Nickname: None known from available records.
Date of birth: 06.11.1919 - Morbach, Bernkastel-Wittlich, in the Rhineland (Germany)
Date of death: 11.01.1943 - Djebel Rihabne (Tunisia)
He was initially buried at La Mornaghia, Tunisia, on 13 January 1943 before being reinterred at the German War Cemetery Bordj-Cedria (Plot Hof MOR Os, Row 4A, Grave 4). He was posthumously promoted to Oberleutnant on 8 April 1943.
Religion: Unknown from available records.
Family: No details on parents, siblings, spouse, or children are documented in public sources. Schuster died unmarried at the age of 23 with no known descendants.
Promotions:
12.05.1940 Oberjäger
21.08.1941 Feldwebel
00.00.194_ Oberfeldwebel
01.04.1942 Leutnant
08.04.1943 Oberleutnant (posthumously)
Career:
03.10.1938 joined the Luftwaffe
00.09.1939 served with 1.Kompanie / Fallschirmjäger-Regiment 1
00.11.1939 transferred to the Fallschirmjäger-Sturm-Abteilung "Koch"
00.05.1940 part of Gruppe "Stahl" / Fallschirmjäger-Sturm-Abteilung "Koch"
00.05.1941 Gruppenführer in the 3.Kompanie / Fallschirmjäger-Sturm-Regiment
00.01.1942 Führer 3.Kompanie / Fallschirmjäger-Regiment 1
00.10.1942 Chef 1.Kompanie / Fallschirmjäger-Regiment 5
00.11.1942 Kommandeur I.Bataillon / Fallschirmjäger-Regiment 5
11.01.1943 KIA while leading elements of his unit in Tunisia.
Awards and Decorations:
Fallschirmschützenabzeichen der Luftwaffe
Eisernes Kreuz 2. Klasse
Eisernes Kreuz 1. Klasse
Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes (21 August 1941) as Feldwebel and Gruppenführer in 3.Kompanie / I.Bataillon / Fallschirmjäger-Sturm-Regiment. The action that earned him the Ritterkreuz took place during the opening hours of the German airborne assault on Crete, Operation Merkur, on 20 May 1941. Schuster belonged to the glider-borne assault troops of the Luftlande-Sturm-Regiment, part of Gruppe West under Generalmajor Eugen Meindl, tasked with seizing Maleme airfield and its vital Hill 107 in the face of determined Commonwealth defenses. The operation began with a massive Luftwaffe bombing run to suppress anti-aircraft positions, but the low-flying DFS 230 gliders still faced a storm of fire as they approached the western edge of the airfield and the surrounding olive groves and dry riverbeds. Dust and smoke filled the air, engines roared overhead, and the gliders skimmed treetops before slamming into rocky terrain at high speed. Many craft broke apart on impact, scattering men and equipment across the landing zone while British and New Zealand machine guns and rifles raked the survivors from concealed positions.
Schuster's glider touched down amid this chaos near the western perimeter of Maleme. Almost immediately upon landing, his Zugführer, Feldwebel Arpke, was badly wounded by enemy fire. With no time to hesitate, the 21-year-old Oberjäger Schuster took command of the II. Zug. Rallying his paratroopers under continuing small-arms and anti-aircraft fire, he led them in a direct assault against a British anti-aircraft battery that was pounding the glider landing zones and preventing further reinforcements from coming in safely. In brutal close-quarters fighting, Schuster's men used hand grenades, submachine guns, and bayonets to overrun the gun pits. They silenced the battery position by position, the crack of rifles and the thud of grenades echoing across the airfield as smoke and dust swirled. With the threat neutralized, Schuster pressed forward with his group to secure the western end of Maleme airfield itself. They fought their way through scattered enemy pockets, holding the captured ground against immediate counterattacks while more gliders and Ju 52 transports began landing behind them. This rapid seizure of the western airfield perimeter proved decisive in the first critical day, allowing German reinforcements to pour in and ultimately tipping the balance toward the capture of Maleme despite the overall high cost of the Crete operation.
The official citation for the Ritterkreuz highlighted Schuster's decisive leadership in taking over the platoon under fire, eliminating the anti-aircraft battery, and capturing the western airfield sector. His actions exemplified the aggressive spirit of the Fallschirmjäger in turning a near-disastrous landing into a secured foothold.
