Knight's Cross, Oak-Leaves and Swords Recipients 1

Ogni volume di 64 pag., 12 pag. di dis. artistici a col. con oltre 40 foto in bianco e nero descrive nei minimi dettagli le uniformi, le armi, l'equipaggiamento, i fregi e i distintivi di ogni Elite Force.

On 21 June 1941, as the Wehrmachtstormed forward across the frontiers of the Soviet Union, Hitler instituted a new higher grade of the Knight’s Cross decoration for gallantry and leadership: the silver clasp of the Oak-Leaves with Swords. It would be awarded to only 159 men of the approximately 15 million who served in the German armed forces during World War II. This third in a sequence of four titles describes and illustrates a selection of the recipients: from much-wounded front line infantry officers, to Hitler’s ‘brother-in-law’; from a sergeant pilot fighter ace, to the commanding general of the greatest tank force ever gathered on the Russian Front.