My affinity for the Iron Cross started when I came home from work one day and found a package on my desk.  It was my first Iron Cross second class, a humble and anonymous cross that solely bared the responsibility for starting my collecting journey.   

I started writing this article years ago, the first draft was the first article on the site.  As always, the information presented here is not gospel, I consider this more a presentation of my student notes, of what I've learned as I studied the cross and it's history.  That said, every fact presented here has been double checked and the article has been reviewed by leaders in this field and by you, my collecting peers, who have added invaluable information through the forum and private means. 

Some introductions include the way things are pictured in my mind's eye.  I took the liberty of sharing these with you, I am not a writer by trade and thus the script may not always project the movie in my mind.  I do hope that some of it comes through.    

This article is a work in progress.  It may never be finished, I will continue to add information and pictures to it through the years, so come back to check and send comments/improvements in as you get them.

There are numerous people to thank, but I would be remiss if I didn't mention George Stimson separately as the unselfish sharing of his collection improved this article tenfold.  George, you're one of a kind.

All of the moderators of the forum provided fact checking, spell checking, and in general supported the project.  Gordon Williamson, David Kane, and Dietrich provided valuable technical help.  Allan Pilch came through with his envelope collection, and Gary Tankard along with Angel Farre with documents.  The rest of the crew that provided photos is listed in their sections, after the entire article is over (meaning the Knights Cross), I will update this section to include the final thank you and bibliography.  

Right now, a thank you to all that contributed images, all of them are labeled with credit and each person who's name is found throughout the article helped made this project possible.

Please send all inquiries to me at info@wehrmacht-awards.com.  

Thank you,

Sebastián J. Bianchi

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