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Fallschirm-Panzer-Division in February 1944 under Generalmajor Wilhelm Schmalz, it continued fighting until withdrawn in July, thereafter combining with Fallschirm-Panzergrenadier-Division 2 Hermann Göring to form Fallschirm-Panzerkorps Hermann Göring.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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SCHWERTERTRÄGER
Generalmajor Erich Walther (1903-1948) was born on 5 August 1903 in Gorden and joined the Schutzpolizei in Berlin as Polizeianwärter on 1 April 1924, later serving in Oppeln and Berlin before transferring to the Luftwaffe as Hauptmann on 1 October 1935, where he commanded companies and battalions in the Luftwaffen-Regiment General Göring and its Fallschirm units. During the Norwegian Campaign in April 1940 as a company commander he led bold maneuvers with the reinforced 2./Fallschirmjäger-Regiment 1 toward Hamar and Elverum that disrupted Norwegian mobilization, and in the Westfeldzug as Kommandeur of I. Bataillon, Fallschirmjäger-Regiment 1 he captured and held the bridges at Dordrecht against repeated counterattacks until relief arrived, earning the Eisernes Kreuz II. Klasse on 18 April and I. Klasse on 26 April 1940, followed by the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes on 24 May 1940 as Major. He took part in the airborne assault on Crete in May 1941, receiving the Ärmelband Kreta and Narvikschild, then fought on the Eastern Front near Leningrad from September 1941, where as Major and Kommandeur of I. Bataillon he was awarded the Deutsches Kreuz in Gold on 31 March 1942; promotions followed to Oberstleutnant on 1 January 1942 and Oberst on 1 April 1943 (or 20 April in some records). Appointed Kommandeur of Fallschirmjäger-Regiment 4 on 17 September 1942 (formal from April 1943), he led it in Sicily in 1943, where his Kampfgruppe held the Simeto bridges for three days against strong Allied pressure, and earlier actions included capturing a critical railway section for Swedish iron ore transport with two companies of his battalion and four of Marines; these achievements, together with defensive successes of the regiment at Monte Cassino, brought the Eichenlaub (411st award) on 2 March 1944 as Oberst and Kommandeur Fallschirmjäger-Regiment 4. In September 1944 he commanded Kampfgruppe Walther during Operation Market Garden and the Battle of Overloon in the southern Netherlands, then from mid-October 1944 led Fallschirm-Panzergrenadier-Division 2 “Hermann Göring” on the Eastern Front in East Prussia, successfully directing it in the first battle from the Gumbinnen–Ebenrode road to Großwaltersdorf and in the second beginning 13 January 1945, where the division resisted repeated Soviet breakthrough attempts for days; for this leadership he received the Schwerter (131st award) on 1 February 1945 as Oberst and Führer of the division. Promoted to Generalmajor on 30 January 1945 and appointed full Kommandeur, he was severely wounded by a shell splinter shortly afterward but resumed command of the remnants in northern Germany until the surrender on 8 May 1945; captured by Soviet forces, he was later imprisoned in Speziallager Nr. 2 Buchenwald, where he died on 26 December 1948 of hunger and tuberculosis. His last rank was Generalmajor.
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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.
Generalleutnant Wilhelm Schmalz (1901-1983) was born on 1 March 1901 in Reußen, Saxony, and entered military service in 1919, rising through the cavalry ranks of the Reichswehr as Leutnant (1 February 1923), Oberleutnant (1 February 1928), Rittmeister (1 April 1934) and Major (1 April 1939). He commanded the I. Bataillon of Kavallerie-Schützen-Regiment 11 during the Polish campaign, receiving the Eisernes Kreuz II. Klasse on 14 September 1939 and the Eisernes Kreuz I. Klasse on 16 October 1939. As Major and Kommandeur of the I. Bataillon, Kavallerie-Schützen-Regiment 11 he was awarded the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes on 28 November 1940 for actions during the pursuit phase of the Battle of France (Fall Rot): without specific orders he and his troops seized the bridge over the Loire at Allier as well as a crossing at Nevers, preventing the French from establishing a new defensive line along the river and enabling uninterrupted German pursuit operations between the Loire and the Swiss border. Promoted Oberstleutnant (1 February 1942) and Oberst (1 October 1942), he received the Deutsches Kreuz in Gold on 8 February 1942 as Kommandeur of Kradschützen-Bataillon 59 and later commanded Schützen-Regiment 11 / Panzergrenadier-Regiment 11. Transferring to the Luftwaffe in 1943, he took command of the Brigade z.b.V. within the Panzer-Division “Hermann Göring” and led Kampfgruppe Schmalz on Sicily; for a brilliant series of defensive actions in the Mount Etna area from Catania to Messina despite shortages of troops and supplies he was awarded the Eichenlaub on 23 December 1943 (357th or 358th award). He became Kommandeur of the Fallschirm-Panzer-Division 1 “Hermann Göring” in April 1944, was promoted Generalmajor on 1 May 1944 and Generalleutnant on 30 January 1945, and served as Kommandierender General of the Fallschirm-Panzerkorps “Hermann Göring” until the end of the war; after American captivity and acquittal of war-crime charges in 1950 he lived until his death on 14 March 1983.
Source :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1st_Fallschirm-Panzer_Division_Hermann_G%C3%B6ring
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