| |
| | Iron Cross 1st Class |
 | | Generally speaking, the 1813 Iron Cross Second Class has two silver frames that are opened on either side to reveal on the original obverse a plain fl iron core, and on the reverse, the Prussian Crown on the upper arm, with an “FW” for Friedrich Wilhelm directly beneath it. |
 | | One final addition to the 1813 Iron Cross family was added by Friedrich Wilhelm on June 26, 1815, when the Star of the Grand Cross was awarded to Blücher for his timely arrival on the field of Waterloo and his assistance to Wellington in the defeat of Napoleon. |
 | | The number of crosses award are as follows: 47,244 Second Class, 1,304 First Class, and nine Grand Crosses, a number of which went to royalty, with an honorary bestowal upon the elderly King Wilhelm I. With this conflict concluded, Prussia finally united all the German states into one entity, with herself at the helm. |
| www.wehrmacht-awards.com /iron_cross/history/history.htm (2140 words) |
|