Fallschirmjager

Elite German Paratroops in World War II

Jon Sutherland, Diane Canwell

• Publisher: Pen & Sword Military
• Year: 2020
• Print ISBN: 9781848843189
• eBook ISBN: 9781844688883
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: German History
• Index: History

A rare collection of personal photographs following Nazi Germany's airborne soldiers on their missions through the Balkans, Crete, and Russia.
The photos in this book are taken from an unpublished album that belonged to a member of the elite German Paratroopers. First Sgt Wilhelm Plieschen served with Fallschirmjager Machine Gun Battalion 7, which suffered very heavy losses in the invasion of Crete, then saw bloody conflict as Hitler's "Fire-fighters" on the Russian Front and later put up fierce resistance in places such as Monte Casino. The revealing images that Jon Sutherland has compiled for us depict these struggles in dramatic detail, ranging from photographs taken en route to Crete of the paratroopers in a JU52 to 20 May 1941, when Plieschen was dropped over Crete. Some show other paratroopers drifting down and others feature formations of German aircraft amidst flak.
Additionally, Sutherland has included amazing images depicting Germans on the deck of the badly damaged and abandoned HMS York in Souda Bay. There are photographs showing Major Erich Schulz decorating paratroopers on Crete and the then Commander of the Fallschirmjager, General Kurt Student, inspecting the troops. We later pay witness to Plieschen in Russia, where outstanding rare photos of paratroopers in heavy winter camouflage clothing portray the men enduring the heavy fighting that occurred in the region.
"This intriguing book for the military historian consists of 125 contemporary photographs of the German Elite paratrooper regiment the Fallschirmjager during World War II." —HistoryOfWar.org

Chapter One

Through the Balkans

The Fallschirmjäger’s equipment and uniforms were extremely distinctive. Effectively, they would wear a jump smock, designed to prevent them from getting entangled in the glider or aircraft or when trying to open their parachutes. Most of the photographs show the Fallschirmjäger in the first pattern jump smock. It was produced in either a light green or grey cotton. The paratrooper would step into the garment and then push his arms through the sleeves. They were buttoned from the front. There wereere various versions, particularly with the number of pockets and their position.

A Fallschirmjäger’s steel helmet was of a revolutionary design. It had to fulfil three purposes; it was almost rimless, it needed to give a degree of protection in combat, protect the head in difficult landings and also not to snag either the parachute or rigging. It was normal practice for the helmet to be finished in a field blue colour, but there were a number of different colours actually used and, as we will see, by the time the paratroopers were operating in Russia, they would whitewash the helmets for additional camouflage.

The Fallschirmjäger also had ammunition bandoliers and pouches. The bandoliers were unique to the Fallschirmjäger. The men needed to be as self-sufficient as possible and carry as much of their own ammunition as was practicable. The bandoliers consisted of two rows of ten pouches; each of the pouches carried a clip of five roundsunds for their rifles. The bandolier was worn around the neck and held in place by loops of cloth. The jump trousers were woollen and had a special knife pocket. Early jump boots had laces up one side; later ones were front-laced.

Each of the Fallschirmjäger carried a sidearm. One of the principal problems was that the paratroopers landed just armed with the knife, a sidearm and grenades. They had to find the weapons containers, which had floated down on a parachute from the same aircraft. This meant that the men were able to protect themselves and, as in Crete, actually mount attacks just armed with a pistol and grenades. The primary weapon was the Mauser K98, which had a rate of fire of fifteen rounds a minute. Only a handful of the men at this stage of the war were armed with a machine pistol. Plieschen, as a member of the machine gun company, would have been well versed in the use of the MG34. It was a general-purpose squad machine gun and could be fired on a bipod, which was usually attached, or a tripod for continuous fire. This also meant that the members of his company would be expected to carry a great deal of MG34 ammunition. The MG34 had a maximum range of some 800 metres and had a theoretical rate of fire of 1,200 rounds per minute. The men would use a fifty-round belt.

Wilhelm Plieschen’s unit was commanded by Hauptmann Erich Schulz, who had joined the company in June 1940 and was later to be promoted to the rank of major. It is believed that Schulz was either badly injured or wounded on Crete in the first few days. The parent unit of Plieschen’s company was the 7th Flieger Division, which had been formed in 1938. Some elements of the division had operated as motorised infantry in Poland. As we have already seen, other parts of the division were active in Denmark, Norway, Belgium and the Netherlands. The division was also earmarked for the planned invasion of Britain in the summer of 1940.

