Silent

Without subtitles

24:00 Min.

 

On September 17, 1942, the OdL Hermann Göring issued the order for the formation of 20 Luftwaffe field divisions under the command of the XIIth Air Corps. While officers were to volunteer, non-commissioned officers and men were partly taken over from existing units. The personnel were provided by the flying units, the training units of the anti-aircraft artillery, the air communications troops and the Luftwaffe construction troops. The flying units were formed into Luftwaffe fighter regiments, the anti-aircraft artillery became the Luftwaffe artillery regiments and the anti-aircraft divisions, the air communications troops became Luftwaffe communications divisions and the Luftwaffe construction troops became Luftwaffe engineer battalions. Their officers, up to the division commander, also came from the Luftwaffe and had no infantry experience. They were to receive this in a short tactical and leadership training course for infantry operations. The non-commissioned officers and men were only briefly trained after being unloaded behind the front.

 

The 21st and 22nd LFD are listed here for the sake of completeness. They are not newly formed and inexperienced infantry divisions.

 

The predecessor of the Luftwaffe field divisions was the Luftwaffe Meindl Division, which had been fighting on the Eastern Front since the winter of 1941/42 and was named after its commander, Major General Eugen Meindl.

 

The following overview shows which Luftwaffe field divisions were formed and where the divisions were first deployed.