1.
Western Allied invasion of Germany
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The Western Allied invasion of Germany was coordinated by the Western Allies during the final months of hostilities in the European theatre of World War II. This is known as the Central Europe Campaign in United States military histories, by early 1945, events favored the Allied forces in Europe. The failure of this offensive exhausted Germanys strategic reserve, leaving it ill-prepared to resist the final Allied campaigns in Europe, additional losses in the Rhineland further weakened the German Army, leaving shattered remnants of units to defend the east bank of the Rhine. On 7 March, the Allies seized the last remaining bridge across the Rhine at Remagen. During Operation Lumberjack and Operation Plunder in February–March 1945, German casualties are estimated at 400,000 men, on the Eastern Front, the Soviet Red Army had liberated most of Poland and were within striking distance of Berlin. The Soviets also pushed deep into Hungary and eastern Czechoslovakia, and these rapid advances on the Eastern Front destroyed additional veteran German combat units and severely limited German Fuhrer Adolf Hitlers ability to reinforce his Rhine defenses. As such, with the Western Allies making final preparations for their powerful offensive into the German heartland, forty-nine of these divisions were American,12 British, eight French, three Canadian and one Polish. Another seven American divisions arrived during February, along with the British 5th Infantry Division and I Canadian Corps, as the invasion of Germany commenced, General Eisenhower had a total of 90 full-strength divisions under his command, with the number of armored divisions now reaching 25. The Allied front along the Rhine stretched 450 miles from the mouth at the North Sea in the Netherlands to the Swiss border in the south. The Allied forces along this line were organized into three army groups, in the north, from the North Sea to a point about 10 miles north of Cologne, was the 21st Army Group commanded by Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery. Within 21st Army Group the Canadian 1st Army held the left flank of the Allied line, with the British 2nd Army in the center and the U. S. 9th Army to the south. Holding the middle of the Allied line from the 9th Armys right flank to a point about 15 miles south of Mainz was the 12th Army Group under the command of Lieutenant General Omar Bradley, Bradley had two American armies, the U. S. 1st Army on the left and the U. S. 3rd Army on the right, as these three army groups cleared out the Wehrmacht west of the Rhine, Eisenhower began to rethink his plans for the final drive across the Rhine and into the heart of Germany. Originally, General Eisenhower had planned to all his forces up to the west bank of the Rhine. The main thrust beyond the river was to be made in the north by Montgomerys 21 Army Group, 1st Army as it made a secondary advance northeast from below the Ruhr River. If successful, this movement would envelop the industrial Ruhr area. Facing the Allies was Oberbefehlshaber West commanded by Generalfeldmarschall Albert Kesselring, although Kesselring brought an outstanding track record as a defensive strategist with him from the Italian Campaign, he did not have the resources to make a coherent defense. During the fighting west of the Rhine up to March 1945, busch—whose main unit was the German 1st Parachute Army —was to form the right wing of the German defenses
2.
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
3.
89th Infantry Division (United States)
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The 89th Infantry Division, known as the Rolling W, was an infantry unit of the United States Army that was activated for service in World War I and World War II. Richard Wahler - Distinguished Service Cross recipient Activated,15 July 1942, awards, Distinguished Service Cross-1, Distinguished Service Medal -1, Silver Star-46, Legion of Merit-5, Soldiers Medal-1, Bronze Star Medal-135, Air Medal-17. Commanders, Maj. Gen. William H. Gill, Maj. Gen. Thomas D. Finley, returned to U. S.16 December 1945. The next day, the offensive began, and the 89th plunged across the Sauer in an advance to. The offensive rolled on, and the division assaulted across the Rhine River on 26 March 1945 under intense fire in the Wellmich-Oberwesel region, a pontoon bridge was built across the Rhine from St. Goar to St. Goarshausen. In April, the 89th attacked toward Eisenach, taking that town on 6 April, the next objective, Friedrichroda, was secured by 8 April. On 4 April 1945, the 89th overran Ohrdruf, a subcamp of the Buchenwald concentration camp, the division continued to move eastward toward the Mulde River, capturing Zwickau by 17 April. The advance was halted,23 April, and from then until VE-day, three towns, Lößnitz, Aue, and Stollberg, were kept under constant pressure, but no attacks were launched. Total battle casualties,1,029 Killed in action,292 Wounded in action,692 Missing in action,5 Prisoner of war,4021 January 1945, Fifteenth Army,4 March 1945, XII Corps, Third Army, 12th Army Group. 22 April 1945, VIII Corps, First Army, 12th Army Group, in 1973 the division colors were cased and the shoulder patch was continued in use as the 89th Army Reserve Command. The 89th ARCOM was later redesignated as the 89th Regional Support Command, in its 2005 BRAC recommendations, United States Department of Defense recommended realigning the Wichita US Army Reserve Center by disestablishing the 89th Regional Readiness Command. The 89th currently exists as the 89th Sustainment Brigade in the US Army Reserve, nickname, Rolling W, also called Middle West Division. Slogan, Above The Rest Shoulder patch, A black-bordered khaki circle containing the letter W within a black-bordered circle, ISBN1571970886 OCLC231779136 89th Infantry Division Website Rolling Ahead. The Story of the 89th Infantry Division
4.
