2nd Parachute Division (Germany)

German WWII airborne division

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2nd Parachute Division

German: 2\. Fallschirmjäger-Division

Unit insignia

Active| 1943–45
Country|  Germany
Branch| Luftwaffe
Type| Fallschirmjäger
Size| Division
Engagements| World War II

* Odessa Offensive

Commanders
Notable
commanders| Hermann-Bernhard Ramcke

Military unit

The 2nd Parachute Division (German: 2\. Fallschirmjäger-Division) was an airborne division of the German Luftwaffe of the Wehrmacht during World War II.

## Formation

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The 2nd Parachute Division was raised in 1943, with the 2nd Parachute Regiment, recently detached from the 1st Parachute Division, serving as its nucleus.

## Operational history

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A destroyed convoy from the 6th Regiment being examined by American troops in Normandy, July 1944

In May, the division was sent to Avignon in France, where it became part of the XI Flieger Corps along with the 1st Parachute Division. This Corps served as the reserve for the German 10th Army in Italy.

When the Italian government started to crumble in September, the 2nd Parachute Division was dispatched to Italy. It carried out coastal defense duties near the Tiber estuary. The men moved to Rome in the evening of September 8 and participated in a subsequent operation to capture the Italian Army defeating a large assembly of infantry and armoured troops that in Porta San Paolo tried to stop them. The 1st Battalion of the 2nd Parachute Regiment participated in the capture of Leros Island in the Dodecanese. The island was then still occupied by Italian forces supplemented by British units following the surrender of Italy. By November 16, the island was retaken by German forces.

In October 1943, the division was deployed to the Eastern Front in the Soviet Union and was subordinated to the 42nd Army Corps, west of Kiev. On December 15, the division was airlifted south toward Kirovograd to contain a Soviet breakout. A German counter-attack then commenced against heavy opposition. By December 23, the attack faltered and the division returned to the defensive. In January 1944, the division remained on the Eastern Front, successfully opposing the Soviet offensive around Kirovograd. The Soviet advance resumed in March causing the division to retreat behind the Bug River. The division fought its last actions on the Eastern Front in May during a counterattack against a Red Army bridgehead across the Dniestr river. At the end of May the weakened division was pulled from the line and returned to Germany for refit, during which time was supplied with more than 1000 FG 42 automatic rifles as part of a new program to equip the paratrooper divisions, although only the 2nd Parachute Division would have the weapon in large numbers. The division was sent to garrison the northern French area.

During the Allied D-Day landings on June 6, 1944, the 6th Regiment was stationed in the Carentan area of the Cotentin Peninsula, near the US 101st Airborne Division's drop zones. The regiment was heavily engaged in the subsequent battles, including at Saint-Lô. On June 13 the remainder of the division was transferred to Brest in western France. In July, the surviving elements of the 6th Regiment were caught in the Falaise Pocket and destroyed during the Allied advance. By August 9 the remainder of the division was driven back and cut off in the city of Brest, where it surrendered on September 20. A new division was formed by December; it fought in the defense of Germany in January 1945 and ended the war in the Ruhr Pocket in April. Parts of the already depleted division managed to break out from the Ruhr Pocket and was absorbed by the 6th Parachute Division in mid April.

## War crimes

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The division has been implicated in a number of war crimes in Italy[1] between September and October 1943, as follows:[2]

* Rome (16 and 23 September, 7 and 23 October)
* Palidoro (23 September, shooting of Salvo D'Acquisto and 1 October, shooting of 3 civilians)
* Tolfa (10 October, shooting of 12 civilians)
* Mentana (27 October, shooting of 25 civilians and 4 British former prisoners of war)
* Bieda di Vetralla (29 October, shooting of 14 civilians)

## Commanders

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Date  | Commander

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February 2, 1943  | Generalmajor Hermann-Bernhard Ramcke
September 13, 1943  | Generalmajor Walter Barenthin
November 14, 1943  | Generalleutnant Gustav Wilke
March 17, 1944  | Generalmajor Hans Kroh
June 1, 1944  | General Hermann-Bernhard Ramcke
August 11, 1944  | Generalmajor Hans Kroh
November 15, 1944  | Generalleutnant Walter Lackner

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "2. Fallschirm-Jäger-Division" (in Italian). Atlas of Nazi and Fascist Massacres in Italy. Retrieved 20 September 2018.
2. ^ Carlo Gentile, Tinerari di Guerra: La Presenza Delle Truppe Tedsche Nel Lazio Occupato 1943-1944 (PDF) (in Italian), archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-03-04, pages 44–46, [1] and [2]

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Luftwaffe parachute divisions during World War II

* 1st
* 2nd
* 3rd
* 4th
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* 6th
* 7th
* 8th
* 9th
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* 11th
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* 21st
* Erdmann

