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In this long-awaited study of the deployment of paratroopers and Luftwaffe combat riflemen at Stalingrad, the full history of the Special Purpose Fallschirmjäger & Luftwaffe Rifle Battalion is examined in detail, from its formation during the winter crisis of 1941-1942 until its demise at Stalingrad.
Once the 6th Army crossed the Don River in late August 1942, the effects of a long summer campaign began to show: lengthening lines could not be properly secured by weakened formations. In stepped Generaloberst Wolfram Freiherr von Richthofen, the abrasive commander of Luftflotte 4 and ground warfare dilettante, who proposed the insertion of Luftwaffe ground troops. Just a few days later, Schützen-Bataillon der Luftwaffe z.b.V. (Special Purpose Rifle Battalion of the Luftwaffe), bolstered by a Fallschirmjäger company, was air-transported to the Stalingrad sector and immediately committed to the southern wing of LI. Armeekorps as it advanced towards the city centre.
Although this Luftwaffe battalion would fight at Stalingrad for five full months, its deeds have all but vanished, barely leaving a trace in 6th Army records. The commitment of these Luftwaffe riflemen and paratroopers deserves to be told in full. The Fallschirmjäger company was the only one of its type in existence: its platoons were equipped with 5cm anti-tank guns and 2cm anti-aircraft guns. Abandoned by their Luftwaffe masters in the chaos that followed the closure of the Stalingrad pocket, the riflemen and paratroopers were absorbed by 94. Infanterie-Division and fought ably until the very end.
The painstaking search and acquisition of any source of information pertaining to this enigmatic unit, most notably its casualty reports, has permitted the life and death of the battalion to be analysed in detail for the first time. The narrative is enhanced by many rare photos laboriously assembled from government archives, private collections, and the families of the fallen.
• 210 x 157 portrait format
• 412 pages on high-quality gloss paper
• Hardcover only
• 171 photos
• 61 maps
• 9 aerial photos
• 7 tables
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