Last Ritterkreuz

[Jochen Prien]

Although not an airtman but an Oberleutnant in a Panzer Division, the award date of my father's KC was 8 May 1945 as is evidenced on an official list of the last recipients of that decoration; the validity of the award has been contested by some historians a couple of years ago but not the fact of the award as such. IIRC there were several KC-awards with the date of the official last day of the war.

KR

Jochen Prien

P.S.: When I say official last day that is because my father's unit ended the war only on 11 May 1945 when they broke through the American lines somewhere in Checoslovakia in order to evade Russian captivity. The GIs offered no resistance being rather stunned by that group of several hundred Germans passing through with all their vehicles and equipment only to dissolve their unit some 5 kms further west, change to civilian clothes and head for home. My father rode back home to Hamburg on a bycicle, arriving there after several days.

[David N]

Originally Posted by Jochen Prien

Although not an airtman but an Oberleutnant in a Panzer Division, the award date of my father's KC was 8 May 1945 as is evidenced on an official list of the last recipients of that decoration; the validity of the award has been contested by some historians a couple of years ago but not the fact of the award as such. IIRC there were several KC-awards with the date of the official last day of the war.

KR

Jochen Prien

P.S.: When I say official last day that is because my father's unit ended the war only on 11 May 1945 when they broke through the American lines somewhere in Checoslovakia in order to evade Russian captivity. The GIs offered no resistance being rather stunned by that group of several hundred Germans passing through with all their vehicles and equipment only to dissolve their unit some 5 kms further west, change to civilian clothes and head for home. My father rode back home to Hamburg on a bycicle, arriving there after several days.

Could you tell us what Panzer Division your father was in?

[Jochen Prien]

Chris,

my father was awarded the Ritterkreuz on May 8th ( or 9th) 1945, although this has been disputed / contested by some RK-experts - for which I don't give a damn, either way. Documents of the award exist as well as the original of the KC. From a list I have seen I remember that he was amongst the last five or ten recipients. He belonged to 2. Pz.-Div. though, as he chose to volunteer for the Panzertruppe in 1940 fearing that he would come too late if he joined the Luftwaffe as a pilot - a fear that was unfounded. He only got his PPL in the sixties of the last century.

Don't know whether this helps. But anyway -

Best

Jochen

[VtwinVince]

Good example, Herr Doktor. The reason I asked for clarification on dates is that many RK historians deny claims by recipients made during the Doenitz period, including higher grades of the RK. There were a couple of Frenchmen who apparently got it in Berlin right at the end of the war, but these were probably only entries in the Soldbuch, Henri Fenet being one of them.

[schnellmeyer]

I met Henri Fenet at the 1 Panzer Korps reunion in Austria back in 1990 and he wore his 1957 version of the RK at the meeting . He got this from Wilhelm Mohnke who confirmed this when I had contact with him .

[Adriano Baumgartner]

Herr Jochen PRIEN,

Firstly, I am a real fan of your work, really. (I only do have the full set about the JG53 History, though; but am interested on the JG 27 work of yours, since Obfw. Wilhelm Baumgartner seems to be from the same root of my Family, back in Switzerland...but this is another story).
Secondly: I know you wrote several books about the Luftwaffe, etc...but have you thought about writing about your father? I did not know he was a former veteran and highly decorated...Excuse me being curious, but had you talked about the war, I mean, when you were a kid, etc.?....or was it a difficult subject to talk about? Do you see, I have met only 4 former German WW2 veterans here in Brazil, one of them being Martin Drewes, back in 1996, one JG 27 airman shot down in 1945...a Ju 88 trainee pilot (who is still flying gliders) and a former NJG 2 and NJG 1 technician from Siemens that helped install the FuG 212 in the very first Nachtjagd aircraft (almost all of them passed away)...and this was Always a difficult topic to talk about. Of course, I am not a relative...so, they may have been suspicious, etc....

I understand this is an OFF topic question and is not related to the thread itself, but as a Latin American, I would like to understand if, during the 50's or 60's this was talked about, within the families of veterans...or if this was "verbotten" topic...

Again, please do let me express my admiration for your work and the tribute you did to all those Luftwaffe airmen, writing about their units and memories.

Adriano S. Baumgartner

[John Beaman]

Originally Posted by Adriano Baumgartner

Herr Jochen PRIEN,

Firstly, I am a real fan of your work, really. (I only do have the full set about the JG53 History, though; but am interested on the JG 27 work of yours, since Obfw. Wilhelm Baumgartner seems to be from the same root of my Family, back in Switzerland...but this is another story).
Secondly: I know you wrote several books about the Luftwaffe, etc...but have you thought about writing about your father? I did not know he was a former veteran and highly decorated...Excuse me being curious, but had you talked about the war, I mean, when you were a kid, etc.?....or was it a difficult subject to talk about? Do you see, I have met only 4 former German WW2 veterans here in Brazil, one of them being Martin Drewes, back in 1996, one JG 27 airman shot down in 1945...a Ju 88 trainee pilot (who is still flying gliders) and a former NJG 2 and NJG 1 technician from Siemens that helped install the FuG 212 in the very first Nachtjagd aircraft (almost all of them passed away)...and this was Always a difficult topic to talk about. Of course, I am not a relative...so, they may have been suspicious, etc....

I understand this is an OFF topic question and is not related to the thread itself, but as a Latin American, I would like to understand if, during the 50's or 60's this was talked about, within the families of veterans...or if this was "verbotten" topic...

Again, please do let me express my admiration for your work and the tribute you did to all those Luftwaffe airmen, writing about their units and memories.

Adriano S. Baumgartner

Adriano, you ask some interesting questions, but I think this needs a new thread. Why don't you cut and past your thread into a new one>

[CJE]

Thanks Jochen,

It goes beyond my imagination to figure out that while Germany was crumbling down some bureaucrats were still typewriting the citations - "business as usual" style! - and dispatching (by courrier?) the medals in their boxes to the frontline units.

[VtwinVince]

Hauptfeldwebel Paul Wilhelm was awarded the KC on May 5th by Heeresgruppe Mitte.

[Larry deZeng]

Excellent, VtwinVince! Because M. Chris CJE did not specify Luftwaffe in his Post No. 1 at the beginning of this thread!

L.