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The Goldenes HJ-Abzeichen, also known as the Goldenes Hitler-Jugend-Abzeichen or Golden Hitler Youth Honour Badge, was instituted on 23 June 1934 by Reichsjugendführer Baldur von Schirach with the personal approval of Adolf Hitler as a special honour award within the Hitlerjugend organisation. It was primarily bestowed upon members of the Hitlerjugend, the Bund Deutscher Mädel and the Deutsches Jungvolk who had joined before the first Reichsjugendtag held in Potsdam on 2 October 1932 and who had completed five years of continuous service, thereby recognising the so-called “old guard” of the youth movement. The badge could additionally be awarded for outstanding leadership or other meritorious achievements regardless of length of service. Outwardly resembling the standard diamond-shaped Hitlerjugend membership badge, it featured a black enamelled mobile swastika on a central gold field flanked by white and translucent red enamelled quadrants, but was distinguished by a broader gilt border instead of a silver one. Most examples were produced in gilded bronze or tombak, measured approximately 28 by 17 mm, carried a serial number on the reverse and were fitted with a vertical pin; manufacturers included firms such as Deschler & Sohn, Paulmann & Crone and Wilhelm Deumer under RZM codes. Between roughly 120 000 and 130 000 of the standard golden badges were issued between 1934 and 1943. A higher grade, the Goldenes HJ-Ehrenzeichen mit Eichenlaub, was introduced in 1935 for exceptional services and awarded only about 250 times; a very rare version with diamonds and rubies was created in 1942. Recipients retained the right to wear the badge even after leaving the Hitlerjugend, and the award remained an official Party decoration until the end of the Third Reich.
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HEER
General der Infanterie Walter Hoernlein (1893-1961) was born on 2 January 1893 in Blüthen near Karstädt in the Province of Brandenburg and received his early education at the Cadet Academy in Plön followed by the Royal Prussian Main Cadet Institute in Groß-Lichterfelde before being commissioned as Fähnrich into the 4. Westpreußisches Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 140 on 27 January 1912 and promoted to Leutnant in 1913. During the First World War he was severely wounded on 5 October 1914 and spent the remainder of the conflict as a French prisoner of war until his release in 1919, after which he continued service in the Reichswehr, rising through the ranks to Hauptmann, Major and Oberstleutnant while commanding battalions in Infanterie-Regiment 69. At the outbreak of the Second World War he led elements of that regiment in the Polish campaign and was appointed Kommandeur of Infanterie-Regiment 80 of the 34. Infanterie-Division in November 1939, receiving promotion to Oberst in April 1940. On 22 June 1941, as Kommandeur of Infanterie-Regiment 80, he directed the breakthrough of Soviet border fortifications south of Brest-Litovsk and the subsequent rapid seizure of the intact bridge over the Muchawiec river near Huznie, an action of decisive importance that enabled the 3. Panzer-Division to cross and continue its advance that same evening, for which he was awarded the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes on 30 July 1941. In August 1941 he assumed command of the Infanterie-Regiment „Großdeutschland“, which he led through the harsh winter fighting of 1941–42, and on 1 April 1942 he was promoted to Generalmajor and entrusted with the formation and command of the newly raised Infanterie-Division (mot.) Großdeutschland. Elevated to Generalleutnant on 1 January 1943, he guided the division through the battles around Kharkov and, during the bitter defensive combat west of Belgorod between 10 and 13 March 1943, directed operations in which the all-volunteer formation smashed the bulk of three enemy rifle divisions and two anti-tank brigades, destroying or capturing 29 tanks, 146 artillery pieces and 107 mortars, machine guns and anti-tank rifles while taking more than 400 prisoners, an achievement that earned him the Eichenlaub to the Ritterkreuz (213rd award) on 15 March 1943. He continued to command the unit after its redesignation as Panzergrenadier-Division Großdeutschland through the Battle of Kursk until January 1944, later served as Kommandierender General of the LXXXII. Armeekorps and the XXVII. Armeekorps, reached the rank of General der Infanterie in November 1944, and surrendered with his corps to American forces near Ludwigslust on 4 May 1945, remaining a prisoner until 1947 before dying in Köln-Merheim on 14 September 1961, remembered by his soldiers as “Papa”.
