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1st Fallschirm-Panzer Division Hermann Göring

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Fallschirm-Panzer-Division 1. Hermann Göring
1st Paratroop Panzer Division
Hermann Göring
Divisional insignia
Active1935-1945 (in General)
May 1, 1944 - May 8, 1945 (as a Panzer Division)
Country Germany
BranchTemplate:Luftwaffe
TypeFallschirmjäger
Panzer
SizeRegiment
Brigade
Division
Patron Hermann Göring
ColorsWhite
EngagementsWorld War II
Commanders
Notable
commanders		Walther von Axthelm
Paul Conrath
Wilhelm Schmalz
Hanns-Horst von Necker
Max Lemke
Insignia
Identification
symbol		Fallschirm-Panzer-Div 1 HG
Cuff title Hermann Göring

The Fallschirm-Panzer-Division 1. Hermann Göring (1st Paratroop Panzer Division Hermann Göring - abbreviated Fallschirm-Panzer-Div 1 HG) was an elite German Luftwaffe armoured division. The HG saw action in France, North Africa, Sicily, Italy and on the Eastern Front. The division began as a battalion-sized police unit in 1933. Over time it grew into a regiment, brigade, division, and finally was combined with the Parachute-Panzergrenadier Division 2 Hermann Göring on 1st May 1944 to form a Panzer corps under the by then Reichsmarschall. It surrendered to the Soviet Army near Dresden on May 8, 1945.

Its personel was initially recruited from volunteers from Nazi organizations such as the Hitler Youth, later receiving intakes from the Army (especially panzer troops) and conscripts of the Luftwaffe. The unit was stationed in Berlin in the newly built Hermann Göring barracks (today's Julius Leber barracks) and in Velten; being named after the Reichsmarschall and Commander-in-Chief of the Luftwaffe Hermann Göring. This naming was intended to establish a close connection between Wehrmacht units and National Socialism, while at the same time documenting the domestic power within the party hierarchy. Among its combat missions, the Hermann Göring mantained guard forces, such as a guard in the Reichsmarschall's estate at Carinhall and the Flak defense of Hitler's headquarters and personal train.

The division, during its time in Italy, committed a number of war crimes, and, together with the 16th SS Panzergrenadier Division Reichsführer-SS, was disproportionately involved in massacres of the civilian population, the two divisions accounting for approximately one-third of all civilians killed in war crimes in Italy.[1]

Formation

Establishment and initial phase - Police Administration

Command flag of the chief of the police (Ordnungspolizei).

When Hitler, of the National Socialist German Workers' Party (NSDAP), was appointed Reich Chancellor on January 30, 1933, Captain Hermann Göring was appointed the Prussian Minister of the Interior in February 1933. This gave him the supreme command of the entire Prussian police and a general's rank.[2]

On February 24, 1933, Göring established the Polizeiabteilung z. b. V. Wecke (z. b. V. meaning "for special use").[2] His intention was to create a police association that was loyal to the NSDAP regime. The outfit was named after its commander Major der Schutzpolizei Walther Wecke,[2] a veteran of the First World War and a member of the NSDAP. Numbering 400 men, it was stationed in the Kreuzberg district of Berlin - a notoriously left-wing working-class area.[2]

The battalion soon became notorious for its brutal practices. In cooperation with the Gestapo, which was also under Göring's control, the Special Duties Police Battalion was involved in many attacks against Communists and Social Democrats and was responsible for the arrest of opponents of the regime.

In June 1933 Göring enlarged the battalion and placed it under the command of the state police (Landespolizei), becoming the Landespolizeigruppe Wecke z. b. V. (Special Duties State Police Group Wecke), and then Landespolizeigruppe General Göring in January 1934. In the same month, under pressure from Hitler and Himmler, Göring gave Himmler's SS control of the Gestapo. To reinforce the position of his remaining unit, Göring increased its size and instituted a military training program. During the Night of the Long Knives, Hitler resorted to both Göring's state police group and Himmler's Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler, who executed many SA leaders, thus removing the formation as a threat to the NSDAP.

Air Force Control - Early Missions

In 1935 Göring was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Air Force. Since he wanted to keep control of his "favorite unit", it was transferred to the Luftwaffe in September 1935 and renamed the Regiment General Göring.

The regimental order of battle:[3]

Special troop flag of the 1st battalion of the Regiment "General Göring".

