This typed document in German relates to the award of the Kriegsverdienstkreuzes II Klasse mit Schwerten (War Merit Cross with Swords) to Wilheim Eisenblaetter. It provides details of his date of birth, rank and troop.
The document is signed by Rommel in his capacity as General der Panzertruppen in Africa.
The War Merit Cross was a decoration awarded by Nazi Germany during the Second World War, which could be awarded to military personnel and civilians alike. By the end of the war it was issued in four degrees; and had a related civil decoration.
This award was created by Adolf Hitler in October 1939 as a successor to the non-combatant Iron Cross which was used in earlier wars. The award was graded the same as the Iron Cross: War Merit Cross Second Class, War Merit Cross First Class, and Knights Cross of the War Merit Cross. The award had two variants: with swords given to soldiers for exceptional service “not in direct connection with combat”, and without swords for meritorious service to civilians in “furtherance of the war effort”. Recipients had to have the lower grade of the award before getting the next level.
Johannes Erwin Eugen Rommel (15 November 1891 – 14 October 1944), popularly known as the Desert Fox, was a field marshal in the Wehrmacht of Nazi Germany during World War II.
Rommel was a highly decorated officer in World War I and was awarded the Pour le Mérite for his actions on the Italian Front. In World War II, he distinguished himself as the commander of the 7th Panzer Division during the 1940 invasion of France. His leadership of German and Italian forces in the North African Campaign established his reputation as one of the most able tank commanders of the war, and earned him the nickname der Wüstenfuchs, “the Desert Fox”. He later commanded the German forces opposing the Allied cross-channel invasion of Normandy in June 1944.
In 1944, Rommel was implicated in the 20 July plot to assassinate Hitler and subsequently committed suicide on 14 October 1944.