General der Fallschirmtruppe Eugen Meindl

SOME OF THE PRISONERS HELD AT
SPECIAL CAMP 11

NAME: General der Fallschirmtruppe Eugen Meindl (Luftwaffe)

PW NO: A451668

RANK: General der Fallschirmtruppe

CAPTURED:

DATE: 25 May 1945

PERSONAL
DATE OF BIRTH: 16 July 1892

PLACE OF BIRTH: Donaueschingen

DATE OF DEATH: 24 January 1951

PLACE OF DEATH: München

NATIONALITY: German

RELIGION:

OCCUPATION: Regular Air Force Officer

HEIGHT:

WEIGHT:

NEXT OF KIN:

Promotions:

Fahnenjunker: 27 July 1912
Fähnrich: 22 March 1913
Leutnant: 17 February 1914 – Patent 21 February 1912
Oberleutnant: 18 April 1917
Hauptmann: 1 August 1924
Major: 1 April 1934
Oberstleutnant: 1 August 1936
Oberst: 1 April 1939 – RDA later changed to 1 April 1938
Generalmajor: 1 January 1941
Generalleutnant: 1 February 1943 – RDA 1 October 1942
General der Fallschirmptruppe: 1 April 1944 (3)

Commands & Assignments:

27 July 1912-30 September 1919: Fahnenjunker, Battery Officer, Battery Leader and Adjutant in the 2. Unter-Elsässisches Feld-Artillerie-Regiment Nr.67 as well as Adjutant of Artillery Commander 52.
1 October 1919-30 September 1920: Battery Officer in Light Reichswehr Artillery Regiment 13 (later redesignated Reichswehr Artillery Regiment 13) of Reichswehr-Brigade 13.
1 October 1920-30 September 1924: Battery Officer in the 5th Artillery Regiment upon the formation of the new Reichsheer from the Übergangsheer or Transitional Army.
1 October 1924-30 September 1925: Leader Assistant training with the staff of Wehrkreis [Military District] Command V, Stuttgart.
1 October 1925-30 September 1926: Transferred to the staff of the 5th Division.
1 October 1926-30 September 1927: Transferred to the Army Organization Department (T 2) of the Troop Office/Reich Defense Ministry.
1 October 1927-30 September 1928: Transferred to the staff of the II. Battalion of the 5th Artillery Regiment.
1 October 1928-30 September 1929: Squadron Chief in the 5th Transport Battalion.
1 October 1929-30 September 1930: Hauptmann on the Staff of the 5th Artillery Regiment.
1 October 1930-30 September 1931: Regimental Adjutant of the 5th Artillery Regiment. [During this period, Hauptmann Meindl served as Adjutant to the regimental commander, Oberst Ludwig Beck. After commanding the 1st Cavalry Division, General der Artillerie Beck served as Chief of the Troop Office from 1 October 1933-1 July 1935 and then Chief of the Army General Staff from 1 July 1935-27 August 1938. He retired from the Army on 31 October 1938.]
1 October 1931-14 September 1933: Hauptmann on the Staff of the 5th Artillery Regiment.
15 September 1933-14 October 1935: Tactics Instructor at the Artillery School at Jüterbog.
15 October 1935-9 November 1938: Commander of the I. Battalion of Artillery Regiment 5 of the 5th Infantry Division.
10 November 1938-9 August 1940: Commander of Mountain Artillery Regiment 112 of the 3rd Mountain Division. [After taking part in the invasion of Poland in September 1939, Generalmajor Eduard Dietl’s 3rd Mountain Division served on the Western Front until tasked to play a key role in Operation “Weserübung,” the invasion of Denmark and Norway. On 9 April 1940, the 10 destroyers of Kommodore Friedrich Bonte’s Warship Group 1 transported Dietl’s staff and 2,000 soldiers, primarily of Gebirgsjäger-Regiment 139 of the 3rd Mountain Division, to Narvik where the troops quickly captured the town. After the loss of all 10 of the German destroyers in two separate naval actions against the British in Narvik harbor, the 2,600 beached crewmembers reinforced Dietl’s mountain troops defending the town.[1] With Narvik the key to the Norwegian campaign, an Anglo-French force landed north of the town and, in conjunction with the Norwegians, began operations to destroy Dietl’s isolated command. Reinforced by additional troops including French Foreign Legionnaires and a Polish brigade and supported by naval gunfire, the Allies recaptured Narvik on 28 May 1940. Forced into a small pocket backed against the Swedish border, Dietl’s command, dangerously low on supplies and ammunition, grimly clung to its reduced defensive perimeter.]
8 June 1940-31 October 1940: At the same time, Leader of Group “Meindl” at Narvik, Norway. [On 7 June 1940, without any parachute training, Oberst Meindl volunteered to jump with paratroopers and other reinforcement into Norway to bolster Dietl’s beleaguered forces outside of Narvik. However, unbeknownst to Dietl, the Allies had been quietly evacuating their forces from Norway for the past several days due to the imminent collapse of France. On the morning of 8 June 1940, Dietl’s troops reentered the deserted town of Narvik effectively ending the Norwegian campaign.]
10 August 1940-31 October 1940: Leader Reserve – placed at the disposal of the Commander of Wehrkreis Command XVIII, Salzburg.
10 August 1940-31 August 1940: At the same time, detached to the service of the Luftwaffe Parachute Troops.
1 November 1940: Transferred from the Army to the Luftwaffe.
1 September 1940-25 February 1942: Commander of Parachute Air Landing Assault Regiment 1 (Assault Regiment “Meindl”).
16 May 1941-1 June 1941: At the same time, Leader of Battle Group West during Operation “Merkur” (Mercury), the German airborne invasion of Crete. [On 20 May 1941, Generalmajor Meindl’s assault regiment landed by parachute and DFS 230 gliders in the vicinity of Maleme airfield on Crete. Parachuting in west of Tavronitis along with his regimental staff, Meindl was badly wounded by machinegun fire shortly after hitting the ground. Temporary leadership of the regiment and Battle Group West passed to Oberst Hermann-Bernhard Ramcke, who, along with 550 German reinforcements parachuted in the next day. Ramcke led several battle groups in the fierce fighting that culminated with the capture of Chania on 27 May 1941. The regiment suffered very heavy losses, including one battalion commander and seven company commanders killed in action, during the conquest of Crete.]
26 February 1942-30 September 1942: Commander of 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 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 was not brought together as a coherent whole until June 1942. The bulk of the division fought on the right flank of the Demyansk salient while detached elements served to the south in relief of the Cholm Pocket.[2]]