Major Georg Grüner (1915-1944) was born on 9 August 1915 in Windhoek, German Southwestern Afrika, and entered the Wehrmacht in 1936 as an Offiziersanwärter in Panzer-Regiment 1. Promoted to Leutnant on 1 September 1938, he served as Zugführer in Panzer-Abteilung 33 during the Polish campaign, earning the Eisernes Kreuz II. Klasse on 5 October 1939, before transferring to the 1. Kompanie of Panzer-Regiment 33 “Prinz Eugen” for the Western campaign. From June 1941 he fought on the Eastern Front during Operation Barbarossa with the same regiment of the 9. Panzer-Division, receiving the Eisernes Kreuz I. Klasse on 10 July 1941, the Ehrenblattspange des Heeres on 29 September 1941 and the Deutsches Kreuz in Gold on 18 October 1941. As Oberleutnant and Chef of the 1. Kompanie, I. Abteilung, Panzer-Regiment 33, he was awarded the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes on 25 November 1941 for outstanding leadership as Zugführer in the fighting around Kursk. After promotion to Hauptmann and recovery from serious wounds, he assumed command of the I. Abteilung / Panzer-Regiment 2 (reconstituted after Stalingrad) in March 1943; the unit trained in France, saw action in Italy and returned to the Eastern Front in late 1943 with the 16. Panzer-Division. There, as Kommandeur of the I. Abteilung, he particularly distinguished himself in February 1944 while establishing a bridgehead across the Gornyi-Tikitsch near Cherkassy. On 11 March 1944 he was killed in action near Davidkowce in the Proskurov area of Khmelnytskyi Oblast, Ukraine. Posthumously promoted to Major, he received the 436th Eichenlaub to the Ritterkreuz on 26 March 1944 in recognition of his continuous personal bravery and successful battalion leadership during the intense defensive battles of early 1944.
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WAFFEN-SS
SS-Obersturmführer Horst Gresiak (1920-1995) was born on 17 February 1920 in Leverkusen, Germany, and after service in the Hitlerjugend and Reichsarbeitsdienst he volunteered for the Waffen-SS on 30 September 1940, joining as SS-Grenadier in the 3. Kompanie of the SS-Totenkopf-Standarte where he trained as Infanterie-Gruppenführer. Selected as an officer candidate in November 1941, he attended the SS-Junkerschule Braunschweig and graduated in April 1942 as SS-Standartenoberjunker before being posted to the 2. SS-Division „Das Reich“. Commissioned SS-Untersturmführer der Reserve in June 1942, he served as Panzer-Kommandant in the 2. Schwadron of SS-Panzer-Abteilung 2 and later as Zugführer in the 3. Schwadron of SS-Panzer-Regiment 2, distinguishing himself on the Eastern Front. Promoted SS-Obersturmführer der Reserve on 20 April 1944, he assumed command of the 7. Kompanie (or Schwadron) of SS-Panzer-Regiment 2, 2. SS-Panzer-Division „Das Reich“, and fought in Normandy. During the Ardennenoffensive on 23–24 December 1944, despite severe shortages of food, ammunition, fuel and rest in his depleted unit, Gresiak led the 7. Kompanie in the decisive assault on the vital road junction at Baraque de Fraiture after earlier attacks by SS-Panzergrenadier-Regiment 4 „Der Führer“ had been repulsed. Commanding from his Panzer IV (number 701) with precise radio orders, his company engaged a strongly defended American position reported to include a battalion supported by numerous tanks; in the ensuing armored battle the 7. Kompanie destroyed seventeen tanks (including eight Shermans), two armored cars, twenty-two trucks and eleven other vehicles while capturing two armored cars, one hundred cases of anti-tank grenades and about one hundred prisoners, thereby securing the strategic crossroads and achieving an extraordinary tactical success for the division. Severely wounded in the breast by bomb shrapnel during a subsequent American air attack on 24–25 December, he was evacuated to a Lazarett. Originally proposed for the Ehrenblattspange, the recommendation was upgraded and on 25 January 1945 he received the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes as Führer of the 7. Kompanie, SS-Panzer-Regiment 2. Still recovering at war’s end, Gresiak died on 22 February 1995 in Leverkusen at the age of seventy-five.
Source :
https://alifrafikkhan.blogspot.com/2011/12/album-foto-tokoh-third-reich-peraih.html
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