Moderator: Shannon V. OKeets
ORIGINAL: dale1066
Just been looking through Janes for details on the french navy
Do you need the details of the Hungarian navy [:)]
ORIGINAL: capitan
Good point. This will be corrected. I believe that it was way smaller than a division that overtook Eban Emael though. I will check out the details.ORIGINAL: iamspamus
Um, weren't para's (say a div or smaller unit) used against Eban Emael, the Belgian fortress in the open shots of 1940? I really don't remember Crete being the first use of them. Naybe Crete should be the first "large scale use" of German paras.
Thanks,
Jason
EDIT: "10 May 1940, 85 paratroopers of the 1st Fallschirmjäger Division landed in the fortress with gliders" http://www.answers.com/topic/fort-eben-emael
Awesome. Thanks for the research and the local knowledge. I vaguely recall reading about paratroops used in Denmark and they were certainly used in Norway. I can imagine those Ju-52s rumbling through the pre-dawn Spring sky, packed with equipment and steely, square-jawed German paratroops who have studied maps and models, and trained extensively for what appeared to be a vital mission.ORIGINAL: CBoehm
ORIGINAL: capitan
Good point. This will be corrected. I believe that it was way smaller than a division that overtook Eban Emael though. I will check out the details.ORIGINAL: iamspamus
Um, weren't para's (say a div or smaller unit) used against Eban Emael, the Belgian fortress in the open shots of 1940? I really don't remember Crete being the first use of them. Naybe Crete should be the first "large scale use" of German paras.
Thanks,
Jason
EDIT: "10 May 1940, 85 paratroopers of the 1st Fallschirmjäger Division landed in the fortress with gliders" http://www.answers.com/topic/fort-eben-emael
I believe that the first paradrop during wartime took place on april 9th 1940 05:05 as part of the invasion of denmark when 80 paratropers command by hauptmann Walter Gerickewere transported by 12 JU52 secured the Madsnedoefort (Madsned-islands-fortress) whose 120mm guns overlooked the Storstoems-bridge linking Sealand to the island of Falster south of it. - as it happens the fortress had been decomissioned and the garrison consisted of 2 recruits and a civilian armed with a machinegun but no ammunition..., so there were no shots fired. - However just as the danish surrender order came a scratch force had been assembled to try to retake it ...
LINK to homepage of Madsnedoe-fortress
Claus
ORIGINAL: fallgelb
The German Paratroopers and Air Landing units were used in three major operations:
1. Units (not over battallion size) of the "Fallschirmjäger Division" in JU52 were Paradropped on airfields in northern denmark, near Oslo and as i remember Stavanger to secure airfields.
2. The "Fallschirmjäger Division" and the 22nd Airlanding Division ("Luftlandedivision, actual an infantry division without heavy weapons, without an artillery regiment and i think with a fourth infantry regiment) were paradropped and landed with gliders on airfields in the netherlands (Rotterdam, Den Haag). In terms of "number of air landed soldiers" a larger operation than the landing on crete. The operation was "one airfield too far" and the troops near Den Haag suffered extrme losses.
3. In the air landing on crete participated the Fallschirmjägerdivision and one or two mountain divisions ás air landing units and in barges.
The Operation to paradropp on malta never occur, because of the extreme lcasualities on crete (as i remember higher than 30%) with the true Private Ryan story among a german Paratrooper "Family".
The 22nd Air Landing Division (from the durch campaign) was reorganized and reequipped as normal infantry Division for Barbarossa and fought in the crimea (as i remember).
In the late war the german Paratroopers were used as light elite infantry units for difficult terrain (like Monte Cassino). Due to Hermann Görings ambitions a paratrooper army was founded in the western theater (about 1944).
Michael
I'm starting to work on the USA units. I couldn't remember how many Philippines there were. I was thinking that there were two.[:(]Yes, there is one, why this question ?
You were probably thinking of MacArthur[;)].ORIGINAL: mldtchdog
I'm starting to work on the USA units. I couldn't remember how many Philippines there were. I was thinking that there were two.[:(]Yes, there is one, why this question ?
MacArthur ? Who's that ?ORIGINAL: Shannon V. OKeets
You were probably thinking of MacArthur[;)].
This should go in the French Colony list please, not the CW one [:D].ORIGINAL: capitan
Commonwealth countries:
(...)
Indo-China 0/1
ORIGINAL: Shannon V. OKeets
I was looking at the territorials (CW and French mainly) and thought that perhaps one way of doing a writeup for each of them and keep it interesting would be to give a short background on the country: people/population, military prowess, the year colonized, etc.. A flavor of the country might be of interest, especially if the territorial unit did nothing during the war other than stay at home and guard the border.
