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Category : Afrika Korps, North-Africa
Tags: 15th Panzer Division, 21 Panzer-Division, 5th Light Division, African Campaign, Afrika Korps, Agedabia, Artillery Regiment CO, Bardia, Bardia-Capuzzo High Plateau, Battle of Gazala, Bay of Sirte, Benghasi, Benito Mussolini, Berlin, British, British Long Range Desert Group, Buerat, Chief of Staff DAK, Chief of Staff Luftwaffe, CO 5 Panzer Rgt, Commanding 7 Panzer Rgt, Commanding in Chief, Crete, Cyrenaica Mountains, Denmark, Derna, Desert Warfare, Docktor Wilhelm Wagner, Dr Sigismund Kienow, Egypt, El Agheila, El Alamein, El Alamein Line, El Fareh, Field Marshal Rommel, Foreign Affairs Branch, Foreign Armies Intelligence Branch, Fort Leavenworth, French, Gebel Nefusa Mountains, General der Flieger Paul Deichman, General der Kavallerie Siegfried Westphal, General Garibaldi, General Staff College, Generalfeldmarschall Albert Kesselring, Generalleutnant Fritz Bayerlein, Generalmajor Gerhard Mueller, Generalolberst Franz Halder, German General Staff, German Panzer Corps, German-Italian Panzer Army, Grant, Halfaya Pass, He 111, Horns, Hubert Ziessler, Italian Navy, Italians, Kansas, Koenigstein, La Spezia, Lee, Libya, Luftwaffe, Maj Gen Alfred Toppe, Malta, Marada, Mareth, Marsa el Brega, Matmata Mountains, Military Geologist, Misurata, Misurate., North-Africa, Northeast Africa, Norway, Oberst Helmut Hudel, Operational Branch, Panzergruppe Afrika, Qattara Depression, Regierungsbaurat, Reich Ministry of War, Second Air Force, Sherman, Sicily, Sollum Coastal Plain, Sollurn Terrace, Sonderstab Trupen, Special Detachment Dora, Tarent, Taruna, Taunus, Tobruk, Tripoli, Tripolitania, Tunisia, US Army, US Army Command, Via Balbia, X Air Corps, Zem-Zem
Desert Warfare, German Experiences in World War II, Ma Gen Alfred Toppe, US Army Command and General Staff College, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas 66027-6900
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Category : War Conferences
Tags: Annexation, Austria, Axis Powers, Belgium, China, conferences, Crete, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, Fascism, Fascist Regime, Foreign Secretaries, France, French Territories, Great-Britain, Greece, Hitlerite Aggression, Italian Government, Italy, January 1942, Joint Four Nation Declaration, Luxembourg, March 15 1938, Moscow, Nazi Brutalities, Netherlands, Norway, Premier Stalin., President Roosevelt, Prime Minister Churchill, Soviet Union, United Nations, USA, World War Two, Yugoslavia
JOINT FOUR-NATION DECLARATION
The governments of the United States of America, United Kingdom, the Soviet Union, and China;
- United in their determination, in accordance with the declaration by the United Nations of January, 1942, and subsequent declarations, to continue hostilities against those Axis powers with which they respectively are at war until such powers have laid down their arms on the basis of unconditional surrender;
- Conscious of their responsibility to secure the liberation of themselves and the peoples allied with them from the menace of aggression;
- Recognizing the necessity of insuring a rapid and orderly transition from war to peace and of establishing and maintaining international peace and security with the least diversion of the world’s human and economic resources for armaments;
Jointly declare :
- 1. That their united action, pledged for the prosecution of the war against their respective enemies, will be continued for the organization and maintenance of peace and security.
- 2. That those of them at war with a common enemy will act together in all matters relating to the surrender and disarmament of that enemy.
- 3. That they will take all measures deemed by them to be necessary to provide against any violation of the terms imposed upon the enemy.
- 4. That they recognize the necessity of establishing at the earliest practicable date a general international organization, based on the principle of the sovereign equality of all peace-loving states, and open to membership by all such states, large and small, for the maintenance of international peace and security.
- 5. That for the purpose of maintaining international peace and security pending the re-establishment of law and order and the inauguration of a system of general security they will consult with one another and as occasion requires with other members of the United Nations, with a view to joint action on behalf of the community of nations.
- 6. That after the termination of hostilities they will not employ their military forces within the territories of other states except for the purposes envisaged in this declaration and after joint consultation.
- 7. That they will confer and cooperate with one another and with other members of the United Nations to bring about a practicable general agreement with respect to the regulation of armaments in the post-war period.