Rhine
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The largest city on the river Rhine is Cologne, Germany, with a population of more than 1,050,000 people. It is the second-longest river in Central and Western Europe, at about 1,230 km, with an average discharge of about 2,900 m3/s. The Rhine and the Danube formed most of the inland frontier of the Roman Empire and, since those days. The many castles and fortifications along the Rhine testify to its importance as a waterway in the Holy Roman Empire, in the modern era, it has become a symbol of German nationalism. The variant of the name of the Rhine in modern languages are all derived from the Gaulish name Rēnos, spanish is with French in adopting the Germanic vocalism Rin-, while Italian, Occitan and Portuguese retain the Latin Ren-. The Gaulish name Rēnos belongs to a class of river names built from the PIE root *rei- to move, flow, run, the grammatical gender of the Celtic name is masculine, and the name remains masculine in German, Dutch and French. The Old English river name was variously inflected as masculine or feminine, the length of the Rhine is conventionally measured in Rhine-kilometers, a scale introduced in 1939 which runs from the Old Rhine Bridge at Constance to Hoek van Holland. The river length is shortened from the rivers natural course due to a number of canalisation projects completed in the 19th and 20th century. The total length of the Rhine, to the inclusion of Lake Constance and its course is conventionally divided as follows, The Rhine carries its name without distinctive accessories only from the confluence of the Vorderrhein and Hinterrhein near Tamins-Reichenau. Above this point is the catchment of the headwaters of the Rhine. It belongs almost exclusively to the Swiss Canton of Graubünden, ranging from Gotthard Massif in the west via one valley lying in Ticino, traditionally, Lake Toma near the Oberalp Pass in the Gotthard region is seen as the source of the Vorderrhein and the Rhine as a whole. The Hinterrhein rises in the Rheinwald valley below Mount Rheinwaldhorn, the Vorderrhein, or Anterior Rhine, springs from Lai da Tuma, near the Oberalp Pass and passes the impressive Ruinaulta formed by the largest visible rock slide in the alps, the Flims Rockslide. A multiday trekking route is signposted along the young Rhine called Senda Sursilvana, the Hinterrhein/Rein Posteriur, or Posterior Rhine, starts from the Paradies Glacier, near the Rheinwaldhorn. One of its tributaries, the Reno di Lei, drains the Valle di Lei on politically Italian territory, after three main valleys separated by the two gorges, Roflaschlucht and Viamala, it reaches Reichenau. The Vorderrhein arises from numerous source streams in the upper Surselva, one source is Lai da Tuma with the Rein da Tuma, which is usually indicated as source of the Rhine, flowing through it. Into it flow tributaries from the south, some longer, some equal in length, such as the Reno di Medel, the Rein da Maighels, and the Rein da Curnera. The Cadlimo Valley in the Canton of Ticino is drained by the Reno di Medel, all streams in the source area are partially, sometimes completely, captured and sent to storage reservoirs for the local hydro-electric power plants. In its lower course the Vorderrhein flows through a gorge named Ruinaulta through the Flims Rockslide, the whole stretch of the Vorderrhein to the Rhine confluence near Reichenau-Tamins is accompanied by a long-distance hiking trail called Senda Sursilvana
5.
