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Showing posts with label 5 Flieger-Division 7. Show all posts

Sunday, April 19, 2026

Bio of Generalmajor Erich Walther (1903-1948)

Full name: Friedrich Erich Walther
Nickname: No information

Date of Birth: 05.08.1903 - Gorden, Kreis Liebenwerda, Provinz Sachsen (German Empire)
Date of Death: 26.12.1948 - NKWD-Speziallager Nr. 2 Buchenwald bei Weimar, Thüringen (Soviet imprisonment)

Battles and Operations: Norwegian Campaign, Battle of the Netherlands, Battle of Crete, Eastern Front near Leningrad, Sicily Campaign, Italian Campaign, Operation Market Garden in the Netherlands, East Prussian Offensive

Religion: No information
Parents: No information
Siblings: No information
Spouse: No information
Children: No information

Promotions:
01.07.1925 Polizei-Wachtmeister
16.06.1928 Polizei-Leutnant
21.03.1933 Polizei-Oberleutnant
01.10.1935 Hauptmann
19.06.1940 Major
01.01.1942 Oberstleutnant
20.04.1942 Oberst
30.01.1945 Generalmajor

Career:
01.04.1924-15.06.1928 Police-Aspirant in Berlin
16.06.1928-24.02.1933 With the Police-Administration in Oppeln then Berlin
25.02.1933-31.05.1933 Platoon-Leader in Special-Purpose-Police-Detachment Wecke
01.06.1933-16.07.1933 Platoon-Leader in Special-Purpose-Police-Group Wecke
17.07.1933-11.01.1934 Platoon-Leader in Special-Purpose-State-Police-Group Wecke
12.01.1934-30.09.1935 Platoon-Leader in State-Police-Group General Göring
01.10.1935 transferred into the Luftwaffe
01.01.1935-30.09.1937 Company-Chief in the I. (Jäger) Battalion of Luftwaffe-Regiment General Göring
01.10.1937-31.03.1938 Company-Chief in the IV. (Paratroop) Battalion of Luftwaffe-Regiment General Göring
01.04.1938-31.03.1939 Company-Chief in the I. Battalion of the 1st Paratrooper-Regiment
01.04.1939-09.11.1939 With the Inspection of Parachute-Troops/L In 11/RLM
10.11.1939-22.04.1942 Commander of the I. Battalion of the 1st Paratrooper-Regiment
22.04.1942-16.09.1942 Führer-Reserve OKL
17.09.1942-31.03.1943 Delegated with the Leadership of the 4th Paratrooper-Regiment
01.04.1943-23.09.1944 Commander of the 4th Paratrooper-Regiment, on September 1944 also Leader of Division-Battle-Group Walther
24.09.1944-29.01.1945 Delegated with the Leadership of the 2nd Parachute-Panzer-Grenadier-Division Hermann Göring
30.01.1945-08.05.1945 Commander of the 2nd Parachute-Panzer-Grenadier-Division Hermann Göring
08.05.1945-26.12.1948 in Soviet Captivity

Awards and Decorations:
Fallschirmschützenabzeichen der Luftwaffe
Dienstauszeichnung der Wehrmacht 4. Klasse (4 Jahre)
Wehrmacht-Dienstauszeichnung
Eisernes Kreuz 1939 2. Klasse (18.04.1940)
Eisernes Kreuz 1939 1. Klasse (26.04.1940)
Verwundetenabzeichen 1939 in Schwarz
Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes #39 (24.05.1940) as Major and Kommandeur I.Bataillon / Fallschirmjäger-Regiment 1 / 7.Flieger-Division. In the early hours of the Norwegian Campaign in April 1940, Major Walther demonstrated extraordinary daring and leadership that earned him the Ritterkreuz. Leading a reinforced company from the 2nd Company of his battalion, he executed rapid, aggressive maneuvers toward the towns of Hamar and Elverum deep in Norwegian territory. Paratroopers dropped from the skies amid the rugged, snow-dusted landscapes, quickly seizing key crossroads and outposts. These bold thrusts completely disrupted the Norwegian mobilization efforts, throwing enemy reserves into chaos and preventing organized resistance from forming. The swift advance created panic among Norwegian forces still scrambling to assemble, buying precious time for the main German invasion columns pushing northward and greatly aiding the overall success of Operation Weserübung.
Simultaneously, Walther’s men captured the vital bridges at Dordrecht in the Netherlands during the airborne assault of May 1940. Dropping directly onto and around the objective, his paratroopers stormed the crossings under fire, securing them against immediate Dutch counterattacks. For hours they held the position with grim determination—fighting house-to-house, repelling repeated assaults from superior numbers, and refusing to yield an inch—until relief columns from the 9th Panzer Division could link up. The bridges remained intact, opening the road for the rapid German advance into the heart of the Netherlands and contributing decisively to the collapse of Dutch defenses in just five days. These twin feats of audacious initiative and tenacious defense under fire marked Walther as one of the earliest and most outstanding paratroop leaders of the war.
Narvikschild
Ärmelband Kreta
Deutsches Kreuz in Gold (13.04.1942)
Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes mit Eichenlaub #411 (02.03.1944) as Oberst and Kommandeur Fallschirmjäger-Regiment 4 / 1.Fallschirmjäger-Division. By the summer of 1943, Walther’s regiment had been thrust into the brutal defensive fighting on Sicily following the Allied invasion. The decisive action that justified the Oak Leaves occurred along the Simeto River, where Walther formed a Kampfgruppe and was ordered to hold the critical bridges against the advancing British Eighth Army. For three full days and nights in July 1943, his paratroopers—outnumbered and short on heavy weapons—fought a ferocious, close-quarters battle amid the scorching Sicilian heat. Waves of British infantry and tanks assaulted the river crossings under intense artillery barrages and air support. Walther’s men dug in along the banks, using every ditch, stone wall, and ruined building as cover. They repelled attack after attack with machine-gun fire, grenades, and desperate counter-thrusts, often in hand-to-hand combat. Smoke and dust choked the air as the river ran red; the bridges became a killing ground littered with wrecked vehicles and fallen soldiers from both sides. Despite mounting casualties and relentless pressure, Walther’s Kampfgruppe held firm for seventy-two hours, delaying the enemy long enough for German forces to reorganize their retreat to the mainland. This stubborn defense saved countless lives and equipment, buying vital time in a campaign where every hour counted. The Eichenlaub recognized not only this epic stand but also Walther’s earlier proven valor, cementing his reputation as an unyielding battlefield commander.
Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes mit Eichenlaub und Schwertern #131 (01.02.1945) as Oberst and Führer Fallschirm-Panzergrenadier-Division 2 "Hermann Göring". In the freezing winter of 1944–45, as the Soviet East Prussian Offensive roared to life, Walther assumed command of the battered 2nd Parachute-Panzer-Grenadier-Division “Hermann Göring”. The Swords were bestowed for his masterful leadership during two desperate defensive battles in East Prussia. In the first phase, his division fought a savage delaying action along the Gumbinnen–Ebenrode road, pushing back Soviet spearheads toward Großwaltersdorf through blinding snowstorms and sub-zero temperatures. Paratroopers and panzergrenadiers, supported by the division’s remaining assault guns, launched lightning counterattacks from frozen foxholes and ruined villages, blunting armored thrusts and inflicting heavy losses on the Red Army.
The second and even more grueling battle erupted on 13 January 1945. For days on end, Walther’s men faced wave after wave of Soviet infantry and tank assaults aimed at breaking through to the Baltic coast. Under constant artillery fire that shook the frozen ground, the division resisted breakthrough after breakthrough. Walther personally directed the defense from forward positions, shifting depleted battalions to plug gaps, ordering night counterattacks through waist-deep snow, and inspiring his troops with his calm presence amid the chaos of exploding shells and burning panzers. Soviet human-wave attacks crashed against German machine-gun nests; villages changed hands in brutal house-to-house fighting lit by flares and tracer fire. Despite being vastly outnumbered and short on ammunition and fuel, the division held its sector for critical days, preventing an immediate collapse of the front and allowing thousands of German soldiers and civilians to evacuate westward. Walther’s iron will and tactical skill in the face of overwhelming odds turned a near-rout into an epic stand that earned him the highest recognition of the war.

