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.