page_title: 2nd Parachute Division (Germany)
section_title: Operational history
hierarchical_section_title: 2nd Parachute Division (Germany) / Operational history
caption_attribution_description: English: west of Sainteny, France, American soldiers inspect a destroyed German convoy. In the foreground, the bodies of three German parachutists of the FJR.6 (Fallschirmjäger) lie dead. In the background a Schwimmwagen VW 166, at side two GI'S of the 4th US Inf Div including one wearing a medic’s arm-band.
context_page_description: The 2nd Parachute Division was an elite airborne division of German Wehrmacht during World War II.
context_section_description: In October 1943, the division was deployed to the Eastern Front in the Soviet Union and was subordinated to the 42nd Corps, west of Kiev. On December 15, the division was airlifted south toward Kirovograd to contain a Soviet breakout. A German counter-attack then commenced against heavy opposition. By December 23, the attack faltered and the division returned to the defensive. In January 1944, the division remained on the Eastern Front, successfully opposing the Soviet offensive around Kirovograd. The Soviet advance resumed in March causing the division to retreat behind the Bug River. The division fought its last actions on the Eastern Front in May during a counterattack against a Red Army bridgehead across the Dniestr river. At the end of May the weakened division was pulled from the line and returned to Germany for refit, during which time was supplied with more than 1000 FG-42's as part of a new program to equip the paratrooper divisions, although only the 2nd Parachute Division would have the weapon in large numbers. The division was sent to garrison the northern french area.
  During the Allied D-Day landings on June 6, 1944, the 6th Regiment was stationed in the Carentan area of the Cotentin Peninsula, near the US 101st Airborne Division's drop zones. The regiment was heavily engaged in the subsequent battles, including at Saint-Lô. On June 13 the remainder of the division was transferred to Brest in western France. In July, the surviving elements of the 6th Regiment were caught in the Falaise Pocket and destroyed during the Allied advance. By August 9 the remainder of the division was driven back and cut off in the city of Brest, where it surrendered on September 20. A new division was formed by December; it fought in the defense of Germany in January 1945 and ended the war in the Ruhr Pocket in April.
caption: A destroyed convoy from the 6th Regiment being examined by American troops in Normandy, July 1944
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