3rd Paratrooper Division (Wehrmacht)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

3rd Paratrooper Division
- 3rd Fsjg.-Div. -
XX

Troop registration of the 3rd Paratrooper Division

Troop registration
active October 1943 to 1945
Country German Reich NSGerman Reich (Nazi era) German Empire
Armed forces Wehrmacht
Armed forces air force
Branch of service Paratroopers
Type Paratrooper Division
structure structure
Insinuation II. Parachute Corps
Installation site Reims , France
Commanders
list of Commanders

The 3rd Fallschirmjäger-Division (short: 3rd Fsjg.-Div. ) Was a major unit of the Luftwaffe of the German Wehrmacht during the Second World War . It was set up from October 1943 in France in the Reims area , from February 1944 in Brittany east of Brest and consisted of volunteers from the parachute training units and volunteers from the Air Force field divisions . Major General Heilmann took over the leadership .

history

The division was moved from the Brest area to the invasion front on June 7th - one day after the Allies landed ( D-Day ). Division commander became Lieutenant General Schimpf . She fought together with the 17th SS Panzer Grenadier Division "Götz von Berlichingen" for the St. Lo area , later in the so-called Falaise basin . The division broke through in a gap, together with other units and the like. a. of the 2nd Parachute Corps , the front between Chambois and Argentan and was almost completely wiped out in the eruption. The commander of the 9th Paratrooper Regiment, Major Kurt Stephani, fell on August 20, 1944. On August 28, General Meindl was responsible for withdrawing the division from the front because there were no more heavy weapons available. The 3rd Paratrooper Division was used as rearguard for the 5th Panzer Army and 7th Army . On September 4, 1944, a large part was taken prisoner near Mons , because the Panzer Division with the grenadiers withdrew too quickly and the paratroopers could not follow.

The survivors of the division were moved to the Cologne area. After the start of the Allied air landing company Market Garden on September 17, 1944, it crossed the Rhine near Emmerich and took up a position there between the Rhine and Waal . From October 1944, the division took part in retreat battles. It was then moved to the area near Elsenborn as part of the preparation for the Wacht am Rhein company , the upcoming Ardennes offensive . After the start of the German attack on December 16, 1944, the division had to contend heavy fighting and suffered heavy losses. On December 24, 1944, the division was at Malmedy . In January 1945 the retreat began through the Eifel to the area east of Bonn . Finally, in April 1945, the division was trapped in the Ruhr basin and destroyed or capitulated there.

structure

  • Parachute Fighter Regiment 5 (3 battalions)
  • Parachute Fighter Regiment 8 (3 battalions)
  • Parachute Fighter Regiment 9 (3 battalions)
  • Parachute tank hunter division 3
  • Parachute Artillery Regiment 3rd
  • Parachute Flak Department 3
  • Parachute Engineer Battalion 3rd
  • Parachute Grenade Launcher Battalion 3rd
  • Parachute Field Replacement Battalion 3rd
  • Parachute Air News Section 3
  • Parachute medical department 3

Commanders

Well-known members of the division

literature

  • Werner Haupt : mountain troops, paratroopers and others. German special divisions 1935–1945. Dörfler, 2001, ISBN 3-89555-906-7 .
  • Raymond Cartier: The Second World War. Volume II, R.Piper & Co, Munich 1960, ISBN 3-492-02166-2 (XXVI. And XXVIII. Chapters).
  • Volkmar Kühn: German paratroopers in World War II. Verlagshaus Würzburg, 2006, ISBN 978-3-88189-635-1 , pp. 410-429.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Fallschirmjäger, illustrated book and chronicle 1939–1945, Rudolf Böhmler and Werner Haupt, revised edition, Verlag Hans-Henning & Podzun, Dornheim 1971