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Hans-Ulrich Rudel
(July 2, 1916 – December 18, 1982)
On 29th of December 1944, Hitler created what was to be the highest gallantry decoration of the Third Reich, the Golden Oakleaves, Swords and Diamonds to the Knights Cross. This award was indentical to the Diamonds, but was produced in hallmarked gold and was to be restricted to a maximum to twelve recipients.
The sole winner was the extraordinary Luftwaffe Oberst Hans-Ulrich Rudel, commander of Schlachgeswader 2 "Immelmann", who flew an astounding 2530 sorties as a Stuka pilot on the Eastern Front. He personally destroyed 532 Soviet tanks, 150 anti-aircrafts batteries, the battleship "Marat", a cruiser, a destroyer, seventy landing craft and numerous other vessels. Rudel also scored nine aerial victories, a unique achievement while flying a dive-bomber. He survived being shot down more than thirty times, including six occasions when he crash-landed behind enemy lines, and once escaped after being captured by Russian troops. He was wounded five times.
In the last weeks of the war he lost his leg in action, but soon returned to his squadron and destroyed twenty-siz Soviet tanks while flying with one foot, using specially adapted rudder pedal. As the only holder of his countrys highest bravery award, Hans-Ulrich Rudel still features in the records books as the most highly decorated combat soldier in history.
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After the war Rudel became a close friend and confidante of the Argentine president Juan Peron. Rudel wrote a book titled In Spite of Everything, and a book of memoirs called Stuka Pilot which supported the German invasion of the Soviet Union. Even without a leg, he remained an active sportsman, playing tennis, skiing and even climbing the highest peak in the Americas, Aconcagua (6,962 meters (22,841 feet)). He also ascended the second highest volcano on Earth three times, the Llullay-Yacu in the Argentine Andes (6,739 metres (22,109 feet)). In addition, Rudel's input was used during the development of the A-10 ground attack aircraft.
Rudel returned to West Germany in 1953 and joined the German Reich Party. He became a successful businessman in post-war Germany. He died in Rosenheim in 1982, and was buried in Dornhausen.Rudel was a teetotaler and abstained from alcohol and tobacco. His fellow pilots coined the phrase Hans-Ulrich Rudel, er trinkt nur Sprudel (Hans Ulrich Rudel, he drinks only mineral water).