Luftwaffe Field Divisions

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Alter Mann
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Luftwaffe Field Divisions

#1

Post by Alter Mann » 31 Jul 2004, 19:15

I did a search on this subject but it came back with 9164 instances and I didn't feel like looking through all of them. I was involved in a discussion about LwFDs a week or so ago and thought I would look for some documentation. This is what I found:

This is a quote from Chris Bishop and Adam Warner's book 'German Weapons Of World War II' from the section titled 'Luftwaffe Ground Troops'.

""Whoever joins this corps." Hermann Goering announced, "has to do so with a bold heart. If he shows courage in combat, the soldier can expect promotion and decorations." Some 250,000 men answered his call. By the time their leader surrendered in 1945, most lay dead in the Russian snow.

Goering had been asked by Hitler to comb out 50,000 personnel who could be spared from their air force duties. The German Army desperately needed reinforcements. The annual call-up had already been brought forward to compensate for the 750,000 casualties suffered in 1941. Now, at the height of summer offensive, intended to give Germany control of the Caucasus and Russia's oil supplies, front-line army units were far below establishment. And a bloody battle of attrition was developing along the Volga, where the 6th Army struggled to capture Stalingrad before winter.

The First Ground Troops

Luftwaffe ground troops were already at the front, however. At the height of the manpower crisis in the Army's first winter in Russia, Goering had volunteered to organize some infantry regiments to help hold the line. Seven Luftwaffe Field Regiments were created in January-February 1942. Four battalions strong, with attached heavy mortars and a battery of 88 mm guns, they had a useful but limited impact across a frontline running from Leningrad to the Crimea.

One LwFR participated in the relief of the Demyansk pocket. Regiments 1, 2, 3, and 4 were combined into a battle group by General Meindl. 'Division Meindl' was engaged through 1942 taking part in anti-partisan operations after a long spell at the front around Kholm. Part of the division was amalgamated with 5 LwFR to form the first Luftwaffe Field Division, 1 LwFD, that autumn. Division Meindl was re-designated 21 LwFD in early 1943.

Not Welcome

Senior officers, notably von Manstein and Warlimont, were loud in their opposition to what they saw as a misuse of manpower. They argued that the same number of men, integrated into existing Army units, would have greater impact than the hasty assembly of new formations with inadequate numbers of trained officers and NCOs.

Goering's hapless volunteers were greeted with the same cold shoulder encountered by the Waffen SS in 1939-40, but had neither the time, the training, nor the equipment to repeat the successes of Himmler's men.

Goering’s Field Divisions were poorly equipped. Forever short of motor vehicles, they relied on horse-drawn transport; their artillery often consisted of obsolete weapons from the First World War.

Under strength

With four of its six battalions of infantry (each of three companies) minimal administrative and logistic staffs and reconnaissance companies on bicycles (if they had any form of transport at all), they were equivalent to half a standard German infantry Division.

That was before taking into account the fact that their training standards were far below those of the regular infantrymen. There were too few officers and NCOs who knew their business and they were rushed into action before they had a chance to learn. They were not kept together, but fed in piecemeal according to the crisis of the moment. The first ten divisions were hurried to Russia, some to join the doomed attempt to relieve Stalingrad, others to man the frozen trenches of Army Group North.

Slaughtered

Three of Goering's divisions were destroyed within days of their arrival. 8 LwFD detrained at Morozovsk on 25 November and marched through a blizzard to reinforce the front at Stalingrad. But the front had collapsed. There were no friendly troops on the steppe, just hordes of T-34s, which made short work of the air force soldiers. General Manstein assigned the survivors to fight alongside an Army infantry division. He did the same again after 8 LwFD suffered catastrophic losses during the attempted breakthrough to the 6th Army.

The Soviet offensive at Stalingrad was actually the smaller of two gigantic attacks intended to break the back of the Wehrmacht. The unfortunate volunteers of 2 LwFD were directly in the path of Marshal Zhukov's frontal assault on the German 9th Army in the Rzhev salient. Even a full strength army division would have been hard-pressed, but the rout of another Luftwaffe unit merely confirmed the generals' worst fears.

Army criticism increased, lamenting the waste of manpower in badly trained, poorly equipped units that only existed because of 'Fat Hermann's' political clout. Most of the surviving divisions were transferred to anti-partisan operations while their future was debated.

