1.
Nazi Germany
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Nazi Germany is the common English name for the period in German history from 1933 to 1945, when Germany was governed by a dictatorship under the control of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party. Under Hitlers rule, Germany was transformed into a fascist state in which the Nazi Party took totalitarian control over all aspects of life. The official name of the state was Deutsches Reich from 1933 to 1943, the period is also known under the names the Third Reich and the National Socialist Period. The Nazi regime came to an end after the Allied Powers defeated Germany in May 1945, Hitler was appointed Chancellor of Germany by the President of the Weimar Republic Paul von Hindenburg on 30 January 1933. The Nazi Party then began to eliminate all opposition and consolidate its power. Hindenburg died on 2 August 1934, and Hitler became dictator of Germany by merging the powers and offices of the Chancellery, a national referendum held 19 August 1934 confirmed Hitler as sole Führer of Germany. All power was centralised in Hitlers person, and his word became above all laws, the government was not a coordinated, co-operating body, but a collection of factions struggling for power and Hitlers favour. In the midst of the Great Depression, the Nazis restored economic stability and ended mass unemployment using heavy military spending, extensive public works were undertaken, including the construction of Autobahnen. The return to economic stability boosted the regimes popularity, racism, especially antisemitism, was a central feature of the regime. The Germanic peoples were considered by the Nazis to be the purest branch of the Aryan race, millions of Jews and other peoples deemed undesirable by the state were murdered in the Holocaust. Opposition to Hitlers rule was ruthlessly suppressed, members of the liberal, socialist, and communist opposition were killed, imprisoned, or exiled. The Christian churches were also oppressed, with many leaders imprisoned, education focused on racial biology, population policy, and fitness for military service. Career and educational opportunities for women were curtailed, recreation and tourism were organised via the Strength Through Joy program, and the 1936 Summer Olympics showcased the Third Reich on the international stage. Propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels made effective use of film, mass rallies, the government controlled artistic expression, promoting specific art forms and banning or discouraging others. Beginning in the late 1930s, Nazi Germany made increasingly aggressive territorial demands and it seized Austria and Czechoslovakia in 1938 and 1939. Hitler made a pact with Joseph Stalin and invaded Poland in September 1939. In alliance with Italy and smaller Axis powers, Germany conquered most of Europe by 1940, reichskommissariats took control of conquered areas, and a German administration was established in what was left of Poland. Jews and others deemed undesirable were imprisoned, murdered in Nazi concentration camps and extermination camps, following the German invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941, the tide gradually turned against the Nazis, who suffered major military defeats in 1943
2.
Wehrmacht
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The Wehrmacht was the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1946. It consisted of the Heer, the Kriegsmarine and the Luftwaffe, after the Nazi seizure of power in 1933, one of Adolf Hitler’s most overt and audacious moves was to establish the Wehrmacht, a modern armed forces fully capable of offensive use. In December 1941, Hitler designated himself as commander-in-chief of the Wehrmacht, the Wehrmacht formed the heart of Germany’s politico-military power. In the early part of World War II, Hitlers generals employed the Wehrmacht through innovative combined arms tactics to devastating effect in what was called a Blitzkrieg, the Wehrmachts new military structure, unique combat techniques, newly developed weapons, and unprecedented speed and brutality crushed their opponents. Closely cooperating with the SS, the German armed forces committed war crimes and atrocities. By the time the war ended in Europe in May 1945, only a few of the Wehrmacht’s upper leadership were tried for war crimes, despite evidence suggesting that more were involved in illegal actions. The German term Wehrmacht generically describes any nations armed forces, for example, the Frankfurt Constitution of 1848 designated all German military forces as the German Wehrmacht, consisting of the Seemacht and the Landmacht. In 1919, the term Wehrmacht