Air Force Field Division

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The Luftwaffe field divisions were divisions of the Luftwaffe of the Wehrmacht that were used in ground combat during World War II .

Starting position

Due to the heavy personnel losses of the German army in the winter of 1941/42 and in the subsequent summer offensive on the Eastern Front , soldiers were increasingly missing. The Luftwaffe's extensive ground organization at that time had numerous units with trained personnel. With Adolf Hitler's guide of September 12, 1942, the Luftwaffe was to immediately transfer 200,000 soldiers to the army. The instruction met with little approval from the Commander- in -Chief of the Air Force (OdL) Hermann Göring . Instead, he was able to persuade Hitler to bring air force soldiers to the earth front in newly established air force field divisions (LFD).

Lineup

alternative description
Major General Eugen Meindl (1942)

On September 17, 1942, the OdL Hermann Göring issued instructions on the formation of 20 air force field divisions. While officers were supposed to volunteer, NCOs and crews were partially taken over from existing associations. The personnel provided the airborne units, the training units of the anti-aircraft artillery , the air intelligence force and the air force construction force. The air force fighter regiments were formed from the flying formations, the air force artillery regiments and the flak departments were formed from the anti-aircraft cartillery, the air intelligence troops became the air force intelligence departments and the air force construction troops were formed into air force engineer battalions. Their officers up to the division commander also came from the air force and had no infantry experience. They should receive this in a short training of a tactical and management technical nature with regard to an infantry operation. The NCOs and men were briefly trained after they were unloaded behind the front.

The 21st and 22nd LFD are listed here for the sake of completeness. They are not newly formed and infantry inexperienced divisions.

The predecessor of the Luftwaffe field divisions was the Luftwaffe Division Meindl , which had been fighting on the Eastern Front since winter 1941/42 and was named after its commander, Major General Eugen Meindl .

The following overview shows which Air Force field divisions were set up and where the divisions were deployed for the first time.

Lineup number first use
September 1942 1. November 1942 Eastern Front, Army Group North , 18th Army
September 1942 2. November 1942 Eastern Front, Army Group Center, 9th Army
September 1942 3. November 1942 Eastern Front, Army Group Center , security group behind the front
September 1942 4th Winter 1942/43 Eastern Front, Army Group Center, 9th Army
September 1942 5. December 1942 Eastern Front, Army Group A , 1st Panzer Army
September 1942 6th Winter 1942/43 Eastern Front, Army Group Center, 9th Army
September 1942 7th November 1942 Eastern Front, Army Group B , Army Group Hoth
October 1942 8th. December 1942 Eastern Front, Army Group B
Late autumn 1942 9. November 1942 Eastern Front, Army Group North, 18th Army
October 1942 10. November 1942 Eastern Front, Army Group North, 18th Army
September 1942 11. January 1943 Greece, 12th Army, occupation forces
January 1943 12. April 1943 Eastern Front, Army Group North, 18th Army
December 1942 13. February 1943 Eastern Front, Army Group North, 18th Army
December 1942 14th January 1943 Norway, Army High Command Norway, occupation forces
March 1943 15th March 1943 Eastern Front, Army Group A
December 1942 16. March 1943 Netherlands, occupation troops
December 1942 17th February 1943 France, Army Group D , occupation forces
December 1942 18th January 1943 France, Army Group D, occupation forces
March 1943 19th April 1943 Belgium, Army Group D, occupation forces
March 1943 20th June 1943 Denmark, occupation forces
December 1942 21st December 1942 Eastern Front, Army Group North, 16th Army
22nd not completely set up, parts went into 21st LFD

structure

The LFD were organized like an infantry division in 1942. However, as a fourth division in the Air Force Artillery Regiment, each division had an anti-aircraft division. The regiments were called Luftwaffe-Jäger-Regiments. The soldiers therefore also used the designation hunter for soldier, or Oberjäger for non-commissioned officer. All soldiers wore air force uniform.

  • Rod
  • two air force fighter regiments each with three battalions of four companies
  • an air force artillery regiment with two light divisions, a heavy division and an anti-aircraft division
  • an Air Force Fusilier Battalion with three companies
  • an air force tank destroyer division with three companies
  • an Air Force Engineer Battalion with three companies
  • an air force intelligence division with two companies
  • Air Force Supply Forces
  • Air Force Medical Department

The nominal strength was about 12,500 soldiers.

commitment

Officer of the Meindl Air Force Division, which was later converted into the 21st Air Force Field Division
Corporal

Due to the difficult situation on the Eastern Front in the winter of 1942/43, almost all Luftwaffe field divisions had to be deployed at the front, sometimes even at hot spots. Little trained and inexperienced in infantry, the Air Force soldiers suffered heavy losses. In addition, there were tactical leadership errors of the higher staff. This was the case with the 7th and 8th LFD, both of which had only just arrived at the front at the end of 1942 and were deployed in the great Donbogen against a Soviet offensive. Both divisions consisted only of combat groups in March 1943 and were disbanded in May. Remnants were absorbed in the newly established 15th LFD. Sometimes the material equipment also left something to be desired. The 15th LFD had to fight in its artillery regiment with French 15 cm guns from the 19th century with bronze pipes. Due to the recognized weakness of the LFD, the 16th to 20th LFD were first used as an occupation force in Western or Northern Europe. In the course of 1943, the Luftwaffe was considering merging the twelve weakened Luftwaffe field divisions on the Eastern Front into three powerful Luftwaffe assault divisions. The Army General Staff demanded that the LFD be transferred to the Army. On September 20, 1943, Hitler issued an order that the Luftwaffe field divisions be incorporated into the army under the name Felddivision (L). Air force soldiers became army soldiers. The army replaced almost all commanders and filled the positions with experienced army officers. The Luftwaffe field divisions had thus formally ceased to exist.

The following overview shows which air force field divisions the army took over and where the division was deployed at that time.

Field Division (L) Place of use
1. Eastern Front, Army Group North
4th Eastern Front, Army Group Center
6th Eastern Front, Army Group Center
9. Eastern Front, Army Group North
10. Eastern Front, Army Group North
11. Greece, occupation force
12. Eastern Front, Army Group North
13. Eastern Front, Army Group North
14th Norway, occupation forces
15th Eastern Front, Army Group A
16. Netherlands, occupation forces
17th France, occupation forces
18th France, occupation forces
19th Belgium, occupation forces
20th Denmark, occupation forces
21st Eastern Front, Army Group North

Conclusion

Of the approximately 250,000 members of the Air Force, around 90,000 soldiers were killed, wounded or missing in just under a year. Since the Luftwaffe field divisions, which served as occupation troops, had no significant losses, the losses fell on the fourteen divisions on the Eastern Front. In particular, the air force fighter regiments there had loss rates of up to 80 percent.

Known members of an Air Force field division

See also

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Werner Haupt, p. 19.
  2. ↑ Werner Haupt, p. 23 f.
  3. ↑ Werner Haupt, p. 36.
  4. ↑ Werner Haupt, p. 62.
  5. ↑ Werner Haupt, p. 28.
  6. ↑ Wolfgang Dierich, p. 674.