II Fallschirm-Korps

History:

Formed in France in late 1943 from Division Meindl(**). The Korps raised and trained 3rd and 5th Fallschirmjaeger Division. The Korps was virtually destroyed in the Falaise Pocket in 1944. The Korps was rebuilt and attached to 1st Fallschirm-Armee for the rest of the war.

Commander:

Lieutenant-General Eugen Meindl

Organic Korps units:

Fallschirm-Artillerie-Kommandeur 12, from 2.45
Korps-Nachrichten-Abteilung 2 der Luftwaffe
Korps-Aufklärungs-Abteilung 2 der Luftwaffe
Korps-Artillerie-Regiment 2 der Luftwaffe
Sturmgeschütz-Abteilung 2 der Luftwaffe
Fallschirm-Flak-Regiment 2
Kommandeur der Nachschubeinheiten II. Fallschirm-Korps

The above numbered units were later changed to be numbered 12.

Served under the following headquarters:

2.44 - 4.44	Reserve, OB West	Paris
5.44 - 8.44	AOK. 7 / Heeresgruppe B	Normandy
9.44	Unknown
10.44 - 11.44	FsAOK. 1 / Heeresgruppe B	Holland
12.44 - 3.45	FsAOK. 1 / Heeresgruppe H	Lower Reine
4.45	FsAOK. 1 / OB Nordwest	Ems, Weser

The following divisions served under the korps during the war:

15.5.44	none
12.6.44	17. SS Div, 352. ID, 275. ID, 3. FJD
17.7.44	266. ID, 352. ID, 3. FJD
31.8.44	3. FJD, 5. FJD, 708. ID, 89. ID, 276. ID, 277. ID, 326. ID
13.10.44	190. ID, 84. ID, 406. ID
5.11.44	190. ID, 84. ID
26.11.44	190. ID, 84. ID
31.12.44	606. ID
19.2.45	8. FJD, 190. ID
1.3.45	7. FJD, 8. FJD
12.4.45	245. ID, 7. FJD, 8. FJD

Replacement troops were provided by Fallschirm-Jäger-Ersatz-Bataillon 2.

(**) Eugen Meindl was a Heer artillery officer of the Gebirgsjager forces who transferred to the Luftwaffe parachute arm in 1940. While still an Army officer, he jumped, sans formal parachute training, into Narvik, Norway in 1940. Meindl commanded the Assault Regiment in Crete, where he was seriously wounded, and on The Eastern Front. In 1942 he formed an ad hoc unit ("Division Meindl") from various Luftwaffe ground units already present on The Eastern Front. The Division was staffed by experienced Airborne officers from the Headquarters of the Assault Regiment and the Division won a mention in dispatches. Later, as commander of XIII Flieger-Korps, Meindl was assigned the task of supervising the formation of the Luftwaffe field divisions. Major-General Petersen, a former commander of the 7th Flieger Division, was the Luftwaffe Field Division Inspector. After the divisions were raised, Meindl's Headquarters became II Fallschirm-Korps in late 1943. The bulk of the units of the former Division Meindl became the 21st Luftwaffe field Division. Meindl commanded the II Fallschrim-Korps against the Allies in Normandy, Holla! and the defense of Germany until the end of the war.