Grand Cross of the Iron Cross
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Grand Cross of the Iron Cross was an award intended for senior Generals of the German Army and dated back to the Franco Prussian War in 1870. It was the senior most decoration of the Iron Cross award series.
Like the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross series the Grand Cross of the Iron Cross was worn with a ribbon at the neck.
Nine men received the 1870 Grand Cross of the Iron Cross for service during the Franco-Prussian War including August Karl von Goeben, Edwin Freiherr von Manteuffel, Helmuth Graf von Moltke and Kaiser Wilhelm I.
There were five recipients of the 1914 Grand Cross in the First World War: Kaiser Wilhelm II, Generalfeldmarschall Hindenburg, General Erich Ludendorff, Generalfeldmarschall Prince Maximillian Joseph Maris Arnuf, and Generalfeldmarschall August von Mackensen.
Hermann Göring became the only recipient of the Grand Cross of the Iron Cross during the Second World War when it was awarded to him on July 19, 1940.
An even higher decoration, the Star of the Grand Cross of the Iron Cross, was intended to be presented to the most successful German General of the Second World War once Germany achieved victory. Awarded only twice before, to Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher and Field Marshal Paul von Hindenburg, no equivalent was made after WW II.