At the beginning of 1936 the regiment was ready to fight again. At that time all organized resistance against the NSDAP had been eliminated. During this time, the regiment served Göring as a personal bodyguard and covered Hitler's headquarters with its anti-aircraft guns. During this time the IV. (Jäger-) Bataillon/RGG and the 15th Pioneer Company (15. Pionier-Kompanie) were assigned to the Döberitz Aviation School for parachute training; at the end of 1937 these units were renamed IV.Fallschirmschützen-Bataillon (Parachute Rifle Battalion).[3] The battalion was separated from the regiment in March 1938, sent to the training grounds of Stendal and transformed into the I./Fallschirmjäger-Regiment 1, the first paratrooper unit of the Wehrmacht.[3]

The regiment participated in the so-called Blumenkrieg (Flower Wars), taking part in the annexation of Austria (Anschluss); being among the first units to cross the border. Two companies landed by Junkers Ju 52/3m transport planes at Aspern Airport near Vienna. The unit remained in-country for several weeks on duty in Wiener Neustadt.[3] The Regiment General Göring was also involved in the occupation of the Sudetenland in October 1938 and the occupation of the rest of Czechoslovakia in March 1939; after which, the regiment undertook guard duties at the strategically important Skoda vehicle works.[4]

Training and selection

The Regiment General Göring intended for its ranks to be filled with selected personel to square of with its competitors, the Army's élite Infanterie-Regiment "Großdeutschland" and the Waffen-SS Leibstandarte-SS Adolf Hitler. Among the criteria for acceptance in the regiment:[4]

  • Age of 18-25 years old,
  • Minimun height of 1.68m (5ft 6ins),
  • German citizenship,
  • Eligibility for military service,
  • Fitness for active service,
  • Aryan ancestry,
  • Unmarried status,
  • Clean police record and no charges pending,
  • Confirmed open support for the National Socialist state.[4]

During the wars years a further requirement was added: the volunteer would have to sign up for 12 years service. Those conditions were much the same as those demanded for ingress into the Großdeutschland and the Leibstandarte. As the war progressed and the scale of combat losses mounted, such restrictive criteria could not be susteined in any of these élite formations. Many Luftwaffe personel would simply be drafted into the Hermann Göring from other units to replace combat losses.

With high caliber recruits, the regiment occupied a brand new purpose-built barracks complex at Berlin-Reinickendorf, which was constructed to the highest standards and with the most modern of facilities. The complex boasted over 120 buildings and included gymnasia, outdoor and indoor swimming pools, sports areas and its own post office. The smartly dressed General Göring soldiers, in their distinctive uniforms with white collar patches and special unit cuffband (Ärmelstreifen), became a regular sight on the streets of Berlin.

By 1939 the regiment had grown considerably. Troops of the regiment took part in many of the great pre-war parades through Berlin. They provided guards for Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring's own headquarters, the changing of the guard often being performed with all due cerimony including the presence of the regiment's own military band. The regiment also undertook guard duties at Göring's private retreat, the sumptuous Carinhall estate - named after Göring's deceased first wife, Carin Axelina Hulda Göring.

Regimental order of battle on the eve of WW2:[4]

  • Regimentstab
  • Musikkorps
  • Stabsbatterie (HQ artillery battery)
  • I.(schwere) Flak-Abteilung (heavy AA artillery battalion)
  • II.(leichte) Flak-Abteilung (light AA artillery battalion)
  • ScheinwerferAbteilung (searchlight battalion)
  • IV.(leichte) Flak-Abteilung
  • Wachbataillon (guard infantry battalion)
    • Reiterschwadron (cavalry squadron)
    • 9.Wachkompanie (infantry)
    • 10.Wachkompanie
    • 11.Wachkompanie
  • Reserve-Scheinwerfer-Abteilung
  • Ersatz-Abteilung (replacement training battalion)
  • (schwere) Einsenbahn Flak-Batterie (heavy railway AA battery)
  • (leichte) Flak-Batterie (light AA battery)

Combat History

During the attack on Poland only a small part of the regiment was involved in the fighting. Most of the unit remained in Berlin to protect Göring's headquarters and the Reichshauptstadt.[5] During the Phoney War parts of the regiment took part in Operation Weserübung against Denmark and Norway in the spring of 1940; with the largest part of the regiment was relocated to the west on the German-Dutch border under the camouflage designations "Flak-Regiment 101" and "Flak-Regiment 103".

