Fallschirmjager Reg.13 Document Grouping.

[MIKE29]

Hi,
Any info on this document grouping most welcome,i.e
Information on location of regiment on award certificates,also on Generalleutnant signature much appreciated.
Other items included with purchase were
NSFK Flubbuch(84 Flights)with nice flieger HJ photograph.
Werkstattbuch,wound tag,NSFK Segelflieger badge,dog tag marked
2518 3./ Ausb. Regt.21
MIKE29

[hankmeister]

Sorry, can't give any info. Must have been a busy 2 weeks though, to win his erdkampfabzeichen, EK 2, and his wound badge. Nice matching signatures on the ek2 & erdkampf docs.
Great find. Congrats!

Hank

[HT]

The General is Gustav Wilke. He won the Knight's Cross as a transport squadron leader for his rule in the invasion to Holland.

[MIKE29]

Thanks for the replies,
My research also shows the 13 Fallschirmjager Regiment were in Holland 24/9/44 to 1/11/44 when awards were earned.
Have included some pictures of other items which came with documents belonging to the same man.
NSFK flug buch,HJ Flieger pic.
Dog Tag-(possible training unit?)
Pic of Helmut Meyer flieger Blouse with Cloth para badge,also DRL sports badge.
MIKE29

[Paddy Keating]

A very nice little group to one of the few surviving para-trained NCOs of FJR13 by November 1944 when the regiment was reformed in the Hague. The field-made document for the Erdkampfabzeichen is a cut above the norm. OK, let's see what we can deduce from these documents and a bit of informed guesswork.

Helmut Meyer was clearly a veteran of the Normandy battles where FJR13, then under Oberstleutnant und RKT Wolf-Werner Graf von der Schulenburg, was effectively destroyed at St Lô in July 1944. The Wound Badge is for July 1944 although the document was issued in November and signed by Major Goswin Wahl, FJR13 CO from October to December 1944. He probably experienced the hell of the Falaise Gap and the Corridor of Death during the German breakout towards the East and the River Seine.

FJR13 was originally formed in France, in Reims, from III./FJR3 as the first step in creating 5. Fallschirmjäger-Division, commanded by Generalleutnant und RKT Gustav Wilke until September 1944. 5. FJD formed up in Reims on March 2nd 1944 although the order was posted on November 5th 1943. The cadre of the new division consisted of the Fallschirmjäger-Lehr-Bataillon, III./FJR3 and III./FJR4 and several thousand new recruits.



Meyer's dogtag gives his parent unit as 3./Ausb. Regt 21, which was indeed, as you say, a training unit. I believe it was Flieger-Ausbildungs-Regiment 21, which moved to the area of Reims in France in 1941 and was renamed Flieger-Regiment 21, whose function was the training of pilots. Given young Meyer's HJ and NSFK gliding and flying experience, this would make sense. Like many German boys, he wanted to be a pilot.

As an aside, if the '3' actually means 'III', the III. Abteilung of an Ausbildungs-Regiment being the Flugzeugführerschule - Flying Instructors - detachment, then Meyer could even have been teaching flying theory or assisting instructors as a Junior NCO with gliding qualifications. There again, the '3' could just refer to the 3rd Bn of the training regiment.

So, from his dogtag we can say that he enlisted in the Luftwaffe before October or November 1941, the point at which the Ausbildungs-Regimenter were renamed Flieger-Regimenter. In September 1942, the unit was disbanded and used as the cadre of Luftwaffen-Feld-Division 6. In January 1943, 6. Feld-Division (L) went off to the Eastern Front. Meyer probably made a very intelligent decision at that point, or a couple of months before, to cut his losses and volunteer for the Fallschirmjäger.

It is likely that Meyer was one of the new recruits to 5. FJD in Reims, probably qualifying as a parachutist at the newly reformed Fallschirmschule 1 near Dreux, not far from Paris, early in 1944. He was then posted to FJR13, took part in the terrible battles in Normandy in June and July 1944, where his regiment was destroyed. Wounded, he made it through the Falaise inferno and out across Eastern France in the headlong retreat across the Seine and into Belgium and then Holland where we find him in November as a corporal at Regimental HQ.

Lt-General Wilke probably awarded Iron Crosses to all of the Normandy veterans who didn't already have them as a goodbye gesture. The sharp-eyed amongst you will have noticed that I stated above that Wilke's command of 5. FJD ended in September 1944 yet here he is in November signing award documents as Divisional Commander. Wilke remained as a caretaker until Ludwig Heilmann formally assumed command in December 1944.

The Ground Combat Badge was obviously for Normandy and the fighting withdrawal. I would guess, as I said, that the Iron Cross was also for Normandy because he was wounded there and still managed to escape through the Falaise Gap. Did he survive WW2? The intact dogtag suggests that he did. It would be great if you could trace the family and see if his soldbuch and any other documents, like his temporary certificate for the cloth Parachutists Badge, survive.

