(Eisernes Kreuz 2. Klasse)

Date Instituted

1 September 1939

Requirements

One act of bravery above and beyond the call of duty.

Number Awarded

~ 3.000.000 (39 women)

Recipients

Women awarded the Iron Cross 2nd Class

Award Documents

Leutnant Joachim Peeck


Unteroffizier Friedrich-Adolf Will

Ribbon worn on the ribbon bar

Known makers/markings

3, 4, 5, 6, 13, 16, 22, 23, 24, 25, 27, 33, 35, 40, 42, 44, 49, 55, 65, 75, 93, 95, 100, 108, 113, 120, 122, 123, 125, 128, 133, 142, L/3, L/11
L/4, L/11, L/12, L/14, L/16, L/18, L/56 (1939 bar)

Estimated price (2009)

€60-250


Gefreiter with Iron Cross 2nd Class Ribbon

(Courtesy of Josef Fregosi)

Officer wearing the Iron Cross 2nd Class ribbon with the First World War bar

(Courtesy of Josef Fregosi)

Hanna Reitsch after being awarded the Iron Cross 2nd Class

(Courtesy of Bundesarchiv/Wikimedia, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 3.0 Germany)

Awarding the Iron Cross 2nd Class

(Courtesy of Joe Imwalle)

Wilhelm "Willi" Hübner of the Hitler Jugend being awarded the Iron Cross 2nd Class after the recapture of Lauban in March 1945 where he had served as a messenger with the Führer-Grenadier-Division

(Courtesy of Bundesarchiv/Wikimedia, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 3.0 Germany)

SS-Sturmbannführer August Dieckmann awarding the Iron Cross 2nd Class to soldiers of the Wiking division

(Courtesy of Bundesarchiv/Wikimedia, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 3 0 Germany)

Comments

Recipients of the Iron Cross who had been awarded the 1914 Iron Cross during World War I were awarded a bar which was attached to the ribbon of the old Iron Cross (1939 bar to the 1914 Iron Cross (Spange 1939 zum Eiseren Kreuz 1914)).


The Iron Cross 2nd Class was worn only as a ribbon in a button hole or on miniature ribbon bar, or Feldspange.

Two Jews serving in the Finnish Army, Medical Major Leo Skurnik and Captain Salomon Klass, were awarded the Iron Cross, but refused to accept it.

Photo courtesy of Rusfront, Craig Wagner & The Ruptured Duck

Sources used

Christopher Ailsby - World War 2 German medals and political awards
John R. Angolia - For Führer and Fatherland: Military awards of the Third Reich
David Littlejohn - Orders, decorations, medals and badges of the Third Reich
Detlev Niemann - Price Guide Germany 1871-1945 (2009)