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Friedrich Erich Walther was a German paratrooper officer and generalmajor of the Luftwaffe during World War II who rose to prominence as a commander of elite airborne units. Born on 5 August 1903 in Gorden in the district of Liebenwerda in the Prussian province of Saxony, he began his service in the police forces of the Weimar Republic before transferring to the newly formed Luftwaffe in 1935, where he helped pioneer Germany's paratrooper arm. Over the course of the war Walther led battalions, regiments, and eventually a division in campaigns ranging from Scandinavia and the Low Countries to the Mediterranean, Italy, and the final desperate defenses on the Eastern Front. He earned high decorations for repeated displays of aggressive leadership and stubborn defensive skill, culminating in the rare award of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords. Captured by Soviet forces at the end of hostilities, he died in captivity on 26 December 1948 at the age of forty-five.

Walther joined the Berlin police as an aspirant in April 1924 and advanced steadily through the ranks of the security apparatus. By the early 1930s he served in elite special-purpose police detachments under commanders such as Wecke, eventually becoming part of the Landespolizei Gruppe General Göring. These units formed the nucleus of what would evolve into the Luftwaffe's Regiment General Göring. In October 1935 he transferred directly into the Luftwaffe as a hauptmann and took command of companies within the regiment's parachute and rifle battalions. Between 1938 and 1939 he held successive leadership roles in the newly established 1st Paratrooper Regiment, gaining practical experience in airborne tactics that placed him among the first generation of German Fallschirmjäger officers.

When war broke out in 1939 Walther was already commanding the first battalion of Fallschirmjäger-Regiment 1. In April 1940, during the Norwegian campaign, he led a reinforced company in rapid thrusts toward the inland towns of Hamar and Elverum. His paratroopers seized key road junctions and disrupted Norwegian mobilization efforts, sowing confusion among enemy reserves and easing the advance of German ground columns. Weeks later, in the airborne assault on the Netherlands, his battalion dropped onto and captured the vital bridges at Dordrecht. For hours the paratroopers held the crossings against repeated Dutch counterattacks, fighting from houses and improvised positions until armored relief arrived from the 9th Panzer Division. These actions earned Walther both classes of the Iron Cross within days and the Knight's Cross on 24 May 1940.

The following year Walther participated in the costly airborne invasion of Crete in May 1941, earning the Crete cuff title for his role in the fighting. From September 1941 his battalion saw heavy action on the Eastern Front near Leningrad, where the paratroopers were employed as elite infantry in grueling defensive and counterattack operations amid the harsh Russian winter. By early 1942 he had received the German Cross in Gold. In 1943 Walther was given command of Fallschirmjäger-Regiment 4. That summer, after the Allied landings in Sicily, he formed a kampfgruppe that defended the Simeto River bridges for three days against waves of British infantry and tanks. Despite being outnumbered and under constant artillery and air attack, his men held the line in close-quarters combat along the riverbanks, buying critical time for the German withdrawal to the Italian mainland and securing Walther the Oak Leaves to his Knight's Cross on 2 March 1944.

In September 1944, while still leading his regiment, Walther was assigned to command a battle group during the Allied Operation Market Garden in the Netherlands. His forces successfully contested the airborne landings around Nijmegen and Arnhem, conducting determined counterattacks that helped blunt the British and American advance and contributed to the operation's ultimate failure. By late 1944 he had assumed leadership of the 2nd Parachute Panzer-Grenadier Division Hermann Göring. In the opening phases of the Soviet East Prussian Offensive he directed his division in a series of fierce delaying actions along the Gumbinnen-Ebenrode axis, launching counterthrusts through snow-covered terrain to check armored spearheads. On 13 January 1945 the division faced the full weight of renewed Soviet assaults; for days Walther shifted depleted battalions to plug breaches, ordered night counterattacks, and maintained cohesion under relentless artillery fire. These stands prevented an immediate collapse of the sector and allowed partial evacuation of German troops and civilians, actions that brought him the Swords on 1 February 1945 and promotion to generalmajor four days earlier.

Walther continued to lead the division until the final capitulation. On 8 May 1945 he surrendered to Red Army forces in East Prussia. Transferred to Soviet captivity, he was interned in NKVD Special Camp No. 2 at the former Buchenwald concentration camp near Weimar. There, amid the harsh conditions of postwar internment, he died on 26 December 1948. Little is known of Walther's private life; records indicate no details about his parents, siblings, spouse, or children, and his religion is undocumented. His career exemplified the aggressive spirit and tactical adaptability of the Fallschirmjäger in both offensive airborne operations and the attritional defensive battles that defined the war's later years.

31 May 1941: Officers of Fallschirmjäger (German paratroopers) from the 7. Flieger-Division are seen resting in Heraklion, Crete, shortly after they seized that part of the Greek island from the defending British and Australian forces. Fierce fighting took place from 20 May 1941, and German troops only managed to capture Heraklion nine days later. There was a tinge of exhaustion on the faces of those officers who had not shaved for days. Wearing the Ritterkreuz on his neck is Oberst Bruno Bräuer (Kommandeur Fallschirmjäger-Regiment 1 and Kampfgruppe Ost), who won the prestigious medal on 24 May 1940 during the German invasion of the Lower Countries. All of the officers who appear in this photo are all Ritterkreuzträger (Ritterkreuz recipients). From left to right: Major Erich Walther (Kommandeur III.Bataillon / Fallschirmjäger-Regiment 1; Ritterkreuz on 24 May 1940, Eichenlaub on 2 March 1944 and Schwerter on 1 February 1945), Hauptmann Gerhart Schirmer (Kommandeur III.Bataillon / Fallschirmjäger-Regiment 2. Ritterkreuz on 14 June 1941), Oberst Bräuer, and Hauptmann Wolf-Werner von der Schulenburg (Kommandeur I. Bataillon / Fallschirmjäger-Regiment 1; Ritterkreuz on 20 June 1943).