North Rhine-Westphalia
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North Rhine-Westphalia is the most populous state of Germany, with a population of approximately 18 million, and the fourth largest by area. Its capital is Düsseldorf, the most populous city is Cologne, four of Germanys ten largest cities—Cologne, Düsseldorf, Dortmund, and Essen—are located within the state, as well as the largest metropolitan area on the European continent, Rhine-Ruhr. North Rhine-Westphalia was formed in 1946 as a merger of the provinces of North Rhine and Westphalia, the state has been run by a coalition of the Social Democrats and Greens since 2010. The Ubii and some other Germanic tribes such as the Cugerni were later settled on the west side of the Rhine in the Roman province of Germania Inferior, North of the Sigambri and the Rhine region were the Bructeri. By the 8th century the Frankish dominion was established in western Germany. But at the time, to the north, Westphalia was being taken over by Saxons pushing south. The Merovingian and Carolingian Franks eventually built an empire which controlled first their Ripuarian kin, the Ottonian dynasty had both Saxon and Frankish ancestry. As the central power of the Holy Roman Emperor weakened, the Rhineland split into small independent principalities, each with its separate vicissitudes. Such struggles as the War of the Limburg Succession therefore continued to create military, Aachen was the place of coronation of the German emperors, and the ecclesiastical principalities of the Rhine bulked largely in German history. Prussia first set foot on the Rhine in 1609 by the occupation of the Duchy of Cleves and about a century later Upper Guelders and Moers also became Prussian. At the peace of Basel in 1795 the whole of the bank of the Rhine was resigned to France. In 1920, the districts of Eupen and Malmedy were transferred to Belgium, around 1 AD there were numerous incursions through Westphalia and perhaps even some permanent Roman or Romanized settlements. The Battle of Teutoburg Forest took place near Osnabrück and some of the Germanic tribes who fought at this came from the area of Westphalia. Charlemagne is thought to have spent considerable time in Paderborn and nearby parts and his Saxon Wars also partly took place in what is thought of as Westphalia today. Popular legends link his adversary Widukind to places near Detmold, Bielefeld, Lemgo, Osnabrück, Widukind was buried in Enger, which is also a subject of a legend. Along with Eastphalia and Engern, Westphalia was originally a district of the Duchy of Saxony, in 1180 Westphalia was elevated to the rank of a duchy by Emperor Barbarossa. The Duchy of Westphalia comprised only an area south of the Lippe River. Parts of Westphalia came under Brandenburg-Prussian control during the 17th and 18th centuries, the Peace of Westphalia of 1648, signed in Münster and Osnabrück, ended the Thirty Years War
6.
Germany
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Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a federal parliamentary republic in central-western Europe. It includes 16 constituent states, covers an area of 357,021 square kilometres, with about 82 million inhabitants, Germany is the most populous member state of the European Union. After the United States, it is the second most popular destination in the world. Germanys capital and largest metropolis is Berlin, while its largest conurbation is the Ruhr, other major cities include Hamburg, Munich, Cologne, Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Düsseldorf and Leipzig. Various Germanic tribes have inhabited the northern parts of modern Germany since classical antiquity, a region named Germania was documented before 100 AD. During the Migration Period the Germanic tribes expanded southward, beginning in the 10th century, German territories formed a central part of the Holy Roman Empire. During the 16th century, northern German regions became the centre of the Protestant Reformation, in 1871, Germany became a nation state when most of the German states unified into the Prussian-dominated German Empire. After World War I and the German Revolution of 1918–1919, the Empire was replaced by the parliamentary Weimar Republic, the establishment of the national socialist dictatorship in 1933 led to World War II and the Holocaust. After a period of Allied occupation, two German states were founded, the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic, in 1990, the country was reunified. In the 21st century, Germany is a power and has the worlds fourth-largest economy by nominal GDP. As a global leader in industrial and technological sectors, it is both the worlds third-largest exporter and importer of goods. Germany is a country with a very high standard of living sustained by a skilled. It upholds a social security and universal health system, environmental protection. Germany was a member of the European Economic Community in 1957. It is part of the Schengen Area, and became a co-founder of the Eurozone in 1999, Germany is a member of the United Nations, NATO, the G8, the G20, and the OECD. The national military expenditure is the 9th highest in the world, the English word Germany derives from the Latin Germania, which came into use after Julius Caesar adopted it for the peoples east of the Rhine. This in turn descends from Proto-Germanic *þiudiskaz popular, derived from *þeudō, descended from Proto-Indo-European *tewtéh₂- people, the discovery of the Mauer 1 mandible shows that ancient humans were present in Germany at least 600,000 years ago. The oldest complete hunting weapons found anywhere in the world were discovered in a mine in Schöningen where three 380, 000-year-old wooden javelins were unearthed
7.
