Colorizations By Users

Luftwaffe Field Division in France col.

Bundesarchiv (Color by Schuultz)

A Luftwaffe Field Division squad advances through a little village in Northern France.
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The Luftwaffe Field Divisions were originally created in 1942, when the High Command felt that the Heer numbers should be increased by transferring non-essential personnel from other services. Herman Goering, head of the Luftwaffe, opposed this idea and instead suggested to form his own Ground Divisions lead by Luftwaffe officers.

This was partially just another aspect of the internal power struggles of the High Command and partially due to the political indoctrination of Luftwaffe personnel. Goering once prided himself stating that air force men show political commitment second only to the SS, in stark contrast to the more conservative (reactionary) Wehrmacht troops.

Some 250,000 excess personnel were redesignated to the Field Divisions and deployed in quieter sectors for defensive duties. They were mainly employed at the Eastern Front until the remainders were handed over to Heer High Command in 1943.

Under Heer Command, they were reorganized into standard infantry divisions, retaining their "Luftwaffe" title and numbering but now under the leadership of Heer Officers.

Despite the high level of entry for Luftwaffe recruits, their performance in combat was generally quite poor and thanks to their Luftwaffe-blue uniforms they were often singled out by the enemy as weak links and attacked. Because of this, their uniforms were replaced by standard Heer uniforms once they came under its command.

Bundesarchiv Bild 101I-301-1952-10.

(Colorized by Schuultz)