In April, a detachment under Hauptmann Kluge was sent to Denmark.[5] Composed of a company of the Wachbataillon, a 2cm self-propelled Flak-Batterie and a Kradschützen-Kompanie,[5] it took part in the seizure of the airfield and radio station at Esbjerg and the securing of the coastline of Jutland. The detachment was then transferred by sea to Oslo, in Norway, being engaged alongside the Army first in the advance to Trondheim, then north up into the Arctic Circle to take the port of Bodo and relieve the pressure on the beleaguered élite Gebirgsjäger further north at Narvik. After completing its mission, Kluge's detachment was sent back home to Berlin.

As part of the western campaign, these troops took part in the invasion of the Netherlands and Belgium. During the campaign the Eben-Emael fortress was taken by paratroopers, many of whom had previously served in the Regiment General Göring.

After the surrender of the Netherlands, the regiment was divided into several small combat groups (Kampfgruppen), which were assigned to the panzer divisions that spearheaded the attack. The anti-aircraft troops were often used to fight tanks and destroyed 18 French tanks using 8.8 cm anti-aircraft guns during a battle in the Mormalwald. After the capitulation of France, the regiment was stationed on the Channel coast before it was ordered to Paris as an anti-aircraft unit. The new commander was Colonel Paul Conrath in June 1940, who was to lead the regiment and the later division until 1944. At the end of 1940 the regiment was transferred back to Berlin to resume its old job as a bodyguard and air defense unit.

During Operation Barbarossa, the regiment was attached to the 11th Panzer Division, a part of Army Group South. The regiment saw action around the areas of Radziechów, Kiev and Bryansk. In July 1942 the regiment was upgraded to brigade status, and then to full division in October 1942 as a Panzer division. While the division was in formation, the Second Battle of El Alamein had forced Field Marshal Erwin Rommel's Afrika Korps to retreat to Tunisia. The division was sent to Tunisia piecemeal, where it eventually surrendered with the rest of Panzer Army Africa.

The reformed division was designated Panzer Division Hermann Göring and sent to Sicily. After the Allied invasion of Sicily was launched on 10 July 1943, the division was engaged at the Amphibious Battle of Gela and the Battle of Centuripe, retreating to Messina afterward. When the armistice between Italy and Allied armed forces was signed, the division took part in the Operation Achse to disarm Italian troops. The division participated in the fighting following the Allied landing at Salerno in Operation Avalanche on 9 September. It then retreated towards the Volturno–Termoli line, and then to the Gustav Line, where it was pulled out of the line for rest and refit.

Battle of Radzymin
A soldier with a Panzerfaust from the Panzer Division Hermann Göring smiling to the camera, Russia, 1944.

The Corps size Fallschirm-Panzerkorps Hermann Göring was created in 1944 through the combination of the unit with the Fallschirm-Panzergrenadier Division 2 Hermann Göring. After the start of the Allied offensive, Operation Diadem, on 12 May, the division retreated towards Rome and then abandoned the city. The division arrived in Poland in late-July and fought alongside SS Division Wiking and the 19th Panzer Division on the Vistula River between Modlin Fortress and Warsaw. In August, its counter-attack against the Magnuszew bridgehead, defended by the 8th Guards Army, failed after heavy fighting. Between August and September 1944, the division used captured Polish non-combatant civilians as human shields when attacking the insurgents' positions during the Warsaw uprising. Following the destruction of the town, the division was attached to the newly formed Army Group Vistula formed 24 January 1945, defending the ruins of Warsaw in what Hitler termed "Festung Warschau", or Fortress Warsaw. During the Vistula-Oder Offensive, much of the division was broken in battle.

In April, the remnants of the Hermann Göring Panzerkorps were sent to Silesia, and in heavy fighting were slowly pushed back into Saxony. On April 22, the Fallschirm-Panzer-Division 1. Hermann Göring was one of two divisions that broke through the inter-army boundary of the Polish 2nd Army (Polish People's Army or LWP) and the Soviet 52nd Army, in an action near Bautzen, destroying parts of their communications and logistics trains and severely damaging the Polish (LWP) 5th Infantry Division and 16th Tank Brigade before being stopped two days later.[6][7][8][9]

In early May, units of the corps attempted to break out towards the American forces on the Elbe, but were unsuccessful. The corps surrendered to the Red Army on 8 May 1945.