Source:
https://www.lexikon-der-wehrmacht.de/
https://en.wikipedia.org/
https://www.tracesofwar.com/
https://grokipedia.com/
https://rk.balsi.de/index.php?action=list&cat=300
https://www.unithistories.com/units_index/index.php?file=/officers/personsx.html
https://web.archive.org/web/20091027052912fw_/http://geocities.com/orion47.geo/index2.html
https://forum.axishistory.com/
https://www.wehrmacht-awards.com/forums/
https://www.geni.com/
https://aircrewremembered.com/KrackerDatabase/?q=units
https://www.ww2.dk/lwoffz.html
https://www.geocities.ws/orion47.geo/WEHRMACHT/LUFTWAFFE/Generalmajor/WALTHER_ERICH.html
Fellgiebel, Walther-Peer. Elite of the Third Reich. Helion & Company Limited, Solihull, 2003.
Patzwall, Klaus D. & Scherzer, Veit. Das Deutsche Kreuz 1941-1945. Band II. Verlag Klaus D. Patzwall, Norderstedt, 2001.
Thomas, Franz & Wegmann, Günter. Die Eichenlaubträger 1940-1945. Biblio-Verlag, 1998.
Thomas, Franz & Wegmann, Günter. Die Ritterkreuzträger der Deutschen Wehrmacht 1939-1945. Biblio-Verlag, 1986.
Die Ordensträger der Deutschen Wehrmacht (CD). VMD-Verlag GmbH, Osnabrück, 2002.
Kwasny, A. & Kwasny, G. Die Eichenlaubträger 1940-1945 (CD). Deutsches Wehrkundearchiv, Lage-Waddenhausen, 2001.

Sunday, April 12, 2026

Bio of Generalmajor Karl-Lothar Schulz (1907-1972)

Full name: Karl-Lothar Schulz
Nickname: No information

Date of Birth: 30 April 1907 - Königsberg, East Prussia (German Empire)
Date of Death: 26 September 1972 - Wiesbaden, Hesse (West Germany)

Battles and Operations: Western Campaign 1940 (Fall Gelb, including capture of Waalhaven airfield near Rotterdam), Battle of Crete 1941 (Unternehmen Merkur), Eastern Front 1941-1943, Italian Campaign 1943-1945 (including defense of Monte Cassino and Bologna)

NSDAP-Number: No information
SS-Number: No information
Religion: No information
Parents: Hermann Schulz (Mittelschullehrer) and unknown mother
Siblings: No information
Spouse: No information
Children: No information

Promotions:
01 April 1927 Polizei-Wachtmeister
01 August 1930 Polizei-Oberwachtmeister
20 April 1934 Polizei-Leutnant
01 September 1935 Polizei-Oberleutnant
01 October 1935 Oberleutnant
01 March 1937 Hauptmann
19 July 1940 Major
26 October 1942 Oberstleutnant
21 October 1943 Oberst
17 January 1945 Generalmajor

Career:
01 June 1924 - 31 August 1925 Soldat im 1. Artillerie-Regiment (Reichswehr)
13 October 1925 - 24 February 1933 Polizeiaspirant, später Polizei-Oberwachtmeister bei der Schutzpolizei Berlin (Polizeischule Brandenburg/Havel)
25 February 1933 - 31 May 1933 Zugführer in der Polizei-Abteilung Wecke
01 June 1933 - 16 July 1933 Zugführer in der Polizei-Gruppe Wecke
17 July 1933 - 11 January 1934 Zugführer in der Landespolizei-Gruppe Wecke
12 January 1934 - 31 March 1935 Zugführer in der Landespolizei-Gruppe "General Göring"
01 April 1935 - 30 September 1935 Kompanieführer in der Landespolizei-Gruppe "General Göring"
01 October 1935 - 31 August 1937 Chef der 15. (Pionier-)Kompanie im Luftwaffen-Regiment "General Göring"
10 August 1936 - 26 September 1936 Fallschirmjäger-Lehrgang in Stendal
01 September 1937 - 31 March 1938 Chef der 15. (Fallschirm-Pionier-)Kompanie im Luftwaffen-Regiment "General Göring"
01 April 1938 - 31 December 1939 Kompaniechef im Fallschirmjäger-Regiment 1
01 January 1940 - 17 April 1942 Kommandeur III. Bataillon/Fallschirmjäger-Regiment 1
18 April 1942 - 03 June 1942 Ia (1. Generalstabsoffizier) im Stab der 7. Flieger-Division (i.V.)
04 June 1942 - 17 November 1944 Kommandeur Fallschirmjäger-Regiment 1
18 November 1944 - 02 May 1945 mit der Führung der 1. Fallschirmjäger-Division beauftragt
02 May 1945 - 17 October 1947 in US-Kriegsgefangenschaft
17 October 1947 entlassen