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Category : War Atrocities Related
Tags: Athens, Atrocities, Berlin, Capt Gericke, Chania, Crete, Detention Report, Deutsche Fallschirmjäger, Franz Peter Weixler, General Kurt Student, German Army, German Foreign Office, Gestapo, Herma Plummer, Hermann Goering, Kondarami, Krailling, Lt Trebes, Maj Stenzler, Malemes, May 1941, Minuch, Nurnberg Trial, War Criminals
Case/Goering Hermann
Translation by Herma Plummer
Information supplied by Franz Peter Weixler
Krailling, near Munich
November 11 1945
In connection with the Nurnberg trials against/et. al., I would like to make the following statement with the express authorization that it may be used in the trial.
I was a prisoner of the Gestapo from January 16 1944 to April 1945. I had been indicted for treason before the People’s Court and the only reason I was not executed was the fact that my files were destroyed once in Berlin, and once at the Gestapo office in Nurnberg. One of the reasons for my indictment was the fact that I had told friends the truth about the parachute enterprise in Crete in May 1941, and also that I had taken pictures there. I am attaching an order of the German Army, which I appropriate and kept, issued by the divisional staff of the Parachute Division, commanded by General Kurt Student. I shall now describe the manner in which I was enabled to take the photo mentioned above.
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Category : Airborne Operations, Archives Movies, Fallschirmjäger, German Airborne
Tags: (Operation Seeloewe), 1. Armee, 22 Luftland Division, 27-BCA, 28 Alpine Infantry Division, 3. Imperial Bavarian Field Artillery Regiment, 352. Infanterie Division, 5. Gebirgsjäger Division, 601 GIA, 602 GIA, 7-BCA, 7. Fallschirmjäger Division, Ahnhem, Airborne Panzer Korps, Airborne Training Center, Algeria, Alikaneos, Allied Airborne Operations, Alsace, Ardenne Offensive, Ardennes 1944, Ardennes Forest, Army Group B, Arnemuisen Isthmus, Avignon-Pujaut, Aviorex 120, Aviorex 130, BA112, Balkans, Baraki, Bavaria 6. Infanterie Division, Bavarian 3. Armee Korps, Bavarian Staff College, Berlin, Blue Division, Boys AT Rifles, BR 7 squadron, Brigade Schmalz, British Expeditionary Force, British Prime Minister, British SAS, Calais, Carbine Berthier Mle1892 M16, Catania, Caucasus, Claus Von Stauffenberg, Compagnie d’Infanterie de l’Air, Corinth, Corinth 1941, Corinth Canal, Crete, Crete 1941, Crown Prince, Czechoslovakia, Dachau, Dnepr, Dora Radio Set, Durance River, East Prussia, Emil, England, Equipe, Erma-Vollmer, Fallschirmtruppe, Farman 224, Fifth Column, Flessingue Airbase, Fliegerfuehrer, Flossenbürg, FM 24/29 LMG, Fort Eben Emael, France, Fred Geille, French Air Force, French Maquis, French Paratroopers, Friedrich Radio Set, Gela, Gen Haller, General Conrath, General der Fallschirmtruppen Eugen Meindl, General der Flakartillerie August Schmidt, General der Infanterie Guenther Blumentritt, General der Kavallerie Siegfried Westphal, General Erich von Manstein, General Franz Halder, General Gerd von Rundstedt, General Ludwig Beck, General Max Halder, General Walther von Brauchitsch, General Walther von Reichenau, General Wilhelm Keitel, General Wilhelm Ritter von Leeb, Generalfeldmarschall Albert Kesselring, Generalleutant Max Pemsel, Generalleutant Werner Ehrig, Generalmajor Hellmuth Reinhardt, Generaloberst Kurt Student, German Second Air Force, German Stosstruppen, Gestapo, Greek Island Leros, Groupe Franc, Groupement Franc, Groupes de l’Infanterie de l’Air, Haguenau, Hermann Goering Panzer Division, Holland, Hotchkiss Mle1914, Infanterie de l’Air, Isthmus of Corinth, Italy, Kastelli Hill, Khania, Kremenchug, Lebanon, Lembach, Leningrad, Lentini, LeO 213, Leros 1943, Low Countries, Luftgau VI, Luftwaffe, Maleme Airfield, Malta, Marshal Tukhachevski, MAS-38 SMG, MG-34, Montélimar, Munich, Munich Agreement, Munster, Narvik, Neville Chamberlain, Niederbronn, Nijmegen, North-Africa, OB Southwest, OB WEST, Oberkommando des Heeres, Oberquartiermeister, Oberst Albert Emmerich, Oberst Freiherr August Friedrich von der Heydte, Oberst Fritz Ziegelmann, OKW, Operation Barbarossa, Paleochora, Peloponnesus, Poland, Potez 650, Prague, Primosole, Reichswehr War Ministry Training Branch, Reims, Reinhard Heydrich, Romania, Royal Bavarian Army, Section d’Eclaireurs Skieurs, Sicily, Simeto, Sizaine, Sollbruchstellen, Soviet Union, Sudetenland, Suomi M-31, Syria, Tarnopol, Trentaine, Ukraine, Vassieux, VB Launcher, Von Richthofen Corps, Wehrkreis Kdo VI, Wehrkreis VI, Wehrmacht, Westphalia, Wurzburg, XVIII Korps, Zossen Conspiracy
