Ritterkreuzträger with Kraftfahrbewährungsabzeichen (Driver Proficiency Badge)

The Kraftfahrbewährungsabzeichen, known in English as the Driver Proficiency Badge, was a German military decoration instituted on 23 October 1942 by Adolf Hitler to recognise the service and reliability of drivers of military transport vehicles during the Second World War. It was awarded to personnel of the Wehrmacht, including members of the Heer, Luftwaffe and Kriegsmarine, as well as civilian drivers under Wehrmacht command and foreign volunteers, but not to members of allied forces or posthumously. Qualification required proven service from 1 December 1940 onwards in designated operational zones such as the former Yugoslavia, Greece, Bulgaria, Romania, areas east of the 1940 Soviet border, Finland, northern Norway, Lapland and North Africa, with later extensions to Sicily, Corsica, southern Italy and Albania. The badge was issued in three classes according to repeated fulfilment of the criteria under difficult conditions: the bronze grade for the initial period of service, the silver for a second equivalent period and the gold for a third. The required number of operational days varied by role, typically ninety days for Kradmelder and motorcycle reconnaissance or dispatch riders, one hundred and twenty days for drivers of front-line supply or combat vehicles, and between one hundred and thirty-five and one hundred and eighty-five days for drivers of other transport, staff, column or rear-area vehicles. Days spent under enemy fire, on especially long daily distances, over difficult terrain or in extreme climatic conditions counted towards the total. The award could be withdrawn in cases of reckless driving or failure to maintain the assigned vehicle properly. The design, created by SS-Oberführer Werlin, consists of a circular laurel or oak-leaf wreath approximately forty-one to forty-four millimetres in diameter enclosing a stylised steering wheel of the type fitted to an Opel Blitz truck; it was stamped from iron or zinc alloy, finished in the appropriate metal colour and sewn onto a cloth backing for wear on the lower left sleeve of the uniform tunic, two centimetres above any specialist trade badge. Notably, the design contained no Hakenkreuz. Approximately sixty-five thousand badges were conferred in total. After 1945 wear of Third Reich decorations was prohibited, yet in 1957 the Federal Republic of Germany re-authorised a denazified version of the Kraftfahrbewährungsabzeichen for qualified veterans, thereby acknowledging the logistical contribution of military drivers under the most demanding wartime conditions.

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WAFFEN-SS


SS-Oberscharführer Hugo Ruf (1920-1945) was born on 30 December 1920 in Herten near Lörrach in Baden and entered the Waffen-SS in 1939, serving throughout the Second World War until his death. He rose to the rank of SS-Oberscharführer and served as Zugführer in the 3. Schwadron of SS-Panzer-Regiment 5 within the 5. SS-Panzer-Division „Wiking“. During operations on the Eastern Front he earned the Eisernes Kreuz II. Klasse, the Eisernes Kreuz I. Klasse, the Panzerkampfabzeichen in Silber and other decorations reflecting his experience as a tank commander. His most distinguished action occurred on 13 August 1944 near Sulejow. When Soviet forces broke through the German front with overwhelming strength and seized the village, severing contact with the neighbouring 5. Jäger-Division and threatening the establishment of a new defensive line, the infantry was too depleted to form more than a thin chain of resistance nests. Ruf and his Zug were ordered to cover the eastern edge of the Lochow wood. Upon arrival he independently decided to attack Sulejow itself without infantry support in order to gain a foothold from which he could shield the regrouping German infantry. After hard fighting he reached the village centre, destroyed a Pakfront of ten 7.62 cm guns, and then engaged an enemy tank assembly of some twenty to thirty vehicles in the woods to the south and southeast. When eight enemy tanks with mounted infantry counter-attacked he destroyed them all, together with a large part of the accompanying infantry; a further seven tanks advancing from the south were likewise eliminated. Holding the southern edge of the village for two days against repeated assaults, Ruf prevented any further penetration that would have compromised the newly forming German line west of Sulejow. In the course of this defensive battle his four Panzer IV tanks accounted for fifteen enemy tanks, twelve anti-tank guns, six heavy mortars and approximately three hundred Soviet soldiers. His decisive initiative restored the connection to the neighbouring division and enabled the infantry to reorganise. For this achievement he was awarded the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes on 16 October 1944. Ruf continued to serve with the division until the final weeks of the war and was killed near Celle on 2 May 1945 at the age of twenty-four; he is buried in the Field of Honor at the City Cemetery Celle, row 13, grave 45.

Source :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Driver_Proficiency_Badge