3. paradesantní divize [1943-1945]

3. Fallschirm-Jäger-Division

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OKL decided on the basis of the fighting in Italy and previous experience on the construction of two more divisions of parachute hunters. Thus, in the training area around Reims in the fall of 1943, the construction of the 3rd Fallsch.Jäg.D. Its units were formed by volunteers from the existing Luftwaffe field divisions. Major General took command of the division. Heilmann, who was one of the first paratroopers from the beginning of the war.


In April 1944, the division was transferred to western France to the area of the Brest fortress. Meanwhile, the command of the unity was taken over by the genpor. Schimpf, who led the paratroopers to the first fight.
The order for the alarm arrived on June 7 - the day after the Allied landings in Normandy. The division was hastily transferred to the front in Normandy and on June 8 arrived in St. Amand. After a 250-minute walk, she arrived directly at St. Lo, the city that became the focus of the first battles after landing. Together with the 17th SS-PZ.Gren.D. held 3. Fallsch.Jäg.D. protrusion of the queue at Viretal.
The division stood on the left wing of II. Fallsch.Jäg.K., When the 3rd US Army managed to break through the front at Avranches and break through deep into central France. The paratroopers had to expand their front to the west and then southwest.
Commander of the 7th Army SS-Ob.Gruf. Hausser ordered against Hitler's order to persevere at all costs to break the army from the siege at Falaise. 3. Fallsch.Jäg.D. held the front westbound north of Flers. When the order came for a breakthrough, he built II. Fallsch.Jäg.K. three battle groups tasked with breaking through the Allied front between Chambois and Argentan.
Fallsch.Jäg.R. 9. and Fallsch.Jäg.R. 15 managed to break with the support of SS units the position of the allies at Magna. Genpor. Schimpf, who was wounded here, immediately deployed all other units of the division to the breakthrough. Commanding General II. Fallsch.Jäg.K. General der Fallsch.Tr. Meindl placed the severely wounded commander of the 7th Army in the care of paratroopers and rescued him.
Then the whole II. Fallsch.Jäg.K transferred for refreshment to the area of Cologne and then was included in September in the newly formed 1st Fallsch.Armee. The parachute army was deployed to defend the area between Antwerp and the Albert Canal in Belgium.
3. Fallsch.Jäg.D. got back into combat during the Allied Operation Market Garden on September 17, 1944, when it was deployed after crossing the Rhine north of Emmerich and in the area between the Rhine and the Waal, where it successfully intervened against Allied attacks.
Here, too, the battle group returned to the division, which was set aside to support the 5th Pz. Armee order together with units from the 5th Fallsch.Jäg.D., One Pz.Gren.R. and two infantry regiments closed the gap in the front between the cities of Nancy and Lunéville. The commander of this combat group was Captain Milch, commander of the test parachute battalion of grenade launchers.
During further retreat operations on the borders of the empire from October 1944, the divisions fought in the area of Merode and Jüngerdorf in the district of Düren/Neiderrhein. Then came the order to move.
3. Fallsch.Jäg.D. now under the command of Major General. Wadehna, was deployed next to the 5th Fallsch.Jäg.D. to the offensive Wacht am Rhein (Battle of the Ardennes). The divisions stood on the right wing of the 6th SS-Pz.Armee, which fought in the center of gravity of the attack. The paratroopers were subject to the I. SS-Pz. Corps - The division moved to its starting positions southwest of Elsenborn in heavy snow.
After the initial artillery fire, the oncoming paratroopers found that the fire did not damage the enemy positions much. After only a few minutes, they suffered bitter losses in defensive fire. On the second day of fighting, he led the paratroopers to the Lanzerath area, south of the great Elsenborn military training ground. Then the attack stalled. Thanks to that, 3. Fallsch.Jäg.D. got the farthest of all infantry units, the 1st SS Tank Regiment was deployed here with the latest Tiger tanks and broke through the division's enemy positions to advance. On the third day of the fighting was to the right of the 3rd Fallsch.Jäg.D. deployed the 12th SS-PD and struck towards Krinkelt. Therefore, the advance of parachute regiments turned northwest to prevent the possibility of an Allied breakthrough. Losses rose to extreme heights.
At Christmas 1944, the 3rd Fallsch.Jäg.D. southwest of Malmedy in the fight against the 30th US Division. It exhausted the last forces of the division. In January 1945, a retreat took place, which led the division through the Eifel (Losheimer Graben and Lissendorf) to the area east of Bonn. He then continued to retreat until the division fell into the siege with the entire Heeresgruppe B in the Ruhr Cauldron.
The division's last radio report to the Army High Command came on April 15, 1945, from the Marienheide area: "We're leaving!"