In January 1945, 5. FJD took part in the Battle of the Bulge. Afterwards, the division retreated into Germany, fighting bitter rearguard actions in the Harz and the Eifel mountains. Most of the division surrendered at the Nürburgring in March 1945. The remnants fought in the Ruhr Pocket before the final surrender.

Anyway, there you go! Helmut Meyer's likely career trajectory from a nachlaß. Below is a photo of young paras of Fallschirmjäger-Rgt 13 moving into position near the Norman village of Champs des Losques. Note just how young they are. Most of them are still in Normandy...

PK

[MIKE29]

Thank you again for the info P.K
It would be nice to get hold of his other award documents and to find out if he survived the war.
Without causing distress to people bringing up the past so to speak,how would one trace Helmut Meyer,it would be great to put this mans personal account with these documents.
I have also enclosed a picture of wound tag dated 31 JUIL 1944 which came from the same collection.
MIKE29

[Xavier]

@Paddy Keating: superb research!! It never ceases to amaze me how much information you can deduct from what little is given..

@Mike29: thanks for posting this nice group.

Best regards to both

Xavier
Instandsetzungtruppfuhrer

[MIKE29]

I second that Xavier, P.K's research is spot on,
Thanks again Prosper.
MIKE29

[Paddy Keating]

Always a pleasure, gentlemen. The SS-Fallschirmjäger aside, the 'regular' FJ from the mid-war period on is another subject I passionately study. In any case, I am just finishing a text for a short book on the Fallschirmjäger in France in WW2, due out towards the end of the year. Mike's question landed in the right place at the right time!

Regarding further research on Helmut Meyer, there are several things to consider. First of all, it is perfectly OK to write to the families of German WW2 war veterans as long as letters are concise and translated into German. I do it regularly and while I have had a few knockbacks because younger Germans would prefer to forget or whatever, I have never experienced a hostile reaction to my letters.

You might have his Date of Birth in his NSFK book. That is always a help. You can then do a WASt search to see if he has a known grave. If not, this increases the chance that he indeed survived WW2. His home town should be given in his HJ and NSFK papers. Meyer is a common name, of course, but German families tend not to move about too much as a general rule so there is a good chance that his descendants will still live in the area from which he came. Check the Deutsch Telefon directory, get all the numbers of Meyers in the area and start calling them up...or get a German-speaking friend to do it for you. Send letters.

PK

[MIKE29]

Thanks PK, for the extra info on research.
I wil look forward to reading your book.
MIKE29

[Sarge]

The dog tag is for the 3.Kompanie not III Battalion of the training regiment. Since the Kompanie (4 in a Bn, 3 Bn in a Rgt-normally) indicated which Bn in the Regiment that designation was rarely used. the 4 digit nr at the top is the individuals number within the unit, which would be totaly incorrect for a line unit but not for a training unit. The odd thing is that there is NO blood type stamped on the dog tag which would indicate that it was never issued! Maby he picked it up from a friend in personell as a souvineer because standard parctice was to turn it in when you left the unit - training or line. You got a new one at the next unit.
Sarge

[Paddy Keating]

There again, the '3' could just refer to the 3rd Bn of the training regiment.

The dog tag is for the 3.Kompanie not III Battalion of the training regiment. Since the Kompanie (4 in a Bn, 3 Bn in a Rgt-normally) indicated which Bn in the Regiment that designation was rarely used.

Well-spotted, Sarge. I must have been typing too fast. The structure of a Flieger-Ausbildungs-Regiment was however slightly different to that of a normal regiment with four battalions.

I. Abteilung
1. Kp
2, Kp
3. Kp
4. Kp
5. Kp

II. Abteilung
6. Kp
7. Kp
8. Kp
9. Kp
10. Kp

III. Abteilung
Flugzeugführerschule-Abt (Flying Instructors & Staff)

Interesting point about the blood group. Meyer was certainly in I./Fl-Ausb-Rgt 21. Perhaps he did acquire the dogtag as a souvenir when he left the unit but I have seen training & replacement depot dogtags which were worn by frontline personnel in cases where a regiment or a battalion had its own depot unit. The Waffen-SS springs to mind. Of course, we are dealing with the Luftwaffe here. I suppose that the Fl-Ausb-Rgt 21 dogtags became redundant anyway when the unit was disbanded and its personnel absorbed into the Feld-Division.

PK

[Giel]

strange, i've got a ic document of HELMUT MEYER, for a moment i thought it was the same name, but mine is from nordland so...

[MIKE29]

Thanks for the updated info on Helmet Meyer,here are a couple more pics of of his Flugbuch ,shooting book.also another picture without cap
on.
MIKE29
P.S Had me worried for a moment Giel

[MIKE29]

Here's the pic of Helmut Meyer without his cap.
MIKE29