The Fallschirmjäger formed the airborne forces of the Luftwaffe during the Second World War and were the first paratroopers committed in large-scale operations, earning the nickname “Green Devils” from their opponents for their tenacity and distinctive esprit de corps under the overall command of General der Fallschirmtruppe Kurt Student. Originating from volunteers of the Regiment General Göring in the mid-1930s, they were organised into the 7. Flieger-Division in 1938 and later expanded into successive Fallschirmjäger-Divisionen, with specialised units such as the Luftlande-Sturm-Regiment and Fallschirmjäger-Regimenter 1, 2 and 3. Their early successes included the unopposed seizure of airfields and bridges during the occupation of Denmark and Norway in April 1940, the dramatic glider-borne capture of Fort Ében-Émael by Sturmgruppe Granit in May 1940, and the securing of key bridges and airfields in the Netherlands and Belgium during the Western Campaign. The culminating airborne assault was Unternehmen Merkur on Crete in May 1941, when elements of the 7. Flieger-Division and supporting Gebirgsjäger landed by parachute and glider to seize the island; although successful, the operation cost the Fallschirmjäger roughly 3,000 to 4,000 killed or missing and led Adolf Hitler to forbid further large-scale airborne operations. Thereafter the Fallschirmjäger fought primarily as elite ground infantry, with the Fallschirmjäger-Brigade “Ramcke” operating in North Africa during the Second Battle of El Alamein, the 1. Fallschirmjäger-Division defending Monte Cassino in Italy, and the 2. Fallschirmjäger-Division under Generalleutnant Hermann-Bernhard Ramcke holding Festung Brest against American forces in 1944. Additional divisions including the 3., 4. and 5. Fallschirmjäger-Division saw heavy combat in Normandy, the Falaise Pocket, Arnhem and the Ardennes, while later formations raised in 1944–45 were often understrength and used as ordinary infantry. Equipped with distinctive jump smocks, the Fallschirmjäger-Stahlhelm and specialised weapons such as the FG 42, they maintained high combat value until the final surrender of remaining units in May 1945, having suffered tens of thousands of casualties across every major theatre.
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BRILLANTENTRÄGER
General der Fallschirmtruppe Hermann-Bernhard Ramcke (1889-1968) was born on 24 January 1889 in Schleswig into a farming family and entered the Kaiserliche Marine in 1905 as a Schiffsjunge, later serving as a Matrose and rising through non-commissioned ranks before the First World War. During that conflict he transferred to the Marine-Infanterie and fought mainly in Flanders, earning the Eisernes Kreuz 2. Klasse and 1. Klasse as well as the Prussian Golden Military Merit Cross for distinguished actions as an Offiziers-Stellvertreter. After the war he remained in the Reichswehr, advancing steadily to Oberstleutnant by 1937, and in 1940, at the age of fifty-one, volunteered for the Fallschirmtruppe of the Luftwaffe, completing parachute training and receiving the Fallschirmschützenabzeichen. In May 1941, as Oberst and Kommandeur of Fallschirmjäger-Sturm-Regiment 1, he took part in the airborne invasion of Crete; after Generalmajor Meindl was wounded he assumed command of the Westgruppe, leading the capture of Maleme airfield and the town of Chania, for which he was awarded the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes on 21 August 1941 and promoted to Generalmajor. In 1942 he commanded the Fallschirmjäger-Brigade “Ramcke” attached to the Afrikakorps in North Africa; during the Second Battle of El Alamein his isolated force refused surrender, captured a British supply column, and marched roughly 350 kilometres through the desert to rejoin Rommel’s troops, an exploit that earned him the Eichenlaub on 13 November 1942 and promotion to Generalleutnant. He later raised and led the 2. Fallschirmjäger-Division in Italy and briefly on the Eastern Front before taking command of Festung Brest in Brittany in August 1944. There, as Kommandant, he directed a stubborn defence of the vital port against superior American forces for more than a month, delaying its capture until 19 September 1944, the same day he received both the Schwerter and the Brillanten to his Ritterkreuz and was promoted to General der Fallschirmtruppe. Captured that day, Ramcke spent years as a prisoner of war, was later convicted by a French court of war crimes committed during the Brest fighting, and after release lived quietly until his death on 4 July 1968 in Kappeln.
