1st Parachute Army (Germany)

The German 1st Parachute Army was formed in September 1944 to consolidate the various Luftwaffe Fallschirmjäger-Units and the Luftwaffe Field Division. It was tasked to defend the a 60 mile stretch of the Low Countries between Antwerp and Maastricht with a force of just over 3,000 men.

Its first commander was Colonel General Kurt Student, the Wehrmacht's airborne pioneer. During the Allied Operation Market Garden, Student's men played a vital role in delaying the Allied advance across the south of the Netherlands. The 3,000 paratroopers were likely the only combat-ready reserve forces in Germany at the time [Ryan, Cornelius "A Bridge Too Far". 1974. p. 49] .

Student was transferred to the Eastern Front, and on 18 November 1944, command of the First Parachute Army passed to General Alfred Schlemm, who opposed the Canadian First Army during the Battle of the Reichswald. Schlemm's troops were a motley but effective collection of under-strength infantry divisions and battle groups entrenched in the West Wall (Siegfried Line). Schlemm disagreed with the current view that the next Allied attack would be further south and ensured that his troops built formidable defences.

The Canadian First Army and Lieutenant-General William Hood Simpson’s U.S. Ninth Army compressed Schlemm’s forces into a small bridgehead on the west bank of the Rhine opposite Wesel. On 10 March 1945, the rearguard of the 1st Fallschirm-Armee evacuated their bridgehead, destroying the bridge behind them, and Schlemm prepared to meet the inevitable Allied crossing of the river. Schlemm was wounded in an air attack on his command post at Haltern eleven days later and on 20 March 1945, command passed to General der Infanterie Günther Blumentritt.

Just before Operation Varsity, First Parachute Army had three corps stationed along the river; 2 Parachute Corps to the north, 86 Corps in the centre, and 63 Corps in the south. [ Otway, Lieutenant-Colonel T.B.H (1990). The Second World War 1939-1945 Army - Airborne Forces. Imperial War Museum. ISBN 0-90162-75-77, p. 298] Of these formations, 2 Parachute Corps and 86 Corps had a shared boundary which ran through the proposed landing-zones for the Allied airborne divisions, meaning that the leading formation of each corps would face the airborne assault - these being 7 Parachute Division and 84 Infantry Division. [ Otway, p. 299 ] After their retreat to the Rhine both divisions were under-strength and did not number more than 4,000 men each, with 84 Infantry Division supported by only 50 or so medium artillery pieces. [ Otway, p. 299 ]

In the final days of the war, command passed once more to Student (10 April) and finally to Erich Straube.

ubunits

* German 1st Parachute Corps
* German 2nd Parachute Corps
* 86th Corps

Notes