Parachutes of the Wehrmacht
The parachute of the Armed Forces were in World War II for the formation and use of parachutes of the RZ-row (RZ 1, RZ 16, 20 and RZ RZ 36) equipped. RZ stands for "back parachute forced release".
history
With the establishment of the first German paratrooper units, the search for a suitable parachute system and deployment procedure for the soldiers was very intensive . For this purpose, the knowledge of the German Parachute Society in Berlin was used, which had been testing and developing parachutes for several years.
The parachutes for the young paratrooper troops were tested at the parachute diving school in Stendal-Borstel , with the technical department of the general field master at the Reich Ministry of Aviation in Berlin and the air force testing center in Rechlin being responsible for technical management.
The search for a suitable parachute was inevitably based on the formulated tactical principles for jumping. The dropping height should be as low as possible in order to expose the soldiers descending on the parachute to the enemy defensive fire as briefly as possible. Therefore, only a parachute with forced release came into question, which automatically initiated the opening process by means of a pull-up cord when the jumper left the aircraft .
The RZ-1 umbrella, developed according to these specifications, was based on an Otto Heinecke patent that was around 20 years old . He was the first to stow the parachute canopy together with the suspension lines in a packing bag inside the packing bag to which the pulling line was attached. During the jump, the pull-up line attached to the aircraft pulled the packing bag out of the bag on the back of the jumper, stretching the suspension lines and opening a safe and controllable parachute opening by keeping the packing bag on the pull-up line and releasing the parachute canopy.
The RZ-1 (back parachute forced release 1st model) had its direct predecessor in the rescue parachute 27 II S20 for pilots and uses a variant of the parachute attachment to the harness that goes back to the Italian Salvatore rescue parachute of the 1920s.
Construction of data center 1
The semicircular parachute canopy was divided into 28 panels and provided with a hole at the apex to reduce swaying. The 8.5 m diameter cap had a total surface area of 56 m² and was initially made of white natural silk . Later, the insert umbrellas, intended for one-time use, were often made of rayon . Each lane was in turn divided into 4 sections, each cut from a piece of material. Each section was sewn with a quadruple seam so that the fabric structure had a 45 ° angle to the edge of the parachute, which increased the tear resistance of the material. Each lane was also numbered and a stamp with entries on the parachute type, production number and date, weight as well as the product inspection and a stamp from the Reich Aviation Ministry with the date of inspection was placed in the first lane.
The 28 suspension lines of the umbrella were brought together about one meter above the jumper to form a bundle according to the Salvator model, from which two thicker ropes split and were attached to the harness at shoulder height. While the rescue parachutes of the Luftwaffe pilots had a central lock in front of their chest and the suspension lines were attached to the harness in two separate tethers on both shoulders, the troop parachutes received this construction, which at first glance was disadvantageous. The single harness connection to the parachute, however, had the advantage that the suspension line could not be twisted with serious consequences. These were very dangerous because of the low dropping height of the German paratroopers. The bag was attached to the soldier's back with D-rings. The suspension lines were placed in the outer packaging in an S-shape without packing loops, which in the event of an unstable jump could lead to an opening problem as a bun, in which the suspension lines lay over the parachute canopy. The six meter long pull-up line was secured to the right of the parachute and ran between the 4 flaps of the packing bag to the packing bag. There was no reserve parachute in any German jump parachute because the jump height was too low.
Jump use with the data center 1
In contrast to the Allied paratroopers and today, the parachute was packed by each paratrooper of the Wehrmacht himself before the jump. This extended the training time in the skydiving courses. The packing process was practiced extensively by all aspiring paratroopers during the parachute training course and was carried out together with a helper and prescribed, regular packing controls.
During his training, the paratrooper, who weighs a maximum of 85 kg, learned to jump in quick succession at a height of only around 120 meters from the transport aircraft, which was flying at 160–180 km / h. Combat jumps were sometimes carried out below 100 m in height, with the safe minimum jump height specified as 80 m. The jump with the RZ 1 and its successor required a jump position in which the paratrooper with outstretched arms and closed legs dived out of the aircraft with a powerful leap through the aircraft door (pike jump) so as not to be pushed under the aircraft by the blast of air from the propellers and to prevent the pull line or the suspension lines from becoming entangled with limbs during the opening process. The suspension lines were simply inserted into the outer packaging on early models. The jump position also reduced the opening impact of the parachute, which was particularly strong at data center 1. After an average of 2.3 seconds or about 30 meters, the umbrella had fully unfolded.
