My Grandpa with the German Fallschirmjägers during WW2

After Steve´s and harolds request, i wrote a short form of his Story.

My Grandfather, paternal side, was born at the 24.09.1909 at a Silesian town called Heinzendorf.
He raised up with a stepfather for the reason that his father died during WW1. After the school he learned to be a baker. For some reasons he haven´t told me, he found his way to the Riot Police at Dresden. After some years he changed into the Reichswehr.
In 1939 he changed to the Luftwaffe and was sent to the 1.Fliegerkompanie Fliegerabteilung der Luftnachrichtenschule in Halle/Saale (1[SUP]st[/SUP] Company, air crew unit at the School for radio operators and gunners at Halle/Saale). He stayed at there until the 05.09.1941 where he was commanded to the Luftgaustab z.b.V10. (Gen.-Maj. Oskar Bertram) which was subordinated to the Luftflotte1(Gen.-Ob. Alfred Keller) and had their time close to Leningrad. He stayed at there till the 11.09.1941. From that on the official records has a long gap and the story was told to me by his friend and comrade who served with him during WW2 with the same units. Somewhere during this time he and his friend were sent to the 7[SUP]th[/SUP] Fliegerdivision and became paratroopers. The next place where i´ve found him was at Smolensk/Russia. This was the only not so fine thing i´ve found out, because in 1942 they were ordered to fight the Partisans at there.
During the Summer of 1942 his unit was sent to France for the “Operation Herkules” which was cancelled. From there they were sent as a part of the Kampfgruppe von der Heydte attached to the Brigade Ramcke to North Africa. After some fighting’s at there, they had a bit of bad luck and have been forced to march by foot through the desert. Must´ve been not so funny.
He stayed at Africa till May 1943 and was one of the few FJ´s who have been evacuated to Sicily.
At there his unit has taken part at the defending of Sicily during Operation Husky. After the Fall of Sicily he and his unit made their way to Italy.
At the 9[SUP]th[/SUP] of September 1943, the allied landing operation “Avalanche” started at Salerno. A former comrade of my Grandpa told me that they have been at there but not really well placed and fought against parts of the 5[SUP]th[/SUP] US Army. At the 9[SUP]th[/SUP] or 10[SUP]th[/SUP] of September, my Grandpa was captured by US Troops and was beaten by them. As a reason he suspected that they were really frustrated by the losses they had. He said, that this won´t be a place to stay and managed a day later to escape and he reached his unit at the 13[SUP]th[/SUP] of September. At this day he was really lucky to be back….later he told me that if he had a guess about the things that had followed, he had stayed as a POW.
In the following time they made their way to Monte Cassino. But none of his comrade nor him told me anything more about it as that has been the hell.
During February 1944 he was sent to Brest, France where he was a part of the 6[SUP]th[/SUP] Batterie/II/ Fallschirm-Artillerie-Regiment 2 again with his favourite General Ramcke. During the Battle of Brest his unit was attached to the 3[SUP]rd[/SUP] FJ Regiment near the Normandy but after D-Day.
In September 1944 he was sent to the FJ´s own driving school at Helmstedt as a instructor and to have some quiet days.
From the 11[SUP]th[/SUP] November 1944 he was sent back to France to a FJ unit I couldn´t find out till now and made his way back to the Netherlands to a town named Amersfort. After regrouping and being reinforced they were sent somewhere to France and he and his friend were captured by the Free French Forces. After some days they should have been brought back into France by train, both of them managed to jump out of the open wagons short before the train went into a tunnel and made their way back to the German frontline. He has seen the end of WW2 at the Ruhr pocket where he was captured the last time by US Troops. Some month later he was released and went back home to Bavaria where he lived since 1943. His rank during the war was a Stabsfeldwebel which is similar to the rank of a Sergeant Major. The following times he was a trucker and later a official with the German postal. He died at the age of 85. I hope that I haven´t bored you to death with my Grandpa´s history. There are lot of stations during his service time from where I only have information’s from some of his friends and comrades. For the reason that I don´t believe that they´ve told me tales i´ll take it as fact´s. Thank you.