also appears in Article 47 of the Weimar Constitution, establishing that, from 1919, Germanys national defense force was known as the Reichswehr, a name that was dropped in favor of Wehrmacht on 21 May 1935. In January 1919, after World War I ended with the signing of the armistice of 11 November 1918, in March 1919, the national assembly passed a law founding a 420, 000-strong preliminary army, the Vorläufige Reichswehr. The terms of the Treaty of Versailles were announced in May, the army was limited to one hundred thousand men with an additional fifteen thousand in the navy. The fleet was to consist of at most six battleships, six cruisers, submarines, tanks and heavy artillery were forbidden and the air-force was dissolved. A new post-war military, the Reichswehr, was established on 23 March 1921, General conscription was abolished under another mandate of the Versailles treaty. The Reichswehr was limited to 115,000 men, and thus the armed forces, under the leadership of Hans von Seeckt, though Seeckt retired in 1926, the army that went to war in 1939 was largely his creation. Germany was forbidden to have an air-force by the Versailles treaty, nonetheless and these officers saw the role of an air-force as winning air-superiority, tactical and strategic bombing and providing ground support. That the Luftwaffe did not develop a strategic bombing force in the 1930s was not due to a lack of interest, but because of economic limitations. The leadership of the Navy led by Grand Admiral Erich Raeder, officers who believed in submarine warfare led by Admiral Karl Dönitz were in a minority before 1939. By 1922, Germany had begun covertly circumventing the conditions of the Versailles Treaty, a secret collaboration with the Soviet Union began after the treaty of Rapallo. Major-General Otto Hasse traveled to Moscow in 1923 to further negotiate the terms, Germany helped the Soviet Union with industrialization and Soviet officers were to be trained in Germany
3.
Walther von Reichenau
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Walter Karl Ernst August von Reichenau was a field marshal in the Wehrmacht of Nazi Germany during World War II. While in command of the 6th Army during Operation Barbarossa in 1941 and he was in charge of forces which helped to commit the massacre of over 33,000 Jews at Babi Yar as well as other massacres during the Holocaust. Born in 1884, Reichenau served in World War I After the war, in 1919 Reichenau joined in the newly established Reichswehr of the Weimar Republic. The officer corps of the new armed forces was limited to 4,000, Reichenau took a post in the Truppenamt, which was the underground equivalent of the General Staff formed by Hans von Seeckt. From 1931 Reichenau was Chief of Staff to the Inspector of Signals at the Ministry of the Reichswehr, reichenaus uncle was an ardent Nazi and introduced him to Adolf Hitler in April 1932. Reichenau joined the Nazi Party, although doing so was a violation of the regulations laid down by Seeckt to insulate the army from national politics. He played a role in persuading Nazi leaders such as Göring and Himmler that the power of Ernst Röhm. This led directly to the Night of the Long Knives of 30 June 1934, in 1935 Reichenau was promoted to lieutenant general and was also appointed to command the military forces in Munich. In September 1939, Reichenau commanded the 10th Army during the German invasion of Poland, in 1940 he led the 6th Army during the invasion of Belgium and France, and in 1940, Hitler promoted him to field marshal during the 1940 Field Marshal Ceremony. During the German invasion of the Soviet Union, as commander of the Sixth Army, the Sixth Army was a part of Army Group South, and captured Kiev, Belgorod, Kharkov and Kursk. Reichenau supported the work of the SS Einsatzgruppen in exterminating the Jews in the occupied Soviet territories, during its offensive into the Soviet Union, the German army was confronted with a number of superior tank designs. Reichenau inspected the Soviet tanks he came across, entering each tank, according to general staff officer Paul Jordan, after examining a T-34, Reichenau told his officers If the Russians ever produce it on an assembly line we will have lost the war. On 14 January 1942 Reichenau suffered a stroke after a run in cold weather and he died before he could be evacuated to Germany. The flight carrying his body crashed while landing in Lemberg, Hitler gave him a state funeral. Politically, Reichenau was an anti-Semite who equated Jewry with Bolshevism, for this reason the soldier must learn fully to appreciate the necessity for the severe but just retribution that must be meted out to the subhuman species of Jewry
4.
