Knights Cross Recipients signed photos

Karl Adolf Hollidt, At the beginning of WWII, Hollidt served as a commander of the 52nd Infantry Division. From November 1st, 1939, he served as a Chief-of-Staff with Commander-in-Chief Ost, General Blaskowitz. Lieutenant General Hollidt (promoted April 1st, 1940) served from October, 1940 as the commander of the 50th Infantry Division in Greece. Promoted to the rank of General der Infanterie (Infantry General), Hollidt commanded XVII Army Corps which was planned to take part in the relief operation concerning the 6th Army, then encircled in the Russian city of Stalingrad. After the surrender of the 6th Army, 6th was reconstituted in March, 1943 and Hollidt was given its command. He was promoted to Colonel General on 1 September 1943.



Friedrich-Jobst Volckamer von Kirchensittenbach, highly decorated General der Gerbirgstruppe (mountain troops) he commanded the 8th Jager division and was also the commander of the 16th Armee. He participated in the campaigns in Poland, France, Greece, Leningrad, battle of Debrecen and the Courland Pocket. He was captured by Soviet troops in the Courland Pocket in May 1945 and was held until 1955.



Werner Ziegler, his awards include the following; Wound Badge in Black, Close Combat Clasp in Bronze, Tank Destruction Badge, Crimea Shield, Iron Cross (1939), 2nd Class (7 July 1940), 1st Class (26 April 1941), Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords, Knight's Cross on 31 December 1941 as Leutnant and leader of the 2./Infanterie-Regiment 186, 121st Oak Leaves on 8 September 1942 as Oberleutnant and leader of the 2./Infanterie-Regiment 186, 102nd Swords on 23 October 1944 as Major and leader of Infanterie-Regiment 186.



Udo Cordes, Zerstorer pilot in the Bf 110. Cordes was known as the "Lok Toter" (Loco killer) or locomotive killer while flying the JU-88c equipped with three 20mm canon and three MG 17s used for train busting. He flew in SG-2 and KG-3. He was awarded his RK for destroying 81 locomotives, 41 of which were destroyed in a 3 week period in January of 1943. Not only did he destroy the Locomotives but he also destroyed 19 entire trains with all their cargo.


Otto Kretschmer, "Silent Otto", U-99, On 16 patrols he sank 46 ships for 273,043 tons and damaged 5 more for 37,965 tons and 2 ships were a total loss for a total of 15,513 tons. Otto became famous for his night-time surface attacks against convoys, and there his motto "One torpedo ... one ship" was created! Especially notable was the sinking of three British Armed Merchant Cruisers, Laurentic (18,724 tons), Patroclus (11,314 tons) and Forfar (16,402 tons) in November 1940 for a total of more than 46,000 tons. On his last patrol he was also very successful and attacked 10 ships. He was captured after scuttling U-99 at 0343hrs on 17 March 1941, south-east of Iceland after depth charge damage inflicted by the British destroyer HMS Walker.Kretschmer managed to surface his badly damaged boat and save 40 out of his 43-man crew (his chief engineer died) before the boat sank again for the last time. After his capture he spent more than six and a half years in British captivity. For more than four years he was held in Canada in Camp 30 (often referred to as Camp Bowmanville), from where he maintained contact with BdU.



Erich Topp, U-57, U-552 "Red Devil Boat", U-2513, On 12 patrols he sank 35 ships for 197,460 tons and damaged 4 more for 32,317 tons. Commanding U-552 "the Red Devil Boat" he scored most of his successes in the North Atlantic against convoys and off the North American coast. On his very successful eighth patrol in March/April 1942, he sank eight ships for a total of 45,731 tons. In September 1942 Topp became commander of the 27th U-boat Flotilla, where new U-boat crews received their tactical training. Topp wrote the Battle Instructions for the new XXI Elektro Boat submarine in 1944, and when the war ended he was commanding one of them, U-2513, which he surrendered at Horten, Norway in May 1945.