Awards and Decorations:
Eisernes Kreuz 2. Klasse (12 May 1940)
Eisernes Kreuz 1. Klasse (12 May 1940)
Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes (24 May 1940) as Hauptmann and Kommandeur III.Bataillon / Fallschirmjäger-Regiment 1 / 7.Flieger-Division. At first light on 10 May 1940, during the opening hours of Fall Gelb, Schulz led his battalion in one of the war’s first major airborne assaults. Ju-52 transports droned low over the Dutch countryside and released roughly six hundred paratroopers directly onto Waalhaven airfield south of Rotterdam. The airfield was a fortified strongpoint ringed by concrete bunkers, a battery of 7.5 cm anti-aircraft guns, light armoured vehicles and machine-gun nests manned by a full Dutch battalion.
As the paratroopers drifted down under silk canopies the Dutch opened a withering fire. Bullets tore through chutes and men; yet casualties remained surprisingly light. The moment boots hit the ground Schulz’s Fallschirmjäger stormed forward in small assault groups, grenades exploding among the bunkers and sub-machine guns chattering at point-blank range. Within minutes they had seized sections of the perimeter. Elements of Infanterie-Regiment 16 from the air-landed 22. Infanterie-Division arrived in follow-up waves and joined the fight.
Dutch counter-attacks came quickly: gunboats on the nearby river shelled the airfield while RAF light bombers swooped in. German fighters drove off most of the British aircraft, shooting down all but one. By mid-morning the last Dutch positions fell. Schulz sent the code word that the field was secure. The capture of Waalhaven opened the door for the rapid landing of thousands more troops and supplies, shattering Dutch resistance in the Rotterdam area and proving the value of airborne forces in seizing key objectives deep behind enemy lines.
Deutsches Kreuz in Gold (26 February 1942) as Major and Kommandeur III./Fallschirmjäger-Regiment 1
Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes mit Eichenlaub #459 (20 April 1944) as Oberst and Kommandeur Fallschirmjäger-Regiment 1. By early 1944 Schulz commanded his regiment in the rugged hills south of Rome. During the First Battle of Monte Cassino (5–18 February 1944) his regiment formed the backbone of the German defence. On the critical height known as Hill 435, Schulz’s Kampfgruppe faced repeated Allied assaults by British, Indian and New Zealand troops supported by massed artillery and tanks.
The hill itself was a barren, rocky spine swept by machine-gun fire and mortar barrages. Paratroopers dug shallow scrapes among the stones, laid mines on the forward slopes and waited. Wave after wave of attackers climbed the steep approaches under a hail of defensive fire. Schulz moved constantly among his men, directing counter-attacks, shifting machine-gun teams and calling down precise artillery support from the division’s guns. In hand-to-hand fighting that often came down to bayonets and entrenching tools the Fallschirmjäger held every metre of ground. When the smoke cleared after nearly two weeks of continuous combat, Hill 435 remained in German hands. The successful defence prevented a breakthrough that could have unhinged the entire Cassino front.
Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes mit Eichenlaub und Schwertern #112 (18 November 1944) as Oberst and Führer 1. Fallschirmjäger-Division. The official citation highlights Schulz’s personal initiative and battlefield presence as the turning point. As U.S. forces pressed forward and looked poised to seize Bologna, Schulz—then still officially an Oberst—took direct charge of all available defensive forces in the sector (not just his own division but coordinating ad-hoc Kampfgruppen). He raced from Bologna itself to the threatened front-line positions in his distinctive red Fiat staff car, personally exposing himself to enemy fire to rally the defending paratroopers.
In the chaos of the muddy, rain-soaked foothills and shattered villages south of the city, the Fallschirmjäger were dug into foxholes, ruined farmhouses, and hastily prepared trench lines. American artillery and mortars pounded their positions relentlessly, while infantry waves advanced under cover of smoke and close air support. Paratroopers—many veterans of Crete, the Eastern Front, Cassino, and Anzio—fought with machine guns, Panzerfausts, and rifles, but they were exhausted, low on ammunition, and facing coordinated assaults that threatened to overrun their lines. Scattered companies were on the brink of being cut off or forced into a disordered withdrawal that could have collapsed the entire sector.
Schulz’s arrival turned the tide through sheer force of leadership. He jumped from his red Fiat (a vehicle that became legendary in division lore for its bold color standing out amid the camouflage), moved among the men under fire, issued rapid, clear orders, repositioned machine-gun nests and anti-tank teams, and organized immediate counterattacks or counter-pressure actions. He rallied fragmented units, restored command cohesion, and inspired the elite paratroopers—who prided themselves on their tenacity—to hold firm. Through his example and decisive reorganization, the division checked the U.S. advance roughly 10 km short of Bologna. The Allies, unable to achieve a breakthrough despite their superiority, suspended the offensive on 27 October 1944, allowing the Germans to stabilize the line.
This was classic “Führerprinzip” in action at the divisional level: one commander’s personal intervention in a critical hour prevented a potential disaster and preserved a key defensive anchor in the Gothic Line. The fighting was brutal close-quarters work—grenade duels in the mud, desperate hand-to-hand stands in rubble-filled positions, and relentless American probes met by determined German counter-thrusts. The paratroopers’ discipline and Schulz’s inspirational presence turned what could have been a rout into a stubborn, successful defense.
Wehrmacht-Dienstauszeichnung IV. und III. Klasse
Fallschirmschützen-Abzeichen
Verwundetenabzeichen 1939 in Schwarz
Ärmelband "Kreta"

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Karl-Lothar Schulz was a German paratroop general of Nazi Germany during World War II who rose to command elite Fallschirmjäger units and became one of the most highly decorated officers in the Luftwaffe's airborne forces. Born on 30 April 1907 in Königsberg, East Prussia, in the German Empire, he served from 1924 until the end of the war in 1945, reaching the rank of Generalmajor. Schulz earned the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords for extraordinary leadership in key campaigns, including the rapid seizure of strategic objectives in the West, grueling defensive stands in Italy, and critical interventions that stabilized collapsing fronts. His career exemplified the aggressive spirit and tenacity of the German paratroopers, transitioning from pioneering airborne assaults to prolonged infantry-style defenses as the war turned against Germany. He commanded Fallschirmjäger-Regiment 1 and later the 1st Fallschirmjäger Division in Italy, where his personal interventions repeatedly turned the tide against superior Allied forces before the final German surrender in May 1945. Schulz died of natural causes on 26 September 1972 in Wiesbaden, West Germany.

Schulz's path to military prominence began in the interwar years after a brief stint in the Reichswehr. Leaving school, he enlisted in the army on 1 June 1924 as a soldier in the 1st Artillery Regiment, where he received training as a pioneer before retiring from active service on 31 August 1925. He then joined the police in 1925, rising steadily through the ranks amid the political upheavals of the Weimar Republic and early Nazi era. In 1933 he was transferred to the newly formed Polizei Abteilung z.b.V. Wecke, an elite unit that served as the forerunner of the Hermann Göring Division. Commissioned as a police lieutenant in 1934, he remained with the formation as it evolved into the Landespolizeigruppe General Göring. By September 1935 the unit had been absorbed into the Luftwaffe as Regiment General Göring, marking Schulz's entry into the air force. When Hermann Göring called for volunteers to form a paratrooper contingent within his elite troops, Schulz was among the first to respond, undergoing rigorous airborne training and serving as company commander of the 15th (Pioneer) Company in the parachute-trained IV Battalion of the regiment.

By March 1938 organizational changes had separated the battalion, which became part of the newly established Fallschirmjäger-Regiment 1, setting the stage for Schulz's rapid advancement. Promoted to Hauptmann, he took command of the III Battalion by 1940 and led it into action during the invasion of the Netherlands as part of Fall Gelb. On 10 May 1940 his paratroopers executed a daring low-level drop onto the heavily fortified Waalhaven airfield near Rotterdam, a critical objective intended to secure a bridgehead for air-landed reinforcements from the 22nd Infantry Division. Dutch defenders, numbering a full battalion supported by 7.5 cm guns, light armored vehicles, and anti-aircraft platoons, opened intense fire on the descending Ju-52 transports and the men spilling from their doors. Despite the hail of bullets and shells, casualties remained relatively light as the Fallschirmjäger quickly assembled under fire, overran bunkers in close-quarters fighting with grenades and small arms, and secured the perimeter. Elements of Infantry Regiment 16 arrived to bolster the position, repelling counterattacks that included Dutch gunboat bombardments and a daylight raid by six RAF light bombers, five of which were shot down by Luftwaffe fighters. A nighttime Dutch armored thrust was smashed before it could develop, and even a large-scale RAF Wellington bomber raid inflicted only limited damage. Schulz's leadership enabled the all-clear signal for mass airlandings, and his battalion later shifted to support bridge seizures at Dordrecht amid further skirmishes until Dutch capitulation. For this action he received the Knight's Cross on 24 May 1940, along with both classes of the Iron Cross.

