FJ Veteran answers questions

[berliner]

"Hallo, we certainly wore our awards, or rather, I did. And I know that my battalion commander, Major Karl Heinz Becker always wore his Ritterkreuz! He was an amazing Kerl (man). 'Zackig' (Sharp-MK's comment)."

From the last post it had given me an idea.

Did soldiers really wear their awards into combat situations or were they left behind in your packs etc.

We always see pictures of troops wearing the awards on their tunics but were they staged etc or you did really wear them.

If so were you worried about losing them etc, I can imagine crawlling on your stomaches etc would have caused some to have come off.

Sorry if this is a silly question

Craig

[berliner]

"Dear J. von Canon,

Anti-partisan badge: didn't know of it.
Air sickness: I can say that I never got il on board.
About boots; I'm not sure I had to wear my jump boots in the winter. In Normandy, I wore the jumpboots and I was captured between the 18th and 20th of August, 1944, near St. Lambert Sur- Dives. But when I was in Italy in the winter we were at Anzio. And can't remember which we wore.

What I can say was that Anzio was a wet cold. We couldn't dig in properly at some places because it was too wet.
Best, Heinz"

Dear Herr Groenke,
Thank you for your reply to earlier questions.
A few more questions that have come to mind:

How did you find your jump boots to be adequate in cold weather,or snow?
(I think many FJ. must have suffered frozen feet,as did the Americans in the Ardennes fighting,since they are so similar to American parachute boots.)
In other words,did you wear long boots instead of jump boots when possible in cold weather?At least with regular boots one can put on foot rags,unlike jump boots.

I noticed that you fought partizans.
Were FJ. awarded the anti-partizan badge?
The scarcity of photographs with FJ. wearing this particular badge makes me wonder about it.

Did you find,in low altitude parachute jumps,that "air sickness"(vomiting)was a problem?
I've noticed that the low jumps cause the most sickness among paratroops...

Thank you BOTH for this very informative dialogue.
J.v.Canon/J.A.M.

[PaulR]

Thank you for answering our questions.

I have yet a few more...

1. Did you have a medic(sani) in your platoon that was permenantly assigned?

2. What did you think about him?

3. Did the sani carry a weapon? If so, what type of weapon did he carry? Did he ever have to use it?
(As a medic that served in Iraq in 2003-2004, I had a M4 carbine and a
beretta 9mm)

4. What was the proceedure for evacuating wounded men from the front line?

Thank you again.

Warm regards
Paul Reck

[petermac]

If there is enough time could I ask the following?

The original purpose of the FJ was to land by parachute, undertake a specific task and then to move out of the area. After Crete there were no more parachute drops and the FJ was used as mobile infantry, how was transport arranged to move FJ troops? Did you have your own motorised transport or did you use Army trucks for movement and re-supply and how was this arranged.

Thank you very much for this unique opportunity.

Peter

[Willi Z.]

Peter, after Kreta there were still several FJ drops.

Great thread Berliner, thanks for doing this.

[berliner]

Heinz has extended his stay

Hi, I just wanted to say that Heinz will be staying in Berlin longer. He had originally planned on going to different places in Germany, and then to a friend's 100 (yes!) birthday in Norbmandy. (He stayed in the Madame's house when he was working with the RAD.) However, the way it looks, he seems a bit tired for all that.

So the short of it is, there is still time to to ask questions, post comments etc.
Personally I want to ask him more about Major Becker because Heinz's affection and respsect for him is so palpable.
Best
MK

[J.von Canon]

Dear Herr Groenke...

Dear Herr Groenke,
Once again,thanks so much for your answers.
My last question about "air sickness on low jumps" was an appreciation of what discomfort is felt at such low altitude jumping.
Today drammamine (a motion sickness pill) is taken by some jumpers,though,as a jumpmaster(what would have been called a "dispatcher" among FJ.)I never took it because of the sluggish feeling it caused while having to be very alert.
I have a film taken of a FJ.jump and one of the FJ.appears to be throwing up and air sick...
How we all hated the long distance,low altitude jumps!

Another question or two:

When comrades were fallen and buried-were the helmets(often put atop crosses)eventually sent home to the next of kin?
The reason I ask this is that the widow of an SS soldier told me her fallen husbands steel helmet and backpack were sent to her by his unit after his death.
I have never heard of this,except that instance,and was wondering if this may have been something the various SS units may have done,or maybe just a sympathetic comrade.
Ever hear of this in the Luftwaffe?

Can you tell about some FJ. troops wearing the Stahlhelm,rather than the parachute helmet,at the front?
There are so many stories about the mixed helmets being worn that I'm very curious about it.It seems (to me)it was simply nothing more than using which helmets were serviceable or available.Did it have anything to do with being worn by men who were actual parachutists,rather than non-parachute jumper replacements?

One final question:When a soldier needed a replacement Abzeichen-what was the usual method of replacement?Did his unit replace awards or could he purchase badges through a civilian outlet?
What was needed to replace an award;documentation in the Soldbuch?

Thanks again for taking the time to shed some valuable knowledge among people who certainly appreciate it.
John A./"Jochen"

[berliner]

First of all, our apologies for the delays in writing responses. Heinz has been out and about Berlin quite a bit.

But here goes (I'll include things he says which are not directly relevant to the question because it might be nonetheless of interest for others).

"Dear Paul, I think we had a permanent Sani with us. I remember one fellow-I was talking with him and he was specially trained for it.

After the landing, when we had to withdraw--the Americans attacked and suffered heavy losses. They asked us by morse code for one hour to get the wounded.

