Wehrmacht: Large Estate of Knight's Cross Recipient Oberfeldwebel Willi Haxter, Grenadier-Regiment 691

The Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross represented the functionally highest military decoration of Nazi Germany during World War II, second in precedence only to the Grand Cross of the Iron Cross, which was awarded exclusively to Hermann Göring in July 1940. The decoration continued the Prussian tradition of the Iron Cross, first introduced in 1813 during the Wars of Liberation against Napoleon. The 1939 version featured modifications including a swastika and was worn suspended from a neck ribbon, unlike the Iron Cross 1st and 2nd Classes.

The Knight's Cross was instituted on September 1, 1939 by Adolf Hitler through the Ordinance re-establishing the Iron Cross. The first presentation was made on September 30, 1939. The decoration was awarded to recognize extreme battlefield bravery or outstanding military leadership and could be awarded to German soldiers of all ranks and to allies of the Third Reich. To qualify, a soldier typically had to already hold the Iron Cross 1st Class 1939, though this was sometimes awarded concurrently. The award criteria became increasingly stringent as the war progressed.

This example was manufactured by C.E. Juncker, Berlin, one of the most prestigious authorized producers of military orders during the Nazi era. The firm was located on Mühlenstraße in Berlin and produced Knight's Crosses from the beginning to the end of the war until the factory and dies were destroyed in an air raid in 1944. The piece bears the marking L/12, Juncker's LDO code, and consists of a blackened magnetic iron core with a frame of 800 silver (80% silver content). The reverse is stamped “800 L/12” and the band ring is stamped “800”. The Knight's Cross has a cross pattée shape with three-piece construction and standard dimensions of approximately 48mm wide by 54mm high. The obverse features a raised mobile swastika in the center, the date “1939” on the lower arm, surrounded by a ribbed beaded border.

According to various sources, between approximately 7,161 (German Federal Archives analysis) and 7,318 (Association of Knight's Cross Recipients, though 200 cases lack official proof) Knight's Crosses were awarded. The Knight's Cross had five hierarchical grades: the basic Knight's Cross, Knight's Cross with Oak Leaves (instituted June 3, 1940), with Oak Leaves and Swords (instituted July 15, 1941), with Oak Leaves, Swords and Diamonds (instituted July 15, 1941), and with Golden Oak Leaves, Swords and Diamonds (instituted December 29, 1944). Approximately 882 to 863 Oak Leaves, 159 to 160 Swords, 27 Diamonds, 1 Golden Oak Leaves, and 1 Grand Cross were awarded.

This grouping belonged to Oberfeldwebel Wilhelm “Willi” Haxter, squad leader of a radio or communications platoon in Grenadier-Regiment 691. Haxter was awarded the Knight's Cross on August 18, 1943 at Headquarters OKH. The provisional certificate bears the original ink signature of Generalmajor Maisel on behalf of the Army High Command. Grenadier-Regiment 691 originated from the October 1942 renaming of Infanterie-Regiment 691 and belonged to the 339th Infantry Division, which was created in December 1940 as part of the 14th Aufstellungswelle in Thuringia, served on the Eastern Front, and was dissolved in November 1943 when incorporated into Corps-Abteilung C.

Haxter had previously received the German Cross in Gold on May 22, 1943, a decoration instituted on September 28, 1941 by Hitler that ranked higher than the Iron Cross 1st Class but below the Knight's Cross. It was awarded for repeated acts of bravery or repeated outstanding achievements in combat (typically six to eight acts). The German Cross in Gold was not a mandatory intermediate step to the Knight's Cross; both could be awarded independently. This example was manufactured by C.F. Zimmermann, Pforzheim (maker code 20) in light construction. The badge has a diameter of 65mm and was worn on the right breast pocket. It displays an eight-pointed star badge with a black enameled swastika in the center, surrounded by a golden laurel wreath with “1941” at the base. The accompanying provisional certificate bears the original signature of Generalfeldmarschall Keitel.

Haxter was identified as the first Knight's Cross recipient from Haltern am See (North Rhine-Westphalia). His complete grouping also includes the Iron Cross 1st Class (awarded April 19, 1942) and 2nd Class (awarded February 15, 1942), three grades of Wound Badges (Black after one wound on March 4, 1942, Silver after four wounds on February 28, 1943, Gold after six wounds on April 17, 1943), the Medal for the Winter Battle in the East (July 28, 1942), the Infantry Assault Badge in Silver (May 12, 1942), and the Close Combat Clasp in Bronze (August 17, 1943). Several awards were signed by Generalmajor Schlemmer, commander of the 134th Infantry Division and himself a Knight's Cross recipient.

Recipients of the Knight's Cross became propaganda icons and were used to inspire youth and maintain morale during the war. After 1945, wearing Nazi insignia was prohibited in post-war Germany. In 1957, the Federal Republic of Germany authorized a de-nazified replacement Knight's Cross with an oak leaf cluster in place of the swastika, which could be worn by World War II Knight's Cross recipients. The Association of Knight's Cross Recipients was founded in 1955 in Cologne. Today, authentic period Knight's Crosses, particularly those by C.E. Juncker with the L/12 marking, are highly sought by collectors due to the destruction of the Juncker dies in 1944, ensuring all surviving examples were actually wartime awards rather than post-war production.