Does Anyone have The 1st Fallschirmjäger Division in World War II

In another forum there was mentioned a book on the The 1st Fallschirmjäger Division. A quick Google turned up The 1st Fallschirmjäger Division in World War II (2 vols) by Ben Christensen (Schiffer).

Does anyone here have a copy? I am attempting to discover whether Christensen discusses the division's involvement in the planning for Operazione C3 (Malta)? Does he offer any information on the units/locations/training planned for the operation? In which volume does he address this (if discussed at all). My limited experience with Schiffer is that the vols tend to be heavy on pictures and light on content.

I am trying to decide whether it is worth tracking down this set. In my research on C3, the German involvement remains a significant gap. There doesn't appear to be any surviving records from the XI Flieger Korps, and the only records I have found for the 7.FJD/1.FJD are late war.

Thank you for any assistance.

v/r Jeff

 

Try using: The 1st Fallschirmjäger Division in World War II | WorldCat.org twenty copies, none in the UK, a few in Europe and remainder North America. Not clear at a glance if both volumes are available.

 

The 1st Fallschirmjäger Division in World War II : Christensen, Ben : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

Regards,

Dave

 

Thank you both. The Internet Archive only allows a few pages and one can't borrow the book. Chapter 27 (the first in vol. 2) states North Africa: Dec 41-Mar 43. Given the first page, it looks like it discusses Kampfgruppe Burkhardt then likely transitions to discussing Brigade Ramcke at Alamein. If C3 was discussed, I would have expected some mention of it in the chapter title. As the chapter is only 19 pages, it doesn't appear it would offer enough given the price of the book. Vol I is not in the Archive.

I did find a picture of the table of contents of vol I one Ebay. No mention of C3 or Italy. So not worth pursuing except to find someone with a copy willing to tell me about/scan Chapter 27.

Normally I could use interlibrary loan at CARL, but due to all the political goofiness, CARL is not taking any orders (they have basically frozen many of their routine operations).

Again thanks!

Pista! Jeff

 

Currently available on Amazon

1ST-FALLSCHIRMJAGER-DIVISION-VOL1

A bit pricey at £50+

 

Thank you Uncle. Yes I had previously checked and both volumes are available from various shops. I am not against buying the book, but £50 is quite pricy for what is likely one page of very generalized information. Hence my desire to first establish if the book offers anything in depth on the issue of Malta.

When I was researching in preparation for writing Infantrymen of the Air, I didn't expect that there was little primary source material on the German involvement in Operazione C3. After all, the entire world knows that the invasion was German in concept and preparation, and that the Italians were merely ancillary to the project [insert sarcasm]. Golla likely could have filled this gap, but sadly his book ends after Crete.

What is interesting is given the tendency of many individuals who read about WW2 to be drawn toward elite units like the fallschirmjägers, no one here or on AHF has stepped forward stating they own the books. A bit if a surprise.

Again, thank you for the assistance.

Pista! Jeff

 

Sorry I've only just seen your post.

I have both volumes and they are excellent books and well worth owning and they are extremely text heavy with dozens/hundreds of photos, having said that there is only one very small mention of Unternehmen Herkules which to be honest is only about a single paragraph.

 

steelers708

Thank you. Can you post the paragraph just so I can read what is said? Is there a footnote stating a source (unlikely I realized but one never knows)?

I spend several hours in Invenio (the search engine for the Bundesarchivs) and was finally able to drill down to the Fallschirmjäger files. The archives state that few records of the Fallschirmjägers units survived They use the word 'fragments') and those few that remain are mainly later war, Ében Émael, and Crete.

Again thanks! Pista! Jeff

 

This is the paragraph I mentioned.

 

steeler708

Thank you for taking the time to scan the paragraph. It does appear that the books has basically nothing to offer on Malta.

I winced while reading the two statements (30k trained FJs and that the Folgore was 'molded by Hitler'). I hope the other parts of the books are better researched. I am sure that the photos are likely very good.

Again thank you.

v/r Jeff