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Air force ground forces and special forces

Current|

* Special Operations Group
* Airfield Defence Guards
* B Flight Combat Control Team (CCT), No. 4 Squadron RAAF
* Para-SAR
*     * Agrupación Antisecuestros Aéreos
* Comandos de Aviación
* PLAAF Airborne Corps
* Fusiliers Commandos de l'Air
* German Air Force Regiment
*     * 31st Search and Rescue Operations Squadron
* Hellenic Air Force Police
* Garud Commando Force
*     * Bravo Detachment 90
* Kopasgat
*     * Yehidat Shaldag
* Unit 669
* 17º Stormo Incursori
* RMAF Regiment
* RNZAF Security Forces
* Special Service Wing
* 710th Special Operations Wing
* Polícia Aérea
* Sri Lanka Air Force Regiment
* Swedish Air Force Rangers
* Parachute Reconnaissance Company 17
*     * RTAF Security Force Command
* Special Operations Regiment
* Combat Search and Rescue
* RAF Regiment
*     * USAF Security Forces
* USAF Air Support Operations Squadrons
* USAF Special Tactics Squadrons

Defunct|

*     * Fallschirmjäger
* Luftwaffe Field Divisions
* Royal Air Force Commandos
* Unit 684

* v
* t
* e

Nazi war crimes in Italy

Massacres|

| 1943|

* Boves
* Lake Maggiore
* Caiazzo
* Pisino
* Pietransieri

|

1944|

* Monchio, Susano and Costrignano
* Ardeatine
* Ameglia
* Fragheto
* Vallucciole
* Lipa
* Capistrello
* Guardistallo
* Piazza Tasso
* Piavola
* Sant'Anna di Stazzema
* San Terenzo Monti
* Padule di Fucecchio
* Vinca
* San Leonardo al Frigido
* Certosa di Farneta
* Marzabotto

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1945|

* San Martino di Lupari

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Perpetrators|

| Individuals|

* Heinrich Andergassen
* Friedrich Boßhammer
* Eduard Crasemann
* Theodor Dannecker
* Anton Dostler
* Friedrich Engel
* Karl Hass
* Herbert Kappler
* Albert Kesselring
* Eberhard von Mackensen
* Kurt Mälzer
* Erich Priebke
* Walter Rauff
* Walter Reder
* Theo Saevecke
* Josef Scheungraber
* Michael Seifert
* Max Simon
* Gerhard Sommer
* Karl Titho

|

Units|

| Waffen-SS|

* SS Division Leibstandarte
* SS Division Reichsführer-SS
* SS Volunteer Karstwehr Battalion

|

Army|

* 3rd Panzergrenadier Division
* 5th Mountain Division
* 15th Panzergrenadier Division
* 16th Panzer-Division
* 26th Panzer Division
* 29th Panzergrenadier Division
* 34th Infantry Division
* 42nd Jäger Division
* 44th Infantry Division
* 65th Infantry Division
* 71st Infantry Division
* 90th Panzergrenadier Division
* 92nd Infantry Division
* 94th Infantry Division
* 114th Jäger Division
* 148th Infantry Division
* 162nd Turkoman Division
* 232nd Infantry Division
* 278th Infantry Division
* 305th Infantry Division
* 334th Infantry Division
* 356th Infantry Division
* 362nd Infantry Division

|

Luftwaffe|

* 1st Parachute Division
* 1st Fallschirm-Panzer Division
* 2nd Parachute Division
* 4th Parachute Division
* 19th Luftwaffe Field Division
* 20th Luftwaffe Field Division

|

SS Police|

* SS Police Regiment Alpine Foothills
* SS Police Regiment Bozen
* SS Police Regiment Schlanders
* 12th SS Police Regiment
* 15th SS Police Regiment
* 20th SS Police Regiment

|

Italian|

* Republican Police Corps
* Italian Black Brigades
* 2nd Division "Littorio"
* 3rd Division "San Marco"
* 4th Division "Monterosa"

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Doctrine|

* Bandenbekämpfung

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Victims|

| Groups|

* Italian Jews
* Libyan Jews
* Italian military internees

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Individuals|

* Leonardo de Benedetti
* Einstein family
* Giovanni Fornasini
* Maurizio Giglio
* Roderick Stephen Hall
* Primo Levi
* Ettore Ovazza

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Camps|

* Bolzano
* Borgo San Dalmazzo
* Fossoli
* Risiera di San Sabba

Looting|

* Biblioteca della Comunità Israelitica
* Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florenz

Post-war|

* Togliatti amnesty
* Palazzo Cesi-Gaddi war crimes archive
* Bilateral Compensation Agreement
* Jurisdictional Immunities of the State

See also: The Holocaust in Italy

Authority control databases

International|

* VIAF

National|

* Germany

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