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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SCHWERTERTRÄGER
General der Fallschirmtruppe Richard Heidrich (1896-1947) was born on 27 July 1896 in Lawalde, Saxony, and entered the Sächsische Armee on 18 August 1914 as Kriegsfreiwilliger in Reserve-Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 101, receiving promotion to Leutnant in August 1915 and serving as Zugführer, Kompanieführer and later Regimentsadjutant, earning both classes of the Eisernes Kreuz as well as the Ritterkreuz II. Klasse of the Sächsischer Verdienstorden and Albrechts-Orden with Schwertern. After the war he served in a Freikorps and was accepted into the Reichswehr. In 1938 he formed a Fallschirmjäger-Bataillon as Major and transferred with it to the Luftwaffe on 1 January 1939. Promoted to Oberstleutnant and then Oberst on 1 April 1940, he became Kommandeur of Fallschirmjäger-Regiment 3 of the 7. Flieger-Division. During Operation Merkur on Crete in May 1941 his regiment played a decisive role in the hard fighting that secured the island’s capture; for this achievement he was awarded the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes on 14 June 1941. He received the Deutsches Kreuz in Gold on 31 March 1942. In August 1942 he was promoted to Generalmajor and given command of the 7. Flieger-Division, which was redesignated 1. Fallschirmjäger-Division in 1943; he was advanced to Generalleutnant on 1 July 1943. After service on the Eastern Front and in Sicily, his division fought in Italy. For the exemplary steadfastness of the 1. Fallschirmjäger-Division under his leadership during the bitter defence of Ortona in late 1943 he was awarded the Eichenlaub zum Ritterkreuz (382nd award) on 5 February 1944. On 15 March 1944, during the early fighting at Monte Cassino, he effectively concentrated artillery fire on Allied assembly areas in Cassino itself, disrupting the impending attack; for this leadership and the division’s successful defence he received the Schwerter zum Ritterkreuz mit Eichenlaub (55th award) on 25 March 1944. Promoted to General der Fallschirmtruppe in October 1944, he became Kommandierender General of the I. Fallschirm-Korps. Severely wounded on 23 January 1945, he was captured by British forces on 3 May 1945 near St. Christofore and released in 1947. He died of his wounds in Hamburg-Bergedorf on 22 December 1947. Additional awards included the Ärmelband Kreta, Fallschirmschützenabzeichen and Verwundetenabzeichen in Silber.
Generalmajor Ludwig Heilmann (1903-1959) was born on 9 August 1903 in Würzburg and entered the Reichswehr on 3 February 1921 with the Infanterie-Regiment 21, rising through the ranks from Oberschütze to Feldwebel by 1929 before leaving service in 1933 and being reactivated in 1934 as Leutnant and soon Oberleutnant, then Hauptmann in 1935 while serving with units including Infanterie-Regiment 91 during the campaigns in Poland and France. On 1 August 1940 he transferred to the Luftwaffe and assumed command of the III. Bataillon of Fallschirmjäger-Regiment 3, being promoted to Major that year. During Operation Merkur on Crete he earned the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes on 14 June 1941 as Major and Kommandeur of the III./Fallschirmjäger-Regiment 3 when, on 20 May 1941, he captured the hill south of Galatas with his Bataillon staff and the remnants of his 9. Kompanie, and two days later led about 100 men to break the New Zealand forces’ encirclement near Stalos, establishing contact with advancing Fallschirmjäger and Gebirgsjäger from the west. He received the Deutsches Kreuz in Gold on 26 February 1942 as Major in the same unit, was promoted to Oberstleutnant in 1942 and took command of Fallschirmjäger-Regiment 3, becoming Oberst in December 1943. For actions on Sicily he was awarded the Eichenlaub (412th) on 2 March 1944 as Oberst and Kommandeur of Fallschirmjäger-Regiment 3 after leading his troops to escape destruction by fighting across the heavily trafficked Malati bridge on the night of 15/16 July 1943 to reach friendly lines on the Catania plain. The Schwerter (67th) followed on 15 May 1944 for his leadership and the bitter defensive resistance of Fallschirmjäger-Regiment 3 during the Second Battle of Monte Cassino. Promoted to Generalmajor on 22 December 1944, he commanded the 5. Fallschirmjäger-Division from mid-October 1944 through the Ardennes offensive until his capture in March 1945, from which he was released in 1947; he died on 26 October 1959 in Kempten, having attained the last rank of Generalmajor and the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes mit Eichenlaub und Schwertern along with the Eisernes Kreuz (1939) second and first class, Ärmelband Kreta, and other decorations.
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EICHENLAUBTRÄGER
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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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
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