Fallschirmjäger Rgt. 1 Ärmelband
Ärmelband Kreta
Ärmelband Afrika
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Erich Johannes Schuster was a German paratrooper officer in the Luftwaffe during the Second World War who rose rapidly through the ranks of the elite Fallschirmjäger forces and became one of the youngest recipients of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross for extraordinary bravery in close combat. Born on 6 November 1919 in the small Rhineland town of Morbach in the district of Bernkastel-Wittlich, Schuster grew up in an era of economic hardship and national revival that shaped many young men of his generation, though little is recorded about his civilian childhood or family background beyond the fact that he entered military service at a very young age and left no known descendants. He joined the Luftwaffe on 10 March 1938 and was soon drawn into the newly formed airborne arm, where his physical fitness, leadership qualities, and determination quickly distinguished him among the volunteers selected for the rigorous parachute training program. By the outbreak of war in September 1939 he was serving with the 1st Company of Fallschirmjäger Regiment 1, and only two months later he transferred to the elite Fallschirmjäger Sturm Abteilung Koch, the specialized assault unit created for high-risk glider-borne operations.
Schuster's early combat experience came during the campaign in the West in 1940 when he was assigned to Gruppe Stahl within the Koch assault detachment and took part in the daring airborne seizures of key bridges and fortresses in the Low Countries. Promoted to Oberjäger on 12 May 1940, he honed his skills in small-unit tactics and demonstrated the aggressive spirit that would later define his reputation. After the successful conclusion of the French campaign the Sturm Abteilung was expanded and reorganized, setting the stage for its most famous operation, the invasion of Crete in May 1941. Assigned to the glider-borne assault troops of what became the Luftlande Sturm Regiment, Schuster and his comrades prepared for what was intended to be a swift seizure of the island's vital airfields under the codename Operation Merkur, facing well-entrenched Commonwealth forces equipped with artillery, machine guns, and determined infantry.
The action that earned Schuster the Knight's Cross unfolded on the morning of 20 May 1941 amid the chaos of the airborne assault on Maleme airfield in western Crete. As part of the glider group approaching the western perimeter under heavy defensive fire, his DFS 230 glider slammed into the rocky terrain near the airfield edge while British and New Zealand machine guns and rifles raked the landing zone with withering fire. Dust clouds billowed from the impact, broken glider wreckage littered the olive groves, and the air was filled with the roar of low-flying Junkers transports overhead and the crack of bullets striking stone and metal. When his platoon leader, Feldwebel Arpke, was severely wounded immediately upon landing, the twenty-one-year-old Schuster instantly assumed command of the second platoon. Rallying his men under continuous small-arms and anti-aircraft fire, he led a direct infantry assault against a British anti-aircraft battery whose guns were pounding the glider landing zones and preventing further reinforcements from arriving safely. In savage close-quarters fighting involving hand grenades, submachine guns, and bayonets, Schuster's paratroopers overran the gun pits one by one, silencing the position in a storm of smoke, explosions, and hand-to-hand combat. With the battery neutralized, he pressed forward without pause to capture and secure the western end of Maleme airfield itself, holding the ground against immediate counterattacks while additional gliders and transports began landing behind his group. For this decisive leadership in turning a near-catastrophic landing into a secured foothold, Schuster was promoted to Feldwebel on the spot and awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on 21 August 1941 as Gruppenführer in the 3rd Company of the Fallschirmjäger Sturm Regiment.
Following the costly victory on Crete, Schuster continued to serve with distinction in the reformed Fallschirmjäger units. By January 1942 he had become acting commander of the 3rd Company of Fallschirmjäger Regiment 1, where he participated in further ground operations that tested the paratroopers in conventional infantry roles far from their airborne origins. His performance led to promotion to Leutnant, dated either 1 April or 1 July 1942 depending on the exact personnel records. In October 1942 he was given command of the 1st Company of the newly raised Fallschirmjäger Regiment 5, and by 21 November 1942 he had risen to command the entire 1st Battalion of that regiment. The unit was hurriedly transferred to the Tunisian theater in mid-November 1942 as part of the desperate German effort to stabilize the front after the Allied landings in North Africa, where Schuster's battalion found itself engaged in fierce defensive battles against superior Allied forces advancing from Algeria and the west.
