OberstLeutnant Walter Koch, Kommandeur Fällschirmjaeger-Regiment 5.

OberstLeutnant (Lieutenant Colonel) Walter Koch was Officer Commanding Fällschirmjaeger- Regiment 5. Fällschirmjaeger was the name for German Paratroopers and can be literally translated as 'hunter from the sky'. I include the details of this brave, professional German officer, who physically intervened and saved British soldiers of 2 Para from execution by regular German army units in Tunisia in 1942.

 

 

Rank Oberstleutnant (LIeutenant Colonel)
Name & Decorations Walter Koch 
Service Luftwaffe (Fallschirmjäeger) 
Unit Commander, 5th Parachute Regiment 
Attached To 7 Flieger-Division 
(s) Eben Emael 1940, Crete, Russia (Eastern Front), Tunisia
Date of Death  23 October 1943
Place of Death  Berlin
Circumstances  Died in hospital from injuries allededly sustained in a road traffic collision. 
Age 33
Buried or Commemorated at: Bonn, Nordfriedhof. Kölnstraße 487, 53117 Bonn 
Grave or Memorial Number

Section 16-Grave 7/8.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Walter Koch was born in Bonn on 10th September 1910. At the time Bonn was part of the Prussian Rhine Province. 

 

He joined the Landespolizei  as a Police Officer at the age of 18 on 3 April 1929. He served in the 'Special Purposes' Battalion Polizeiabteilung z.b.V. Wecke, until 1935 when the unit was transferred into the reformed Luftwaffe by it's new commander, Hermann Göring. Göring renamed the unit as the 'Regiment General Göring'.

 

Koch was promoted Hauptmann (Captain) on 20th April 1938 and was tasked with creating and training a special commando unit called the 'Koch Parachute Assault Battalion' - Fällschirmjaeger-Sturm-Abteilung 'Koch' - for operations in West Europe.

 

The Battalion saw action in the assault in France and Belgium, capturing the fortress of Eban Emael, bridges over the Maas and Albert Canal (Veldwezelt and Vroenhoeven). Walter Koch and other Officers received the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross inrecognition of their successes. 

 

Further promotion followed, and by May 1941, Major Koch was now in command of the (re-designated) I Battalion, First Parachute Assault Regiment - I./Luftlande-Sturm-Regiment 1. This Battalion led the attack on Maleme on the western coast of Crete, with the aimn of capturing the strategic airfield. The paras faced stiff opposition from the tough New Zealanders of Brigadier Puttick's 5th Brigade, but they quickly achieved their objectives, Koch being wounded in the head on the first day. Koch was promoted Oberstleutnant on 20 Aoril 1942 and given command of the 5th Parachute Regiment, which was transferred to Tunisia in November 1942. 

 

One of the regiment's patrols captured a number of wounded / injured British paratroops from 2nd Bn The Parachute Regiment (2 Para). Koch ensured his medics treated the wounded paras, and provided food, water and cigarettes, before handing them over to German infantry units. On hearing that these units were preparing to execure the Paras under Hitler's Kommandi Befehl (Commando Order); which stated that any Allied troops captured whilst opreating behind enemy lines, whether in uniform or not, were to be executed as spies and saboteurs; Koch immediately returned with one of his Battalion Commanders, Hauptmann Hans Jungwirth, and physically stopped the executions from going ahead. DIfferent accounts state that he kicked the machine gun over, and punched the machine gunner; or that he physically restrained a German Officer during a 'heated argument'. Koch's men took over the detention of the British Paras as regular soldiers governed by the Geneva Convention. The British Paras were given razors so they could improve their appearance, as a mark of mutual respect between paratroopers. The British Paras were then imprisoned as POWs and were saved from execution. 

 

As an outspoken public critic of the Kommando Befehl, Koch was on dangerous ground. He was recalled to Berlin, ostensibly for treatment for his head wound, but he died in hospital in Berlin on 23 October 1943, officially from injuries sustained in a motor vehicle collision; unsurprisingly, speculation was rife that he had been assassinated by the SS or other factions on orders from high within the Nazi apparatus, to silence his oppostion to the Commando Order and by implication, his criticism of Hitler.

 

Oberstleutnant Walter Koch was buried at the Nordfridhof in Bonn.

 

Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Koch_(paratrooper)

https://ww2gravestone.com/people/koch-walter/

https://www.tracesofwar.com/persons/23975/Koch-Walter-Fallschirmj%C3%A4ger.htm

https://stoessisheroes.com/meet-heroes-german-fallschirmjager-oberstleutnant-walter-koch/

 

Oberstleutnant Walter Koch
Oberstleutnant Walter Koch in combat uniform and equipment
Oberstleutnant Walter Koch arriving back in Berlin with his head injury, shortly before his death 'from injuries sustained in a car accident'.

