The Fallschirm-Panzer-Division 1. Hermann Göring originated in February 1933 as the Polizeiabteilung z. b. V. Wecke under Major der Schutzpolizei Walther Wecke, a special police unit formed by Hermann Göring as Prussian Minister of the Interior to secure loyalty to the new regime and suppress political opponents in Berlin. Expanded into the Landespolizeigruppe General Göring and transferred to the Luftwaffe in September 1935 as the Regiment General Göring, it provided bodyguard and Flak duties while elements underwent parachute training that later formed the core of the first Fallschirmjäger units. Under Oberst Paul Conrath from June 1940, the formation participated in the occupations of Austria, the Sudetenland and Czechoslovakia, then saw limited action in Poland before contributing Kampfgruppen and Flak batteries to the 1940 campaigns in Denmark, Norway, the Netherlands, Belgium and France, where its 8.8 cm guns proved highly effective against tanks. Motorized as Regiment (mot.) Hermann Göring in 1941, it fought with distinction in Operation Barbarossa attached to the 11. Panzer-Division, notably at Brody, Kiev and in the Uman pocket where Oberleutnant Karl Rossmann’s battery earned the Ritterkreuz. Expanded to Brigade Hermann Göring and then Division Hermann Göring in 1942 with army panzer specialists and Fallschirmjäger remnants, elements of Kampfgruppe Schmid were committed to Tunisia in early 1943 and largely destroyed upon the Axis surrender in May. Rebuilt as Panzer-Division Hermann Göring, it defended Sicily against the Allied landings of July 1943, counter-attacking at Gela before evacuating to the mainland. In Italy the division contested the Salerno beachhead, the Volturno-Termoli line and Anzio, while Oberstleutnant Julius Schlegel organised the evacuation of Monte Cassino’s art treasures. Redesignated Fallschirm-Panzer-Division in February 1944 under Generalmajor Wilhelm Schmalz, it continued fighting until withdrawn in July, thereafter combining with Fallschirm-Panzergrenadier-Division 2 Hermann Göring to form Fallschirm-Panzerkorps Hermann Göring. Transferred to the Eastern Front, the corps engaged at the Vistula, during the Warsaw Uprising and later at Bautzen before surrendering to the Red Army near Dresden on 8 May 1945.
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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.
Source :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1st_Fallschirm-Panzer_Division_Hermann_G%C3%B6ring
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