II Fallschirm-Korps
Formed in France in late 1943 from Division Meindl(**). The Korpsraised and trained 3rd and 5th Fallschirmjaeger Division. The Korps wasvirtually destroyed in the Falaise Pocket in 1944. The Korps was rebuiltand attached to 1st Fallschirm-Armee for the rest of the war.CommanderLieutenant-General Eugen Meindl Organic Korps UnitsFallschirm-Artillerie-Kommandeur 12, from 2.45 The above numbered units were later changed to be numbered 12. Served under the following headquarters:
The following divisions served under the korps during the war:
Replacement troops were provided by Fallschirm-Jäger-Ersatz-Bataillon2. (**) Eugen Meindl was a Heer artillery officer of the Gebirgsjager forceswhotransferred to the Luftwaffe parachute arm in 1940. While still an Armyofficer, he jumped, sans formal parachute training, into Narvik, Norway in1940. Meindl commanded the Assault Regiment in Crete, where he wasseriously wounded, and on The Eastern Front. In 1942 he formed an ad hoc unit(“Division Meindl”) from various Luftwaffe ground units already present on TheEastern Front. The Division was staffed by experienced Airborne officersfrom the Headquarters of the Assault Regiment and the Division won a mentionin dispatches. Later, as commander of XIII Flieger-Korps, Meindl was assignedthe task of supervising the formation of the Luftwaffe field divisions.Major-General Petersen, a former commander of the 7th Flieger Division, wasthe Luftwaffe Field Division Inspector. After the divisions were raised,Meindl’s Headquarters became II Fallschirm-Korps in late 1943. Thebulk of theunits of the former Division Meindl became the 21st Luftwaffe field Division.Meindl commanded the II Fallschrim-Korps against the Allies in Normandy, Holla!and the defense of Germany until the end of the war. |