World War I
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World War I, also known as the First World War, the Great War, or the War to End All Wars, was a global war originating in Europe that lasted from 28 July 1914 to 11 November 1918. More than 70 million military personnel, including 60 million Europeans, were mobilised in one of the largest wars in history and it was one of the deadliest conflicts in history, and paved the way for major political changes, including revolutions in many of the nations involved. The war drew in all the worlds great powers, assembled in two opposing alliances, the Allies versus the Central Powers of Germany and Austria-Hungary. These alliances were reorganised and expanded as more nations entered the war, Italy, Japan, the trigger for the war was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary, by Yugoslav nationalist Gavrilo Princip in Sarajevo on 28 June 1914. This set off a crisis when Austria-Hungary delivered an ultimatum to the Kingdom of Serbia. Within weeks, the powers were at war and the conflict soon spread around the world. On 25 July Russia began mobilisation and on 28 July, the Austro-Hungarians declared war on Serbia, Germany presented an ultimatum to Russia to demobilise, and when this was refused, declared war on Russia on 1 August. Germany then invaded neutral Belgium and Luxembourg before moving towards France, after the German march on Paris was halted, what became known as the Western Front settled into a battle of attrition, with a trench line that changed little until 1917. On the Eastern Front, the Russian army was successful against the Austro-Hungarians, in November 1914, the Ottoman Empire joined the Central Powers, opening fronts in the Caucasus, Mesopotamia and the Sinai. In 1915, Italy joined the Allies and Bulgaria joined the Central Powers, Romania joined the Allies in 1916, after a stunning German offensive along the Western Front in the spring of 1918, the Allies rallied and drove back the Germans in a series of successful offensives. By the end of the war or soon after, the German Empire, Russian Empire, Austro-Hungarian Empire, national borders were redrawn, with several independent nations restored or created, and Germanys colonies were parceled out among the victors. During the Paris Peace Conference of 1919, the Big Four imposed their terms in a series of treaties, the League of Nations was formed with the aim of preventing any repetition of such a conflict. This effort failed, and economic depression, renewed nationalism, weakened successor states, and feelings of humiliation eventually contributed to World War II. From the time of its start until the approach of World War II, at the time, it was also sometimes called the war to end war or the war to end all wars due to its then-unparalleled scale and devastation. In Canada, Macleans magazine in October 1914 wrote, Some wars name themselves, during the interwar period, the war was most often called the World War and the Great War in English-speaking countries. Will become the first world war in the sense of the word. These began in 1815, with the Holy Alliance between Prussia, Russia, and Austria, when Germany was united in 1871, Prussia became part of the new German nation. Soon after, in October 1873, German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck negotiated the League of the Three Emperors between the monarchs of Austria-Hungary, Russia and Germany
5.
German Army (Wehrmacht)
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The German Army was the land forces component of the Wehrmacht, the regular German Armed Forces, from 1935 until it was demobilized and later dissolved in August 1946. The Wehrmacht also included the Kriegsmarine and the Luftwaffe, during World War II, a total of about 13 million soldiers served in the German Army. Only 17 months after Adolf Hitler announced publicly the rearmament program, during the autumn of 1937, two more corps were formed. In 1938, four corps were formed with the inclusion of the five divisions of the Austrian Army after the Anschluss in March. During the period of its expansion by Adolf Hitler, the German Army continued to develop concepts pioneered during World War I, combining ground, the German Army entered the war with a majority of its infantry formations relying on horse-drawn transport. The infantry remained foot soldiers throughout the war, artillery also remained primarily horse-drawn, however their motorized and tank formations accounted for only 20% of the Heers capacity at their peak strength. The armys lack of trucks was a handicap to infantry movement especially during. Panzer movements also depended upon rail, driving a tank over 150 kilometers wore out its tracks, the Oberkommando des Heeres was Germanys Army High Command from 1936 to 1945. In theory the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht served as the military General Staff for the German Reichs armed forces, in practice OKW acted in a subordinate role as Hitlers personal military staff, translating his ideas into military plans and orders, and issuing them to the three services. However, as the war progressed the OKW found itself exercising increasing amounts of direct command authority over military units and this created a situation where by 1943 the OKW was the de facto command of Western Theatre forces while the Army High Command is the same on the Eastern Front. The Abwehr was the Army intelligence organization from 1921 to 1944, the term Abwehr was used as a concession to Allied demands that Germanys post-World War I intelligence activities be for defensive purposes only. After 4 February 1938, its title was Overseas Department/Office in Defence of the Armed Forces High Command, the method OKW adopted was to separate the Field Army from the Home Command, and to entrust the responsibilities of training, conscription, supply and equipment to Home Command. The German Army was mainly structured in Army groups consisting of several armies that were relocated, restructured or renamed in the course of the war, Forces or allied states as well as units made up of non-Germans were also assigned to German units. The army used the German term Kampfgruppe which equates to the English combat group or battle group and these provisional combat groupings ranged from an Army Corps size such as Army Detachment Kempf to commands composed of several companies and even platoons. They were named for their commanding officers, German operational doctrine emphasized sweeping pincer and lateral movements meant to destroy the enemy forces as quickly as possible. This approach, referred to as Blitzkrieg, was an operational doctrine instrumental in the success of the offensives in Poland, the military strength of the German army was managed through mission-based tactics, and an almost proverbial discipline. Once an operation began, whether offensive or defensive, speed in response to changing circumstances was considered more important than careful planning and coordination of new plans. These technologies were featured by propaganda, but were only available in small numbers or late in the war, as overall supplies of raw materials
6.
World War II
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World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945, although related conflicts began earlier. It involved the vast majority of the worlds countries—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing alliances, the Allies and the Axis. It was the most widespread war in history, and directly involved more than 100 million people from over 30 countries. Marked by mass deaths of civilians, including the Holocaust and the bombing of industrial and population centres. These made World War II the deadliest conflict in human history, from late 1939 to early 1941, in a series of campaigns and treaties, Germany conquered or controlled much of continental Europe, and formed the Axis alliance with Italy and Japan. Under the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact of August 1939, Germany and the Soviet Union partitioned and annexed territories of their European neighbours, Poland, Finland, Romania and the Baltic states. In December 1941, Japan attacked the United States and European colonies in the Pacific Ocean, and quickly conquered much of the Western Pacific. The Axis advance halted in 1942 when Japan lost the critical Battle of Midway, near Hawaii, in 1944, the Western Allies invaded German-occupied France, while the Soviet Union regained all of its territorial losses and invaded Germany and its allies. During 1944 and 1945 the Japanese suffered major reverses in mainland Asia in South Central China and Burma, while the Allies crippled the Japanese Navy, thus ended the war in Asia, cementing the total victory of the Allies. World War II altered the political alignment and social structure of the world, the United Nations was established to foster international co-operation and prevent future conflicts. The victorious great powers—the United States, the Soviet Union, China, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and the United States emerged as rival superpowers, setting the stage for the Cold War, which lasted for the next 46 years. Meanwhile, the influence of European great powers waned, while the decolonisation of Asia, most countries whose industries had been damaged moved towards economic recovery. Political integration, especially in Europe, emerged as an effort to end pre-war enmities, the start of the war in Europe is generally held to be 1 September 1939, beginning with the German invasion of Poland, Britain and France declared war on Germany two days later. The dates for the beginning of war in the Pacific include the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War on 7 July 1937, or even the Japanese invasion of Manchuria on 19 September 1931. Others follow the British historian A. J. P. Taylor, who held that the Sino-Japanese War and war in Europe and its colonies occurred simultaneously and this article uses the conventional dating. Other starting dates sometimes used for World War II include the Italian invasion of Abyssinia on 3 October 1935. The British historian Antony Beevor views the beginning of World War II as the Battles of Khalkhin Gol fought between Japan and the forces of Mongolia and the Soviet Union from May to September 1939, the exact date of the wars end is also not universally agreed upon. It was generally accepted at the time that the war ended with the armistice of 14 August 1945, rather than the formal surrender of Japan
7.
