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In January 1943 the OKW decided to raise a second élite German Fallschirmjäger division. The formation commenced in March and would include the veteran 2nd Fallschirmjäger Regiment, recently detached from the 1st Fallschirmjäger division. The division would also incorporate troops from the remnants of several other airborne units that had suffered heavy losses in recent battles. By May the division was still being raised when it was dispatched to Avignon France. There it become part of the XI Flieger Corps along with the 1st Fallschirmjäger Division. This Corps was to serve as the reserve for the German Tenth Army in Italy. When the Italian government started to crumble in September, the 2nd Parachute Division was dispatched to Italy. It took coast guard duties near the Tiber estuary. They moved to Rome on September 9th and participated in a subsequent operation to disarm the surrendering Italian army. Within a day the city was under control and the Division quickly quelled the burgeoning resistance. The 1st Battalion of the 2nd Fallschirmjäger Regiment participated in the recapture of Leros Island in the Dodecanese. The island had recently been taken by the British following the surrender of Italy. By November 16th the battle was won and the island retaken by German forces. Meanwhile, in October, the 2nd Fallschirmjäger Division was deployed to the eastern front in Russia. By November 27th the division came under the command of the German 42nd Corps, west of Kiev, and joined the effort to stem the tide of the Soviet advance. The division fought a succession of intense battles before the advance was finally halted. On December 15 the division was airlifted south toward Kirovgrad to contain another Russian breakout. A German counter-attack then commenced against heavy opposition. By December 23rd the attack had been stymied and the Division returned to the defensive. In January 1944, the 2nd Fallschirmjager Division remained on the eastern front, fighting defensive actions against the Russian offensive around Kirovograd. The Russian advance resumed in March and the Division was forced into withdrawal by an armored flanking attack. By the end of the month the Division had withdrawn behind the Bug river. |
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The Division fought its last actions on the eastern front in May during a counterattack against a Russian bridgehead across the Dniestr river. At the end of May the much-weakened division was pulled from the line and returned to Germany for some much-needed recuperation. During the allied D-Day landing on June 6th, 1944, the 6th Regiment was stationed in the Carentan area of the Cotentin Peninsula, near the drop zones of the US 101st Airborne Division. The regiment was heavily engaged in the subsequent battles, including defending Saint-Lô. On June 13th the remainder of the Division departed from the Cologne area for Brest in western France. The division had not fully recovered its strength from the battles in the east, but the situation could not wait. They began to arrive in Brittany on June 19th, but did not complete their concentration before July. In July the surviving remnants of the 6th regiment were caught in the Falaise pocket and destroyed during the allied advance. By August 9 the remainder of the 2nd Parachute division was driven back and cut off in the city of Brest. There they remained until they surrendered on September 20. This ended the history of the original division. Only a few remnants survived to withdraw toward Germany. A new division began forming in Amersfoort, the Netherlands by September, and by December it was combat ready. The new division consisted of the 2nd, 7th, and 23rd Fallschirmjager Regiments. It fought in the defense of Germany in January 1945 and ended the war in the Ruhr pocket in April. |
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Commanders of the 2nd Parachute Division: February 2, 1943 - Major-General Hermann-Bernhard
Ramcke |
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