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The Fallschirmjäger (German: [ˈfalʃɪʁmˌjɛːɡɐ] ⓘ) were the airborne forces branch of the Luftwaffe before and during World War II. They were the first paratroopers to be committed in large-scale airborne operations. They were commanded by Kurt Student, the Luftwaffe's second-in-command.
The Allied disposition in western Europe by March 1945. By March 1945, the Allied armies had advanced into Germany and had reached the River Rhine.The Rhine was a formidable natural obstacle to the Allied advance, [12] but if breached would allow the Allies to access the North German Plain and ultimately advance on Berlin and other major cities in Northern Germany.
At the end of May the weakened division was pulled from the line and returned to Germany for refit, during which time was supplied with more than 1000 FG 42 automatic rifles as part of a new program to equip the paratrooper divisions, although only the 2nd Parachute Division would have the weapon in large numbers. The division was sent to ...
The 1st Parachute Division (German: 1. Fallschirmjäger-Division) was an elite German military parachute-landing division that fought during World War II. A division of paratroopers was termed a Fallschirmjäger Division. For reasons of secrecy, it was originally raised as the 7th Air Division (German: 7.
During World War II, the Gran Sasso raid (codenamed Unternehmen Eiche, German pronunciation: [ʊntɐˌneːmən ˈaɪ̯çə] ⓘ, literally "Operation Oak", by the German military [1]) on 12 September 1943 was a successful operation by German paratroopers and Waffen-SS commandos to rescue the deposed Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini from custody in the Gran Sasso d'Italia massif.
Kurt Arthur Benno Student (12 May 1890 – 1 July 1978) was a German general in the Luftwaffe during World War II.An early pioneer of airborne forces, Student was in overall command of developing a paratrooper force to be known as the Fallschirmjäger, and as the most senior member of the Fallschirmjäger, commanded it throughout the war.
The first extensive use of paratroopers (Fallschirmjäger) was by the Germans during World War II. Later in the conflict paratroopers were used extensively by the Allied Forces . Cargo aircraft of the period (for example the German Junkers Ju 52 and the American Douglas C-47 Skytrain/Dakota ) being small, they rarely, if ever, jumped in groups ...
It was the German paratroopers' only nighttime drop during World War II. While the aircraft took off with around 1,300 paratroops, the pilots dropped some behind the German front lines, others over Bonn, and only a few hundred in widely scattered locations behind the American lines. Some aircraft landed with their troops still on board.