Following his promotion to Major on 19 July 1940, Schulz participated in the costly Battle of Crete in May 1941, where Fallschirmjäger units suffered heavy losses in brutal close combat against determined Allied and Greek defenders. He subsequently transferred to the Eastern Front, serving first as a battalion commander and then rising to regimental command with Fallschirmjäger-Regiment 1. There he distinguished himself in sustained defensive and counteroffensive operations against Soviet forces, earning the German Cross in Gold on 26 February 1942 for his contributions amid the harsh winter campaigns and attritional fighting. By late 1943, now an Oberst, Schulz had assumed command of the entire regiment, which was redeployed to Italy as the war in the Mediterranean intensified. His unit became heavily engaged in the grueling battles around the Anzio-Nettuno bridgehead and the heights of Monte Cassino, where the Fallschirmjäger fought as elite infantry in static positions under relentless Allied artillery and air superiority.

The defense of Hill 435 during the first Battle of Monte Cassino from 5 to 18 February 1944 earned Schulz the Oak Leaves to his Knight's Cross on 20 April 1944. His Kampfgruppe held the key elevation against repeated Allied assaults in freezing mud and rubble-strewn terrain, where paratroopers in foxholes and ruined stone positions repelled wave after wave of infantry supported by tanks and massed barrages. Grenade duels and hand-to-hand clashes in the shattered landscape turned the hill into a charnel house, but Schulz's tactical repositioning of machine guns, anti-tank teams, and reserves prevented any breakthrough, preserving the German line at enormous cost to the attackers. His regiment's tenacity in these attritional fights exemplified the division's reputation for unbreakable defense even when reduced to conventional roles due to the scarcity of transport aircraft.

In October 1944 Schulz assumed effective command of the 1st Fallschirmjäger Division along the Gothic Line in northern Italy, facing mounting pressure from the U.S. Fifth Army. On 27 October, as American infantry threatened to overrun positions south of Bologna and capture the city, he personally intervened in the crisis. Racing forward from Bologna in his distinctive red Fiat staff car under artillery fire and through rain-soaked foothills, Schulz reached the collapsing front lines where scattered companies of exhausted paratroopers were dug into muddy foxholes and ruined farmhouses. With U.S. forces advancing under smoke screens and close air support, he rallied the men with rapid orders, repositioned defensive strongpoints, and organized immediate counterthrusts, restoring cohesion amid grenade-thrown chaos and small-arms duels in the rubble. His presence inspired the elite troops to hold firm, checking the advance roughly ten kilometers short of Bologna and forcing the Allies to suspend their offensive. For this decisive leadership he was awarded the Swords on 18 November 1944 as the 112th recipient, and he was promoted to Generalmajor on 17 January 1945. Schulz continued to lead the division through the final bitter defensive battles in northern Italy until the German capitulation on 2 May 1945. Released from captivity in October 1947, he lived quietly in West Germany until his death.

Source:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl-Lothar_Schulz
https://www.tracesofwar.com/persons/26672/Schulz-Karl-Lothar.htm
http://www.geocities.ws/orion47.geo/WEHRMACHT/LUFTWAFFE/Generalmajor/SCHULZ_KARL-LOTHAR.html
https://www.lexikon-der-wehrmacht.de/Personenregister/S/SchulzKL.htm
https://rk.balsi.de/index.php?action=list&cat=300
https://forum.axishistory.com/
https://www.wehrmacht-awards.com/forums/
https://www.geni.com/
https://www.unithistories.com/units_index/index.php?file=/officers/personsx.html
https://web.archive.org/web/20091027052912fw_/http://geocities.com/orion47.geo/index2.html
https://grokipedia.com/
https://www.ww2.dk/lwoffz.html
https://books.google.com/ (various references to Luftwaffe Fallschirmjäger units and biographies)

Thursday, April 2, 2026

Bio of Generaloberst Kurt Student (1890-1978)

Full name: Kurt Arthur Benno Student
Nickname: Papa; The father of the Fallschirmjäger

Date of Birth: 12.05.1890 - Birkholz, Provinz Brandenburg (German Empire)
Date of Death: 01.07.1978 - Lemgo, Nordrhein-Westfalen (West Germany)

Battles and Operations: Western Campaign (Fall Gelb) including Battle for The Hague, Battle of Rotterdam and capture of Fort Eben-Emael, Operation Weserübung (Norway and Denmark), Operation Merkur (invasion of Crete), Operation Eiche (rescue of Mussolini), defense operations in Italy and France, Operation Market Garden, battles on the Western Front 1944-1945, command of Army Group Student

NSDAP-Number: none
SS-Number: none
Religion : No information
Parents: unknown landowner father and unknown mother (died when Kurt was 11 years old)
Siblings: three brothers (names unknown)
Spouse: Gertrud Beer (born 04.04.1892, died 21.05.1978)
Children: one son, Leutnant Hans-Dietrich Student (died 1944)

Promotions:
03.03.1910 Fähnrich
20.03.1911 Leutnant
18.06.1915 Oberleutnant
20.06.1918 Hauptmann
01.01.1930 Major
01.01.1934 Oberstleutnant
01.10.1935 Oberst
01.04.1938 Generalmajor
01.01.1940 Generalleutnant
29.05.1940 General der Flieger
01.08.1940 General der Fallschirmtruppe
13.07.1944 Generaloberst

