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.
Original color photo of General der Fallschirmtruppe Kurt Student by Walter Frentz.
Original color photo of General der Fallschirmtruppe Kurt Student by Walter Frentz.
Original color photo of General der Fallschirmtruppe Kurt Student by Walter Frentz.
General der Fallschirmtruppe Kurt Student.
General der Fallschirmtruppe Kurt Student.
General der Fallschirmtruppe Kurt Student.
General der Fallschirmtruppe Kurt Student.
General der Fallschirmtruppe Kurt Student.
General der Fallschirmtruppe Kurt Student.
General der Fallschirmtruppe Kurt Student.
General der Fallschirmtruppe Kurt Student.
General der Fallschirmtruppe Kurt Student en route to Crete.
%20Bruno%20Oswald%20Br%C3%A4uer.jpg)
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.
.jpg)
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.
%20in%20conversation%20with%20two%20officers%20Italian%20(center)%20and%20German%20(left)%201943%20audiovis%20pl.jpg)
General der Fallschirmtruppe Kurt Student (right) in conversation with two officers: Italian (center) and German (left), 1943.
Kurt Student.
Kurt Student.
Kurt Student.
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.
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://www.ww2.dk/lwoffz.html
https://ww2gravestone.com/people/student-kurt/
Various historical publications on the Luftwaffe, Fallschirmjäger operations and German general officers of World War II (cross-referenced via Google Books searches for biographical details).
%20Bruno%20Oswald%20Br%C3%A4uer.jpg)
.jpg)
%20in%20conversation%20with%20two%20officers%20Italian%20(center)%20and%20German%20(left)%201943%20audiovis%20pl.jpg)
