On the first day of combat operations, 22 June 1941, Mölders shot down three Tupolev SB bombers and one Curtis Hawk, earning him the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords (). Mölders was only the second German serviceman to receive this award; Galland, the "Geschwaderkommodore" of "Jagdgeschwader" 26 "Schlageter" (JG 26), had received one the day before. The award was presented by Adolf Hitler on 3 July 1941 in the "Wolfsschanze" Hitler's Headquarters in Rastenburg. On 30 June, Mölders had become the highest-scoring fighter pilot in the history of aerial warfare after downing five Soviet bombers and bringing his tally to 82, two more than the record set in World War I by the "Red Baron", Manfred von Richthofen.