Career:
00.00.1901-00.00.1910 Royal Prussian Cadet School in Potsdam and Lichterfelde near Berlin after family financial difficulties following mother's death
18.03.1910 joined the Prussian Army as Fahnenjunker with Infantry Regiment No. 56
1913 qualified as pilot and transferred to the German Army Air Service
1914-1918 served as reconnaissance pilot, bomber pilot and fighter pilot on Western and Eastern Fronts including Feldflieger-Abteilung 17, Kampfstaffel 19, Jagdstaffel 9 (commanded from October 1916 until wounded in May 1917) with six confirmed aerial victories
1920-1928 assigned to military research and development in the Reichswehr with focus on gliders and technical roles in the Inspectorate of Weapons and Equipment at the Reich War Ministry
1931-1932 attended special aviation courses
01.09.1933 transferred to the newly forming Luftwaffe as officer for special duties
01.10.1933-31.07.1935 commander of Luftwaffe Technical Training Schools at Jüterbog
01.07.1938 appointed commander of airborne and air-landing troops
01.09.1938-30.09.1940 commanding general of 7. Flieger-Division
1940 overall command of airborne operations during the invasion of the Netherlands and Belgium including the assault on Fort Eben-Emael and fighting in Rotterdam (wounded by friendly fire in the head on 14.05.1940)
01.01.1941 commanding general of XI. Fliegerkorps
05.1941 directed Operation Merkur the airborne invasion of Crete
09.1943 oversaw planning of Operation Eiche the glider raid to rescue Mussolini
03.1944-1945 Commander-in-Chief of 1. Fallschirm-Armee
1944 involved in defense against Operation Market Garden near Arnhem
1945 briefly commanded Army Group H and Army Group Student in northern Germany
08.05.1945 captured by British forces near Bremen
1946-1948 prisoner of war and tried for war crimes related to reprisals on Crete (sentenced to five years but released early)
00.00.1948-01.07.1978 lived in retirement in Lemgo area with interests limited to his career memories and hunting

Awards and Decorations:
26.09.1914 Eisernes Kreuz 2. Klasse 1914
29.08.1915 Eisernes Kreuz 1. Klasse 1914
1917 Verwundetenabzeichen 1914 in Schwarz
05.06.1917 Hausorden von Hohenzollern
30.01.1935 Ehrenkreuz für Frontkämpfer
21.05.1935 Flugzeugführerabzeichen
02.10.1936 Wehrmacht-Dienstauszeichnung 4. Klasse (4 Jahre)
05.06.1939 Medaille zur Erinnerung an den 1. Oktober 1938
05.06.1939 Medaille zur Erinnerung an den 1. Oktober 1938 mit Spange
20.09.1939 1939 Spange zum Eisernen Kreuz 2. Klasse 1914
20.09.1939 1939 Spange zum Eisernen Kreuz 1. Klasse 1914
12.05.1940 Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes #18 as Generalleutnant and Kommandeur 7. Flieger-Division. The award recognized his masterful command of the first large-scale airborne operations in military history during Operation Fall Gelb, the German invasion of the Low Countries and France in May 1940. As a Divisionskommandeur, he orchestrated the audacious use of glider-borne and parachute troops to seize key objectives ahead of the main ground forces, shattering enemy defenses in ways never seen before.
The most iconic action was the assault on Fort Eben-Emael, Belgium’s “impregnable” fortress guarding the Albert Canal and the road to Liège. At dawn on 10 May 1940, eleven silent DFS 230 gliders carrying 85 elite Fallschirmjäger of Sturmabteilung Koch (under Oberleutnant Rudolf Witzig) sliced through the morning mist and crash-landed directly atop the massive concrete stronghold, which housed 1,200 Belgian troops and powerful artillery that could have devastated the advancing German columns. The defenders, expecting attack only from the ground, were stunned into paralysis as the glidermen poured out, racing across the roof in the half-light. Within minutes they detonated shaped hollow charges—hollowed-out explosives that focused the blast like a spear—into gun casemates, observation domes, and machine-gun nests. Flames from flamethrowers licked through embrasures while grenades and submachine-gun fire cleared bunkers. By 5:42 a.m., barely twenty minutes after the first glider touched down, most of the fort’s heavy guns were silenced and smoking. Belgian counterattacks were trapped underground as the Germans blew charges into stairwells and vents. When Witzig himself arrived later in a daring Ju 52-towed glider rescue, the fight was already won. The fort surrendered at 12:27 p.m. the next day after 24 hours of chaos. German losses: six dead and 15 wounded. Belgian losses: 25 dead, 63 wounded, and 780 taken prisoner. The fall of Eben-Emael cracked open the Belgian frontier for Army Group B, allowing the rapid thrust that decided the campaign in the West. Student later called it “a deed of exemplary daring and decisive significance” unmatched in the history of warfare.
Simultaneously, Student directed the airborne seizure of bridges and airfields around Rotterdam and The Hague. Paratroopers dropped onto Dutch airfields and key river crossings, holding them against furious counterattacks while Ju 52 transports roared in with reinforcements. In Rotterdam itself, fighting raged house-to-house amid the ruins. On 14 May, while attempting to negotiate the city’s surrender under a flag of truce, Student was struck in the head by a stray German bullet from his own side—friendly fire in the confusion of battle. He survived, but the wound kept him out of immediate command for weeks. The airborne bridgeheads and the subsequent terror-bombing of Rotterdam forced the Dutch capitulation within days. These lightning strikes, planned and commanded by Student, proved the revolutionary power of vertical envelopment and earned him the Ritterkreuz as the father of the Fallschirmjäger.
02.09.1940 Gemeinsames Flugzeugführer-Beobachter-Abzeichen mit Brillianten
27.09.1943 Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes mit Eichenlaub #305 as General der Fallschirmtruppe and Kommandierender General XI. Fliegerkorps. The citation highlighted the critical role his airborne troops played in the Mediterranean theater during the summer of 1943, especially the successful rescue of Benito Mussolini and operations against Italian forces following Italy’s armistice with the Allies.
The centerpiece was Operation Eiche (Oak), the daring glider raid on 12 September 1943 to free Mussolini from captivity at the remote Campo Imperatore hotel atop the Gran Sasso mountain in the Abruzzi Apennines. After Mussolini’s ouster and imprisonment by the new Italian government, Hitler personally ordered Student to plan the rescue. Student assigned the detailed planning to Major Harald Mors of the Fallschirmjäger, who devised a high-risk glider assault. Twelve DFS 230 gliders, each carrying nine or ten heavily armed men (a mix of Luftwaffe paratroopers and Otto Skorzeny’s SS commandos), were towed by Ju 52s and released to glide silently onto a tiny, steeply sloping meadow beside the hotel at over 2,000 meters altitude. Strong mountain updrafts and the unexpectedly rough terrain turned the landing into controlled crashes; gliders skidded across rocks, tore through barbed wire, and slammed to a halt within meters of the target. Skorzeny’s own glider came to rest just 15 meters from the hotel entrance. The Germans burst out, submachine guns ready, racing uphill. An Italian general traveling with them shouted orders to the 200 Carabinieri guards not to fire. In a lightning strike lasting under ten minutes, the raiders overpowered the sentries without a major firefight, smashed the radio, and located Mussolini in a second-floor room. The deposed Duce was hustled out, bundled into a tiny Fieseler Storch reconnaissance plane that daringly took off from the precarious mountain slope, and flown to safety. The entire operation succeeded with almost no German casualties and only light Italian losses. It was a spectacular propaganda victory and a textbook example of special-forces precision. Student’s oversight and the flawless execution by his Fallschirmjäger earned him the Oak Leaves.
In the same summer, Student’s corps also played key roles in the defense of Sicily against the Allied invasion and in the rapid disarmament of Italian troops around Rome after the armistice, preventing potential threats to German forces in Italy. These combined successes in a theater where airborne troops were increasingly used as elite ground infantry cemented the award.
Verwundetenabzeichen 1939 in Silber
Wehrmacht-Dienstauszeichnung 3. Klasse (12 Jahre)
Wehrmacht-Dienstauszeichnung 2. Klasse (18 Jahre)
Wehrmacht-Dienstauszeichnung 1. Klasse (25 Jahre)
Ärmelband Kreta
Ehrenbecher für den Sieger im Luftkampfe

