Franz Budka
SS officer
Died when: 24 years 261 days (296 months)Star Sign: Leo
The Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross (German: Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes) and its variants were the highest awards in the military of the Third Reich during World War II.
The Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross was awarded for a wide range of reasons and across all ranks, from successful military leadership to extreme battlefield bravery.
A total of 7,321 awards were made between its first presentation on 30 September 1939 and its last bestowal on 17 June 1945.This number is based on the analysis and acceptance of the order commission of the Association of Knight's Cross Recipients (AKCR).
Presentations were made to members of the three military branches of the Wehrmacht—the Heer (Army), Kriegsmarine (Navy) and Luftwaffe (Air Force)—as well as the Waffen-SS, the Reichsarbeitsdienst (RAD—Reich Labour Service) and the Volkssturm (German national militia).
There were also 43 recipients in the military forces of allies of the Third Reich.These recipients are listed in the 1986 edition of Walther-Peer Fellgiebel's book, Die Träger des Ritterkreuzes des Eisernen Kreuzes 1939–1945 — Die Inhaber der höchsten Auszeichnung des Zweiten Weltkrieges aller Wehrmachtteile — The Bearers of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross 1939–1945 — The Owners of the Highest Award of the Second World War of all Wehrmacht Branches.
Fellgiebel was the former chairman and head of the order commission of the AKCR.In 1996 a second edition of this book was published with an addendum delisting 11 of these original recipients.
Author and historian Veit Scherzer has cast doubt on a further 193 of these listings.The majority of the disputed recipients had received the award in 1945, when the deteriorating situation of the Third Reich during the final days of World War II left a number of nominations incomplete and pending in various stages of the approval process.
For many years Fellgiebel's book was considered the main reference work on this topic, and it has now been succeeded by Scherzer's work.
Listed here are the 357 Knight's Cross recipients of the Wehrmacht and Waffen-SS whose last name is in the range "Bn–Bz".
Fellgiebel himself delisted one and Scherzer has challenged the validity of eight more of these listings.This is the second of two lists of all 725 Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross recipients whose last name starts with "B".
The recipients whose last name is in the range "Ba–Bm" is listed at List of Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross recipients (Ba–Bm).
The recipients are initially ordered alphabetically by last name.The rank listed is the recipient's rank at the time the Knight's Cross was awarded.
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