Generalleutnant Dipl Ing Richard Schimpf (Luftwaffe)

SOME OF THE PRISONERS HELD AT
SPECIAL CAMP 11

Two views of Generalleutnant Dipl. Ing. Schimpf pictured while commanding the 3rd Fallschirmjäger-Division in Normandy during the summer of 1944. Note the unique 7.92mm FG42 paratrooper rifle with its side-mounted 20-round magazine slung over his back. In both views, Schimpf is wearing the Luftwaffe "splinter" pattern camouflage smock and the unit badge of the II. Fallschirm-Korps, also known as the Meindl badge, pinned to the left side of his M43 field cap.

NAME: Generalleutnant Dipl. Ing. Richard Schimpf (Luftwaffe)

PW NO: A938909

RANK: Generalleutnant

CAPTURED:

DATE: 8 March 1945

PERSONAL
DATE OF BIRTH: 16 May 1897

PLACE OF BIRTH: Eggenfelden/Niederbayern

DATE OF DEATH: 30 December 1972
PLACE OF DEATH: Düsseldorf

NATIONALITY: German

RELIGION:

OCCUPATION: Regular Air Force Officer

HEIGHT:

WEIGHT:

NEXT OF KIN:

Promotions:

Fahnenjunker: 11 February 1915
Leutnant (without Patent): 25 October 1915 – Patent later established at 1 March 1916
Oberleutnant: 1 April 1925 (373)
Hauptmann: 1 April 1932
Major: 1 April 1935
Oberstleutnant: 1 April 1937
Oberst: 1 October 1939
Generalmajor: 18 March 1943 – RDA 1 April 1943 (1)
Generalleutnant: 1 August 1943 – RDA 1 February 1944 (6)
Generalmajor (Bundeswehr): 1 October 1957

Commands & Assignments:

11 February 1915-30 September 1919: Fahnenjunker, Platoon Leader, Company Leader and Battalion Adjutant in the Royal Bavarian 9. Infanterie-Regiment Wrede.
1 October 1919-30 September 1920: Platoon Leader in Reichswehr Infantry Regiment 45 of Reichswehr-Brigade 23.
1 October 1920-26 April 1925: Platoon Leader in the 21st (Bavarian) Infantry Regiment upon the formation of the new Reichsheer from the Übergangsheer or Transitional Army.
27 April 1925-27 September 1925: Flight training at the Flugüberwachung [Flight Surveillance] Bavaria-North, Fürth.
28 September 1925-31 March 1926: Leader Assistant Course with the staff of Wehrkreis [Military District] Command VII, München.
1 April 1926-31 August 1929: Photography Officer on the staff of Wehrkreis Command VII, München.
31 August 1929: Separated from the Army.
1 September 1929-30 September 1930: Detached to the Scientific Research and Testing Institute in Lipezk, Soviet Union.
1 October 1930: Reactivated in the Army.
1 October 1930-31 January 1935: Transferred to the Army Weapons Office and studied at the Berlin-Charlottenburg Technical College.
31 January 1935: Granted the title of Academically Certified Engineer (Dipl. Ing.).
1 February 1935: Transferred from the Army to the Luftwaffe.
1 February 1935-31 March 1935: Officer for Special Employment in the Reich Air Ministry.
1 April 1935-28 February 1936: Staffelkapitän [Squadron Commander] in the Fliegeraufklärungsgruppe [Air Reconnaissance Group] Münster and, at the same time, Commandant of the Münster-Loddenheide Military Airfield.
1 March 1936-25 March 1940: Department Chief “Aerial Photography and Survey Services” in the Reich Air Ministry.
26 March 1940-16 July 1940: Operations Officer (Ia) on the staff of the Luftwaffe General assigned to Army Group A. [Commanded by Generaloberst Gerd von Rundstedt, Army Group A was one of three German army groups to take part in the invasion of France and the Low Countries in May-June 1940.]
17 July 1940-3 November 1940: Department Chief in the Reich Air Ministry.
4 November 1940-15 January 1941: Chief of the General Staff of Luftflotte [Air Fleet] 4 commanded by General der Flieger (later Generaloberst) Alexander Löhr.
17 January 1941-30 November 1941: Chief of the General Staff of Luftgau [Air Administrative Zone] Command VIII, headquartered in Breslau, commanded by Generalleutnant Bernhard Waber; Generalleutnant (later General der Flieger) Walter Sommé from 23 October 1941.
1 December 1941-9 September 1942: Chief of the General Staff of Feldluftgau [Field Air Administrative Zone] Command Kiev in Russia commanded by Generalleutnant (later General der Flieger) Bernhard Waber.
10 September 1942-26 September 1942: Chief of the General Staff of Feldluftgau Command Kharkov in Russia commanded by General der Flieger Bernhard Waber.
27 September 1942-10 November 1942: Delegated with the leadership of Luftwaffe Field Division “Meindl” on the Eastern Front. [The critical need for manpower during the disastrous Russian winter of 1941-1942 forced the Germans to raise several regiments of excess Luftwaffe personnel to plug gaps in the Eastern Front. Formed from the staff of Generalmajor Eugen Meindl’s Parachute Air Landing Assault Regiment 1, Division “Meindl” was established in northern Russia to control five geographically separated Luftwaffe field regiments (numbered 1 through 5), a signals battalion and a Luftwaffe ski battalion. The first such divisional sized Luftwaffe field formation, Meindl’s command served on the northern sector of the Eastern Front but was not brought together as a coherent whole until June 1942. Division “Meindl” was later reorganized and redesignated the 21st Luftwaffe Field Division.[1]]
11 November 1942-24 October 1943: Commander of the 21st Luftwaffe Field Division on the Eastern Front. [Serving under the 16th Army in northern Russia, Schimpf’s division held positions between Staraya Russa and Cholm. After covering the withdrawal of German forces from the Demyansk Pocket in February-March 1943, the 21st Luftwaffe Field Division remained on the defensive along the Redya River for the rest of the year. Shortly before the transfer of the Luftwaffe field divisions to Army control on 1 November 1943, Schimpf relinquished divisional command to Generalmajor Rudolf-Eduard Licht and passed into reserve status.]
24 October 1943-16 February 1944: Luftwaffe High Command Leader Reserve.
17 February 1944-20 August 1944: Commander of the 3rd Fallschirmjäger-Division. [Placed at the disposal of Generaloberst Friedrich Dollmann’s 7th Army in France in May of 1944, General der Fallschirmtruppe Eugen Meindl’s II. Fallschirm-Korps oversaw the formation and training of the new 3rd and 5th Fallschirmjäger-Divisions.[2] Soon after the Allied landings in Normandy on 6 June 1944, the II. Fallschirm-Korps with the 3rd Fallschirmjäger-Division and the 17th SS-Panzer Grenadier Division “Götz von Berlichingen” deployed from Brittany to counter U.S. forces in the area of St. Lô. Following an unsuccessful effort to recapture Carentan in mid-June, Meindl’s corps remained heavily engaged with American forces in the St. Lô sector for the next two months. With the German 5th Panzer Army and 7th Army almost completely encircled at Falaise by the advancing American and Anglo-Canadian-Polish forces, the remnants of Meindl’s corps desperately held open a narrow corridor that allowed thousands of German troops to escape. On the night of 19-20 August 1944, Meindl and his chief of staff, Oberst Ernst Blauensteiner, each led an assault group formed from the remnants of the 3rd Fallschirmjäger Division, the 7th Army staff and a few Waffen-SS tanks in a last chance bid to escape from the Falaise Pocket.]
20 August 1944-5 January 1945: Severely wounded in the leg by a 20mm shell during the breakout from the Falaise Pocket in Normandy/hospitalized. [Following a brief period during which General der Fallschirmtruppe Meindl exercised direct control of the remnants of the 3rd Fallschirmjäger Division, formal command passed to Generalmajor Walter Wadehn on 1 September 1944.[3]]
6 January 1945-8 March 1945: Commander of the 3rd Fallschirmjäger-Division. [After recovering from his wounds, Schimpf resumed command of his old division—then in the line near St. Vith in Belgium—from Generalmajor Wadehn. Serving under General der Panzertruppe Hasso von Manteuffel’s 5th Panzer Army, Schimpf’s battered division faced an American offensive launched on January 28th aimed at cracking the West Wall (“Siegfried Line”) and driving into the Eifel region.[4] On 1 March 1945, General Omar N. Bradley’s U.S. 12th Army Group resumed the offensive with the launch of Operation Lumberjack, a two-pronged advance to clear the southern Rhineland up the Rhine River: the U.S. First Army (Lieutenant General Courtney H. Hodges) advanced on Köln while the U.S. Third Army (General George S. Patton, Jr.) cleared the Eifel to the south. As the depleted German forces withdrew to the eastern bank of the Rhine, Generalleutnant Schimpf fell captive to the Americans before he could make the crossing.[5]]
8 March 1945-22 December 1947: Prisoner of war in U.S. and British captivity.
1 October 1957: Entered the post-World War II German Bundeswehr (Luftwaffe).
1 October 1957-31 July 1962: Commander in Wehrbereich [Military District] III.
31 July 1962: Retired from the Bundeswehr.