Klaus Bargsten, commander of U-563, U-521, he is credited with 3 ships sunk for 19,551 tons. On his second patrol he sank the British destroyer HMS Cossack (1,960 tons). After the third patrol he left the boat and three months later commissioned U-521. This boat was sunk on 2 June, 1943 by the US sub chaser PC 565, 100 nautical miles east of Cape Hatteras. Kptlt. Bargsten was the only survivor and spent more than three years in Allied captivity.



Alexander Glaser, Stuka pilot, Gruppenkommandeur of the II./ Schlachtgeschwader 77.
Glaser flew in 1,123 sorties participating in the following campaigns; Poland, Belgium, France, Battle of Britain, Balkans, Crete, Operation Barbarosa, Sevastopol, Stalingrad and Kursk. He was highly decorated and a recipient of the Knights Cross with Oakleaves.



Helmut Mahlke, Mahlke was one of the original "alte Adlers" (old eagles) having started his flying career in the DVS in 1932. As Staffel Kapitän der 2./(Stuka) Träger Gruppe 186, a part of Stuke Geshwader 1, he flew missions over England and the Channel. He won his RK in 1941 after sinking 2 destroyers, 1 submarine and 29 freighters with a combined 152,000 BRT (more than some U-Boat aces). He also flew in the invasion of Norway, France, Belgium, Russia, Balkans and in Afrika. On June 24th 1941, Mahlke was shot down near Minsk in Russia he evaded capture for 3 days and was able to return to his unit.



Walter Schuck, 206 victories, 8 (unconfirmed total) with the ME262, Schuck was posted to 7 Staffel, jagdgeschwader 5, in April 1942. Flying on the Arctic Front, by April 1943 he had claimed 54 victories against the Soviets. In April 1944 he was awarded the Knights Cross for his score of 84 kills. On 15 June 1944 he claimed his 100th victory on a day when he shot down 6 aircraft. Two days later he had his most successful day, claiming 12 victories in 24 hours, a feat never surpassed in JG 5. In August, he became commander of 10 staffel, JG 5. A few days after claiming his 171st aerial victory, Schuck was wounded by glass splinters that struck his cheek and nose. A splinter penetrated his jaw and got stuck in one of his teeth. To remove this splinter he required surgery. While in the hospital, recovering from this operation, Schuck received notice that he had been awarded the Knights Cross with Oakleaves. After leaving JG 5 Schuck was trained on the Me 262 Jet fighter and in early March 1945 was asked to join JG 7. Conversion to the Me 262 was very informal. Schuck spent hours standing next to the tarmac observing takeoff and landing procedures. His maiden flight on the Me 262 was on 20 March 1945. On 10 April 1945 he shot down four B-17s. Schuck visually identified two of the bombers. One of the bombers was the "Henn's Revenge" of the 303rd bombardment group, and the other was the "Moonlight Mission" of the 457th bombardment group. Shortly afterwards, his Me 262 was hit by a P-51 Mustang of the fighter escort, piloted by Joseph Anthony Peterburs of the 55th fighter squadron, Schuck having to bail out. Schuck sprained both ankles upon landing and the war ended before he had recovered.

 

Lacy actually Cordes and his sig looks a bit strange as I have seen it on a close-up personal head shot signed; destroyed the locos - 81 of them during his whole career. his train busting squadron was quite lethal with some 200 plus Soviet loco's to their credit the Ju 88C flying low down were quite effective in this role. I will try and find the article and post up if possible......well found just one photo of one of the members sitting on the shoulders of the ground crew. The C variant had three mg 17's and three 2cm cannon, two of them fitted in the lower gondola firing forward.

 

the signature of Cordes is a very late signature, my guess he was getting on in years when he signed it. I did see a photo of the JU 88C with the 3 mg 17s and the 3 20mm cannon, that is quite a lot of firepower!!