"Ten Commandments of the Fallschirmjager" Topic

Just for general interest, these are taken from the book "The Fall of Crete" by Alan CLARK. Number three is my favourite. In the modern army there would be a few lawsuits flying around!

Every German parachutist had these ten commandments sewn to the inside of his pack.

1, You are the chosen ones of the German Army. You will seek combat and train yourselves to endure any manner of test. To you battle shall be fulfilment.

2, Cultivate true comradeship, for by the aide of your comrades you will conquer or die.

3, Beware of talking. Be not corruptible. Men act while women chatter. Chatter may bring you to the grave.

4, Be calm and prudent, strong and resolute. Valour and the enthusiasm of an offensive spirit will cause you to prevail in the attack.

5, The most precious thing in the presence of the foe is ammunition. He who shoots uselessly, merely to comfort himself, is a man of straw who merits not the title of parachutist.

6, Never surrender. To you death or victory must be a point of honour.

7, You can triumph only if your weapons are good. See to it that you submit yourself to this law, first my weapons then myslef.

8, You must grasp the full purpose of every enterprise, so that if your leader be killed you can yourself fulfil it.

9, Against an open foe fight with chivalry, but to a guerrilla extend no quarter.

10, Keep your eyes wide open. Tune yourself to the topmost pitch. Be as nimble as a greyhound, as tough as leather, as hard as Krupp steel, and so you shall be the German warrior incarnate.

No wonder they lost. Koo Kooo Koo Kooo

Funny, I thought they were;

1. Never drop on Crete.
2. Never drop on Crete.
3. Never drop on Crete.
4. Never drop on Crete.
5. Never drop on Crete.
6. Never drop on Crete.
7. Never drop on Crete.
8. Never drop on Crete.
9. Never drop on Crete.
10. Never drop on Crete.

In spite of that, fresh recrutes of the Dutch signals corps managed to hold one of the Rotterdam bridges against them for four days.

Actually, the ten commandment thing is not that much different from standing orders for the Wehrmacht as a whole, but better packaged.

1. You are the chosen ones of the German Army, which is why you are actually in the Luftwaffe.

Actually...aside from a few minor quibbles, those are -very- good prinicples of combat, especially for light, air-dropped troops.

Agreed. Once comitted to a war or to battle, one should strive for unconsciousness. The perfect soldier is a bonehead who fears and questions nothing because he's worked hard at being THAT ignorant. Manipulated youth of the world, unite!

I dont think "Men act while women chatter" would be received with anything but a very arched eyebrow in our house - as the man is absorbed in online conversation and the woman gets loads done in the real world!.

11. Don't forget to pull the ripcord .

12. Run if you see tanks.

ndb9999...LOLOLOLOLOLOLOL

sounds like my house...

Oh crud....got to go...I hear the wife coming!!

Donīt fool yourselves. The commandments are not very different from standing orders and general guidelines of modern western armies. They are just more expressed more straight forward, and with a thick layer of Third Reich glorious war poetry.

Good one Rat.

Moriarty- The perfect soldier is one that is one that knows which questions to ask and the Wisdom of what not to do. Just because we are willing to do something that your not, does not make us boneheads; it's makes us understand our country in a way civilians never can. That and some of us get to shoot some really big guns :)

13. "Look out for little old Cretan women dressed all in black carrying farming implements as they are likely to slice of your knockwurst....."

Lostride, actually, Moriarity's definition is one I'm surprised to see come from someone I'm guessing is a historical wargamer because it makes absolutely no sense. One does not need any military experience to know this.

Belkor makes an interesting point about the rhetoric and poetry of the Third Reich. You see the same sort of high flown language with Red Army literature.
Interesting how the western democratic armies tended to make things much simpler, like,
1. There are no prizes for being uncomfortable (my dad's favourite from WW2)
2. Never volunteer.
3. Make the other SOB die for his country.

The Mad Vicar

Thatīs what the soldiers said. I donīt think it was what offcial manuals said (or what was sewn to the equipment!). Neither do I think that the fallschirmjäger grunts went around mumbling "I shall not be corrupted... Chatter may bring me to the grave...". They were probably just as disillusioned and synical as any other soldiers. And speaking of rethoric and poetry of war, how about "Be all you can" etc.? War has always been glorified by the ones who try to recruit the soldiers and inflate their morale.