After opening the umbrella, the soldier hung - due to the suspension lines attached at the height of his shoulder blades - bent forward in the air. As a result, he had no way of reaching into the suspension lines to influence his sinking. Instead, the jumper should try to turn into the wind by twisting his body, which rarely succeeded. He was thus helpless, especially in the wind, which often forced him to land with injuries to the side and backwards. From a wind speed of 6 m / s, jumping was no longer carried out during training because of the risk of injury. In addition, data center 1 was very prone to commuting, which was made even worse by the low drop-off height. Despite these disadvantages, the injury rate was only two to three percent, mostly broken bones and foot injuries. Fatal injuries, on the other hand, were very rare and could be further reduced with the improved umbrellas from the RZ series.
An average heavy soldier touched the ground at a dropping height of 100 meters after only about 10 seconds at a speed of 5 to 6 m / s. The landing was again determined by the inclined position of the jumper and required an active roll forward. The weeks of hard physical training during the skydiving course was a prerequisite for the safe mastery of this landing procedure. In order to protect the paratroopers' knees and elbows, which are particularly at risk, they were equipped with padded protectors, which reduced the injury rate by more than half.
The high rate of descent of the RZ 1 and the acrobatic landing roll made it impossible to carry a lot of equipment or hand weapons. Initially, the paratroopers jumped into the battle armed only with pistols and hand grenades , only in the western campaign were submachine guns carried when jumping. The weapons, ammunition, equipment and supplies were dropped in drop containers with parachutes. Only with the experience of the Crete mission was it possible to jump through new parachutes when jumping with a rifle on the man, which were lowered on a rope before landing.
Another disadvantage of the RZ 1 was the fastenings used on the harness. Because of the initial skepticism of the paratroopers, no quick-release fasteners were installed that would allow the parachute to be released quickly after landing. Instead, the landed soldier had to open two sliding buckles on the chest and waist belt and snap hooks on each leg strap, which was not possible while lying down - and exposed him to enemy weapons for a long time.
RZ-16
In addition to the unpleasant disadvantages of data center 1 when jumping, there were also some fatal accidents. One reason was the so-called “bun formation”, in which one or more suspension lines lay over the canopy during the opening process, dividing them and thus making the parachute canopy impossible to carry. The suspension lines loosely placed in the packing bag were responsible for this - there was as yet no packing tube or other type of inner packaging with packing loops for the suspension lines. In the successor RZ 16, introduced in 1940, the suspension lines were therefore pulled through packing loops, so that the parachute was stretched in the desired order by the opening process, which was initiated by the stretching pull-up line, and the suspension lines were now first stretched and pulled out of the packing loops before the canopy unfolded, this also reduced the deployment shock.
The big disadvantages with the awkward opening of the harness and the suspension at shoulder blade level remained with the RZ 16. This is all the more astonishing because the rescue parachutes of the pilots of the Air Force both had a central lock in front of the chest and the suspension lines with D- Rings were attached in straps on both sides of the harness.
A few incidents occurred because the shoulder straps could slip, whereupon the new harness was given more stability with an additional strap at shoulder blade height. In addition, the pull-up line was now laid horizontally on the packing cover after the safety device on the right of the parachute proved to be prone to errors. Another problem related to the tensile strength of the pull line. If a jumper was pressed under the aircraft by the air flow, sharp edges on the aircraft fuselage could damage the pull-up line and tear it. Later, the tensile strength of this critical component was more than doubled in all parachute models to 1,100 kg. The newly produced paratroopers had a camouflage-colored cap to make it more difficult to detect landed paratroopers on the ground.
