The Kriegsmarine Honour Dagger with diamonds

[Norm F]

Hi Guys,

Searching WAF, it occurred to me we have no good reference thread for the Kriegsmarine Ehrendolch, the honour dagger of the navy. Although it was a gift of recognition (similar to the diamonds badges) rather than an official award, it still seems appropriate to have a reference thread in the Kriegsmarine forum since it was bestowed only at the discretion of the Grossadmiral.

By nature, this topic raises more questions than it answers since the vast majority of any postings on the internet are post-war manufacture and there are only a handful of originals worldwide hidden away God knows where, but we can at least summarize what little is publicly known.

The best online starting point is the brief article by Hermann Hampe on the website kriesgmarinedolch.de. There he quotes the earliest known primary source, a 1961 article by Dr. Kurt-Gerhard Klietmann which in turn quotes correspondence with Fregattenkapitän Reinhard Suhren from 1956. From this source, the only awards were said to be bestowed upon:

- Admiral Albrecht on his retirement [December 31, 1939]
- Kapitänleutnant Günther Prien, October 20th, 1940
- Kapitänleutnant Erich Topp, August 17th, 1942
- Kapitänleutnant Reinhard Suhren, Sept. 1st, 1942
- Generaladmiral Karl Witzell, September 30th, 1942
- Generaladmiral Alfred Saalwächter, December 1942

and in 1961 Klietmann showed a photo of what is claimed to be the original honour dagger of Witzell. Furthermore, according to Suhren they were awarded only by Raeder and none were awarded in the Dönitz era, although subsequent American authors have claimed between two and six were awarded by Dönitz. An article on sammler.ru by Andrew Dolonin (who also wrote a paperback book on Kriegsmarine daggers in Russian) claimed three additional recipients:

- Generaladmiral Rolf Carls - March 1, 1943
- Korvettenkapitän Wolfgang Lüth - April 15, 1943
- Korvettenkapitän Albrecht Brandi - May 9, 1944

To date, there are no verifiable primary sources or reliable images to support the latter. In fact, only the Topp dagger has clear provenance, documented both in a wartime photo upon its award and in a 1980s photo with Topp himself; sadly the Topp dagger was stolen from the family in August, 1999 and its whereabouts remain unknown.

[Norm F]

Topp

According to antiqueswords.com, these are blurry images of the Topp dagger with the dedication: "Dem Ubootsieger. Raeder. 17.8.42"

[Norm F]

Witzell

Here's the image from Hampe quoting Klietmann, showing the Witzell dagger (on the blue background).

Interestingly, the same dagger is shown in another photo without attribution in the sammler.ru article by Andrew Dolonin (on the yellow background).

[Norm F]

Although the eagle's head looks a bit different in the two photos, I think this is just because of the low-resolution blowups and, in the Klietmann photo, the dagger is rotated to the right. Nevertheless other details in the oak leaf binding of the grip, damascus grain and general proportions seem to match, not to mention the date of the dedication.

This same dagger is also shown in its presentation case on page 89 of Angolia's Die Kriegsmarine, volume 2.

So, although no wartime photo like the Topp dagger, the Witzell provenance seems to go back at least to 1961.

[Norm F]

It's also interesting to note that if these images are taken at face value, the two daggers with some provenance show very consistent details in the blade construction and the dedication, aside from the different text.

Witzell: "In dankbarer Anerkennung. Raeder. 30.9.42"

Topp: "Dem Ubootsieger. Raeder. 17.8.42"

[Norm F]

The website paulcasberg.com shows what are apparently the original designs for the dagger from 1938, although no references are named.

Most sources list Eickhorn as the sole producer of the navy Ehrendolch which would make sense given that, according to his bio, Casberg was Eickhorn's resident designer since 1934. Apparently he designed the 1935 Eickhorn logo as well.

On the original design you can see acorns in the cross-guard of the hilt which apparently never made it into production.

[Norm F]

A comparison between the original Casberg design and the final iteration on the "Witzell" dagger. The feather pattern has been simplified in production.

[Sepp45]

This was sold by Weitze, but no known recipient

[Sepp45]

Honour Dagger with diamonds presented by Großadmiral Raeder to Admiral Nordeck in 1942

[JustinG]

Fantastic thread gentlemen. Thanks for showcasing and detailing such an interesting piece/award.

Best Regards,
JustinG

[collecting]

... very interesting topic, thank you. 👍

A few additional hints.

The website www.kriegsmarinedolch.de is owned by author Oleg Ryskin.

The Topp dagger was stolen in August 1999. Still wanted by the son, Michael.

http://www.u552.de/erich-topp/auszei...lch-diebstahl/

Erich Topp became a victim of theft.

Erich Topp became a victim of his helpfulness in August 1999.

Visitors stole the award certificate of the Knights Cross from 1941 and his honor dagger with diamonds from him.

This honor dagger has the engraving on the scabbard: „Der Ubootssieger. Raeder 17.08.1942". The honor dagger was only awarded to Kptl. Erich Topp on this day.

If someone knows a US-American who calls himself T(h)omas and participated in the Vietnam War at the age of 18. So if you see this object on the net or at military auctions, fairs or dealers: please report it immediately.

Thank you.

Regards; Collecting

[collecting]

...

https://ww2.ru/shop/arkhivy/%21germa...germaniya.html

[Norm F]

https://ww2.ru/shop/arkhivy/%21germa...germaniya.html

Hi collecting,

Thanks for the additional links.

The problem with that “Admiral August Thiele” example from the Russian site is a lack of any documented provenance to distinguish it from a post-war parts dagger, especially since the dagger companies remained in business and were open to special requests.

The description correctly mentions that it's the same type as Thomas Wittmann's broken-blade example, which is different from the Witzell-attributed/Topp-attributed design. Instead of the etched dedication with date at the hilt end of the blade like on the Witzell and Topp daggers, it has a different undated inscription lower on the blade (which is broken off and missing on the Thomas Wittmann example) reading:
"In Dankbarkeit und Treue Die Kriegsmarine" - "In Gratitude and Loyalty, The Kriegsmarine"
The claim is that it's the later type presented by Dönitz rather than Raeder which is impossible to verify without clear provenance, especially since Klietmann and Suhren were under the impression there were no such later awards.

The eagle and the pommel collar on this type are slightly different from the Witzell dagger but the same as the various stand-alone diamond eagle pommels that come up on the market from time to time, so as far as I know there's no way to definitively state this type was made in wartime.

Best regards,
---Norm

[Norm F]

Here's the maker mark on the "Thiele"-claimed example compared with the mark on Thomas Wittmann's broken blade example. To my (untrained) eye, it looks like the etched mark that was said to have been in use by Eickhorn between 1935 and 1941. I have no idea if it could have been used after that as a "special order"?

Two differences between the "Thiele" and the Wittmann examples are: 1) the different buffer pads and 2) the maker mark on the "Thiele" dagger is on the reverse of the blade (opposite side from the dedication) which is what you'd expect whereas on the Wittmann broken-blade example it's on the obverse (same side as the diamond pommel) so maybe it was disassembled/reassembled at some point.

[Norm F]

The inner lining of the case for the Wittmann broken-blade example bears the later Eickhorn logo in use 1941-42.