A rarely seen Heer DKG Award Document,
named to SS-Sturmbannführer (Major equivalent) Lucien Lippert, “Brig. Kdr.” (Brigade-Kommandeur = Brigade Commander) of SS Volunteer Brigade “Wallonien”. It is dated to February 20, 1944 and signed in black ink by General Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel (1882–1946), Chief of the Supreme Command of the Armed Forces and a recipient of the Knight’s Cross. The document features a stamp from the Supreme Army Command, yet it lacks the usual embossed seal. Measuring 253x334mm, near very fine condition with several folding creases, minor scuffing, and three minor tears along the folding lines.
Footnote:
Lucien Lippert was born on August 25, 1913 in Arlon (southern Belgium). At the outbreak of the Second War, he served in the Belgian army, however, he became one of the first to volunteer for the Walloon Legion, a Wehrmacht/Waffen-SS foreign volunteer unit. In late 1941, the Walloon Legion was trained and then deployed to the Eastern Front. Lippert was awarded the Iron Cross 2nd Class on March 14, 1942, and shortly after, he became the legion’s commanding officer in April. Lippert was promoted to Hauptmann (Captain) on June 8. On his birthday, August 25, he was awarded the Iron Cross 1st Class and the Infantry Assault Badge. In June of 1943, the Walloon Legion was transferred from Wehrmacht to SS command. Lippert was promoted to SS-Sturmbannführer on June 28. In October, the legion was deployed to Ukraine to support the SS Division Wiking. Here, they were hit by the Red Army’s Dnieper-Carpathian Offensive on December 24. Subsequently, the Wehrmacht and SS forces were encircled in the Korsun-Cherkassy Pocket, with the Walloon Legion tasked to rearguard the position while the Wehrmacht forces organised an attempted breakout. Lippert was killed in action on February 13, 1944 in the village of Novo-Buda. A few days later, the German forces broke out of the pocket under heavy losses. Of the men of the Walloon Legion, less than a third survived. Lippert was awarded the German Cross in Gold posthumously on February 20 and was promoted to SS-Obersturmbannführer.