General Meindl wanted to convert them into specialist assault units to work with the panzer divisions. General Petersen wanted to exploit them as a recruitment pool for his airborne divisions. Field Marshal von Manstein advanced the Army's view that they should be incorporated into regular army units as replacements. Hitler decided in favor of the Army.

Goering's attempt to replicate Himmler's success with the Waffen-SS was over. The divisions became part of the Army, which immediately embarked on the wholesale replacement of the units' officers. The Luftwaffe retaliated by retaining specialist personnel, many of whom were transferred to parachute or flak divisions. However, by the summer of 1944 the Luftwaffe was obliged to transfer personnel to the Army again to replace losses. Some were even sent to reinforce the SS. The SS panzer corps of Normandy included hundreds of replacements drafted in from the air force.

Atlantic Wall

Five field divisions occupied stretches of the Atlantic Wall. 16 and 17 LwFD were destroyed in the battle for Normandy. 18 LwFD was sent to the front in August 1944 and all but wiped out in the prolonged retreat from Northern France to Holland. The Luckiest of Goering's divisions was 14 LwFD, which was a part of the disproportionately large garrison maintained in Norway. It never saw action.

In contrast to the dismal history of the field divisions, the Hermann Goering Division had an excellent reputation. Built on a core of former paratroops with a draft of 5000 Luftwaffe conscripts to bulk it out, the division regarded itself as an elite unit. It remained part of the Luftwaffe, but its uniforms equipment and ethos were closer to those of the Waffen-SS. Before it was fully assembled, a major part of the division was shipped to Tunisia in November 1942 and acquitted itself well in the winter campaign. There it stayed, however; lost along with some 250,000 Axis personnel when Panzerarmee Afrika had to surrender in May of 1943. Some key members of the division were evacuated to Sicily and a skeleton formation remained in Southern France. The division was officially re-formed on 15 July in Sicily, but it was already in action again.

On 10 July 1943 the Allies invaded Sicily. US troops poured ashore at Gela, where they were met the following day by a ferocious counter-attack spearheaded by the Hermann Goering Division, ably supported by 15 Panzergrenadier and the Italian Livorno divisions. Halted by naval gunfire and heavy air attacks, the Axis forces fell back into the hinterland to conduct a successful rearguard action back to Messina. The division was evacuated to mainland Italy.

The division was well placed to deal with the inevitable sequel, the Allied landings at Salerno. The Hermann Goering Division counter-attacked again, the skill and bravery of its troops disguising a lack of numbers and threadbare logistical arrangements. The battle was followed by another rearguard action until the division was taken out of line for rest and refit.

While the division occupied its next defensive position, OberstLeutenant Julius Schlegel negotiated the removal of the paintings, medieval manuscripts and sculptures that resided in the monastery at Monte Cassino. For three weeks Schlegel's men labored to remove artifacts including a relic of St. Benedict.

Goering's Own

In January 1944 the division was re-titled Fallschirmpanzerdivision Hermann Goering. Sadly depleted by the winter battles and counter-attacks at Anzio, the division suffered heavy losses in June, defending the approaches to Rome. In July it was withdrawn from Italy to be flung into the German counter-attacks outside Warsaw where the Red Army's massive offensive threatened to breach the Vistula. In September, Goering's 'Parachute Panzer Division' became Fallschirmpanzerkorps Hermann Goering, but this did not represent the doubling of strength the corps title implied. The division was split in two, additional infantry battalions were added, but a critical shortage of men and equipment was never overcome. The corps fought in the defense of East Prussia in January 1945, was evacuated from the Memel pocket in March and the survivors scattered between Pomerania and Denmark. A vestigial element fought on as part of Panzerkorps Grossdeutschland until surrendering to the Russians in May.

Good and Bad

Units of Goering's 'private army' had wildly different fortunes. In the paratroopers and the Hermann Goering division, the Luftwaffe had some of the finest combat units of the war. But Goering's attempt to establish an independent army along the lines of the Waffen-SS was a hideous failure with tragic consequences for the men so hastily driven into battle. It took the Army a year to persuade Hitler to abolish the Luftwaffe Field Divisions, during which time tens of thousands of soldiers paid for Goering's ego with their lives.”