Pictures will follow as soon as the Forum will like my Photobucket links again, sorry.

Ahh, forgot to mention, he mostly used the LG1 and LG2 as Artillery pieces and later in war the 88mm Flak.

 

Here are some pics.

His time at the Dresdner riot police. He´s at the front row kneeling in the middle.
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At the Reichswehr
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That one is puzzling me. "Rositten, Latvia! When and with which unit?
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Smolensk
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Back from being a POW at Salerno

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Great story! Your grandpa must have been quite a strong character escaping from capture twice! Kudos!!!!!

 

Thank you much! Yes, he was a strong character and said always :" If you will do anything, do right and with all consequences!"

 

BTW, if anyone has closer information to the Luftgaustab z.b.V.10 and its duties, i would be glad to hear more. The only things i´ve found out that they´ve been close to Leningrad, have been renamed and later in war, i´ve found them at Sicily close to Catania Air Base. Thank you in advance.

 

Don't know anything about Leningrad. However here is a bit about them from El Alamein, North Africa:

 

Thanks for the information, scipio!

 

If you will do anything, do right and with all consequences!"

Now there's something to live by.

 

Rommel had lost track of them and assumed Ramcke was lost. But the remnants were used in Tunisia until they were evacuated (but some surrendered).

As only about 1000 German troops escaped from Tunisia, your Grandfather was very lucky.


I doubt he was at Primosole Bridge but I remember reading something about the Ramcke at Catania - maybe there is something in the Rick Atkinson book about that (see recent Sicily thread)?

 

For Sicily i´ve seen some maps of a vet and so i think they´ve been mainly along the road between Catania and Messina. Yes, he was a very lucky man survivng all those battles with only a light injury at his left leg.

 

Many Thanks Ulrich !! Your Grandpa was an amazing man....

In response to scipio... He WAS at the Primosole Bridge ! I have Atkinson's book, The Day Of Battle". On on pages 127-129 he states the bridge was 7 miles south of Catania and was defended with backs-to-the-wall- fury by the Herman Goering troops and German Paratroopers. They fired their machine guns on fixed lines a few inches above the ground. Close combat was confusing in the Sicilian vineyards as they were in full leaf. Efforts to burn out the Germans failed as the Sicilian flora was highly fire resistant...

Best Regards

 

It was a pleasure to do it, Steve! And many thanks to add another place on my list of where hes been!He told me once about heavy and horrible close combat situations with british soldiers. But i can not remember at which place they were. Interesting is that he never told me anything about his military time except a few years before he died. Maybe he thought that this wouldn´t be good for me? I´m really happy to have this advice. Researching his way cost me a lot of time and money for books, so i´m really glad to have this.

 

Awesome stuff.

 

Thank you to all of you guys! Never thought to get such a reaction, wow!

 

You must be new here. Thanks for sharing your grandpa's story and photos, Ulrich. It seems that most of the personal stories and photos are from the Allies side of the War. It is a rare occasion to see, as Lou said, the other side. I hope that you will be able to share more of your Grandpa's story in the future.

 

Thank you very much Ulrich! Like all the others, I really appreciate your efforts here. I am sure that not only was he extremely lucky, but he was obviously one tough hombre who made his own luck. It seems that his unit came in contact with the New Zealanders two times. The FJs were at Cassino when the NZs attacked after a horrific air and artillery bombardment. The New Zealand Div. was stopped cold. Alexander used the German paratroops as the reason they weren't able to take the monastery.

On the LG1 and LG2: LG stands for Leicht Geschutz and these were, as far as I can tell, the first recoiless ever used in war. The LG1 (renamed LG40) was a 75mm piece with a range of 6800meters. It was therefore equivilant to the regular 75mm infantry gun. The LG2 was a 105mm version with a range of 7950meters.

Ulrich: I have a line on a M1 Garand. I'm going to look at it today and if it isn't in too bad of shape and a decent price, I'm going to get it.

 

Thank you, harolds!

You´re correct on the LG´s, interesting pieces. Have luck with the Garand!

 

Danke Schoen, Ulrich. Good information to document your Grandfather's service.

:aa_germany::afv_panther: