Early war fallschirmjager anti tank equipment

At most they would have have anti tank rifles, but i have not seen evidance of that. German airbourne forces were used in small groups for taking key objectives and were not expected to be with out support for long. In addition, they didn't use gliders until Eben Emeal, and they were not capable of carrying large equipment.

I know they had a small recoil like rifle that was made from tungsten I believe but it got fielded out by 1943. I'd assume maybe they could bring in 3.7mm guns on gliders? 

German Airborne Forces did not see action in 1939. Their first combat was the invasions of Norway and Denmark in April 1940. Then in May 1940 they were used in the campaign in the West. Any anti tank weapons for the parachute troops would have to fit into supply bundles. Anti tank rifles and mines would be the only options at that time. Air landed forces were developed for follow on troops to come in by transport planes once airfield airheads had been seized. They had an organic anti tank abteilung. Which at that time would have been the PAK-36 AT gun which could easily fit into a Ju-52.

Tankluver

I know they had a small recoil like rifle that was made from tungsten I believe but it got fielded out by 1943. I'd assume maybe they could bring in 3.7mm guns on gliders? 

 

The DFS gliders of 1940/41 had no room for bulk cargo such as cannon, only for seated troops. The later gliders had room for cargo, but by then airborne assault operations were no longer done by the Germans. The 75mm "leicht geschutz" recoilless rifle first saw action in Crete in 1941. The 28mm tungsten shot "squeeze bore" gun entered service not too long afterwards. Both were small enough to be dropped in bundles disassembled like the US 75mm Pack Howitzer.

Tankluver

I know they had a small recoil like rifle that was made from tungsten I believe but it got fielded out by 1943. I'd assume maybe they could bring in 3.7mm guns on gliders? 

 

Yep, as mentioned, the only glider they had was the DFS 230 which could only carry 8 troops on a narrow bench. Even for Eben,some gliders has to carry less to allow them to carry the larger hollow charge weapons.

And the German airbourne assaults were not on the same lines as the allies for D-Day and Arnhem, they were very small scale.

Yes, Holland in 1940, and Crete in 1941 were probably the closest that the Germans ever came in scale to later Allied airborne assaults. And both of those were pretty much single division efforts. Holland was widely dispersed over numerous objectives of bridges and airfields, while Crete was against several airfields, of which most were successfully defended, save one.

This makes sense, Im assuming the strategy was more or less seize an airfield  heavier resupply can come through rather than the allied method of waiting for relief from the beaches. I'm considering a diorama for a what if scenario on operation sea lion with a homeguard vickers tank knocked out and fallschirmjager in a defensive position. Also would the fallschirmjager have anti tank grenades like in the dragon SS fallschirm kit?

Tankluver

This makes sense, Im assuming the strategy was more or less seize an airfield  heavier resupply can come through rather than the allied method of waiting for relief from the beaches. I'm considering a diorama for a what if scenario on operation sea lion with a homeguard vickers tank knocked out and fallschirmjager in a defensive position. Also would the fallschirmjager have anti tank grenades like in the dragon SS fallschirm kit?

 

Basically, yes. You have to remember that the Germans had not planned for amphibious landings. I doubt the idea of Crete was not even considered when the Germans develped airbourne forces.

As for the anti tank grenade, are you reffering to the Hafthohlladung.

If so, these were not introduced until late 1942, so would not have been avaliable for sea lion. But yes, later in the war German paratroopers would have had them.

Interesting reading about the Norwegian battles. According to Wiki, which article seems pretty well sourced, at the battle of Dombas the 1st Company, 7th Air Division had three tripod mounted MG34s in addition to the light bipod mountings. That was about it.

They did manage to capture some other weapons. I suppose you could set them up with a Boys anti-tank rifle.

No the grenade im thinking of almost looks like a hand grenade with several other ones tied onto it.

Tankluver

No the grenade im thinking of almost looks like a hand grenade with several other ones tied onto it.

 

Right, that one. Those were made in the field by simply removing the handles from a number of grenades and strapping the charges around a complete grenade. This was a bundle charge, not sure how effective it would be against a tank, though it would likely have been able to damage a track.

For Crete, German airbourne forces did have a 7.5cm recoilless weapon, possably the 7.5cm RFK 43 which was dropped in containers. This could be an option.