Allies of World War II
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The Allies of World War II, called the United Nations from the 1 January 1942 declaration, were the countries that together opposed the Axis powers during the Second World War. The Allies promoted the alliance as seeking to stop German, Japanese, at the start of the war on 1 September 1939, the Allies consisted of France, Poland and the United Kingdom, and dependent states, such as the British India. Within days they were joined by the independent Dominions of the British Commonwealth, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Poland was a minor factor after its defeat in 1939, France was a minor factor after its defeat in 1940. China had already been into a war with Japan since the Marco Polo Bridge Incident of 1937. The alliance was formalised by the Declaration by United Nations, from 1 January 1942, however, the name United Nations was rarely used to describe the Allies during the war. The leaders of the Big Three – the UK, the Soviet Union, in 1945, the Allied nations became the basis of the United Nations. The origins of the Allied powers stem from the Allies of World War I, Germany resented signing Treaty of Versailles. The new Weimar republics legitimacy became shaken, by the early 1930s, the Nazi Party led by Adolf Hitler became the dominant revanchist movement in Germany and Hitler and the Nazis gained power in 1933. The Nazi regime demanded the cancellation of the Treaty of Versailles and made claims to German-populated Austria. The likelihood of war was high, and the question was whether it could be avoided through strategies such as appeasement, in Asia, when Japan seized Manchuria in 1931, the League of Nations condemned it for aggression against China. Japan responded by leaving the League of Nations in March 1933, after four quiet years, the Sino-Japanese War erupted in 1937 with Japanese forces invading China. The League of Nations condemned Japans actions and initiated sanctions on Japan, the United States, in particular, was angered at Japan and sought to support China. In March 1939, Germany took over Czechoslovakia, violating the Munich Agreement signed six months before, Britain and France decided that Hitler had no intention to uphold diplomatic agreements and responded by preparing for war. On 31 March 1939, Britain formed the Anglo-Polish military alliance in an effort to avert a German attack on the country, also, the French had a long-standing alliance with Poland since 1921. The Soviet Union sought an alliance with the powers. The agreement secretly divided the independent nations of eastern Europe between the two powers and assured adequate oil supplies for the German war machine, on 1 September 1939, Germany invaded Poland, two days later Britain and France declared war on Germany. Then, on 17 September 1939, the Soviet Union invaded Poland from the east, a Polish government-in-exile was set up and it continued to be one of the Allies, a model followed by other occupied countries. After a quiet winter, Germany in April 1940 invaded and quickly defeated Denmark, Norway, Belgium, Britain and its Empire stood alone against Hitler and Mussolini
8.
United Kingdom
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The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom or Britain, is a sovereign country in western Europe. Lying off the north-western coast of the European mainland, the United Kingdom includes the island of Great Britain, Northern Ireland is the only part of the United Kingdom that shares a land border with another sovereign state—the Republic of Ireland. The Irish Sea lies between Great Britain and Ireland, with an area of 242,500 square kilometres, the United Kingdom is the 78th-largest sovereign state in the world and the 11th-largest in Europe. It is also the 21st-most populous country, with an estimated 65.1 million inhabitants, together, this makes it the fourth-most densely populated country in the European Union. The United Kingdom is a monarchy with a parliamentary system of governance. The monarch is Queen Elizabeth II, who has reigned since 6 February 1952, other major urban areas in the United Kingdom include the regions of Birmingham, Leeds, Glasgow, Liverpool and Manchester. The United Kingdom consists of four countries—England, Scotland, Wales, the last three have devolved administrations, each with varying powers, based in their capitals, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast, respectively. The relationships among the countries of the UK have changed over time, Wales was annexed by the Kingdom of England under the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. A treaty between England and Scotland resulted in 1707 in a unified Kingdom of Great Britain, which merged in 1801 with the Kingdom of Ireland to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Five-sixths of Ireland seceded from the UK in 1922, leaving the present formulation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, there are fourteen British Overseas Territories. These are the remnants of the British Empire which, at its height in the 1920s, British influence can be observed in the language, culture and legal systems of many of its former colonies. The United Kingdom is a country and has the worlds fifth-largest economy by nominal GDP. The UK is considered to have an economy and is categorised as very high in the Human Development Index. It was the worlds first industrialised country and the worlds foremost power during the 19th, the UK remains a great power with considerable economic, cultural, military, scientific and political influence internationally. It is a nuclear weapons state and its military expenditure ranks fourth or fifth in the world. The UK has been a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council since its first session in 1946 and it has been a leading member state of the EU and its predecessor, the European Economic Community, since 1973. However, on 23 June 2016, a referendum on the UKs membership of the EU resulted in a decision to leave. The Acts of Union 1800 united the Kingdom of Great Britain, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have devolved self-government
9.