As far as I remember, the Sani didn't have weapons.

(Evacuating wounded)
We had small kits. But I can't honestly remember getting trained for dealing with wounded.
At Anzio trucks or jeeps with red crosses came in to evacuate our wounded.

Another thing: we had orders never to engage in combat with enemy Sanitaeter.

Interesting to hear about your carbine and 9mm."

Thank you!
Heinz
MK

Thank you for answering our questions.

I have yet a few more...

1. Did you have a medic(sani) in your platoon that was permenantly assigned?


2. What did you think about him?

3. Did the sani carry a weapon? If so, what type of weapon did he carry? Did he ever have to use it?
(As a medic that served in Iraq in 2003-2004, I had a M4 carbine and a
beretta 9mm)

4. What was the proceedure for evacuating wounded men from the front line?

Thank you again.

Warm regards
Paul Reck

[berliner]

'Dear Peter,
We moved with trucks from Pescara on the Adriatic coast to Anzio Netuno.
I don't remember if they were army trucks or not, sorry. (We earlier mentioned that these trucks came under attack from a fighter plane, with two survivors in Heinz's truck).

In France, I used a BMW with a side car. Why? Because I was the battalion commander's 'Melder' (Messenger?-MK). One day I remember I had to bring a message to an infantry battalion or company next to us so there wouldn't be a gap in the lines. Suddenly I saw a JaBo (Jagdbomber) coming...I suddenly stopped, turned around, he tried to shoot me and missed.

We used trucks to go to the airbase in Lyon. We already wrote about the partisan attack on the trucks. They were on a motorbike and in the building nearby (a school or university). The distance of the trucks was 100 meters and the following truck killed the partisans on the motorbike. It was the first time I literally saw blood on the streets.

Thanks much!
Heinz"

If there is enough time could I ask the following?

The original purpose of the FJ was to land by parachute, undertake a specific task and then to move out of the area. After Crete there were no more parachute drops and the FJ was used as mobile infantry, how was transport arranged to move FJ troops? Did you have your own motorised transport or did you use Army trucks for movement and re-supply and how was this arranged.

Thank you very much for this unique opportunity.

Peter

[berliner]

"Dear Jochen,
I am happy to hear from you. Interesting to hear about your low altitude jumps.

Helmets- at Anzio Netuno, as far as I can remember, I never assisted in burying the dead but I did carry dead and wounded soldiers to trucks. This was always in the night. I don't know what happened to the helmets but I have never heard of a helmet being returned to a family.
When my brother Kurt was killed, his private papers and a photo were sent back by a comrade, according to what my family said.

I only wore the Fj helmet with lining. I can't recall if there were exceptions in our unit. And this was for combat that didn't involve jumps that we wore the Fj helmet.
Thanks!"

Dear Herr Groenke,
Once again,thanks so much for your answers.
My last question about "air sickness on low jumps" was an appreciation of what discomfort is felt at such low altitude jumping.
Today drammamine (a motion sickness pill) is taken by some jumpers,though,as a jumpmaster(what would have been called a "dispatcher" among FJ.)I never took it because of the sluggish feeling it caused while having to be very alert.
I have a film taken of a FJ.jump and one of the FJ.appears to be throwing up and air sick...
How we all hated the long distance,low altitude jumps!

Another question or two:

When comrades were fallen and buried-were the helmets(often put atop crosses)eventually sent home to the next of kin?
The reason I ask this is that the widow of an SS soldier told me her fallen husbands steel helmet and backpack were sent to her by his unit after his death.
I have never heard of this,except that instance,and was wondering if this may have been something the various SS units may have done,or maybe just a sympathetic comrade.
Ever hear of this in the Luftwaffe?

Can you tell about some FJ. troops wearing the Stahlhelm,rather than the parachute helmet,at the front?
There are so many stories about the mixed helmets being worn that I'm very curious about it.It seems (to me)it was simply nothing more than using which helmets were serviceable or available.Did it have anything to do with being worn by men who were actual parachutists,rather than non-parachute jumper replacements?

One final question:When a soldier needed a replacement Abzeichen-what was the usual method of replacement?Did his unit replace awards or could he purchase badges through a civilian outlet?
What was needed to replace an award;documentation in the Soldbuch?

Thanks again for taking the time to shed some valuable knowledge among people who certainly appreciate it.
John A./"Jochen"

[PaulR]

Thank you for answering all of my many questions.

Kind regards
Paul Reck

[Bootmanager]

Sanitäter FJ

Howdy ,

Dr. Friedrich August Merk , Reg. Arzt der Falschirmtruppe.
Sollten Sie ihn kennen , habe einige Pers. Dinge in meiner Sammlung.
Unter anderem eine Reg. Geschichte von der Normandie - Sachsen 1945.
Dr. Merk Studierte wohl später in den USA.

Bye fore now

Gruss aus Bayern

[J.von Canon]

Thanks Heinz...

Heinz,
Thank you very much for taking time to answer questions.This has been very interesting and please feel free to add any comments about anything you have mentioned.
Danke.
Jochen/John A.

[Bob Stevens]

Fabulous thread and many thanks to you for your time to share your invaluable memories.

[Luca]

Hi!!

Thanks for sharing these interesting and fascinating memories!
my personal questions are about the fighting near Anzio_Nettuno..

1. Question1:I live in Rome, and I would like to know which was the actual postions where Heinz fought!
2.: some episodesof fighting there he wants to share with us!
3.: which was the activity of partisans theer? did he figh them?

Thanks again