War crimes

According to a British Government report, the Hermann Göring Division was involved in several reprisal operations during its time in Italy.[1] One of these occurred in the surrounding area of the village of Civitella in Val di Chiana on 6 June 1944 where 250 civilians were killed.[10][11] The division was also involved in a number of other massacres in Italy at Cavriglia (173 victims),[12] Monchio, Susano and Costrignano (130 victims)[13] and Vallucciole (107 victims).[14]

Soldiers of the Hermann Göring Division used civilians as human shields in front of its tanks while clearing barricades during the Warsaw Uprising.[15][2] Around 800 soldiers from the division took part in fighting during the August–October 1944 Warsaw Uprising in the Wola district, where mass executions of civilians occurred in connection with Hitler's orders to destroy the city.[3] Units of the division were also involved in the excesses committed in the Dutch city of Putten, also called the Putten raid. The units were:

  • II./Fallschirm-Panzer-Regiment "Hermann Göring" (20 PzKpfw IV tanks)
  • III./Fallschirm-Panzergrenadier-Regiment 2. "Hermann Göring"
  • IV./Fallschirm-Panzer-Artillerie-Regiment "Hermann Göring"[16]

Organization

Structure of the division:[17]

  • Headquarters
  • Hermann Goering Panzer Regiment
  • 1st Hermann Goering Panzergrenadier Regiment
  • 2nd Hermann Goering Panzergrenadier Regiment
  • 1st Hermann Goering Artillery Regiment
  • 1st Hermann Goering Anti-Aircraft Regiment
  • 1st Hermann Goering Panzer Reconnaissance Battalion
  • 1st Hermann Goering Tank Destroyer Battalion
  • 1st Hermann Goering Panzer Engineer Battalion
  • 1st Hermann Goering Panzer Signal Battalion
  • 1st Hermann Goering Divisional Support Group

Commanders

No. Portrait Commander Took office Left office Time in office
1
Walther von Axthelm
Axthelm, WaltherMajor
Walther von Axthelm
(1893–1972)		13 August 193631 May 19403 years, 292 days
2
Paul Conrath
Conrath, PaulOberst
Paul Conrath
(1896–1979)		1 June 194014 April 19443 years, 318 days
3
Wilhelm Schmalz
Schmalz, WilhelmGeneralmajor
Wilhelm Schmalz
(1901–1983)		16 April 194430 September 1944167 days
4
Hanns-Horst von Necker
Necker, HannsGeneralmajor
Hanns-Horst von Necker
(1903–1979)		1 October 19448 February 1945130 days
5
Max Lemke
Lemke, MaxGeneralmajor
Max Lemke
(1895–1985)		9 February 19458 May 194588 days

Fallschirm-Panzer-Korps Hermann Göring

No. Portrait Commander Took office Left office Time in office
1
Wilhelm Schmalz
Schmalz, WilhelmGeneralleutnant
Wilhelm Schmalz
(1901–1983)		4 October 19448 May 1945216 days

Historical unit titles

Polizeiabteilung z. b. V. Wecke – February 1933 to June 1933
Landespolizeigruppe Wecke z. b. V. – June 1933 to January 1934
Landespolizeigruppe General Göring – January 1934 to September 1935
Regiment General Göring – September 1935 to the beginning of 1941
Regiment (mot.) Hermann Göring – Beginning of the year 1941 to July 1942
Brigade Hermann Göring – July to October 1942
Division Hermann Göring – October 1942 to June 1943
Panzer-Division Hermann Göring – June 1943 to April 1944
Fallschirm-Panzer-Division 1 Hermann Göring – April to October 1944
Fallschirm-Panzerkorps Hermann Göring – October 1944 to May 1945