Although I don’t like the writing style, and the text is often confusing, I hope that it represents a good assessment of the history and final disposition of the units.

Does anyone have any comments?

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Tom Houlihan
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#2

Post by Tom Houlihan » 31 Jul 2004, 22:12

Sounds about right! Another example of internal power politics being more important than the success of the fighting forces, or even their lives.


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Achtacht
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#3

Post by Achtacht » 02 Aug 2004, 12:32

Just a few changes for the Hermann Göring,

It was formed in 1933 as a Police Unit then in 1935 Formed into various flack units with Wach regiments and retitled the Regiment General Göring and also formed the First Fallschimjager units in 1936, para trooper No1 Bruno Baur former officer with the RGG, these where then Formed into FJR1 in 1938.

October 1942 retitled Panzer Division Herman Göring , with the Transfer of the 1st and 3rd battallions of the FJR5, retitled 5th Jager Regiment HG in the March 1943 which was lost in the surrender of all axis forces in Tunisia, with a lot of the corr personal from the former" Regiment General Goring".

retitled the Fallschimpanzer Division Herman Göring when became part of the 1st fallscim Korp then formed its own Fallscimpanzer Korps Herman Göring in July 1944 when transfered onto the Eastern Front and the FJR16 was also transfered to form the cadre for 2nd Panzergrenadier Division Herman Göring.

Hope this helps also

Thanks

Andy
http://www.axis42.co.uk

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Dieter Zinke
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#4

Post by Dieter Zinke » 02 Aug 2004, 17:16

Achtacht wrote:Just a few changes for the Hermann Göring,

It was formed in 1933 as a Police Unit then in 1935 Formed into various flack units with Wach regiments and retitled the Regiment General Göring and also formed the First Fallschimjager units in 1936, para trooper No1 Bruno Baur former officer with the RGG, these where then Formed into FJR1 in 1938.

October 1942 retitled Panzer Division Herman Göring , with the Transfer of the 1st and 3rd battallions of the FJR5, retitled 5th Jager Regiment HG in the March 1943 which was lost in the surrender of all axis forces in Tunisia, with a lot of the corr personal from the former" Regiment General Goring".

retitled the Fallschimpanzer Division Herman Göring when became part of the 1st fallscim Korp then formed its own Fallscimpanzer Korps Herman Göring in July 1944 when transfered onto the Eastern Front and the FJR16 was also transfered to form the cadre for 2nd Panzergrenadier Division Herman Göring.

Hope this helps also

Thanks

Andy
http://www.axis42.co.uk
Dear Andy,

for clearness:
the topic is for "Luftwaffen-Feld-Divisionen",
they were transfered to "Feld-Divisionen (L)" des Heeres (of the army).

But the
"Hermann-Göring"-Verbände ("HG")
were never belonging to these units !!!!!

There were the
Division "Herman Göring"; then the
Division mot. trop. "Hermann Göring"; then the
Panzer-Division "Hermann Göring", then the
Fallschirm-Panzer-Division "Hermann Göring"; then the
Fallschirm-Panzer-Division 1 "Hermann Göring" and the
Fallschirm-Panzergrenadier-Division 2 "Hermann Göring".

Regards
Oberstab

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R-Bob The Great!
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#5

Post by R-Bob The Great! » 05 Aug 2004, 09:42

Seems typical of Nazi style bureaucracy for Goering to have his own personal ground army rather than having his men integrated into the Heer.

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Alter Mann
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Luftwaffe Field Divisions

#6

Post by Alter Mann » 06 Aug 2004, 20:43

Maybe Goering felt that, if he could keep them listed on rolls as Luftwaffe troops, it would help keep it a large organization with a correspondingly large budget.

I don't know why I try to make excuses for him. He was a madman and I believe that he may have done more damage to the 3rd Reich than even Hitler did.

Oberstab, I guess I left the door open on that one since the quote I entered included the time before the Luftwaffe Field units (LwFR and LwFD) were transferred to the Wehrmacht.

BTW, how are things in Koblenz? I haven't been there since 1978 when I spent some time with 2nd Kompanie 153rd Panzer Battalion.

