Luftwaffe training in Holland

Hello,

I am brand new to this forum and appreciate patience as I am not sure where to post so I will start here.

My father was a Fallschirmjager and I have a fair understanding of his time in service. I do have good knowledge of his records (not perfect), some knowledge of his unit history (2nd FJ Div) and quite a few photos. Unfortunately, the best source, he himself, passed on in 1995.

I am in the process of compiling everything (a history) of his life of which, of course, the war was a huge part, for my daughters who are yet a bit young to quite understand everything. I am presently starting at the beginning of his service and am seeking information, links, thoughts, history, or anything to expand upon this. As time goes on, I will continue throughout the war.

I am searching for any information presently on 2. Ausbildungs-Kompanie Flieger-ausbildungs Regiment 31 based at Hilversum, Holland. He entered training here on 8/22/41.

If anyone has anything on this, or related training units in the area (so as to compile a general experience profile, so to speak), I would greatly appreciate it. Also any tips on research.

After training, before volunteering for FJ, he was a member of the Luftwaffen-Feld-Division 11 in Greece. It would have been shortly thereafter that he would have joined the FJ.

Billi

[Larry deZeng]

Welcome aboard, Billi.

2./Fl.Ausb.Rgt. 31 was a basic training company. Here are some notes concerning the Regiment.

Formed April 1939 in Heiligenbeil/Ostp. By 1941 it had 3 battalions (I. - III.).
1941: transferred from Heiligenbeil to Hilversum/SE of Amsterdam.
26 Jun 41: all or elements of one of the battalions began arriving in the Netherlands this date.
Nov 41: I. Btl. transferred from Detmold to Amersfoort/Holland.
Dec 42: the entire Regiment was disbanded and used to form Luftwaffen-Felddivision 11.

The Feldpost number for 2. Kompanie was L 08505.

***************************************

That is the sum total of what I was able to find on this regiment in 51 years of researching the Luftwaffe. Since most of those veterans who would have been there with your father have now passed away, I think your next step might be to contact the Hilversum city archives and get photocopies of any and all documents about the Regiment while it was there. There might also be a few scraps here and there in the central archive in Amsterdam and in any museums of the Dutch Resistance that might exist. If a Resistance cell existed in Hilversum in 1941, it would have gathered intelligence information from the many Dutch who worked at the training facilities.

I hope this helps and I wish there was more.

L.

[Snautzer]

you could try http://www.beeldbankwo2.nl/ or http://www.geheugenvannederland.nl/

Thanks for the info. I have a good amount of photos from the training there, perhaps 30 or so, and then some time he had on leave in the area included in those. Of course, afterwards, he shipped to greece with the 11. luftwaffe field division. He was injured in an accident there and sent to recoup in Italy. After that, he volunteered for the FJ and then was with Ramcke in Afrika until the surrender in Britanny in 44.

I will be leaving for germany in two weeks and will be there for three months, though mostly in the south. I will spend a week or so in NRW so wont be incredibly far away. Perhaps I can swing a side trip there though its a long shot.

If I find anything else out, I will post it here.

Again, I appreciate the replies!

Billi