Recipients of the Gold German Cross

August Thiele (26 August 1893 – 31 March 1981) was an admiral during World War II and commander of the heavy cruiser Lützow. He was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves.
Thiele received the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross for his command of Lützow and his leadership of Kampfgruppe V (5th battle group) during the occupation of Oslo. Thiele had taken command of the battle group after the sinking of Blücher. He was appointed commander of the Kampfgruppe II (2nd battle group) in the Baltic Sea on 28 July 1944 and commander of Kampfgruppe "Thiele" on 23 March 1945. With the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen, Admiral Hipper, Admiral Scheer and Lützow, and the ships of the line Schlesien and Schleswig-Holstein and the light cruisers Emden, Köln, Leipzig and Nürnberg he participated from sea in the land battles for Courland and in Samland.

General Fritz Lindemann (11 April 1894 – 22 September 1944) was a German officer in the Wehrmacht of Nazi Germany and member of the resistance to Adolf Hitler.
After serving in World War I, Lindemann participated in the suppression of the German Revolution of 1918–1919 as a member of the Freikorps. However, as a member of the Reichswehr and a loyalist to the Weimar Republic, he refused to participate in the Kapp Putsch.Lindemann served as commander of the 132nd Infantry Division from January 1942 to August 1943, before appointment as Chief of Staff of the Artillery Oberkommando des Heeres.Lindemann developed contacts with conspirators against Adolf Hitler including General Helmuth Stieff, and following the assassination of Hitler it was proposed that he would read the conspirators' proclamation to the German people over the radio, but he did not appear at the Bendlerblock on 20 July 1944 in order to do so. After the failure of the 20 July plot, he went into hiding. When the Gestapo came to arrest him, Lindemann tried to jump out of a window. However, he was shot in his leg and stomach, and later died in hospital from his injuries.
After standing trial for helping Lindemann at the People's Court, Erich and Elisabeth Gloeden, Hans Sierks and Carl Marks were all sentenced to death. They were executed by guillotine at Plötzensee Prison in September 1944.

Gottfried Ludwig Weber (31 January 1899 – 16 August 1958) was a German general (Generalleutnant) in the Wehrmacht during World War II. He was a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves of Nazi Germany.
Weber surrendered to the Soviet forces in May 1945 in the Courland Pocket. Convicted in the Soviet Union as a war criminal, he was held until 1955. In 1956 Weber joined the Bundeswehr, reaching the rank of a Generalmajor. He died on 16 August 1958 in an automobile collision in Villach, Austria.

Walter Lucht (26 February 1882 – 18 March 1949) was a German general in the Wehrmacht during World War II who held commands at division, corps and army levels. He was a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves of Nazi Germany. Lucht was released from an American POW camp in 1948, and died in a car crash in 1949.

Otto von Knobelsdorff (31 March 1886 – 21 October 1966) was a German general during World War II who led the 19th Panzer Division and then held a series of higher commands. He was a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords.

Joachim Lemelsen (28 September 1888 – 30 March 1954) was a German general during World War II who rose to army-level command.
During Operation Barbarossa, the invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941, troops of the XLVII Motorized Corps under his command executed the criminal Commissar Order, prompting Lemelsen to complain: "Soon the Russians will get to hear about the countless corpses lying along the routes taken by our soldiers (...). The result will be that the enemy will hide in the woods and fields and continue to fight--and we shall lose countless comrades".

Ernst Ulrich Hans von Leyser (German pronunciation: [ˈeʁnst ˈuːlʁiːx ˈxans fon ˈlaɪsa]) (18 November 1889 – 23 September 1962) was a general in the Wehrmacht of Nazi Germany during World War II who commanded several army corps.
After the war, in 1947, Leyser was tried for war crimes committed in the Balkans and sentenced to ten years of imprisonment during the Hostages Trial; his sentence was commuted to time served and he was released in 1951.

August Wilhelm Trabandt (21 July 1891 – 19 May 1968) was a German SS functionary during the Nazi era. He commanded the 1st SS Infantry Brigade and the SS Division Horst Wessel during World War II.

Erich Abraham (27 March 1895 – 7 March 1971) was a general in the Wehrmacht of Nazi Germany who command the 76th Infantry Division then the LXIII Corps on the Western Front during World War II. He was also a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves.

Wolfgang von Kluge (5 May 1892 – 30 October 1976) served in both world wars. He rose to the rank of Generalleutnant in the Wehrmacht by 1943, commanding several divisions. He was commander of "Fortress Dunkirk" between July and September 1944. He was a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross of Nazi Germany.
He was the younger brother of Gunther von Kluge (1882-1944).