Kurt Student recruited, organized, trained, and commanded the first major unit of paratroopers used in warfare. As a general in the German Luftwaffe during World War II, Student instituted the standards and procedures adopted by other airborne units, many of which are still in use today.
Born into a family of Prussian gentry on May 12, 1890, at Birkholz, Brandenburg, Student attended the Lichterfelde cadet school, earning a commission in the German army in 1909. In 1913 he volunteered for pilot training and a year later flew on the Eastern Front during World War I. In 1915 he transferred to the
Western Front, where, as a captain, he commanded the Jagdstaffel 9 and received wounds in aerial combat. For ten years following the war, Student remained in the small German army as an aviation staff officer experimenting with new airplanes. In 1921 he suffered serious head injuries in a glider crash but soon returned to form a German civil defense organization that endured until the end of World War II. Following a two- year tour as an infantry battalion commander in 1928-29, Student became the director of the Air Technical Training School.
Within two years of the assumption by ADOLF HITLER [14] of the chancellor’s position in 1933, Student became a full colonel in the newly formed Luftwaffe. His duties included developing training programs and implementing technical advances. Inter¬ested in the potential of large paratroop units, Student visited Russia to analyze their training and experiments.
In 1937 Student convinced the German military leadership that airborne infantry could provide a new tactical dimension he called “vertical envelopment.” Student began a paratrooper school at Stendal with strict requirements for volunteers. In addition to admitting only soldiers in the best physical condition, Student, for the first time in military history, instituted a formal series of psy¬chological tests to ensure that his recruits could withstand the mental pressures as well as the physical dangers of paratrooper combat.
Student also realized that regular infantry tactics and weapons did not necessarily fit the needs of his jumpers. After much exper-imentation as to whether the paratrooper should deploy in small groups to initiate sabotage operations or in large units to assault major objectives, Student came up with a procedure he termed “drops of oil.” In this model, large numbers of paratroopers would jump together, but once on the ground, they would assemble into small groups on the drop zone and then expand their perimeters and join other groups to form a batde line. To accomplish this de¬livery, Student integrated glider-borne units that could deliver light vehicles and artillery to support the parachute infantry.
Student also devised a reliable parachute static-line opening device, acquired high rate-of-fire automatic pistols as the basic paratrooper weapon, and issued special rations, including energy pills and drugs, to maintain alertness during long operations. Dur¬ing the experiments and tests, Student remained a colonel, but by July 1938 he had so impressed his superiors that they promoted
Kurt Student
him to major general and authorized the formation of the Seventh Parachute Division as a special arm of the Luftwaffe.
The paratroopers did not see action in the initial combat of World War II in Poland, but a few company-size units did support operations in Norway and Denmark. The first major deployment of Student’s division occurred when the blitzkrieg turned west in May 1940. Much of the operation’s success depended oh the air¬borne units’ timely capture of airfields, bridges, and the important Belgian fortress at Eben-Emael on May 10. Student’s jumpers se¬cured their objectives on time .and with minimal casualties.
Four days later, Student suffered a serious head wound. When he recovered and returned to duty the following September, he did so at the rank of lieutenant general in command of the newly formed XI Air Corps. Student trained for an aerial invasion of England, but when that plan was canceled, he organized a jump onto the Mediterranean island of Crete on May 20, 1941. Although the operation was a complete success, the corps suffered more than six thousand casualties—not only from the enemy but also from the perils of the jump itself. Because of the number of losses and the dwindling number of German assets, Hider forbade future airborne assaults.
Except for a company-size airborne operation in support of the rescue of Mussolini on September 19, 1943, and a battalion- size drop during the Ardennes offensive in December 1944, Stu¬dent’s paratroopers spent the remainder of the war as regular infantrymen. Despite their grounding, Hider recognized the fight¬ing abilities of the elite airborne soldiers and continued to autho¬rize more units until Student, now a full general, had ten full airborne divisions under his command.
Student and some of his paratroopers were present in Hol¬land in September 1944, when the Allies launched “Market Gar¬den,” their own airborne operation, to secure bridges which would open the way for an invasion of the German heardand. His knowl¬edge and experience played an important role in defeating the in¬vading paratroopers. In recognition of his performance, he gained command of all German forces in the Low Countries, where he remained for the rest of the war.
Captured by the British in Schleswig-Holstein in late April 1945, Student remained a prisoner of war until 1948. He then lived in retirement at Lemgo, West Germany, until his death on July 1, 1978, at age eighty-eight.
Many countries, including his adversaries, adopted Student’s innovations. Although the Russians formed the earliest paratroop unit, Student was the first to use airborne soldiers in actual war¬fare and elevated the embryonic efforts of the Soviets to an art form. Every major army ardund the globe today maintains an air¬borne unit. These paratroopers remain the elite of their army and ^provide a mobile capability that has yet to become obsolete. Stu¬dent’s pioneer efforts continue to influence parachute operations.