Measuring 230x306mm, near extremely fine condition with light scuffing and creasing. The document is awarded to Oberstleutnant (Lieutenant Colonel) Ludwig Fischer of Infantry Division 97 and dated to April 12, 1944. It carries a facsimile of Generalfeldmarschall Wilhelm Keitel (1882–1946), a recipient of the Knight’s Cross.
Footnote: The 97th light Infantry Division was stationed in Bavaria until May 1941 and then redeployed to be a part of Army Group South on the Eastern Front in the attack on Russia. It was renamed to Jäger Division 97 on July 6, 1942. During the summer of 1942 it became part of Army Group A and fought in the Caucasus and in Kuban in early 1943, and on the Crimean peninsula in late 1943. When Fischer received the German Cross in Silver the regiment was stationed in Tiraspol, then southern Ukraine. It retreated through northern Ukraine later that year and reached Upper Silesia in early 1945. It surrendered to Russian forces in Czechoslovakia.