It had been t the 2nd Regiment of the division that had landed around the Corinth Canal. Initially, the division had been commanded by Kurt Student, who had been a fighter pilot in the First World War. By January 1941 Student had become the commanding general of the 11th Fliegerkorps and so, in this role, it was he that masterminded Operation Mercury. Over a year later Student also outlined Operation Hercules, which was the planned airborne invasion of Malta, but this was never carried out. By the time Plieschen found himself in Crete the new commander of his division was Major General Wilhelm Sussmann, although he was killed en route to Crete on 20 May 1941. The tow rope pulling his glider snapped and the glider crashed on the island of Aegina. Divisional command passed to Major Alfred Sturm.

The first third of the album shows the Fallschirmjäger in transit from their training base in Austria and their travels through the Balkans to their ultimate destiination, Greek airfields on the mainland. Back in January 1936 the Germans had set up their first parachute training school at the Luftwaffe base at Stendal, some ninety-six kilometres to the west of Berlin. The training programme called for new recruits to spend eight weeks toughening themselves up in order to fulfil essentially a light infantry role. Here, the men would undergo physical exercises, drilling, bayonet practice, unarmed combat and weapons instruction. Many of the men had already received instruction on the use of grenades and the rifle. They were now introduced to pistols, sub-machine guns, machine guns, mines and mortars. They were also lectured on tactics at squad level and would be involved in field exercises up to battalion level. The idea was to build them into a team, but a flexible one that would be able to cope with a variety of challenging operations.

Once the basic training had been concluded the men then underwent a sixteen-day parachute course. Initially, they were shown how to execute high jumps on trampolines, or by somersaulting. It was important for the men to learn how to land properly and without breaking their bones.

Unlike Allied paratroopers, the German Fallschirmjäger was taught how to pack their own parachutes. Usually the parachutes were suspended from rails in an aircraft hangar. This was to ensure that there were no tears or faults and that the parachutes were kept dry. They were then laid out onto long tables. Two men would learn the pattern in which the parachute had to be folded in order for it to not only open, but also to fit into the pack. The parachutes of the Fallschirmjäger opened using static lines. This allowed the men to be dropped from lower heights. The canopies were 8.5 metres in diameter. They were packed into cloth bags and then the bag and the top of the folded canopy were fixed to a 9-metre static line. This would ensure that the parachute was fully deployed before the paratroopeper had dropped 30 metres. It was a flexible system and allowed drops from as little as 100 metres.

Each of the recruits, in order to win their Fallschirmschützenabzeichen, or parachutist badge, had to complete six drops. They were given knee pads to prevent injury. Once on board the Ju52 aircraft the men held the end of their static lines between their teeth so that their hands were free. The dispatcher, or absetze, effectively the instructor at this stage, would have checked the harness and pack and once the aircraft had reached a suitable height he would order the men to stand up and hook their static lines to a cable that ran the length of the aircraft. The first Fallschirmjäger in the stick (or group of men) would be told to stand near the doorway. The paratrooper would then launch himself out of the aircraft in a spreadeagle position. The parachute would deploy after a short drop. When the man hit the ground he would roll and then grab the shroud lines s and try to deflate the parachute. If necessary he would use his combat knife to cut himself free.

Each of the recruits would be required to drop five more times, in different conditions, although at this early stage in the war night drops were not practised. At this point the qualified Fallschirmjäger, proudly wearing his badge, would then be sent to his battalion and be ready for active duty.

Plieschen is pictured on the left. This photograph was probably taken at the parachute training school. By this stage other training centres had been set up and this one may have been in Austria. The two men are wearing their jump smocks and unique Fallschirmjäger helmets. They are wearing first-pattern jump smocks and standard combat trousers tucked into side-laced jump boots. Plieschen wears a Luger holster. The insignia worn on the jump smock is of a Luftwaffe eagle. Rank insisignia would have been worn on both upper arms. Normally, medals and decorations were not permitted, but later the men would have had cuff titles, such as Kreta (Crete). Note that neither of these men yet has the coveted parachutist badge, which may suggest that they were still in training. They wear black leather gauntlets and in battle they would have carried ammunition boxes attached to the waist belt, a water bottle and drinking cup on the right hip. These early issue helmets were blue/grey. The German national colours of black, white and red were worn on the right and the silver grey Luftwaffe eagle on the left. It is not possible to see whether the national colours are on these men’s helmets, but they were removed early on in the war.

The coveted Luftwaffe parachutist’s badge is shown here. During the war years training for this parachute qualification was carried out at regimental training schools. The recruits would have four weeks of ground training and fofour weeks of airborne training. The volunteers had to be relatively lightweight; around 85 kg. They could not have any fear of heights, or suffer from dizziness or air s...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• Introduction
• Chapter 1. Through the Balkans
• Chapter 2. Operation Mercury
• Chapter 3. Russia
• Bibliography
• Back Cover