Decorations & Awards:

Knight’s Cross of the Iron Cross: 6 October 1944, Generalleutnant, Commander of the 3rd Fallschirmjäger-Division.
German Cross in Gold: 1 January 1945, Generalleutnant, Commander of the 3rd Fallschirmjäger-Division.
Prussian Iron Cross, 1st Class (1914) with 1939 Bar
Prussian Iron Cross, 2nd Class (1914) with 1939 Bar
Medal for the Winter Campaign in Russia 1941/1942 (“East Medal”)
Bavarian Military Merit Order, 4th Class with Swords
Cross of Honor for Combatants 1914-1918
Armed Forces Long Service Award, 1st Class (25-year Service Cross)
Armed Forces Long Service Award, 3rd Class (12-year Service Medal)
Wound Badge in Black – World War I award
Hungarian Air Force Pilot’s Badge – World War II award

Sources:

Carell, Paul. Invasion—They’re Coming! Ewald Osers, translator. Bantam Books, New York, New York, 1984 printing.
Harrison, Gordon A. Cross-Channel Attack – The United States Army in World War II: The European Theater of Operations. Washington D.C.: Center of Military History, United States Army, 1951.
Hildebrand, Karl-Friedrich. Die Generale der Deutschen Luftwaffe, 1935-1945, Band 3 (Odebrecht-Zoch). Biblio Verlag, Osnabrück, Germany, 1992.
MacDonald, Charles B. The Last Offensive – The United States Army in World War II: The European Theater of Operations. Washington D.C.: Center of Military History, United States Army, 1993.
Munoz, Antonio J. Göring’s Grenadiers: The Luftwaffe Field Divisions, 1942-1945. Axis Europa Books, Bayside, New York, 2002.
German Army Kriegsgliederung (Order of Battle), 1 September 1939-30 April 1945.

[1] To make good manpower losses incurred on the Eastern Front, 22 field divisions were formed from surplus Luftwaffe personnel beginning in September 1942. Initially remaining under Luftwaffe administrative control, the field divisions generally suffered from poor training and morale as well as shortages of equipment, artillery and vehicles. Although originally intended for service in quiet sectors of the front and occupation duties, the troops of the Luftwaffe field divisions often found themselves in the thick of combat. Ill-suited for frontline service against veteran Russian troops, the Luftwaffe divisions more often than not collapsed when on the receiving end of an attack. Effective 1 November 1943, the surviving Luftwaffe field divisions were transferred to Army control.

[2] General der Fallschirmtruppe Meindl was later held as prisoner of war at Island Farm Special Camp 11.

[3] Generalmajor Wadehn was later held as prisoner of war at Island Farm Special Camp 11

[4] On 9 March 1945, Generaloberst Josef Harpe succeeded von Manteuffel to command of the 5th Panzer Army. Appointed commander-in-chief of the 3rd Panzer Army on the Eastern Front, General der Panzertruppe von Manteuffel surrendered to the British at the end of the war; he was later held for a time at Island Farm Special Camp 11.

[5] Although most high ranking German commanders made it across the Rhine, two other generals besides Schimpf were captured on the western side of the river: General der Kavallerie Edwin Graf von Rothkirch und Trach, the commanding general of the LIII Army Corps, and Generalmajor Ludwig Heilmann, the commander of the 5th Fallschirmjäger-Division. Both were later held as prisoners of war at Island Farm Special Camp 11.

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