumphs of the war, he was awarded the Brillanten while still serving as Oberbefehlshaber of Heeresgruppe Nord, shortly before his transfer to command Heeresgruppe Mitte.

Source :
"Hitler's Personal Security: Protecting the Führer 1921-1945" by Peter Hoffmann
https://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?p=1020564&hilit=sch%C3%B6rner#p1020564
https://www.walter-frentz-collection.de/fotoarchiv/personenarchiv-a-z/personen-s/
https://www.tracesofwar.com/persons/1054/Sch%C3%B6rner-Johann-Ferdinand.htm