In the rugged hills of northern Tunisia during the winter of 1942-1943, Schuster's battalion fought a series of bitter delaying actions along the road from Bou Arada to Medjez el Bab. On 11 January 1943, while leading elements of his command on Hill 331, Schuster was reported missing after intense combat. His regimental commander, unwilling to accept the loss of such a proven leader, issued an ultimatum to nearby British forces demanding the immediate release of Leutnant Erich Schuster in exchange for a captured British officer, threatening a Stuka dive-bomber attack on their positions if the demand was not met by 1900 hours. The British replied that they did not hold Schuster and could not comply. The following day, 12 January, German troops recovered his body on the same hill; he had bled to death from wounds sustained in the fighting. Schuster was initially buried at La Mornaghia on 13 January 1943 before being reinterred at the German War Cemetery in Bordj-Cedria, where he rests today in Plot Hof MOR Os, Row 4A, Grave 4. He was posthumously promoted to Oberleutnant on 8 April 1943 in recognition of his final service.
Throughout his short but intense career Schuster accumulated a series of combat decorations that reflected both his technical airborne qualifications and his repeated gallantry in action. Among them were the Parachutist Badge of the Luftwaffe, the Iron Cross Second Class, the Iron Cross First Class, and the prestigious Knight's Cross itself, along with the cuff titles for Fallschirm-Jäger Regiment 1, Kreta, and Afrika. His death at the age of twenty-three cut short a promising trajectory within the Fallschirmjäger elite, yet his actions on Crete and in Tunisia exemplified the aggressive, self-sacrificing ethos that defined the German airborne troops in the Second World War. Though no further high decorations such as the Oak Leaves or Swords were awarded before his death, and scant details survive regarding his personal life, religion, or family, Schuster remains remembered in military histories as a young officer whose leadership under fire helped secure critical objectives at great personal cost.
On 21 August 1941, Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring, Commander-in-Chief of the Luftwaffe, personally presented the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes (Knight’s Cross of the Iron Cross) to six outstanding officers and men of the Fallschirmjäger (German paratroopers) at his headquarters. The recipients—Oberst Hermann-Bernhard Ramcke, Oberstabsarzt Dr. med. Heinrich Neumann, Oberst Hans Kroh, Oberleutnant Heinrich Welskop, Leutnant Erich Schuster, and Feldwebel Wilhelm Kempke—were honored for their extraordinary bravery, leadership, and sacrifice during the Battle of Crete (Operation Merkur) in May 1941. Other pictures from this award ceremony can be seen HERE.
Feldwebel Erich Schuster.
Feldwebel Erich Schuster.
Sterbebild (death card) of Erich Schuster.
Source:
- Walther-Peer Fellgiebel, Die Träger des Ritterkreuzes des Eisernen Kreuzes 1939–1945 – Die Inhaber der höchsten Auszeichnung des Zweiten Weltkrieges aller Wehrmachtsteile, Podzun-Pallas, 2000.
- Veit Scherzer, Die Ritterkreuzträger 1939–1945. Die Inhaber des Ritterkreuzes des Eisernen Kreuzes 1939 von Heer, Luftwaffe, Kriegsmarine, Waffen-SS, Volkssturm sowie mit Deutschland verbündeter Streitkräfte nach den Unterlagen des Bundesarchives, Scherzers Militaer-Verlag, 2007.
- Franz Thomas & Günter Wegmann, Die Ritterkreuzträger der Deutschen Wehrmacht 1939-1945, Biblio-Verlag, 1986.
- K. Kollatz, Erich Schuster. Ein Fallschirmjäger mit dem Ritterkreuz (Der Landser Großband Nr. 591, Neuauflage).
- https://www.lexikon-der-wehrmacht.de/
- https://en.wikipedia.org/
- https://www.tracesofwar.com/persons/74481/Schuster-Erich-Johannes-FJR.htm
- https://grokipedia.com/
- https://rk.balsi.de/index.php?action=list&cat=300
- https://www.unithistories.com/units_index/index.php?file=/officers/personsx.html
- https://web.archive.org/web/20091027052912fw_/http://geocities.com/orion47.geo/index2.html
- https://forum.axishistory.com/
https://www.facebook.com/100063726630997/posts/the-following-anecdote-highlights-how-much-erich-schuster-was-regarded-by-his-co/1149791587155052/
- https://www.wehrmacht-awards.com/forums/
- https://www.geni.com/
- https://books.google.com/
- https://military-history.fandom.com/wiki/Erich_Schuster
- Additional references from local Morbach historical records and auction archives documenting the death card and period postcards.
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