Section 8
Reflection on the Absence of Russian Air Landings
It is surprising that during World War II the USSR did not attempt any large-scale airborne operations. Although Soviet Russia was the first country in the world which during peacetime had experimented with landing troops by air and had organized special units for this purpose*, its wartime operations were confined to the commitment of small units which were dropped back of the German front for the purpose of supporting partisan activities and which had no direct tactical or strategic effect. The reasons can only be surmised and might have been any or all of the following :
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Category : Fallschirmjäger
Tags: (Operation Seeloewe), 1. Armee, 22 Luftland Division, 3. Imperial Bavarian Field Artillery Regiment, 352. Infanterie Division, 5. Gebirgsjäger Division, 7. Fallschirmjäger Division, Ahnhem, Airborne Panzer Korps, Alikaneos, Allied Airborne Operations, Ardenne Offensive, Ardennes 1944, Ardennes Forest, Army Group B, Balkans, Bavaria 6. Infanterie Division, Bavarian 3. Armee Korps, Bavarian Staff College, Berlin, Brigade Schmalz, British Expeditionary Force, British Prime Minister, Catania, Caucasus, Corinth, Corinth 1941, Corinth Canal, Crete, Crete 1941, Crown Prince, Czechoslovakia, Dachau, East Prussia, Emil, England, Fallschirmtruppe, Fifth Column, Flossenbürg, Fort Eben Emael, France, French Maquis, Gela, General Conrath, General der Fallschirmtruppen Eugen Meindl, General der Flakartillerie August Schmidt, General der Infanterie Guenther Blumentritt, General der Kavallerie Siegfried Westphal, General Erich von Manstein, General Franz Halder, General Gerd von Rundstedt, General Ludwig Beck, General Max Halder, General Walther von Brauchitsch, General Walther von Reichenau, General Wilhelm Keitel, General Wilhelm Ritter von Leeb, Generalfeldmarschall Albert Kesselring, Generalleutant Max Pemsel, Generalleutant Werner Ehrig, Generalmajor Hellmuth Reinhardt, Generaloberst Kurt Student, German Second Air Force, Gestapo, Greek Island Leros, Hermann Goering Panzer Division, Holland, Isthmus of Corinth, Italy, Kastelli Hill, Khania, Leningrad, Lentini, Leros 1943, Low Countries, Luftgau VI, Luftwaffe, Maleme Airfield, Malta, Munich, Munich Agreement, Munster, Narvik, Neville Chamberlain, Nijmegen, OB Southwest, OB WEST, Oberkommando des Heeres, Oberquartiermeister, Oberst Albert Emmerich, Oberst Freiherr August Friedrich von der Heydte, Oberst Fritz Ziegelmann, OKW, Operation Barbarossa, Paleochora, Peloponnesus, Poland, Prague, Primosole, Reichswehr War Ministry Training Branch, Reinhard Heydrich, Romania, Sicily, Simeto, Sollbruchstellen, Soviet Union, Sudetenland, Ukraine, Vassieux, Von Richthofen Corps, Wehrkreis Kdo VI, Wehrkreis VI, Wehrmacht, Westphalia, Wurzburg, XVIII Korps, Zossen Conspiracy
Section 4
Air Transported Troops
The original German plan to use Army troops for this purpose and to equip and train them accordingly was abandoned early in the war. The 22. Infanterie Division, which had been selected in peacetime for the purpose, participated in airborne operations only once, in Belgium and in Holland in 1940. It was found that their double equipment-one set for regular ground combat, the other for use in air-landing operations constituted an obstacle; consideration for their special mission limited their employment for ground combat. When a fresh commitment in line with their special mission became a possibility in Crete, it was found impossible to bring them up in time. On the other hand, as early as the Norway campaign, mountain troops were flown for commitment at Narvik without much prior preparation. While in this case non tactical transport by air was involved, the previously mentioned commitment in 1941 of the 5. Gebirgsjaeger Division in the airborne operation against Crete took place after only short preparation and was entirely successful.
