Field Divison to FJ

[dragon25]

When the Field Division troops were brought in to the FJ units did they keep their green tabs and boards, uniforms, helmets, or did they get issued with the FJ stuff. Maybe a mix of both uniforms? What was the deal?
Thanks;
Christian

[J Melvin]

I am not aware of any field divisions being incorporated into the FJ. In fact, the 21 field divisions were actually absorbed by the Heer in early '43. That's where it starts getting tricky.

[moranimal]

It was in October 1943 ...

... that the Luftwaffe Field Divisions - still remaining - were transferred to Heer control. During this time, they lost their instrinsic 88 batteries, but were organized more along the lines of a 1944 infanterie divisionen TO&E. They also gained additional NCO and officers to add more experience.

When originally created, FJ personnel were allowed to join the LFD. This generally also came with an improvement in rank. The hope was to make these units more combat effective, but except for the 5 and 12 FJD (as I remember), these units were for the most part very ineffective. (But you probably already know this.)

[Willi Z.]

I agree that the Luftwaffe Field Divisions were transferred to Heer control in late '43. We know that members of the 7th Flieger Division and Sturm Regiment formed the initial Feild Divisions in 1942. Most late-war FJ units were formed from Flak, Signal and Flight personnel. And, we all know of that famous photo depicting Rommel inspecting Luft troops on the Normandy front. Troops who were wearing textbook Field Division uniforms. My question is to how long they continued to wear Luftwaffe uniforms?

Willi

[moranimal]

Ragged bunch

From a re-enactor site and some reading I've done, when the LFD were transferred to Heer control, they began to receive suitable replacement clothing. So, you would see a mixture of Luftwaffe and Heer equipment and uniforms on the troops. As generally pants wore out first, you would have Luftwaffe field or camouflage tunics with Feld Grau pants, or even vice versa. The anklets would be of varying colors as well. Naturally as time went by, the men became to look more and more like regular Heer troops, although service and maintenance personnel would tend to have the most original Luftwaffe equipment remaining.

[moranimal]

To help on this matter ...

... one of the two re-enactor sites is gone apparently, but the other is at:

http://www.angelfire.com/tn3/luftwaffefeld/index.html

Hope that is of help.

[Willi Z.]

Isn't there a new book on the Luftwaffe Feld Divisionen out now? Something more accurate than others in the past?

Willi

[J Melvin]

A new book came out about a year ago called Goring's Grenadiers. It is available from Axis Europa. A good book, but I do not trust all of the photo references.

Willi, your question about kit is an important one (especially in the reenacting of the field division soldier). The more that I research it, the more that I believe that most replacement equipment for the divisions came from the Heer after the incorporation into their ranks. If you look at the first photo on my webpage (Bill posted the link above), the interesting thing about it is that the first man is wearing a Heer helmet (I've got a better shot of the original that confirms the decal better) while they are all wearing what appear to be early field division combat jackets. I think that the photo may be 20.Feld.

All of this being said, friends of mine with contacts to vets of 17.Feld maintain that they were supplied by the Luftwaffe at least until D Day. They were one of the garrison divisions along the French coast. After June, however, their equipment resupply was probably very erratic.

There are elements that were still very Luftwaffe in appearance all the way to the end of the war. However, I believe that many photos that may have been identified as Heer units in France may in reality be parts of the field divisions.

[Chris]

That's the book I was referring to earlier (but couldn't remember the title of), "Goering's Grenadiers." The author says that before (most of) the Felddivisionen were transferred to the army, 10,000 personnel were transferred to Fallschirmjaeger units. I can't vouch for the scholarship in the book, but the transfer of some LWFD personnel from the Crimean Peninsula to FJ units would account, a priori, for the occasional sighting of Krim (or Kuban) shields on paratroopers in 1944-45.

Based on what I know of the FJ replacement system, this would have entailed temporary assignment to an FJ-Ersatz-und-Ausbildungs Abteilung, some indoctrination and training, shots, paperwork/Soldbuch updates, maybe some leave, and then assignment (individually or in small groups) to newly-forming FJ units or as replacements for combat losses to units already in the field. The paperwork for the FD-to-FJ group I have reflects this pattern. The man was sent to jump school in 1944, indicating at least some of the 10,000 were jump trained.