Ritterkreuzträger of 7. Flieger-Division / 1. Fallschirmjäger-Division

The 7. Flieger-Division was formed on 1 September 1938 in Berlin under Generalleutnant Kurt Student to consolidate all Luftwaffe Fallschirmjäger units for secrecy as Germany’s first airborne division; it was redesignated 1. Fallschirmjäger-Division on 1 May 1943. Initially comprising two Fallschirmjäger-Regimenter and later expanded to three plus supporting artillery, pioneer, anti-tank and flak elements, the division first saw action in Unternehmen Weserübung in April 1940, seizing airfields in Denmark and Norway. In May 1940 during the invasion of the Low Countries its troops captured the fortress of Eben-Emael by glider assault and secured key bridges and airfields in the Netherlands, though the assault on The Hague incurred heavy aircraft and personnel losses. In May 1941 the division spearheaded Unternehmen Merkur, the airborne invasion of Crete, capturing the island after fierce fighting and severe casualties that led Hitler to restrict large-scale parachute operations thereafter. Transferred to the Eastern Front near Leningrad and Smolensk in 1941–42 and later to France for training for a cancelled Malta invasion, elements also fought in North Africa. As 1. Fallschirmjäger-Division under General der Fallschirmtruppe Richard Heidrich it deployed to Sicily in July 1943, then fought throughout the Italian Campaign, distinguishing itself in the defence of Ortona, the Winter Line and especially at Monte Cassino from February to May 1944, where it earned a reputation for tenacious resistance before withdrawing north of Rome. Later engaged along the Adriatic and Senio River, the division retreated toward the Po and the Alps until the German surrender in Italy on 2 May 1945 under Generalmajor Karl-Lothar Schulz.

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RITTERKREUZTRÄGER


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://www.lexikon-der-wehrmacht.de/Gliederungen/Fliegerdivision/Fliegerdiv7.htm