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#7

Post by Pvt Turner » 16 Sep 2004, 19:21

I do some family research and found out that my grandfathers last outfit was the Jäger-Regiment 21
of the 11. Luftwaffen-Feld-Division. The German Red Cross wrote that he might have been killed in the fighting in the Valpovo area at the drau or drava river, about 180 kilometers north-west of Belgrad and 50 kilometres south of Pecs/ Hungary in march 1945. Has anybody informations about these fights or the 11th Luftwaffen Feld Division? Please post anything!!
Thanks Turner

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#8

Post by Larry D. » 18 Sep 2004, 00:24

Since this concerns your grandfather, I would think that you might want to buy the following book:

MUNOZ, Antonio J. Goering's Grenadiers: The Luftwaffe Field Divisions, 1942-1945. This is the story of the Luftwaffe Field Divisions which were created between 1942-45. These units served in the Balkans, France, Norway, Italy and Russian Front. They eventually numbered 22 divisions and numerous smaller formations. 2002 new hard bound in dust jacket, 8 1/2 x 11, 380 pages, , gold leaf stamping, full color dust jacket, six beautiful color plates by renowned military artist, Darko Pavlovic, 100 battle maps, 26 tables, about 78 photographs and full bibliography. US$50.00.

I understand your 11. Lw.-Felddivision is particularly well covered in this book.

HTH,

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Texas Kubelwagen
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Goring's Grenadiers

#9

Post by Texas Kubelwagen » 17 Jul 2005, 23:50

You can find a couple of copies on eBay right now for under 30 USD. Shipping of course has to be added but it's still twenty dollars cheaper than the list price...

There's 22 pages total for the 11. Luftwaffen-Feld-Divisionen. Lots of maps in there too.

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#10

Post by Abel Ravasz » 18 Jul 2005, 20:18

Three of Goering's divisions were destroyed within days of their arrival. 8 LwFD detrained at Morozovsk on 25 November and marched through a blizzard to reinforce the front at Stalingrad. But the front had collapsed. There were no friendly troops on the steppe, just hordes of T-34s, which made short work of the air force soldiers. General Manstein assigned the survivors to fight alongside an Army infantry division. He did the same again after 8 LwFD suffered catastrophic losses during the attempted breakthrough to the 6th Army.
This battle, or rather butchery of the 8. Lw Feld Div is mentioned in most of the sources, but without a date. Does anyone know when exactly (day) and where exactly (at the Don-Chir bend, OK, but where?) did this happen? I've tried to find this one out, but I've been unlucky so far. Your help would be appreciated.

Best regards,

Abel

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#11

Post by Andreas » 18 Jul 2005, 23:06

Abel Ravasz wrote:
Three of Goering's divisions were destroyed within days of their arrival. 8 LwFD detrained at Morozovsk on 25 November and marched through a blizzard to reinforce the front at Stalingrad. But the front had collapsed. There were no friendly troops on the steppe, just hordes of T-34s, which made short work of the air force soldiers. General Manstein assigned the survivors to fight alongside an Army infantry division. He did the same again after 8 LwFD suffered catastrophic losses during the attempted breakthrough to the 6th Army.
This battle, or rather butchery of the 8. Lw Feld Div is mentioned in most of the sources, but without a date. Does anyone know when exactly (day) and where exactly (at the Don-Chir bend, OK, but where?) did this happen? I've tried to find this one out, but I've been unlucky so far. Your help would be appreciated.

Best regards,

Abel
8. LwFD was not involved in Operation Wintergewitter. It was assigned to secure part of the Morosowskaja - Tazinskaja (German spelling) sector in the Chir-Don-Donez region. It was hit there by a Soviet attack which broke through to the divisional CP due to complete ineptness of its command staff (who were in return for their stupidity killed). Survivors attached themselves to 6. PD. This happened on 29/12/42. It is not clear to me what happened afterwards, and how much the division was hit by this attack. Source is Scheibert 'Panzer zwischen Don und Donez'

All the best

Andreas

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Re: Luftwaffe Field Divisions

#12

Post by Andreas » 18 Jul 2005, 23:09

Alter Mann wrote: Goering’s Field Divisions were poorly equipped. Forever short of motor vehicles, they relied on horse-drawn transport; their artillery often consisted of obsolete weapons from the First World War.

Does anyone have any comments?
This is not what I took away e.g. from Scheibert, and some other comments I have read. From these it appeared that they were very well equipped, especially compared to standard infantry divisions who had been in combat for a while.