 

 

THE FOLLOWING ACCOUNT OF OBERSTLEUTNANT KOCH PREVENTING THE MURDER OF THE SOLDIERS FROM 2 PARA IS REPRODUCED WITH THE KIND PERMISSION OF THE FACEBOOK PAGE:

Bruneval Raid : Operation 'BITING'  

which can be found here : https://www.facebook.com/brunevalraid/

 

Remembering Private Gavin F.J. Chadden, 2nd Bn The Parachute Regiment. 

On 20th December 1913...

 
Gavin F. J. Cadden was born in Glasgow, the son of Joseph and Hester Cadden. He grew up alongside his elder sisters, Norah and Margaret. In 1915 his brother Ian was born, but sadly died the following year.
 
Three more brothers followed: John in 1917, James in 1919, and Joseph in 1921. On 6 June 1922, his father passed away. He later worked as engineer.
 
In 1931, Gavin — known as “Beachy” — enlisted in the King’s Own Scottish Borderers. On 24 June 1939, he married Sarah D. Robertson in Glasgow. He was deployed to France for the 1940 campaign and was evacuated from the beaches of Dunkirk during Operation Dynamo.
 
Back in England, “Beachy” volunteered for the airborne forces. After completing parachute course at Ringway, he earned his wings in November 1941.
He served in ‘C’ Company, 2nd Parachute Battalion. For Operation Biting, he was assigned to the reserve party “Rodney”. On the night of 27–28 February 1942, he flew to France in Sergeant Muir’s stick. Dropped at La Poterie Cap d’Antifer, Muir led his men to cover the northern and north-eastern edges of the battle area. Before the assault signal was even given, Muir’s section opened fire on a German car approaching from the centre of La Poterie. Hit by Bren fire, the vehicle changed course and headed for the Gosset farm. While other paratroopers dismantled the radar, Muir’s section held off Luftwaffe troops based in “Rectangle”, later delaying the advance of Infantry Regiment 685 from the east. Under this pressure, Cadden’s section fell back towards Bruneval beach for extraction to England.
 
Late in 1942, Cadden jumped into Tunisia with the 1st Parachute Brigade. During the Battle of Depienne, he stayed behind to protect those injured in the drop. The following day, Gavin and the wounded were surrounded by an Italian armoured column and German paratroopers of I./Fallschirmjäger-Regiment 5. After suffering a head wound, he was captured with 14 other paratroopers on 30 November 1942. They were handed over to another regiment hostile to paratroopers, whom they viewed merely as saboteurs.
 
Cadden’s group was taken to a farmyard and lined up against a wall. An Italian soldier sat behind a machine gun, waiting for the order to fire from a German officer. Cadden immediately realised they were about to be executed. He thought of the airborne comrades from Operation Freshman who had been shot after capture during the attack on the Norsk Hydro heavy water plant in Norway only days earlier, on 19 November. He turned to his comrades; their eyes met. Beside him stood a fellow Scotsman who had served with him since 1931. In a final act of defiance, the doomed men curled their fingers to form the “V for Victory” sign.
 
The German officer, enraged, shouted the order to execute. Suddenly, the machine gun was kicked over by an officer who had just arrived in an armoured vehicle — Oberstleutnant Walter Koch, commander of the Fallschirmjäger-Regiment 5, accompanied by Hauptmann Hans Jungwirt. Koch punched the Italian gunner to the ground and berated the execution party, ordering them to return the British paratroopers’ papers and personal belongings. “British paratroopers will be treated as prisoners of war!” he roared. Though his rank was lower, the officer responsible for the attempted execution fell silent before the young hero of Crete, who wore the Knight’s Cross of the Iron Cross.
 
Cadden and his comrades breathed again — they had been spared. That night they were held in a Tunis cell. Out of respect between paratroopers, the Fallschirmjäger lent them razors. The next day, they gave them wine and bread for the journey into captivity in Italy.
 
Cadden was interned in POW Camp PG 70 at Monte Urano, in the province of Fermo. In 1943, he and his comrade Ernie Lough were transferred to work in the camp laundry — an opportunity they used to escape. They joined the Italian Resistance, who helped them cross into Switzerland under heavy fire. Once in neutral territory, they were eventually able to return to Britain.
 
After the war, “Beachy” sent remembrance crosses to the grave of Oberstleutnant Walter Koch, killed on 23 October 1943. His mother Esther died on 28 November 1957. His wife was killed in a car accident. Cadden remained active in the 2nd Parachute Regiment Association and the Dunkirk veterans’ associations. He later remarried. He also kept in touch with Hans Jungwirt into the 1970s.
 
His second wife died on 14 August 1983. Widowed again, Gavin moved to Tunstall to be nearer his daughter. Gavin F. J. Cadden died n 27 September 1983 at Luton Hospital, Bedfordshire.
 
Many thanks again to the admins of Facebook Page https://www.facebook.com/brunevalraid/ for permission to post this content.