Total EK Awarded 1939-1945??

[SwordFish]

Does anyone have a rough estimate? My numbers are based off Heinrich Doehle's 1943 book.

Total EK1, 2s awarded 1939-1945.

Thanks,
T

[Santi]

The info in Axishistory.com is:


EK2 :

Number Awarded
approx. 3.000.000 (39 women)



EK1:
Number Awarded
approx. 450.000 (2 women, Else Grossmann & Hanna Reitsch)

I hope that helps.

[Hynkel]

Hi. I have a copy of Gordon Williamson's "The Iron Cross history" and the figures he gives are:

EK2: 5.000.000

EK1: 750.000

Anyway, these figures will be different depending the place that you consult. I hope these will be useful....I think they're reliable....

Hynkel.

[ApathyL]

ANd EK`s were awarded to the Royal Hungarian soldiers too. Actually two Knights Crosses were given to two Hungarian commanders. Dont know why many books even never mention it.......

[SwordFish]

Regarding RKs, does anyone have the number? From one source it looks like around 2600 were issued. Is this relatively accurate?

Another question: If there were 2600 recipients, would one assume various cross holders had at least 2 crosses to wear? Or did most recipients typically only have the cross that was awarded to them? Can anyone provide a rough number of RKs that are accounted for in private/public collections? I'm curious to get an idea of how many are still out ther unaccounted for. Even very loose estimates would help me get a rough idea. Again, this is merely for curiosity sake. Nothing on the line.

Interesting to look at the disparity in numbers between EK1s and EK2s that were awarded. 5 million vs. 3/4 million. I figure that of the 3/4 million, probably only 550,000-600,000 are accounted for? Just a guess. Looking at such disparity, I guess one can postulate why there is such a significatn difference in value, especially when you toss in EK1s with thier original issue box. I wonder how many cased EK1s are out there with the original box (as opposed to a mix and match with other issue boxes).

I also wonder how many Floch and other repros are out there that are passed as genuine? I can't believe it is too significant to thin out the numbers too terribly much. Can anyone speak to the repro numbers?

Thank you to my friends who are EK and RK collectors for this information.

Tom

[ErichS]

From an earlier thread I think about 7500 RKs were awarded.

[SwordFish]

Thanks Erich. I appreciate the info.

[Hynkel]

In "The Iron Cross history" Gordon Willamson says that 7318 RK's were awarded, so a figure around 7500 it's perfect.

Hynkel.