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EICHENLAUBTRÄGER
General der Fallschirmtruppe Paul Conrath (1896-1979) was born on 22 November 1896 in Rudow near Berlin and entered military service on 10 August 1914 as a Kriegsfreiwilliger and Offiziersanwärter in the 4. Garde-Feldartillerie-Regiment in Potsdam, transferring in October 1914 to the Reserve-Feldartillerie-Regiment Nr. 44 on the Western Front where he saw action at Verdun, the Somme and in Flanders; promoted to Leutnant on 1 March 1917 he served as Abteilungs-Ordonnanz-Offizier in the 4. Badischen Feldartillerie-Regiment Nr. 66 until the war’s end. After leaving the army in January 1919 he joined the Prussian Security Police in Berlin in 1920, rising through platoon and Hundertschaft command to Major by the early 1930s, and on 1 April 1935 was transferred as Major into the Luftwaffe, serving as Adjutant to Hermann Göring before commanding batteries in Flak-Regiment 12 and the III. leichte Flakabteilung of the Luftwaffen-Regiment “General Göring.” Reappointed Chefadjutant and promoted to Oberstleutnant in 1938 and Oberst in March 1940, he assumed command of the Luftwaffen-Regiment “General Göring” on 1 June 1940, leading it through the campaign in the West and then, redesignated Regiment (mot.) Hermann Göring, into Operation Barbarossa from 22 June 1941; for his successful leadership of the Flak-Regiment (mot) “General Göring” on the Eastern Front, including actions in the Battle of Brody and the tank fighting at Dubno where one of his Batterien was mentioned in the Wehrmachtbericht, he received the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes on 4 September 1941 as Oberst. Promoted Generalmajor on 15 June 1942 he expanded the formation into the Luftwaffen-Brigade and then Division “Hermann Göring,” later Panzer-Division “Hermann Göring,” which fought in Tunisia and Sicily; for the division’s achievements there he was awarded the Eichenlaub (276th) on 21 August 1943 as Generalmajor and Kommandeur of the Panzer-Division “Hermann Göring.” Advanced to Generalleutnant on 1 September 1943 he continued to lead the unit, renamed Fallschirm-Panzer-Division “Hermann Göring,” in the Italian campaign including Monte Cassino until relieved on 15 April 1944 and appointed Kommandierender General of the Ausbildungs- und Ersatztruppen of the Fallschirm-Armee and Inspekteur der Fallschirmtruppe; promoted General der Fallschirmtruppe on 1 January 1945, he entered brief American captivity after the capitulation of 8 May 1945 and was soon released, dying in Hamburg on 15 January 1979.
Generaloberst Kurt Student (1890-1978) was born on 12 May 1890 in Birkholz in the Prussian province of Brandenburg and died on 1 July 1978 in Lemgo, West Germany. Entering the Prussian Army as a Fähnrich in 1910, he was commissioned Leutnant in 1911, qualified as a pilot in 1913 and during the First World War scored six aerial victories while commanding Jagdstaffel 9. After the war he remained in the Reichswehr, studied gliding and observed Soviet airborne exercises. When the Luftwaffe was re-established he transferred to it and in 1938 was appointed commander of airborne forces and of the 7. Flieger-Division, Germany’s first Fallschirmjäger formation. In the Western Campaign of May 1940 his troops seized the fortress of Eben-Emael with a small glider force and captured vital bridges and airfields in the Netherlands; for these successes Student, then Generalleutnant and Kommandeur of the 7. Flieger-Division, received the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes on 12 May 1940. Wounded in the head at Rotterdam, he returned to duty in 1941 as Kommandierender General of the XI. Fliegerkorps and directed Unternehmen Merkur, the airborne invasion of Crete, the last major German parachute operation of the war. In September 1943, as General der Flieger commanding the XI. Fliegerkorps, he ordered the planning of Unternehmen Eiche, the glider-borne rescue of Mussolini from Gran Sasso, and for the overall performance of his forces in the Mediterranean that summer—including Sicily, the disarmament of Italian units around Rome and the Mussolini operation—he was awarded the Eichenlaub to the Ritterkreuz on 27 September 1943 as the 305th recipient. Later he commanded the 1. Fallschirm-Armee and briefly Heeresgruppe H, reaching the rank of Generaloberst in 1944. Captured in 1945, he was tried in 1947 for war crimes committed by his men on Crete, convicted on three counts relating to prisoners of war and sentenced to five years, but released in 1948.
Source :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Knight%27s_Cross_of_the_Iron_Cross_recipients_of_the_Fallschirmj%C3%A4ger
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