United States
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Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography, climate and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, after the Articles of Confederation, the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War led to the end of slavery in the country. By the end of century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the status as a global military power. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. The U. S. is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States. The United States is a developed country, with the worlds largest economy by nominal GDP. It ranks highly in several measures of performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP. While the U. S. economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy, the United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci
10.
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
11.
Bernard Montgomery
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He saw action in the First World War as a junior officer of the Royal Warwickshire Regiment. At Méteren, near the Belgian border at Bailleul, he was shot through the lung by a sniper. He returned to the Western Front as a staff officer. He also took part in the Battle of Passchendaele in late 1917 before finishing the war as chief of staff of the 47th Division. During the Second World War he commanded the British Eighth Army from August 1942 in the Western Desert until the final Allied victory in Tunisia in May 1943 and this command included the Second Battle of El Alamein, a turning point in the Western Desert Campaign. He subsequently commanded the British Eighth Army during the Allied invasion of Sicily and he was in command of all Allied ground forces during Operation Overlord from the initial landings until after the Battle of Normandy. He then continued in command of the 21st Army Group for the rest of the campaign in North West Europe, as such he was the principal field commander for the failed airborne attempt to bridge the Rhine at Arnhem, and the Allied Rhine crossing. On 4 May 1945 he took the German surrender at Lüneburg Heath in Northern Germany, after the war he became Commander-in-Chief of the British Army of the Rhine in Germany and then Chief of the Imperial General Staff. He then served as Deputy Supreme Commander of NATO in Europe until his retirement in 1958. Montgomery was born in Kennington, Surrey, in 1887, the child of nine, to an Ulster-Scots Church of Ireland minister, The Reverend Henry Montgomery. The Montgomerys, an Ascendancy gentry family, were the County Donegal branch of the Clan Montgomery and he was probably a descendant of Colonel Alexander Montgomery. Bernards mother, Maud, was the daughter of The V, rev. Frederic William Canon Farrar, the famous preacher, and was eighteen years younger than her husband. After the death of Sir Robert Montgomery, Henry inherited the Montgomery ancestral estate of New Park in Moville in Inishowen in Ulster. There was still £13,000 to pay on a mortgage, a debt in the 1880s. Despite selling off all the farms that were at Ballynally, there was enough to keep up New Park. It was a relief of some magnitude when, in 1889, Henry was made Bishop of Tasmania, then still a British colony. Bishop Montgomery considered it his duty to spend as much time as possible in the areas of Tasmania and was away for up to six months at a time. While he was away, his wife, still in her mid-twenties, gave her children constant beatings, of Bernards siblings, Sibyl died prematurely in Tasmania, and Harold, Donald and Una all emigrated
12.
