[cyberia]

When one say Diamonds what is meant is that the award was given with all three additional ranks, being The Knights Cross with Oak Leaves, Swords and Diamonds.
One could not receive the Diamonds without the Oak Leaves and Swords awarded first, or all at the same time.

I should have been clearer.

So there were 27 recipients of the Diamonds. Our do figures match.

Rudel was awarded the next level up, the Golden Swords. I just checked and wiki is listing it as the Golden Oak Leaves. That is not the case.

And you are correct, Jim. The only non-German military recipient of the Swords, that being the Knights Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords, was to Japanese Admiral Isoroka Yamamoto on May 27, 1943, shortly after his death, as a gesture on the part of the German military.