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Kurt Arthur Benno Student was a German general in the Luftwaffe during World War II and a pioneering figure in the development of airborne warfare. Born on 12 May 1890 in the village of Birkholz in the Province of Brandenburg within the German Empire, he rose through the ranks of the Prussian Army and later the Luftwaffe to command Germany's elite Fallschirmjäger forces, leading them in some of the most audacious operations of the conflict. Student earned a reputation as the father of modern paratrooper tactics, emphasizing vertical envelopment through gliders and parachute drops to strike deep behind enemy lines. His career spanned both world wars, beginning as a fighter pilot in the skies over Europe and culminating in high-level commands that influenced major campaigns from the Low Countries to the Mediterranean and the Western Front. He was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross for his leadership in the 1940 invasion of the Netherlands and Belgium and later received the Oak Leaves in recognition of further successes, though his methods also drew postwar scrutiny for actions taken under his command. Student died on 1 July 1978 in Lemgo, West Germany, at the age of eighty-eight, remembered both for revolutionizing military strategy and for the controversies surrounding reprisals in occupied territories.

Student came from an upper-middle-class family in Birkholz, where his father was a landowner, though details of his parents remain sparse in historical records. His mother died when he was only eleven years old, prompting his father to enroll him in the Royal Prussian Cadet School in Potsdam in 1901 to secure a military path amid financial difficulties. There, amid the disciplined environment of Lichterfelde near Berlin, the young Student abandoned early dreams of becoming a doctor and embraced a soldier's life. He joined the Prussian Army as a Fahnenjunker in 1910 with Infantry Regiment No. 56, earning his commission as a Leutnant in 1911. By 1913 he had qualified as a pilot and transferred to the German Army Air Service, setting the stage for his wartime exploits. During World War I he flew reconnaissance, bomber, and fighter missions on both the Western and Eastern Fronts, serving with units such as Feldflieger-Abteilung 17, Kampfstaffel 19, and eventually commanding Jagdstaffel 9 from October 1916 until he was wounded in May 1917. He achieved ace status with six confirmed aerial victories, including forcing a French Nieuport 11 to land intact behind German lines in one of the opening acts of the Fokker Scourge. Even after his injury he continued flying and scoring, demonstrating the resilience and tactical skill that would define his later innovations in airborne assault.

In the interwar period Student navigated the restrictions of the Treaty of Versailles by focusing on glider development, a field not explicitly banned for military research. He worked in the Reichswehr's technical and research branches, experimenting with silent, unpowered aircraft that could deliver troops behind enemy defenses. Exposure to Soviet airborne maneuvers at the Lipetsk training facility in the late 1920s further inspired his vision of vertical envelopment. When the Luftwaffe was secretly reestablished under Hermann Göring after Hitler's rise to power, Student transferred from the army in 1933 and took charge of technical training schools at Jüterbog. By July 1938 he had been appointed commander of airborne and air-landing troops, and in September of that year he assumed leadership of the newly formed 7th Flieger Division, Germany's first dedicated paratroop formation. His tireless advocacy transformed elite infantry into parachute-qualified shock troops, training young volunteers who viewed themselves as superior warriors marked by their distinctive plunging-eagle insignia. This period of preparation laid the groundwork for the revolutionary tactics that would stun the world in the opening campaigns of World War II.

The spring of 1940 marked the pinnacle of Student's early wartime achievements during the Western Campaign. As commander of the 7th Flieger Division and later the XI Fliegerkorps, he orchestrated the first large-scale airborne operation in history as part of the invasion of the Netherlands and Belgium. On 10 May, glider-borne Fallschirmjäger of Sturmabteilung Koch executed a daring assault on Belgium's supposedly impregnable Fort Eben-Emael, which guarded the Albert Canal and the gateway to Liège with its garrison of twelve hundred troops and heavy artillery. Eleven DFS 230 gliders sliced silently through the dawn mist and crash-landed directly atop the massive concrete fortress, disgorging eighty-five elite soldiers who raced across the rooftops in the half-light. Using shaped hollow charges that focused explosive force like spears, flamethrowers that licked through embrasures, and grenades that cleared bunkers and stairwells, the attackers silenced most of the fort's guns within minutes. Belgian counterattacks were trapped underground as vents and passages were blown shut, forcing the surrender the following day with minimal German losses. Simultaneously, paratroopers seized airfields and bridges around The Hague and Rotterdam, holding them against fierce resistance while reinforcements poured in by Ju 52 transport. In the chaos of Rotterdam on 14 May, Student himself was gravely wounded in the head by friendly fire while attempting to negotiate the city's surrender under a flag of truce. The airborne bridgeheads and the subsequent terror bombing compelled Dutch capitulation within days, cracking open the Low Countries for the German blitzkrieg and earning Student the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross as the eighteenth recipient overall.

Following recovery from his wound, Student directed further airborne operations, including the successful but costly invasion of Crete in May 1941 under Operation Merkur. As commanding general of the XI Fliegerkorps, he oversaw the drop of thousands of paratroopers onto the island defended by British, Greek, and Commonwealth forces. Fierce fighting erupted amid olive groves and rocky terrain, with German troops encountering unexpected civilian resistance that led to brutal reprisals after the island's capture on 31 May. Student, acting on orders, authorized executions and village razings in places such as Kondomari, Alikianos, and Kandanos in response to perceived guerrilla activity, actions that later formed the basis of war-crimes charges. Despite the high casualties that prompted Hitler to forbid future large-scale airborne assaults, the conquest secured a strategic Mediterranean foothold. By 1943 Student's focus shifted to special operations. He oversaw the planning of Operation Eiche, the audacious glider raid on 12 September that freed Italian dictator Benito Mussolini from captivity at the remote Campo Imperatore hotel atop the Gran Sasso massif. Twelve DFS 230 gliders, towed by Ju 52s and released to glide onto a perilously steep mountain meadow over two thousand meters high, skidded and crashed amid updrafts and rough terrain. Commandos and paratroopers burst from the wreckage, submachine guns blazing, overwhelming two hundred Italian Carabinieri guards in under ten minutes with almost no German losses. Mussolini was bundled into a tiny Fieseler Storch plane that daringly lifted off the precarious slope, delivering a spectacular propaganda victory. For this and related successes in Italy following the armistice, Student received the Oak Leaves to the Knight's Cross as the three hundred and fifth recipient on 27 September 1943.

