Description
In this second volume dedicated to the SS Fallschirmjäger, a former Bundeswehr Fallschirmjäger continues his look into the story of the Waffen-SS’s only paratrooper unit. First of all it gathers together a series of accounts from participants in Operation Rosselsprung; naturally, those by members of the SS-Fallschirmjäger-Batallion 500 (like Leo Schaap), but also those of the glider pilots (among whom Hans Sieg) and even of their adversaries, among which Tito’s memoirs. The reader will also discover the days of relative calm the battalion spent in Dvar, after the bitter battle of 25 and 26 May 1944, then its transfer from Western Bosnia (at the time in Croatian territory), to reach the Baltic Coast, near Danzig. A few more days of calm before another storm, this time on the Eastern Front…
From mid-July to September 1944, the SS-Fsch.-Jg-Btl. 500, which was still a disciplinary unit, was engaged almost continually in Lithuania and on the frontiers of the Reich, against the repeated attacks by the Red Army; it was literally decimated! To tell this unit’s feats of arms (especially where the clearance of Vilnius is concerned), the author has chosen to introduce accounts from men who had taken part alongside the unit (for example, the paratroopers of the FJR 16 Ost), leaving the lion’s share to several accurate and moving witnesses from Battalion 500 itself: the brief words from their new CO Siegfried Milius, those of Oscha. Karl Pichler, and the radio operator Leo Schaap, without forgetting the stupefying account from a former veteran with a very vivid memory, Werber Schrödl, whose contribution was essential.
For all that, Franz does not forget to base his account also on the official sources and the book offers detailed, mainly unpublished photographs: a number of snaps of the SS-Fallschirmjäger in Drvar, photos of the battlefield of Bosnia in 2018, period and contemporary maps. An essential book for whoever wants to look at this untold story: the Waffen-SS paratroopers.
