Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

A German Second World War General Admiral Alfred Saalwachter Promotion Document.
A very fine condition promotion document, the outer folder with the large gilt Reich eagle with down swept wings, constructed on the same style as the Knights Cross documents by the leather artisan Frieda Thirsch. The interior award document is held into the folder by a thin strip of Morocco leather promoting Admiral Alfred Saalwachter on 1 January 1940 to General Admiral. Signed at Adolf Hitler’s Headquarters on 13 December 1939, pen signed by Adolf Hitler with a small signature in pen of Admiral Raeder to the lower right hand side of the document, good overall condition and a highly interesting Third Reich document £1,600-£2,000

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, A Collection of German Militaria.

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Alfred Saalwachter was a German U-Boat Commander during the Great War, and serving continuously throughout the inter-war period, was in overall command of the invasion of Norway during the Second World War, for which he awarded the Knights Cross of the Iron Cross in May 1940. He was also in charge of German surface operations in the North Atlantic and the English Channel, before resigning from active service in November 1942. He was imprisoned by the Soviets on 21 June 1945 and was convicted by the Soviet Military Tribunal of War Crimes and executed by a firing squad in Moscow in December 1945. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Saalwachter was formally exonerated by a Russian Court.

Sold with a Hoffmann postcard of General Admiral Saalwachter wearing his Knights Cross and Admiral’s visor cap.