In the final years of the war Student commanded the First Parachute Army in France and the Low Countries, directing defensive actions against Allied advances including the counter to Operation Market Garden near Arnhem in September 1944. His paratroopers, increasingly used as elite ground infantry rather than airborne shock troops, fought tenaciously in Normandy and along the Western Front. Briefly shifted to the Eastern Front in 1945 to command Army Group Student in northern Germany, he was captured by British forces near Bremen in May 1945. Postwar, he faced trial in 1947 on charges related to the mistreatment of prisoners and reprisals against Cretan civilians. Convicted on three counts concerning prisoners of war but acquitted of broader civilian crimes, he was sentenced to five years' imprisonment yet released in 1948 on medical grounds. Student spent his remaining decades in quiet retirement in the Lemgo area, reflecting on his career and pursuing interests such as hunting. He is remembered as the architect of Germany's airborne forces, whose innovative tactics influenced Allied paratroop doctrines even as the human cost of his operations and the ethical shadows of reprisals continue to spark debate among historians.

Kurt Student in Ortelsburg, 1912.

Oberleutnant Kurt Student.

Kurt Student as a fighter pilot on the Eastern Front during World War I.

Oberstleutnant Kurt Student.

Kurt Student wounded (1940).

Crete. Quite probably 23 May 1941 when General der Fallschirmtruppe Kurt Student (Kommandierender General XI. Fliegerkorps) arrived on the island with his staff to oversee his forces. This photo features, from left to right: Oberleutnant Gerhard "Eul" Schacht (Adjutant XI. Fliegerkorps), General Student, Oberst Hermann-Bernhard Ramcke (Kommandeur Fallschirmjäger-Sturm-Regiment 1), and Oberleutnant Bodo Göttsche (Nachrichten-Offizier Fallschirmjäger-Sturm-Regiment 1). Ramcke appears to be the only man to have landed on Crete wearing a tropical uniform! Other pictures from this occasion can be seen HERE.

Original color photo of General der Fallschirmtruppe Kurt Student by Walter Frentz.

General der Fallschirmtruppe Kurt Student.

General der Fallschirmtruppe Kurt Student en route to Crete.

General der Fallschirmtruppe Kurt Student (left) in Crete. At right is Oberst Bruno Oswald Bräuer.

General der Fallschirmtruppe Kurt Student (center, Kommandierender General XI. Fliegerkorps) with Generalmajor Julius Ringel (standing, Kommandeur 5. Gebirgs-Division) at an advanced command post in Crete, end of May 1941. Sitting at right is Generalmajor Alfred Schlemm (Chef des Generalstabes XI. Fliegerkorps).

On 21 August 1941, Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring, Commander-in-Chief of the Luftwaffe, personally presented the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes (Knight’s Cross of the Iron Cross) to six outstanding officers and men of the Fallschirmjäger (German paratroopers) at his headquarters. The recipients—Oberst Hermann-Bernhard Ramcke, Oberstabsarzt Dr. med. Heinrich Neumann, Oberst Hans Kroh, Oberleutnant Heinrich Welskop, Leutnant Erich Schuster, and Feldwebel Wilhelm Kempke—were honored for their extraordinary bravery, leadership, and sacrifice during the Battle of Crete (Operation Merkur) in May 1941. Other pictures from this award ceremony can be seen HERE.

Ritterkreuz award ceremony for the six "Fallschirmjäger Heroes of Crete", 21 August 1941. The medal was handed over by Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring (Oberbefehlshaber der Luftwaffe), near his private train (Sonderzug) named "Asien". Behind Göring stands General der Fallschirmtruppe Kurt Student (Kommandierender General XI. Fliegerkorps), while the two individuals with their backs to the camera are two of the three recipients of the Ritterkreuz that day, and they are (from left to right): Major Hans Kroh (Kommandeur I.Bataillon / Fallschirmjäger-Regiment 2) and Oberstabsarzt Dr.med. Heinrich Neumann (Regimentsarzt Fallschirmjäger-Sturm-Regiment).

Ritterkreuz award ceremony for the six "Fallschirmjäger Heroes of Crete", 21 August 1941. From left to right: General der Flieger Gustav Kastner-Kirdorf (Chef des Luftwaffen-Personalamts), Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring, General der Fallschirmtruppe Kurt Student (Kommandierender General XI. Fliegerkorps), Generalmajor Hermann-Bernhard Ramcke (Kommandeur der Ergänzungseinheiten und Schulen des XI. Fliegerkorps), Oberstabsarzt Dr.med. Heinrich Neumann (Regimentsarzt Fallschirmjäger-Sturm-Regiment), and Major Hans Kroh (Kommandeur I.Bataillon / Fallschirmjäger-Regiment 2).

Ritterkreuz award ceremony for the six "Fallschirmjäger Heroes of Crete", 21 August 1941. From left to right: Generalmajor Hermann-Bernhard Ramcke (Kommandeur der Ergänzungseinheiten und Schulen des XI. Fliegerkorps) and General der Fallschirmtruppe Kurt Student (Kommandierender General XI. Fliegerkorps). In the background is Hermann Göring's personal train (sonderzug), "Asien". It was an armored special train that served as a mobile headquarters and luxurious transport for the Reichsmarschall. Some sources also refer to it as "Pommern" in certain contexts.

Ritterkreuz award ceremony for the six "Fallschirmjäger Heroes of Crete", 21 August 1941. From left to right: Generalmajor Hermann-Bernhard Ramcke (Kommandeur der Ergänzungseinheiten und Schulen des XI. Fliegerkorps), General der Fallschirmtruppe Kurt Student (Kommandierender General XI. Fliegerkorps), Oberstabsarzt Dr.med. Heinrich Neumann (Regimentsarzt Fallschirmjäger-Sturm-Regiment), and Major Hans Kroh (Kommandeur I.Bataillon / Fallschirmjäger-Regiment 2).

General der Fallschirmtruppe Kurt Student inspects the paras on an airfield of the XI. Flieger-Korps.

General der Fallschirmtruppe Kurt Student (right) in conversation with two officers: Italian (center) and German (left), 1943.

Kurt Student.

Generaloberst Kurt Student in a picture taken on 11 August 1944.

Generaloberst Kurt Student in a picture taken on 11 August 1944.

Generaloberst Kurt Student in a picture taken on 11 August 1944.

Mugshot of Kurt Student.

Kurt Student after the war.

Drawing of Kurt Student by Wolfgang Willrich.