| German Fallschirmjäger (“paratroopers”) jump from Junkers Ju-52 transport aircraft. 400 “Tante Ju” transported the 7th Air Division and the 22nd Airlanding Division to create a corridor for the 18th Army. This force, the 11th Fliegerkorps, was commanded by Generalleutnant Kurt A. Student (May 12, 1890 – July 1, 1978). Oberkommando der Wehrmacht (OKW) intended that the 4 regiments of the 7th would be tasked with capturing river and canal bridges that led to the Royal Netherlands Army defensive positions centered around Rotterdam, as well as an airfield at Waalhaven. The 2 regiments and a reinforced battalion of the 22nd would be tasked with capturing airfields in the vicinity of The Hague at Valkenburg, Ockenburg and Ypenburg. Once these airfields had been secured by the parachute battalion, the rest of the division would land with the aim of occupying the Dutch capital of Amsterdam and capturing the entire Dutch government, the Dutch royal family, and high-ranking members of the Netherlands Armed Forces. The division would also interdict all roads and railway lines in the area to impede the movement of Dutch forces. While paratroopers in gliders successfully assaulted Fort Ében-Émael with explosives and flamethrowers, Dutch resistance captured 1,200 Fallschirmjäger in the Netherlands and recaptured the airfields. The reinforcements in Ju-52s the 2nd wave were annihilated. The elite paratroopers were taken prisoner and shipped to the United Kingdom before the Netherlands fell, and the Dutch Royal Family escaped, to rally resistance from London. Still, Dutch resistance collapsed within a few days. Student was wounded by a German round, and almost a prisoner himself; only the Luftwaffe bombing of Rotterdam prevented his capture. He went on to lead a Fallschirmjäger attack on Crete, which also had devastating losses, but was ultimately successful. | |
| Image Filename | wwii0394.jpg |
| Image Size | 3.05 MB |
| Image Dimensions | 4893 x 6232 |
| Photographer | |
| Photographer Title | Kriegsberichter |
| Caption Author | Written or Adapted by Jason McDonald |
| Date Photographed | May 10, 1940 |
| Location | |
| City | Maastricht |
| State or Province | Limburg |
| Country | Belgium |
| Archive | Scherl |
| Record Number | |
| Status | Caption ©2026 MFA Productions LLC Please Do Not Duplicate or Distribute Without Permission; Image in the Public Domain |
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