LWFD Photo Albums

[W Petz]

Second Photo

[W Petz]

Hi Greg,

The only other pics I ever saw were pertaining to the planned invasion of England. Thanks for viewing. Bill

[Gareth Collins]

An update, it has infact been put forward, on the other site, that the coast is infact the Black Sea not baltic, the unit belongs to 5. LFD and the general is Sigismund von Foerster

[W Petz]

Gareth,

Thanks for obtaining the information from the other site. I'll make note of the information and place it in the first album. I will probably post some more pics from the remaining three photo albums. One unique thing I've noticed about this unit is that many of the men are wearing FJ Jump trousers and the officers are wearing cords on their M43 caps. Thanks again!! Cheers! - Bill

[Elwyn]

The plot thickens! If we are now goign to the Crimea!!

First of all, Bill, I am located in now what is called WestVa (West of Varick) or Woho (West Soho) in Manhattan. Hells Kitchen is now mostly chic kitchen, not much hell left!!


Hmmmm.... thanks to Vienna, the best spotter of generals ( and btw Denis, the best spotter of anything but generals ) and Oberstab Dieter, it seems like we are going all the way from the Baltic to the Crimea ( but how about my flak sign??).... which is why I think the GFM was von Kleist and not von Kluge. von Kluge had a car accident and was out of action until 1944 whilst von Kleist was Kmdr, Arny Gr A.... Crimea.

That brings in Gareth... the Luftwaffe expert
Schmidt/Thies/Wegmann/Zweng listed Hans Bruno Schultz-Heyn and Botho Graf von Huelsen as commanders of 5 LF Div.

Gareth showed a GenMj Hans Jochen von Arnim also in his website.

More info to go from here?

Cheers
Elwyn

[Akira Takiguchi]

Bill and Jason, thank you for sharing these extremely interesting photographs.

Have never seen the divisional sign #46, I hope you are approaching the answer from various evidences.

What appears to be very, very close to the sign of Gen.Kdo. Flakkorps I (#32) is also interesting, because apparently it is from 1943 or later... Schmitz/Thies says that it was in use from 1939 to 1941. Possibly the sign is from another unit... Oak leaf is a very common element of Truppenkennzeichen, wild guess is "not good for your health".

[W Petz]

Elwyn,

The Crimea it is!! I have more albums to post so maybe someone will be able to identify the Commander of the Unit.

West Soho?? never heard of it!! I haven't been to the city since my Teenage years. My Dad was a supervisor in the Mail dept of Grand Central Station before the big Fire!!!

Some Great information coming out thanks to Gareth and the other web members!! I will post some more photos in a few days and maybe some more information will come to light. Thanks to all who provided this information.


Akira,

Thanks for you kind compliment. Jason is doing the search for the identity of the Divisional signs. I believe they belonged to personnel of a Flak unit within the 5th LWFD. Gareth provided information that this unit was located in the Crimea and not the Baltic coast as first thought so we can definitely eliminate the possibility that it was either the 9th or 10th LWFD's. Bill

[Jason von Z.]

I totally forgot that the 5. Lw.Felddivision served on the coast of the Black Sea! When it comes to unit symbols Akira is the expert, but hopefully I will be able to turn something up in my search over the next few days! Unfortunately, I don't have too many photos from the 5. Lw.Felddivision, mostly just a small grouping from a 5.0cm Pak crew. Oh, and this one, a nice photo of the assault gun battery of the 5. Lw.F.D.

I will be visiting the National Archives at the end of the month for some further research on the Lw.Felddivisionen. I was going to be researching the divisions that served in the northern sector, but I will see if I can find anything on the 5. Lw.F.D. that mentions this beach assault training. I will also try to look through some documents I have already copied on the 5. Lw.F.D. and see if there is anything.
Jason

Sturmgeschütz-Batterie der 5. Luftwaffen-Felddivision 1943

[Elwyn]

The officer to the right of von Kliest was neither Luftwaffe GenMj Hans Jochen von Arnim nor Heer GenLt Botho Graf von Huelsen. Does anyone know what Luftwaffe Obst Hans Bruno Schulz-Heyn look like? I believe he was with JG 51 before.


Bill, Woho was probably part of the Hudson before you left NYC

Cheers
Elwyn

[Elwyn]

Is it my imagination or was the unit sign on the motorcycle sidecar (#46) same as that at the back of the Stug (#68)??

Cheers
Elwyn

[W Petz]

Jason,

That would be great if you can turn up with more information out of the National Archives. Good Luck!

Elwyn,

I believe you are right....good eye!!!

Hey Jason!!! did you realize that you unknowingly contributed to possibly identifying the unit of the 5th LWFD???? I can almost bet that the Sturmgeschutz that took part in the beach landings was part of the very same unit. The Sturmgeschutz Batterie of the 5th LWFD. WoHoo!!!!!! I mean Yeeehaaaww!!! Bill

[Gareth Collins]

Here is info I've compiled on a few of the named officers;

http://www.geocities.com/~orion47/WE...SIGISMUND.html

http://www.geocities.com/~orion47/WE...SEN_BOTHO.html

http://www.geocities.com/~orion47/WE...IST_EWALD.html

The 5. Luftwaffe-Feld-Division consisted of;

Luftwaffen-Jäger-Regiment 9
Luftwaffen-Jäger-Regiment 10
Panzer-Jäger-Abteilung Luftwaffen-Feld-Division 5
Luftwaffen-Artillerie-Regiment 5
Pionier-Kompanie Luftwaffen-Feld-Division 5
Luftnachrichten-Kompanie Luftwaffen-Feld-Division 5
Kommandeur der Nachschubtruppen Luftwaffen-Feld-Division 5


It was formed in Groß-Born in October 1942 under Luftgau III, transported by rail to the Crimea on November 1942 & was almost completely destroyed in a retreat from Melitopol in November 1943, then disbanded (although it was reformed again under Heeren control as 5. Feld-Division (L) in March 1944).

From December 1942 to January 1942 it served under XXXXII. Armeekorps of Heeregruppe A on the Crimea, then from January 1943 to February 1943 it was in Reserve with 1. Panzerarmee in the Caucasus. February 1943-April 1943 was served under V. Armeekorps then XXXXIV. Armeekorps & lastly LII. Armeekorps of 17. Armee on the Cuban Peninsula. May to September 1943 under the Commander of the Kerch Straight/Heeregruppe A on Crimea (which is most probably when these photographs were taken, Sigismund von Foerster was CO of the Kerch Straight at this time & 5. LFD was directly subordinate to his command) & lastly under IV. Armeekorps then XXIX. Armeekorps of 6. Armee at Melitopol

commanders were;
Generalmajor Hans-Jochem von Arnim (Formation Commander only) - Oct 1942-Nov 1942
Oberst Hans-Bruno Schulz-Heyn - Dec 1942-01 Nov 1943

The Officer in the blown up pic is almost certainly Schulz-Heyn

Hope I helped

Regards
Gareth

PS: I would love permission to use that photgraph of v. Foerster on my site, full credit given to yourself of course. Your decision.

[W Petz]

Gareth,

Great detailed information!! Thanks for searching and posting it all here.

I believe the following LW officer who appears to hold the rank of Generalmajor to be the Commander of this particular unit of the 5th Feld Division (L).

[W Petz]

Here is another pic of this LW Officer....notice the officer cord on his M43 cap.

[W Petz]

One more of this very same LW Officer. These three pics of the Commander came out of Album number 4