Luftwaffe From Fighter Squadron to Fallschirmjäger- Feldgendarmerie

[Gordon Williamson]

This Luftwaffe NCO had an interesting career. His Soldbuch has the olive coloured rather than blue cover.

[Gordon Williamson]

He joined the Luftwaffe, serving initially in signals.

[Gordon Williamson]

His Soldbuch starts in 1939. He served from day one of WW2 right through to the bitter end.

[Gordon Williamson]

Served with the famed JG51 "Mölders"

[Gordon Williamson]

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[Gordon Williamson]

Seems to have been a good enough soldier, getting a "very good" conduct report.

[Gordon Williamson]

Nice Luftwaffe version of the Sudeten Medal document.

[Gordon Williamson]

Got the KVK2

[Gordon Williamson]

Promoted Feldwebel in 1943

[Gordon Williamson]

Presumably one of the surplus personnel towards the end when flying operations were curtailed, his last posting is to the Feldgendarmerie.

[Gordon Williamson]

Where he is wounded in action and awarded the Black Wound Badge.

[Gordon Williamson]

But he is one of the lucky ones and survives the Götterdammerung and is released from captivity quite early, a few months after the war ends.

[JoeW]

Interesting. He managed to avoid injury in combat in the air, but within a month of being on the ground with the Feldgendarmerie, he took at hit. Are you able to track where the Feldgendarme Abtlg. was stationed?

[Gordon Williamson]

Hi Joe,

He would have been ground crew rather than aircrew with JG51, so no real surprise that he avoided injury.

Interesting that the person making out the award doc for the wound badge transposed two of the numerals. On the doc it reads Fg Trupp 468 . In actual fact it is Fg Trupp 648 (see entry in Soldbuch). This was the Feldgendarmerie Trupp for 3 Fallschirmjäger Division. This unit was involved in the Ardennes Offinsive so given the date, this guy looks to have been wounded during the Battle of the Bulge. Only just received these, and I haven't had the chance yet to research exactly where 3 Fallschirm Division was on this date, but will be studying some references tonight.

[spanferkel]

Gordon very nice group.

I've never been a huge fan of LW ground personnel groups (why I can't really say because these guys did some heavy lifting for the LW) but this one is a notable exception. Really interesting history and awards grouping.

As a sidebar I have seen groups to ground personnel who while serving with front line Geschwaders were wounded from attacks on their bases. None that I own regrettably.

Very nice!!!

Jeremy

[hucks216]

Possible interesting date on the Wound Badge citation. Is there any mention on the Lazarett pages of the soldbuch to show what his injury was? I'm just curious as the date on the citation for the mans wounding is 23rd December 1944 and I believe this was the first day of clear skies since the start of the German offensive which allowed the Allied aircraft to take off and play a part so I was just wondering if he was wounded by some form of air attack.(I've also posted this question on GCA for the Wound Badge citation).

[Gordon Williamson]

Hi Kevin,

The corresponding Soldbuch entry shows him entering the same Luftwaffe hospital that issued the WB doc, on 30 December. However the injury is a rather generic "Granatesplitter". Shrapnel could have come from just about anything, - a grenade, shell or possibly from a rocket projectile from an aircraft. I believe both the P-47 and P-51 carried rockets for tank hunting, and 3 Fallschirm Div was operating with 1 SS-Panzerkorps (these being the Paras you see on wartime photos riding on Peiper's King Tigers).

[hucks216]

Pity it is such a wide ranging entry. The P-47 & P-51 did carry rockets (I believe 3 under each wing), as did the Typhoon with 4 under each wing (and sometimes 6).