LW086
King & Country
Wearing his traditional Luftwaffe style cap this officer favours the tried and tested MP40 ‘Schmeisser’ machine pistol. This simple, highly-effective ‘blow-back’ design was issued in larger quantities to the Fallschirmjagers than to any other German troops except for Panzer crews, Panzer Grenadiers and, of course, Waffen SS troops.
This is part of the first batch of our fighting German ‘Fallschirmjagers’ (paratroopers) making their way through the Normandy ‘bocage’ and moving towards the landing grounds of their U.S. Airborne opponents in the hours and days following the Allied invasion of June 6, 1944.
Few of the fighting men of WW2 captured the imagination and respect of even their enemies as much as the Luftwaffe’s ‘Fallschirmjagers’.
Boldness and courage were the hallmarks of their airborne training and battlefield performance.
These latest FJ’s are uniformed as they would have appeared in France and North West Europe at the time of the invasion and afterwards.