Notes

Citations

  1. ^ Carlo Gentile. Politische Soldaten. Die 16. SS-Panzer-Grenadier-Division „Reichsführer-SS“ in Italien 1944 [Political soldiers. The 16th SS-Panzer-Grenadier-Division „Reichsführer-SS“ in Italy 1944] (in German). Cologne.
  2. ^ a b c d Williamson, Gordon (2003). The Hermann Göring Division. Stephen Andrew. Oxford: Osprey Publishing. p. 3. ISBN 1-84176-406-X. OCLC 59364241.
  3. ^ a b c d Williamson, Gordon (2003). The Hermann Göring Division. Stephen Andrew. Oxford: Osprey Publishing. p. 4. ISBN 1-84176-406-X. OCLC 59364241.
  4. ^ a b c d Williamson, Gordon (2003). The Hermann Göring Division. Stephen Andrew. Oxford: Osprey Publishing. p. 5. ISBN 1-84176-406-X. OCLC 59364241.
  5. ^ a b c Williamson, Gordon (2003). The Hermann Göring Division. Stephen Andrew. Oxford: Osprey Publishing. p. 6. ISBN 1-84176-406-X. OCLC 59364241.
  6. ^ Erickson, John: "The Road to Berlin", page 591. Yale University Press, 1999.
  7. ^ D. F. Ustinov et al.: "Geschichte des Zweiten Weltkrieges" (Volume 10), page 399. Militärverlag der Deutschen Demokratischen Republik, 1979.
  8. ^ von Ahlfen, Hans: "Der Kampf um Schlesien 1944/1945", pages 208-209. Motorbuch Verlag, 1977. v. Ahlfen quotes the April 27, 1945 war diary entry of Luftflottenkommando 6, noting that for all operations between Görlitz and Bautzen, involving multiple German divisions, during April 20–26, that the Soviet 94th Rifle Division was destroyed, and that the Soviet 7th Guards Mechanized Corps, the Soviet 254th Rifle Division, the Polish 1st Tank Corps (LWP), the Polish 16th Tank Brigade (LWP), and the Polish 5th, 7th, and 8th Infantry Divisions (LWP) took heavy losses. The war diary goes to state that 355 enemy tanks were destroyed, 320 enemy guns of all kinds were destroyed or captured, about 7,000 enemy dead were tallied, and that 800 prisoners were taken.
  9. ^ Grzelak, Czesław et al.: "Armia Berlinga i Żymierskiego", pages 275 and 279. Wydawnictwo Neriton, 2002. As described here, after penetrating the inter-army boundary, the German attack struck the Polish 5th Infantry Division and 16th Tank Brigade (LWP) in the rear, practically destroying both units and killing the commanding general of the 5th Infantry Division. Losses for the Polish 2nd Army (LWP) in the area of Bautzen and Dresden are noted as approximately 5,000 KIA, 2,800 missing or taken prisoner, and 10,500 WIA. Overall the Polish 2nd Army lost 20 per cent of its personnel and material strength. Among these losses were 170 tanks, 56 self-propelled guns, 124 mortars, 232 guns of all calibers, 330 vehicles, and 1,373 horses.
  10. ^ Michael Geyer: Es muß daher mit schnellen und drakonischen Maßnahmen durchgegriffen werden in: Hannes Heer, Klaus Naumann (Eds.): Vernichtungskrieg. Verbrechen der Wehrmacht. Hamburg 1995, ISBN 3-930908-04-2, p. 208ff.
  11. ^ "CIVITELLA IN VAL DI CHIANA 29.06.1944". Atlas of Nazi and Fascist Massacres in Italy (in Italian). Retrieved 21 August 2018.
  12. ^ "CAVRIGLIA 04.07.1944". Atlas of Nazi and Fascist Massacres in Italy (in Italian). Retrieved 21 August 2018.
  13. ^ "MONCHIO SUSANO E COSTRIGNANO PALAGANO 18.03.1944". Atlas of Nazi and Fascist Massacres in Italy (in Italian). Retrieved 21 August 2018.
  14. ^ "VALLUCCIOLE PRATOVECCHIO STIA 13.04.1944". Atlas of Nazi and Fascist Massacres in Italy (in Italian). Retrieved 21 August 2018.
  15. ^ Krannhals, Hanns von (1962). Der Warschauer Aufstand 1944 (in German). Bernard & Graefe Verlag für Wehrwesen.
  16. ^ "Siły niemieckie użyte do stłumienia Powstania Warszawskiego - część I". Archived from the original on 2005-11-09. Retrieved 2009-08-27.
  17. ^ Mitcham, Samuel W. (2007). German Order of Battle: Panzer, Panzer Grenadier, and Waffen SS Divisions in WWII. Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books. pp. 43–44. ISBN 978-0-8117-3416-5. OCLC 122526978.

References

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