The Sturmabteilung Koch, later redesignated Luftlande-Sturm-Regiment 1, was an elite Fallschirmjäger unit of the Luftwaffe formed on 2 November 1939 in Hildesheim as the Versuchs-Abteilung Friedrichshafen from elements of the 1. Kompanie of I./Fallschirmjäger-Regiment 1, the Pionier-Zug of II./Fallschirmjäger-Regiment 1, and a Lastensegler-Kommando, under the command of Hauptmann Walter Koch, after whom it was promptly renamed. Specialised in silent glider assaults using DFS 230 aircraft, the unit was organised into four Sturmgruppen for the invasion of Belgium on 10 May 1940: Sturmgruppe Granit under Oberleutnant Rudolf Witzig seized the key fortifications of Fort Eben-Emael, while Sturmgruppen Beton, Stahl and Eisen captured the vital bridges over the Albert Canal at Vroenhoven, Veldwezelt and Canne, enabling the rapid German advance into central Belgium with only light losses. Following these successes the formation was expanded in the autumn of 1940 to three Bataillone and redesignated Luftlande-Sturm-Regiment 1, with a fourth Bataillon added during the winter of 1940/41; its successive commanders were Oberst Walter Koch until 31 August 1940, Generalmajor Eugen Meindl from 1 September 1940, Oberst Hermann-Bernhard Ramcke from 21 May to 18 June 1941 during the Crete operation, and then Meindl again until February 1942. In Unternehmen Merkur on 20 May 1941 the I. Bataillon landed by glider near Maleme while the remaining Bataillone parachuted into the same sector, suffering heavy casualties against the New Zealand 5th Infantry Brigade yet, reinforced by elements of the 5. Gebirgs-Division, securing the airfield that proved decisive for the German victory on Crete, the only occasion on which the regiment fought as a complete unit. After the island’s surrender, elements of the regiment were implicated in reprisal killings of civilians in villages such as Kondomari, Alikianos and Kandanos. The Bataillone were subsequently dispersed on the Eastern Front from late 1941, seeing action near Schlüsselburg, Stalino, Yukhnov, Rzhev and elsewhere; the regimental Stab became the Stab of Luftwaffe-Division Meindl in February 1942, while the individual Bataillone were gradually redesignated into other Fallschirmjäger formations by mid-1942, bringing the independent existence of the Luftlande-Sturm-Regiment 1 to an end.
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RITTERKREUZTRÄGER
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.
Source :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luftlande-Sturm-Regiment
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