Knight's Cross And Oak-Leaves Recipient Karl-Lothar Schulz

Hauptmann Karl-Lothar Schulz

Schulz was born in Konigsberg, East Prussia, on 30 April 1907. He joined the Army on leaving school and briefly served with an Artillery regiment, though his own personal training was as a pioneer. He joined the Police in 1925 and in 1933 was transferred to the newly formed Polizei Abteilung z.b.v. Wecke, the forerunner of the elite Hermann Goring Division. He was commissioned as a Police Lieutenant in 1934 and remained with the unit as it evolved into Landespolizeigruppe General Goring. In September 1935 the unit was transferred into the Luftwaffe as Regiment General Goring. Goring decided that amongst his new elite troops would be a body of men trained as paratroopers. A call for volunteers went out, and Schulz was one of the first to come forward. He subsequently underwent paratrooper training and served as company commander of 15 (Pionier) Kompanie, a component of the parachute-trained IV.Bataillon/Regiment General Goring. In March 1938, a further re-organisation took place and IV.Bataillon was separated from the Regiment and became I.Bataillon of the newly formed Fallschirmjager-Regiment 1. By 1940 Schulz had been promoted from company commander and was serving as commander of III.Battailon/ Fallschirmjager-Regiment 1. During the campaign in the West, Schulz and his men dropped into Holland to seize the airport at Waalhaven near Rotterdam, in order to allow the rapid landing of more German troops. The airport was defended by a battalion of Dutch troops supported by a battery of 7.5cm guns, four armoured vehicles and a platoon of anti-aircraft gun crews. The Dutch defenders opened fire on the German paratroops as they descended but the Fallschirmjager suffered only relatively light casualties. Shortly after the paratroopers had landed, elements of Infanterie-Regiment 16 arrived on the scene to give support, and with their help the Schulz-led paratroops secured the airfield. The Dutch were by no means finished, however, and gunboats were brought up to bombard the German positions. The RAF appeared too, and six light bombers attacked the German positions, before being driven off by the Luftwaffe with all but one of them shot down.

Oberst Karl-Lothar Schulz in November 1944. His Knight's Cross was decorated with Oak-Leaves with Swords for his part in events at Waalhaven airfield in May 1940.

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A further Dutch counter-attack with armour and artillery support was also beaten off, and Schulz was able to send out a message giving the all clear for German aircraft to begin landing elements of 22 Air Landing Division. For the part played by the troops under his command in seizing and holding the vital airfield against strong enemy counter-attacks, Schulz was decorated with the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on 24 May 1940. He was promoted to Major on 19 July 1940, took part in the invasion of Crete, and subsequently served with great distinction on the Eastern Front, first as a battalion then as a regimental commander. He was awarded the Oak-Leaves for his Knight's Cross on 20 April 1944 as Oberst in command of Fallschirmjager-Regiment 1. Subsequently promoted to command l.Fallschirm-Division, he fought in Italy on the Anzio/Nettuno bridgehead and at Monte Cassino. On 18 November he received the Swords addition to his Oak-Leaves. He was promoted to the rank of Generalmajor on 17 January 1945. Karl-Lothar Schulz died of natural causes in 1972.