Germany Award and Document 1914 Iron Cross 1st Class Hauptmann d. L. II Karl Pletscher

This is a mini group to an officer who received the 1914 Iron Cross 1st Class. His name was Hauptmann d. L. II Karl Pletscher. As indicated on the document, Pletscher was a member of Reserve-Infanterie-Regiment Nr 30. At the time of the award he was forty-four years-old and hardly a youngster.

The award document measures 6 1/4″ x 8.” It features the award date (1. April 1918) and the regimental commander’s signature (he was a major). [This illustrates the officers’ attrition rate by the late war, having a major command a regiment instead of an oberst]. A privately-purchased EK 1 accompanies the document.

The Iron Cross is a “KO-manufactured,” flat (non vaulted) model, which was the primary, issued 1914 Iron Cross 1st Class. We can see the KO hallmark under the reverse’s catch.

A large-format photograph depicts Pletscher when he was a younger officer, probably as a leutnant around the turn of the 20th Century. A 10 September 1918 clipping from Berlin’s Allgemeiner Anzeiger zum Militär Wochenblatt (General Gazette Weekly Newspaper for the Military) accompanies the mini group. It features several soldiers’ obituaries, including Pletscher’s. His mentions that he died on the battlefield on 10 August 1918, exactly a month before the obituary notice.

This is an interesting, and ultimately, touching, group of items.