By Stephen Sherman, Nov. 2008. Updated July 15, 2011.

Medals for valor seemed to proliferate during World War Two Germany. The Iron Cross, originally a Prussian award, dated back to 1813. After Germany was unified in 1870, the Iron Cross remained an important decoration for German war heroes.

The first expansion was the creation of 1st and 2nd Classes of the Iron Cross. In order to win the Iron Cross 1st Class, the recipient already had to have the Iron Cross 2nd Class.

Early in the Second World War, a new distinction, the Knight's Cross to the Iron Cross was created. And that seemed to require ever-higher levels of distinction, yielding the Oak Leaves, awarded 883 times, then the Oak Leaves and Swords, awarded 159 times. Finally the Knight's Cross with Oak-Leaves, Swords and Diamonds was instituted, on September 28th, 1941.

Awarded To:

Officers and men of all ranks within any branch of the Wehrmacht, Waffen-SS or the auxiliary service organizations.

Luftwaffe Qualifications:
- The previous award of the Knight's Cross with Oakleaves and Swords, and
- Continued accumulation of points, 1 point for downing a single-engine aircraft, 2 points for a twin-engine aircraft and 3 points for a four-engine aircraft. All points were x2 at night. This total was continuously raised as the war went on.

Kriegsmarine Qualifications:
- The previous award of the Knight's Cross with Oakleaves and Swords, and
- Continued accumulation of tons of shipping sunk for Uboots, and/or
- Continued performance of outstanding actions of combat bravery above and beyond the call of duty.

The "Diamonds," as it was called, was awarded only 27 times. As noted in the title, it was the highest regularly awarded medal in Nazi Germany; other, "higher," awards were awarded once or not at all. The 27 recipients were: Werner Mölders, Adolf Galland, Gordon Gollob, Hans-Joachim Marseille, Hermann Graf, Erwin Rommel, Wolfgang Lüth, Walter Nowotny, Adelbert Schulz, Hans-Ulrich Rudel, Hyazinth Graf von Strachwitz, Herbert Otto Gille, Hans-Valentin Hube, Albert Kesselring, Helmut Lent, Sepp Dietrich, Walther Model, Erich Hartmann, Hermann Balck, Gerhard Ramcke, Heinz-Wolfgang Schnaufer, Albrecht Brandi, Reinhard Heydrich, Ferdinand Schörner, Hasso von Manteuffel, Theodor Tolsdorff, Karl Mauss, Dietrich von Saucken.

Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Golden Oakleaves, Swords and Diamonds

This medal was the highest level, originally intended for 12 of the most distinguished servicemen in the entire German armed forces after the war ended (victoriously, of course). As the Third Reich collapsed, this plan was never realized.

But one Golden Oakleaves, Swords and Diamonds was awarded to Hans Ulrich Rudel. The famed Stuka dive bomber pilot destroyed 518 Russian tanks, 150 artillery pieces, 700 trucks, one battleship, one cruiser, one destroyer, and hundreds of other targets (bridges, railways, bunkers). Rudel flew 2,530 combat missions, of which 400 were in a Focke-Wulf 190, claimed 11 air-to-air victories and was shot down 32 times.