Umm, the 'national socialist bombast' style of writing was very popular at the time, the memoirs of Hans Rudel, Leon Degrelle, Kurt Meyer & Heinz Knocke are full of this sort of thing. These guys were all nazis of course, whereas e.g. Hans von Luck or Hans Schmidts writings are much more relaxed.

Cheers
Martin

14 th commandment.(intro after Crete).

Never allow yourself to be dropped behind enemy lines without a proper weapon in your hands.

or in rhyme

weapons in containers their finding takes ages.

Good one Powderman, (you work in a hard rock mine?). If their weapons were supposed to come first, does that mean they were dropped first? ;)

What did they carry on their persons for weapons when they dropped, btw?

hi they only carried pistols until they got to the weapons containers .

just a thought I know the crete attack was the paras graveyard but it was an important base for allied aircaft that could have been used to attack axis forces in italy and greece also good naval base and anchorage so it was a strategic and tactical attack ,but same could have been said if they attacked malta by airborne forces as even more so malta dominated the med between italy and north africa it would have made sense to do an airborne attack there too maybe anyone care to add ?

I was thinking exactly the same. Why? They lost the war in NA because of supply problems, I guess winning in NA wasn't on Adolf's A list.

Kenneth

enfant perdus 28 May 2004 10:14 p.m. PST

1. You are the chosen ones of the German Army, which is why you are actually in the Luftwaffe.

I guess "German Army" here is a (not-too-correct) translation of "Wehrmacht", which would be better translated as "armed forces". In that case, it makes sense, since the "Luftwaffe", the "Heer" and the "Kriegsmarine" were all parts of the Wehrmacht.

I assumed as much but couldn't resist being snide.

But good you did! Made me laugh, too! Sorry for spoiling the joke...

It's all good.

Moriarty … just asking … you served with what military? I never looked at my troops or comrades as " a bonehead who fears and questions nothing because he's worked hard at being THAT ignorant."

Belkor – Donīt fool yourselves. The commandments are not very different from standing orders and general guidelines of modern western armies. They are just more expressed more straight forward,
Again you served in what military & when ?

Of course these posts very old so I don't expect a reply, but had to add my take based on my experiences, etc., '79-'90 serving in 4 Inf Bns, etc.,…

I could be wrong but I'm betting probably neither of these posters served in the military … 🤔 But who knows ?

Anybody who's ever memorized the Ranger Creed will recognize some of the sentiments.

Yes I can see some of the RANGER CREED in there …

Ranger Creed

Recognizing that I volunteered as a Ranger, fully knowing the hazards of my chosen profession, I will always endeavor to uphold the prestige, honor, and high esprit de corps of the Rangers.

Acknowledging the fact that a Ranger is a more elite Soldier who arrives at the cutting edge of battle by land, sea, or air, I accept the fact that as a Ranger my country expects me to move further, faster and fight harder than any other Soldier.

Never shall I fail my comrades. I will always keep myself mentally alert, physically strong and morally straight and I will shoulder more than my share of the task whatever it may be, one-hundred-percent and then some.

Gallantly will I show the world that I am a specially selected and well-trained Soldier. My courtesy to superior officers, neatness of dress and care of equipment shall set the example for others to follow.

Energetically will I meet the enemies of my country. I shall defeat them on the field of battle for I am better trained and will fight with all my might. Surrender is not a Ranger word. I will never leave a fallen comrade to fall into the hands of the enemy and under no circumstances will I ever embarrass my country.

Readily will I display the intestinal fortitude required to fight on to the Ranger objective and complete the mission though I be the lone survivor.

Rangers lead the way!

👍👍

A bit like yodaspeak that creed is. Verbs back to front are they.

Not quite. With Yoda the verb always finished the sentence.

In German/Yiddish you wait until the very end of a sentence to know what happened. You know who did it, whom they did it to and when/how, but have to hang on to hear what actually was the deed.

"Around the survivors a perimeter create"……Yoda

Verbs back to front they are.