RZ 20
Only a year later, with the parachute pattern RZ 20, the cumbersome hooks and buckles were finally replaced by four quick-release fasteners. The parachute was first used during Operation Merkur during the invasion of Crete together with the RZ 16 and remained in use until the end of the war. In a parachute pass, the "highest speed of use" for the RZ 20 is given as 220 km / h.
RZ 36
After Soviet parachutes were recovered in the course of the war and the advantages of their construction could be examined, the RZ 36 was developed based on this experience. The biggest difference was the 67 m² triangular parachute canopy (after Richard Kohnke also Kohnke triangular canopy) and a harness with a quick release and improved parachute suspension so that the jumper could land upright. It delivered a smaller development thrust with less tendency to swing and a softer landing and was on May 6, 1943 by Dipl.-Ing. Schauenburg patent pending.
The triangular shape is said to have given the parachute some propulsion. However, the parachute could hardly be steered, which is why it rotated uncontrollably with the wind and in this case the landing with the additional parachute propulsion became even more dangerous. This was the reason why many soldiers rejected the triangular umbrella. The RZ 36 was occasionally used by the Stößer company during the Ardennes offensive in 1944. A combination of the better harness with the parachute canopy of the RZ 20 was also reported.
Production and use
The parachute canopies of the RZ series were produced by the Henking company in Berlin and, after they moved in 1938, to Seifhennersdorf in Saxony. A total of 120,000 umbrellas are said to have been produced. During the Second World War, not only the German paratroopers used these parachutes, but also the units of other Axis powers they had trained, such as Hungary and Bulgaria, who had set up their own paratroopers.
Technical specifications
| Parameter | RZ 1 | RZ 36 |
|---|---|---|
| Cap shape | round | triangular |
| Area | 56 m² | 67 m² |
| Suspension lines | 28 | 44 |
| Max. Aircraft speed | nb | 325 km / h |
| Sink speed with 100 kg load | 6.0 m / s | 5.5 m / s |
| Minimum jump height | 80 m | 100 m |
| Controllability | No | No |
| Packing mass | nb | 11 kg |
| Opening variant | automatically | automatically |
See also
- Japanese parachutes in World War II
- X-type parachute
- Paratrooper Badge of the Air Force
- Paratrooper badge of the army
literature
- Hartmut Buch: History of the Airborne Troops - On the Development of Parachute Troops in East and West , Weltbild Verlag, Augsburg, 2000
- Karl-Heinz Golla: The German Parachute Troops 1936–1941 - Their construction and their use in the first military campaigns of the Wehrmacht , Verlag ES Mittler & Sohn, Hamburg, 2006
- L.Dv.T. 5201 "The parachutes of the parachute troops RZ 1 and RZ 16 and their maintenance"
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Hans von Lüneberg: History of Aviation, Volume 2: Airships, Reinhard Welz Vermittler Verlag, Mannheim 2003, p. 74
- ↑ Chris McNab: Fallschirmjäger - The history of the German airborne troops in World War II , Kaiser Verlag, Klagenfurt, 2010, p. 162
- ↑ US Military Intelligence Service: Special Series No. 7 - Enemy Air-Borne Forces, 1942
- ^ Robert Kershaw: Sky Men , Hodder & Stoughton Ltd, London, Great Britain, 2010
- ↑ Image of a RZ 20 parachute ID ( memento of the original from December 31, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Retrieved October 13, 2012.
- ↑ German Troop Type Parachutes ( Memento of the original from March 30, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Wehrmacht parachutes with many pictures, accessed on October 9, 2012.
- ↑ Karl-Heinz Golla: The German Parachute Troops 1936–1941 - Their structure and their use in the first military campaigns of the Wehrmacht , Verlag ES Mittler & Sohn, Hamburg, 2006, p. 57
- ^ History of the Sächsische Spezialkonfektion GmbH . Retrieved October 11, 2012.
- ↑ Szõdi Sándor: Overview of the history of skydiving (Hungarian) ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Retrieved December 15, 2012.
- ↑ Photos of Bulgarian paratroopers . Retrieved December 15, 2012.
- ↑ Hartmut Buch: History of the Airborne Troops - On the Development of Parachute Troops in East and West , Weltbild Verlag, Augsburg 2000, p. 149