On the evening of 6 August 1944, Oberstleutnant von Kluge, the son of Generalfeldmarschall Günther von Kluge, the Commander-in-Chief of Army Group B and Commander-in-Chief West, visited General Meindl’s command post. Oberstleutnant von Kluge passed on his father’s order for the II. Fallschirm-Korps to “hold its positions” so that a major German panzer force could counterattack the rapidly advancing U.S. Army the next morning. In his book Invasion—They’re Coming!, German author Paul Carrel recounted Meindl’s reply to Oberstleutnant von Kluge:

Meindl’s prediction proved accurate. The already depleted panzer divisions launched their daylight counterattack (Operation “Lüttich”) against stubborn U.S. resistance at Mortain and under the full weight of the overwhelming Allied tactical air forces. After penetrating about five miles, the mauled panzer divisions ran out of fuel. Rather than retreat, Adolf Hitler once again ordered the Army to hold its dangerously exposed positions—an order that led to the encirclement and virtual destruction of two German armies in the Falaise Pocket.

With the German 5th Panzer Army and 7th Army almost completely encircled between 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.[7] After a desperate march through enemy-controlled territory, Meindl’s depleted battle group finally broke free of the encirclement.

[1] On 10 April 1940, five British destroyers of the 2d Destroyer Flotilla (Captain Bernard A.W. Warburton-Lee) entered Narvik harbor and, in the ensuing battle sank two of the German destroyers and damaged three others. Kommodore Bonte was killed in action when his destroyer, the Wilhelm Heidkamp (Z 21), was sunk during the action. The British lost two destroyers in the battle including the HMS Hardy aboard which Captain Warburton-Lee lost his life (posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross). On 13 April 1940, the remaining German destroyers were sunk at Narvik by the British battleship HMS Warspite (Vice-Admiral W.J. Whitworth) supported by nine destroyers and aircraft. Fregattenkapitän Erich Bey, who took command of the destroyers at Narvik from the fallen Bonte, fought a defensive action during which the Germans severely damaged two of the British destroyers and caused one to go aground. After expending their remaining ammunition, Bey ordered his surviving destroyers to beach themselves in the Rombaksfjord.

[2] In December 1942, Division “Meindl” was reorganized and redesignated the 21st Luftwaffe Field Division.

[3] 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.

[4] Numerous divisions and elements thereof would ultimately pass in and out of II. Fallschirm-Korps control during the Normandy campaign. The 5th Fallschirmjäger-Division was initially held in 7th Army reserve before being committed to battle under the LXXXIV Army Corps on the left flank of the II. Fallschirm-Korps.

[5] On 12 June 1944, Meindl briefly assumed leadership of the LXXXIV Army Corps following the death of General der Artillerie Erich Marcks in an air attack near Carentan. Arriving the next day, General der Artillerie Wilhelm Fahrmbacher took command of the corps.

[6] On 4 November 1944, General der Fallschirmtruppe Alfred Schlemm replaced Generaloberst Student as commander-in-chief of the 1. Fallschirm-Armee. Both Student and Schlemm were later held as prisoners of war at Island Farm Special Camp 11.

[7] On 20 August 1944, Generalleutnant Dipl. Ing. Richard Schimpf, the commander of the 3rd Fallschirmjäger Division, was severely wounded in the leg during the breakout from the Falaise Pocket. He remained hospitalized and in convalescence until 6 January 1945 when he resumed command of the division.