SgtRock
Site Admin
Operation Stösser was a night time fallschirmjäger drop behind Allied lines during the Ardennes offensive. The objective of the operation was to capture the Baraque Michel crossroads near Malmedy, and hold it for twenty-four hours until the 12 SS Panzer division could relieve them. The operation was delay due to bad weather and fuel shortage. When the drop finally happen, most of the 1300 fallschirmjäger missed their intended drop zone due to strong wind and low cloud cover encountered by the drop planes. Fallschirmjäger were scattered all over the Ardennes. The Allied forces reported fallschirmjäger sightings from all sectors. Due to this confusion, Allied command believed a major divisional sized drop had taken placed. Allied command allocated men and resources to secure the rear area, instead of sending them to the front. The fallschirmjäger were hunted by the Americans, when news of the killing of POW by German forces at Malmedy raced through the Allied lines. This diorama depicts a group of lost fallschirmjäger low on ammunitions and cornered by Allied forces somewhere in the northern sector. The officer is talking to the two men recon team that has just retuned. One member of the team was badly wounded, and will not make it without medical attention. In the front center of the defense position, a fallschirmjäger is carrying a Thompson captured from the Allied. The fallschirmjäger are in desperate situation, with little hope of getting back to the German lines. This might be the last Christmas Eve for this group of men.
