Infantry:FallschirmjagerFrom CoH-Stats
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HistoryFallschirmjäger, from German Fallschirm "parachute" and Jäger, "hunter; ranger" a term for light infantry) are German paratroopers. Fallschirmjäger of Nazi Germany in World War II were the first to be committed in large scale airborne operations. During the whole period of its existence, the Fallschirmjäger commander was Kurt Student. During World War II, the German Air Force (Luftwaffe) raised a variety of airborne light infantry (Fallschirmjäger) units. Unlike Great Britain, the British Commonwealth, and the USA, the German paratroopers were part of the German Air Force rather than the German Army (Wehrmacht Heer). Starting from a small collection of Fallschirmjäger battalions at the beginning of the war, the Luftwaffe built up a division-sized unit of three Fallschirmjäger regiments plus supporting arms and air assets, known as the 7th Flieger Division (7th Air Division). Fallschirmjäger units made the first airborne invasion when invading Denmark on the 9 April 1940. In the early morning hours they attacked and took control of Aalborg airport which played a key role acting as a refuel station for the Luftwaffe in the further invasion into Norway. In the same assault the bridges around Aalborg were taken. Other airborne attacks on Denmark on 9 April were also carried out, including one on a fort on the island Masnedø. One of their most glorious victories was the invasion of the Belgian fort Eben Emael, which was regarded as undefeatable. With only 56 well trained men (and 7 month of preparation), they destroyed all mainweapons and cuppolas after a sucessful glider landing on the roof of the fort. The garrision of 1,200 men quickly surrendered to the mysterious airborne attackers. It remained a mystery throughout the war how the fallschirmjägers achieved this because of explicit secrecy about the circumstances. Hitler offered Franco his experienced fallschirmjägers for attacking the similarly constructed British fort in Gibraltar. The first opposed airborne attacks occurred in Norway, first during the initial invasion when fallschirmjägers captured the defended air base of Sola, near Stavanger. The following Norwegian campaign also saw the first fallschirmjäger defeat when a company was dropped on the village and railroad junction of Dombås on 14 April 1940 and was destroyed by the Norwegian Army in a five day battle. The biggest fallschirmjäger operation was the attack on Crete on May 20th 1941. During the next 2 weeks some 15,000 fallschirmjäger and 14,000 gebirgsjäger fought the Commonwealth forces, which had around 40.000 men on the island. Even though they managed to conquer the island, the operation was generally seen as a failure because of heavy losses of elite fallschirmjäger troops. This was mainly because the German administration expected far fewer forces on the island (about 15,000 troops were expected instead of the over 40,000 actually there). Allied command was also informed about the invasion plans through their radio decryption and espionage. It was based on the experience of the raid on Crete that the Luftwaffe started to develop the famous fallschirmjäger Gewehr 42. In Crete, fallschirmjägers were lacking heavy weapons such as heavy MGs. Being only equipped with Karabiner 98 which was single shot and so lacking firepower and some submachine guns like MP38 & 40 only suitable for closerange combat. FG42 was a multipurpose weapon only slightly heavier than the K98k (including ammo, the rifle itself is lighter) but as precise in single shot, and also capable of firing salvos of up to 20 shots in full auto like any MG. After getting one for Christmas from Göring, and shooting it, Hitler decided that this weapon would be the postwar Wehrmacht standard carbine. Postwar because it was very expensive and complicated to manufacture, which was impossible with the wartime shortages. Only about 8,000 were manufactured and issued only to fallschirmjäger elite troops. The American M60 light machine gun is actually a modified FG42 with some features of the MG42, but lacking the reliability and rate of fire of the latter. Later in the war, the 7th Air Division's fallschirmjäger assets were re-organized and used as the core of a new series of elite Luftwaffe Infantry divisions, numbered in a series beginning with the 1st fallschirmjäger Division. These formations were organized and equipped as motorized infantry divisions, and often played a "fire brigade" role on the western front. Their were often encountered on the battlefield as ad hoc battle groups (Kampfgruppen) detached from a division or organized from miscellaneous available assets. In accord with standard German practice, these were called by their commander's name, such as Group Erdmann in France and the Ramcke Parachute Brigade in North Africa. After mid-1944, fallschirmjäger were no longer trained as paratroops due to the realities of the strategic situation, but retained the fallschirmjäger honorific. Near the end of the war, the series of new fallschirmjäger divisions extended to over a dozen, with a concomitant reduction in quality in the higher-numbered units of the series. Among these divisions was the 9th Fallschirmjäger Division, which was the final parachute division to be raised by Germany during World War II. The division was destroyed during the Battle of Berlin in April 1945. (These divisions should not be confused with the Luftwaffe Field Divisions, a poorly organized and managed series of light infantry divisions raised from excess Luftwaffe personnel early in the war.) Over 54,449 paratroops were killed in action and over 8,000 are still listed as missing in action.
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