SS Penal battalion 500/600:Paratroopers

[mightythor99]

"alles in ordnung".................everything must be in order!!
thats' what it means..................
all silverware must be in the proper place, furniture lined up with the correct "holes" in the carpet,...............
everything has it's own place.
they are very organized and disiplined people. it is beaten into them early in life, and follows through throughout their entire life.

[Annelie]

"alles in ordnung".................everything must be in order!!
thats' what it means..................

Ah, I see. I perscribe to this way also

[Paddy Keating]

So do I...and I am only a little bit German.

PK

[Paddy Keating]

Hi Paddy,

I belatedly caught your earlier reference to the cancelled drop on the Aaland Islands by SS-Fallschirmjaeger Battlion 500 in June 1944.

My information was that it was "600" rather "500" that was slated for this operation. The fact that "500" had been rendered effectively hors de combat during the raid on Tito in May tended to reinforce this impression.

I don't know where this information came from. It must be quite an old source. SS-FJ-Btl 500 was withdrawn to Laibach (Ljubljana) after Drvar and the subsequent anti-terrorist sweeps in the outlying areas and was rebuilt with men from the Feldausbildungs-Kompanie, which had been held in reserve, and new recruits from external sources. That said, parachute training had come to a grinding halt by then so there wouldn't have been more than two or three-hundred trained paratroopers available for the proposed jump on Aaland, alongside Fallschirmjäger-Btl "Brandenburg". "Tanne" did indeed include a seaborne element. In fact, the operation, as proposed, was not dissimilar to Operation "Taifun", sometimes referred to as "Leopard", the capture of Leros the previous November.

SS-FJ-Btl 600 was not formed until October/November 1944.

PK

[sid guttridge]

Hi Paddy,

If I remember rightly, the source was from the KTB des OKW. The units devoted to the plan were replaced regularly during mid 1944 as each succeeding crisis elsewhere drew them off. I will double check, but as this is your area of expertise I would advise others to go with your interpretation unless I come back with something substantive.

Cheers,

Sid.

[Paddy Keating]

It's not an "interpretation", Sid. It is a matter of fact that SS-FJ-Btl 600 was ordered formed in late September 1944 and duly formed up at Neu-Strelitz during the months of October, November and December 1944. SS-FJ-Btl 500 ceased to exist in October 1944, with the Feldausbildungs-Kp becoming 1./SS-Fallschirmjäger-Btl 600 and the relative handful of survivors from the rifle and support companies being distributed through the new battalion as cadre, to help give it an identity and sense of purpose.

Rgds,

PK

[sid guttridge]

Hi Paddy,

OK. I will double check but, as this is your area of expertise, I would advise others to go with your "matter of fact" unless I come back with something substantive.

Cheers,

Sid.

[Paddy Keating]

You asked for a clarification. I clarified.

Cheers,

PK

[sid guttridge]

Hi Paddy,

Thanks.

Sid.

[Paddy Keating]

Sid,

I'll always buy you a beer, man. Even if we disagree on various issues. At least you mean it.

Respect,

PK

[airborne medic]

I cant see any of the pictures posted by paddy! Can anyone help? or send me some pics of the ss troops he talks about?

[panzermahn]

Hi Paddy,

Jonathan Steinberg's book All or Nothing mentioned that there was a parachute jump made by the Germans (and the Austrian colonel General Lothar Rendulic made a parachute jump in that operation) in Tirana, Albania 1943 at the headquarters of the Italian Army Group East to arrest and disarmed the Italians after the capitulation by Badoglio

Do you know the German unit involved in this parachute jump?

Thanks
Panzermahn

[Paddy Keating]

I cant see any of the pictures posted by paddy! Can anyone help? or send me some pics of the ss troops he talks about?

This is why I rarely post photos these days: http://www.feldpost.tv/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1103

PK

[Paddy Keating]

I don't think General Lothar Rendulic made a parachute descent at any time. The only WW1 veteran I can think of who qualified as a Fallschirmjäger was Richard Heidrich, CO of the Heer's Fallschirm-Infanterie-Bataillon. I haven't heard of a parachute landing in Tirana. I was not aware of any serious attempt made to relieve German forces there in November 1944. That said, it's not a subject I have studied closely. I believe that some elements from SS-Fallschirmjäger-Btl 500 were in Albania in the early spring of 1944. The only German parachute operation of which I am aware around the turn of 1944/1945 was the drop in the Ardennes.

PK

[panzermahn]

I don't think General Lothar Rendulic made a parachute descent at any time. The only WW1 veteran I can think of who qualified as a Fallschirmjäger was Richard Heidrich, CO of the Heer's Fallschirm-Infanterie-Bataillon. I haven't heard of a parachute landing in Tirana. I was not aware of any serious attempt made to relieve German forces there in November 1944. That said, it's not a subject I have studied closely. I believe that some elements from SS-Fallschirmjäger-Btl 500 were in Albania in the early spring of 1944. The only German parachute operation of which I am aware around the turn of 1944/1945 was the drop in the Ardennes.

PK

Hi Paddy,

I was mistaken about the German parachute jump at Albania. It was at Greece at the HQ of the Italian 11th Army.

The only thing Professor Steinberg mentioned was, the colonel-general jumped together with a paratroop company at the headquarters of the Italian 11th Army at Greece and arrested the commanding Italian general and his command staff.

My earlier post at http://www.feldgrau.net/phpBB2/viewtopi ... &start=105

Do you have any idea about the German paratroop company that made this jump?

Regards
Panzermahn