Fallschirmjäger
Paratrooper branch of the Luftwaffe (Air force of Nazi Germany)
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Key Takeaways
- The Fallschirmjäger ( German: [ˈfalʃɪʁmˌjɛːɡɐ] ) were the airborne forces branch of the Luftwaffe before and during World War II.
- They were commanded by Kurt Student, the Luftwaffe's second-in-command.
- The idea of aerially inserting a large body of troops inside enemy territory was proposed during World War I by Brigadier General Billy Mitchell, commander of the U.
- However, the Entente High Command was forced to abandon the idea, as it was unprepared for such an undertaking, both logistically and in materiel.
- The first effective means of supporting massed infantry airborne operations came with the development of the static-line parachute in Italy in 1922 whereby parachutes are attached to the inside of the aircraft and deployed automatically upon departure.
The Fallschirmjäger (German: [ˈfalʃɪʁmˌjɛːɡɐ] ) were the airborne forces branch of the Luftwaffe before and during World War II. They were the first paratroopers to be committed in large-scale airborne operations. They were commanded by Kurt Student, the Luftwaffe's second-in-command.
Between the wars
During the interwar years, the rapid development of aircraft and aviation technology drew the attention of imaginative military planners. The idea of aerially inserting a large body of troops inside enemy territory was proposed during World War I by Brigadier General Billy Mitchell, commander of the U.S. Army Air Corps in France. However, the Entente High Command was forced to abandon the idea, as it was unprepared for such an undertaking, both logistically and in materiel.
Among the first to recognize the potential of airborne forces were Italy and the Soviet Union. The first effective means of supporting massed infantry airborne operations came with the development of the static-line parachute in Italy in 1922 whereby parachutes are attached to the inside of the aircraft and deployed automatically upon departure. This technique used in the German static line "Rückenfallschirm Zwangsauslösung" (backpack parachute static line) rig allowed jumps at lower altitudes, limiting exposure to enemy fire and providing a tighter drop zone grouping than individually deployed rip-cord type parachutes. The word Fallschirmjäger is from the German Fallschirm "parachute", and Jäger "hunter", the light infantry of the Prussian Army.
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