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The weapon saw first operational use during the Gran Sasso raid (Unternehmen Eiche) in September 1943 when German paratroopers and Waffen-SS commandos rescued Italian dictator Benito Mussolini from his captors – 200 well-equipped Carabinieri guards. However, during the whole airborne operation (which was personally ordered by Hitler) not a ...
A paratroop crew firing a mortar Burning German Junkers Ju 52s at Ypenburg, Netherlands, in 1940 Fallschirmjäger landing on Crete in 1941 German paratroopers prepare to be flown to the Greek island of Leros in 1943 Fallschirmjäger paratroopers at Kondomari, Crete, confronting Cretan Greek villagers Mass murder of Cretan Greek male civilians in Kondomari, Crete by Fallschirmjäger ...
The GGP/40 was developed by WASAG in 1940 at the request of the Luftwaffe. [2] It was not operational in time for the French Campaign but it is thought to have been operational in 1941 and first used by Fallschirmjäger units during the Battle of Crete.
Training was as rigorous as possible, with physical combat and weapons drills to the point of complete exhaustion and the most rigorous kind of athletic training. At the same time, paratroopers were instilled with a marked consciousness of belonging to an elite fighting unit.
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 ...
It was at full strength and consisted of young German volunteers, and numbered 15,976 soldiers and officers. Its level of training and excellent weapon systems prompted the commander of the US 29th Infantry Division to remark, "Those Germans are the best damned soldiers I ever saw. They're smart and they don't know what 'fear' means.
The kurzer 8 cm Granatwerfer 42 (kz 8 cm GrW 42) was a mortar used by Germany during World War II.It was developed as a lightened version of the standard German 8 cm GrW 34 medium mortar with a shorter barrel for use by paratroopers, but replaced the ineffective 5 cm leGrW 36 as that weapon's shortcomings became apparent.
It also used the improved priming mechanism developed after the problems with the smaller weapon became apparent. Like all the German 10.5 cm recoilless rifles it shared shells with the 10.5 cm leFH 18 (light Field Howitzer). The LG 40-1 version was built using an aluminium/magnesium alloy mounting, but the LG 40-2 replaced it with ordinary ...