Guillaume d'Orange
Senior Member
There are various assumptions regarding the first use in combat of the FG42.
The Gran Sasso raid first comes to mind : 12 September 1943.
The 1990 edition of "Death from Above" mentions this:
" According to German sources, the FG42 first saw combat on May 12, 1943, in the hands of paratroops involved in an airborne retaliation against the British landing on the island of Rhodes. In all likelihood these would have been type 'D' weapons taken from the 50-gun test series made up by Rhienmetall for the Tarnewitz trials".
If anyone has heard or read about this operation, more details are welcome, because I don't know any battalion of any Fallschirmjäger Regiment involved in such operation.
I guess the authors mixed this up with the landing on Leros on November 12, 1943 by I./FJR2.
In my opinion, the most likely assumption is a use in mid-July by the units dropped in Sicily (especially FJR3 or FJR4).
Unfortunately, there's a lack of pictures taken by Propaganda Kompanie reporters of the fights in Sicily.
However, I know there are picture reports with "Film Nummer" 1465 to 1472 showing the retreat from Sicily and I may look into these at French archives (ECPAD).
One pic that indicates that FJR3 was issued FG42s is the following one:
The officer delivering a speech is Ludwig Heilmann, the commander of FJR3. The pic was taken in early July 1943 (before the 10th) in southern France near Avignon.
You can see a soldier with an FG42 next to his leg (the handguard is quite visible).
It is not 100% certain that the soldier is from FJR3, but it is highly likely.
The reference of the report is DAA 3297 at French ECPAD:
imagesdefense.gouv.fr
Cheers!
The Gran Sasso raid first comes to mind : 12 September 1943.
The 1990 edition of "Death from Above" mentions this:
" According to German sources, the FG42 first saw combat on May 12, 1943, in the hands of paratroops involved in an airborne retaliation against the British landing on the island of Rhodes. In all likelihood these would have been type 'D' weapons taken from the 50-gun test series made up by Rhienmetall for the Tarnewitz trials".
If anyone has heard or read about this operation, more details are welcome, because I don't know any battalion of any Fallschirmjäger Regiment involved in such operation.
I guess the authors mixed this up with the landing on Leros on November 12, 1943 by I./FJR2.
In my opinion, the most likely assumption is a use in mid-July by the units dropped in Sicily (especially FJR3 or FJR4).
Unfortunately, there's a lack of pictures taken by Propaganda Kompanie reporters of the fights in Sicily.
However, I know there are picture reports with "Film Nummer" 1465 to 1472 showing the retreat from Sicily and I may look into these at French archives (ECPAD).
One pic that indicates that FJR3 was issued FG42s is the following one:
The officer delivering a speech is Ludwig Heilmann, the commander of FJR3. The pic was taken in early July 1943 (before the 10th) in southern France near Avignon.
You can see a soldier with an FG42 next to his leg (the handguard is quite visible).
It is not 100% certain that the soldier is from FJR3, but it is highly likely.
The reference of the report is DAA 3297 at French ECPAD:
A l'issue d'un exercice aéroporté, les parachutes du Fallschirmjäger-Regiment 3 postés sur une hauteur des Alpilles quittent leurs positions.
A l'issue d'un exercice aéroporté, les parachutes du Fallschirmjäger-Regiment 3 postés sur une hauteur des Alpilles quittent leurs positions.
imagesdefense.gouv.fr
Cheers!
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