Award of RK - Source of RK's Presented?

[Alan Smith]

When a German soldier was physically presented with his award of the RK (which, as best I can tell, was typically done in the field - unless the soldier was at a hospital recovering from wounds), where was the actual RK medal w/ case sourced from? Were supplies of unissued RK's kept on hand "in the field" at some unit level, to be dispatched as needed for award ceremonies?

Same question for DK's and other more common awards - was a supply kept on hand at certain unit levels? Who within the unit would be responsible for this supply and were there any sort of regulations detailing how the unissued awards were to be stored, cared for, inventoried, etc.?

[don-zamo]

I guess your right, id imagine they would have certain levels of awards, about the RK im not so sure, but hey im no expert. I would think your right.

James M

[Flemming]

If I remember correct, the RK had to be ordered form the PKZ, and then shipped to where ever it was needed.
I think that also goes for the DK, but I am not sure.
There were a supply of EK 1 and 2 at some level near or at the front.

/Flemming

[Dietrich Maerz]

Were supplies of unissued RK's kept on hand "in the field" at some unit level, to be dispatched as needed for award ceremonies?

Absolutely not! At least not till the very last days of the war. Every Knights Cross (and higher) was personally approved by Hitler and send out via courier from the PKZ. There were no storage at any other level than at the PKZ.
I know that a lot of people dispute but that is mainly because they can't read (or don't want to read) the original paperwork. I do - if I may inject a little advertisement - show the proper paperwork and I do describe the process in my book in (boring) detail.

I don't know (yet) how it was handled wit the DK (still have to go thru the original documents of the PKZ) but I know for a fact that EK1 and EK2 (and others) were stored at lower levels.

Dietrich

[Alan Smith]

Dieter,

Wonderful information - thank you for responding so quickly and, more importantly, thank you for the archive research you have performed and are still performing. Good work and please keep it up.

On the RK's (and, possibly, DK's) dispatched from the PKZ, are there any records in existance as to when individual "orders" were filled? In other words, are do PKZ records exist that show when the RK for a particular named soldier was filled and sent out?

Thanks,

Alan

[Dietrich Maerz]

Alan,

as it was the case with most things in Germany there was and still is all the paperwork related to most of the RK winner. What normally happened is that a telegram was send out with the information that the RK was awarded and that the actual cross will follow via courier.

Dietrich

[WARLORD]

There are occasions when the cross was not avalable for the presentation. In this case an alternative was sort. EG A quick look round for one.

[rkdek]

In this case an alternative was sort. EG A quick look round for one.

This might sound funny to some.

I have in a DK-group with massive documents a letter from the commanding officer to the DK-winner which states that he is giving/lending his spare DK to the new recipient because his will probably not arrive before his leave. He gave the new recipient literaly the oportunity to brag with his newly bestowed DK while on leave.

[Dietrich Maerz]

There are occasions when the cross was not avalable for the presentation. In this case an alternative was sort. EG A quick look round for one.

That was for sure the case and we have examples of RKs and Oaks for submarine commanders, as an example. And the occasional EK2 conversion - which is further proof that no 'storage' was at any level.

Dietrich

[VtwinVince]

Hmm, interesting. According to the bureaucrats, Hitler was still awarding decorations on the day he died, at least to Hax and Daniel.