On the basis of these experiences the idea of giving individual Army units special equipment for airborne operations was abandoned. The German High Command set about finding ways and means to adapt all Army units for transport by air with a minimum of changes in their equipment. The results were never put into practice because after Crete the Germans did not undertake any other airborne operations on a large scale. Crete, however, proved that the German mountain troops, because of their equipment and the training which they had received, as well as their combat methods, were particularly suited for missions of this nature. In the future the goal must be to find a way of committing not only mountain and infantry divisions but panzer and motorized formations in airborne operations. Their equipment and organization for this purpose will depend upon the evaluation of technical possibilities which cannot be discussed in detail here. The chief demand which the military must make upon the technical experts is that the changes required for such commitment be kept to a minimum. A way must be found to determine the best method for such a change so that the troops can undertake it promptly at any time.
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Category : Fallschirmjäger
Tags: (Operation Seeloewe), 1. Armee, 22 Luftland Division, 3. Imperial Bavarian Field Artillery Regiment, 352. Infanterie Division, 5. Gebirgsjäger Division, 7. Fallschirmjäger Division, Ahnhem, Airborne Panzer Korps, Alikaneos, Ardenne Offensive, Ardennes Forest, Balkans, Bavaria 6. Infanterie Division, Bavarian 3. Armee Korps, Bavarian Staff College, Berlin, British Prime Minister, Caucasus, Corinth, Crete, Crown Prince, Czechoslovakia, Dachau, East Prussia, Emil, England, Fallschirmtruppe, Fifth Column, Flossenbürg, Fort Eben Emael, France, French Maquis, General der Fallschirmtruppen Eugen Meindl, General der Flakartillerie August Schmidt, General der Infanterie Guenther Blumentritt, General der Kavallerie Siegfried Westphal, General Erich von Manstein, General Franz Halder, General Gerd von Rundstedt, General Ludwig Beck, General Max Halder, General Walther von Brauchitsch, General Walther von Reichenau, General Wilhelm Keitel, General Wilhelm Ritter von Leeb, Generalfeldmarschall Albert Kesselring, Generalleutant Max Pemsel, Generalleutant Werner Ehrig, Generalmajor Hellmuth Reinhardt, Generaloberst Kurt Student, German Second Air Force, Gestapo, Greek Island Leros, Holland, Italy, Khania, Leningrad, Low Countries, Luftgau VI, Luftwaffe, Maleme Airfield, Malta, Munich, Munich Agreement, Munster, Neville Chamberlain, Nijmegen, OB Southwest, OB WEST, Oberkommando des Heeres, Oberquartiermeister, Oberst Albert Emmerich, Oberst Freiherr August Friedrich von der Heydte, Oberst Fritz Ziegelmann, OKW, Operation Barbarossa, Poland, Prague, Reichswehr War Ministry Training Branch, Reinhard Heydrich, Romania, Sicily, Sollbruchstellen, Soviet Union, Sudetenland, Ukraine, Vassieux, Von Richthofen Corps, Wehrkreis Kdo VI, Wehrmacht, Westphalia, Wurzburg, XVIII Korps, Zossen Conspiracy
This study was written for the Historical Division, EUCOM, by a committee of former German officers. It follows an outline prepared by the Office of the Chief of Military History, Special Staff, United States Army, which is given below :
1-A) A review of German airborne experience in World War II
1-B) An appraisal of German successes and failures
1-C) Reasons for the apparent abandonment of large-scale German airborne operations after the Crete operation
2-A) German experience in opposing Allied and Russian airborne operations
2-B) An appraisal of the effectiveness of these operations
3-A) The probable future of airborne operations.
It is believed that the contributors to this study represent a valid cross-section of expert German opinion on airborne operations. Since the contributors include Luftwaffe and Army officers at various levels of command, some divergences of opinion are inevitable; these have been listed and, wherever possible, evaluated by the principal German author. However, the opinions of Generalfeldmarschall Albert Kesselring are given separately and without comment wherever they occur in the course of the presentation. The reader is reminded that publications of the German Report Series were written by Germans and from the German point of view. Organization, equipment, and procedures of the German Army and Luftwaffe differ considerably from those of the United States armed forces.
This study is concerned only with the landing of airborne fighting forces in an area occupied or controlled by an enemy and with the subsequent tactical commitment of those forces in conventional ground combat. The employment of airborne units in commando operations, or in the supply and reinforcement of partisans and insurgents, is not included in this study, nor is the shifting of forces by troop-carrier aircraft in the rear of the combat zone. Such movements, which attained large size and great strategic importance during World War II, should not be confused with tactical airborne operations.
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