Heinrich von Vietinghoff
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Heinrich von Vietinghoff was a German general of the Wehrmacht during World War II. He was a recipient of the Knights Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves, Vietinghoff commanded the German troops German-occupied Italy in 1945. On 24 November 1938, Vietinghoff was appointed commander of the 5th Panzer Division and he was promoted to General in June 1940 after which he led the German XLVI Panzer Corps in the invasion of Yugoslavia. During Operation Barbarossa his Corps was part of Army Group Centre under Field Marshal Fedor von Bock, as all commanders of the German corps on the Eastern Front during the invasion, Vietinghoff implemented the criminal Commissar Order. Vietinghoff also later served with General Heinz Guderian in the 2nd Panzer Army, from December 1941 to August 1943 he was Commander-in-Chief of the German Fifteenth Army in France. In Italy from August 1943 onwards he commanded German Tenth Army, notable in this context were the defences on the Winter Line from November 1943 to May 1944 and the fighting in the autumn of 1944 on the Gothic Line. In October 1944 he was raised to overall command in Italy when Field Marshal Albert Kesselring was seriously injured in a car crash. In January 1945, on Kesselrings return, he left Italy to command Army Group Courland in East Prussia, when Kesselring was moved in March 1945 to command German Army Command West in France, Vietinghoff returned as the supreme German commander in Italy. Afterwards he spent two and a half years in British captivity at Bridgend Island Farm among high-ranking German prisoners and he was released in September 1947. After the war Vietinghoff was a member of the expert group dealing with the question of German rearmament. In October 1950 he wrote the Himmerod memorandum, named after the Himmerod Abbey where it was written, on behalf of the Adenauer government and he died on 23 February 1952 in Pfronten. Armeekorps 456th Oak Leaves on 16 April 1944 as Generaloberst and commander-in-chief of the 10, armee German Cross in Gold -22 April 1942 as General der Panzertruppe and commanding general of the XXXXVI Panzerkorps
8.
Joachim Lemelsen
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Joachim Lemelsen was a German general in the Wehrmacht of Nazi Germany during the World War II and a recipient of the Knights Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves. The result will be that the enemy will hide in the woods and fields, born in 1888, Lemelsen joined the German army in 1907 and served during World War I. In March 1938, Lemelsen was given command of the 29th Infantry Division, Lemelsen took part in the Invasion of Poland, his division was involved in the Massacre in Ciepielów of 8 September 1939. On May 28,1940 Lemelsen was given command of the 5th Panzer Division with which he participated in the Battle of Dunkirk. On November 25,1940, Lemelsen was given command of the new XLVII Motorized Corps, which he led in the Battle of Smolensk, later, he temporarily commanded the 10th Army in Italy for two months until the end of December 1943. Lemelsen was given command of the 1st Army, stationed near the Atlantic coast in France in May 1944, on 7 June, Lemelsen was transferred to Italy to take over command of the 14th Army to replace Eberhard von Mackensen who the theatre commander Albert Kesselring had dismissed. Lemelsen commanded the army in the Italian Campaign from June 1944 until mid October when he was given command of Germanys other major formation in Italy 10th Army, in February 1945 he returned to the leadership of 14th Army until the end of hostilities in Italy in early May. Iron Cross 2nd Class & 1st Class Clasp to the Iron Cross 2nd Class & 1st Class German Cross in Gold on 15 July 1942 as General der Panzertruppe and commander of the XXXXVII. Panzerkorps Knights Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves Knights Cross on 27 July 1941 as General der Panzertruppe, panzerkorps Oak Leaves on 7 September 1943 as General der Panzertruppe and commander of the XXXXVII
9.
Traugott Herr
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Traugott Herr was a German general during World War II who commanded the 14th Army and the 10th Army of the Wehrmacht. He was a recipient of the Knights Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves, Herr commanded an infantry regiment, part of the 13th Motorized Infantry Division, from 8 September 1939 to 14 October 1940, taking part in the Invasion of Poland and France. In October 1940, the division was reformed in Vienna as 13th Panzer Division, Herr was given command of 13th Rifle Brigade, which controlled the divisions two infantry regiments, on 14 October 1940. In December 1941, Herr was given acting command of 13th Panzer Division, on 31 October 1942, on the Terek River deep in the Caucasus, Herr suffered a serious head wound, being struck by shrapnel, and was repatriated to Germany to recuperate. He was later appointed commander of the LXXVI Panzer Corps stationed in France, in Italy, his unit faced the British Eighth Army in Calabria, and the U. S. Herr commanded the corps in the Italian Campaign until 24 November 1944 and he also took command of 14th Army for a brief period from late November to mid-December 1944. On 18 December 1944, he was awarded the Swords to the Knights Cross, on 15 February 1945 he took command of 10th Army
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