All the best

Andreas

streljko1
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#13

Post by streljko1 » 19 Jul 2005, 00:26

Hello everybody,
I found some info from yugoslav sources about 11. Luftwaffen-Feld-Division in Valpovo area, it isn`t much but perhaps it could help.
In articles "Proboj srijemske fronte" and "Od Broda do Zagreba" from book "Drugi svjetski rat"- group of authors colonel Nikola Anić mentiones that 11. division was ordered to defend right bank of Drava river from Aljmaš to Donji Miholjac.
Yugoslav 3th army started to cross Drava at Valpovo and Osijek between 11 and 12.04.1945. and managed to suprise defenders on the right bank and establish a brigdehead.
Valpovo was liberated on a same day, Osijek on 14.04.1945. by units of Osijek brigade and 51. division.
On 15.04.1945. with help of 3. bulgarian division Donji Miholjac and Našice were liberated, and first phase of final operations were over.

Next phase was attack on Virovitica, and after three days of bitter fighting yugoslavs entered it on 25.04.1945.
German units(11. division I presume) took new positions on line Pitomača - Grubišno polje and connected with units that hold line on Ilova river against 1st. yugoslav army.
From 26.04. to 29.04. 3rd. army tried to break german defences west of Virovitica, but in vain, only after 11th Luftwaffen Feld Division retreated toward Bjelovar, units of JA managed to take Bilogora ridge and break into Podravina area.
Đurđevac was taken after street fighting on 02.05. , two days later Bjelovar,and in the evening of 05.05. units of 3rd army liberated Koprivnica.
Germans retreated to next line of defence Ludbreg- Varaždinske toplice.
On the actions of 11. division after 05.05. I couldn`t find any info, but I guess that it continued to retreat toward the border with Austria. Division capitulated near Celje (Slovenia) together with parts of 7 SS,22 ID,181 ID and 369 ID.

My opinion is that 11th Luftwaffen Feld Division was solid division that fough bravely to the end.

Abel Ravasz
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#14

Post by Abel Ravasz » 19 Jul 2005, 01:58

Hi Andreas,
8. LwFD was not involved in Operation Wintergewitter. It was assigned to secure part of the Morosowskaja - Tazinskaja (German spelling) sector in the Chir-Don-Donez region. It was hit there by a Soviet attack which broke through to the divisional CP due to complete ineptness of its command staff (who were in return for their stupidity killed). Survivors attached themselves to 6. PD. This happened on 29/12/42. It is not clear to me what happened afterwards, and how much the division was hit by this attack. Source is Scheibert 'Panzer zwischen Don und Donez'
Wow! Thanks for the help on this one.
It seems that the division was overrun at least twice. The one You've tracked down is the second one. Munoz describes it like this: the division moved through Nizhne Chirskaja, and, with the PzJg Abt as vanguard, ran headlong into the Soviet pincers at the Chir. The division established a collection point at Nizhne Chirskaja to collect the survivors of this battle. Only 12 men of the PzJg Abt returned, the battalion commander commited suicide.

So, even though the info You gave is very good and much appreciated, I'm still looking for the date of this engagement. If You or anyone else could help me out on tracking down the date of this one, I'd be more than happy.

Thanks again,

Abel

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#15

Post by PAK88mm » 27 Jul 2005, 06:09

Abel Ravasz wrote:
Three of Goering's divisions were destroyed within days of their arrival. 8 LwFD detrained at Morozovsk on 25 November and marched through a blizzard to reinforce the front at Stalingrad. But the front had collapsed. There were no friendly troops on the steppe, just hordes of T-34s, which made short work of the air force soldiers. General Manstein assigned the survivors to fight alongside an Army infantry division. He did the same again after 8 LwFD suffered catastrophic losses during the attempted breakthrough to the 6th Army.
This battle, or rather butchery of the 8. Lw Feld Div is mentioned in most of the sources, but without a date. Does anyone know when exactly (day) and where exactly (at the Don-Chir bend, OK, but where?) did this happen? I've tried to find this one out, but I've been unlucky so far. Your help would be appreciated.

Best regards,

Abel
I think Otto Carius book mentions a snip of it. He says he saw Luftwaffe field divisions head to the front with new 75mm guns and MG42. Afterwords several days later were overunned and routed leaving behind the new equipment which the russians gladly used.

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