Johannes Blaskowitz
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Johannes Blaskowitz was a German general during World War II and recipient of the Knights Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords. Commander in Chief in the Occupied Poland in 1939–1940, he had written several memoranda for the German High Command protesting the SS atrocities and he was dismissed, but then re-appointed, no longer calling Nazi policies into question. Charged with war crimes in the High Command Trial at Nuremberg, both the indictment and the suicide have been considered an enigma by scholars ever since, because he was later acquitted on all counts and had been told to expect to be acquitted by his defense. Johannes Blaskowitz was born on 10 July 1883 in the village of Paterswalde and he was the son of a Protestant pastor, Hermann Blaskowitz, and his wife Marie Blaskowitz, née Kuhn. In 1894, Blaskowitz joined cadet school at Köslin and afterwards at Berlin Lichterfelde, in 1901, he started his military career as an officer candidate cadet in an East Prussian regiment in Osterode. During World War I, Blaskowitz served on the Eastern and Western Fronts and was employed in the General Staff and he rose to command an infantry company by 1918, and was awarded the Iron Cross for bravery. Blaskowitzs war service secured him a place in the small postwar Reichswehr during the Weimar Republic and his attitude towards the Nazis seizure of power in 1933 was reportedly indifferent because he believed that the armed forces should be politically neutral. He commanded the army as it besieged Warsaw, after the campaign, he was awarded the Knights Cross of the Iron Cross, promoted to Colonel-General and appointed as Commander-in-Chief East in Poland on 20 October 1939. Blaskowitz was relieved of his command on 29 May 1940, in May 1944, following the appointment of Gerd von Rundstedt as Commander-in-Chief in the West, Blaskowitz was appointed head of Army Group G. This comparatively small command, consisting of the 1st Army and the 19th Army, was given the task of defending southern France from the imminent Allied invasion. When in Normandy, he managed to convince Field Marshal Erwin Rommel that the rumours Rommel had heard about atrocities on the Eastern Front were actually true. The invasion of southern France commenced on 15 August 1944, with Operation Dragoon, Blaskowitz, though badly outnumbered and lacking air defense, brought up troops, stabilized the front, and led a fighting withdrawal to the north to avoid encirclement. U. S. Army units pursued Blaskowitzs forces up through the Vosges mountains before pausing to regroup, there, Blaskowitzs troops were reinforced by the 5th Panzer Army under Hasso von Manteuffel. Blaskowitz wanted to entrench his forces, but Hitler ordered him to counterattack the U. S. As a result, Hitler summarily relieved Blaskowitz, replacing him with Hermann Balck, in December 1944, Blaskowitz was recalled to his previous command and ordered to attack in the vicinity of Alsace-Lorraine in support of the ongoing Ardennes offensive. On 1 January 1945 Army Group G engaged the U. S. 7th Army during Operation Nordwind, Blaskowitz was subsequently transferred to Holland, where he succeeded Kurt Student as commander of Army Group H. For the following three months he conducted a fighting withdrawal against the British 2nd Army, being awarded the Swords to his Knights Cross and this command was redesignated in early April 1945 and Blaskowitz became commander-in-chief of the northern part of the Netherlands. From 29 April, Blaskowitz allowed Allied airdrops of food and medicine to the Dutch civilian population in operations Manna, on 5 May Blaskowitz was summoned to the Hotel de Wereld in Wageningen by General Charles Foulkes, to discuss the surrender of the German forces in the Netherlands
13.
Operation Varsity
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Operation Varsity was a successful airborne forces operation launched by Allied troops that took place toward the end of World War II. Involving more than 16,000 paratroopers and several aircraft, it was the largest airborne operation in history to be conducted on a single day. Varsity was part of Operation Plunder, the Anglo-American-Canadian assault under Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery to cross the northern Rhine River, the U. S. 17th Airborne Division was to capture the village of Diersfordt and clear the rest of the Diersfordter Wald of any remaining German forces. The two divisions would hold the territory they had captured until relieved by advancing units of 21st Army Group, and then join in the general advance into northern Germany. However, the operation was a success, with both divisions capturing Rhine bridges and securing towns that could have used by Germany to delay the advance of the British ground forces. The two divisions incurred more than 2,000 casualties, but captured about 3,500 German soldiers, the operation was the last large-scale Allied airborne operation of World War II. By March 1945, the Allied armies had advanced into Germany and had reached the River Rhine, Plunder envisioned the British Second Army, under Lieutenant-General Miles C. Ninth Army, under Lieutenant General William Simpson, crossing the Rhine at Rees, Wesel, the division did not participate in Operation Market Garden. It did, however, participate in the Ardennes campaign but had yet to take part in a combat drop, the plan for the operation was therefore altered to accommodate the two remaining airborne divisions, the British 6th and U. S. 17th Airborne Divisions. It was also decided by the commander of the First Allied Airborne Army, General Lewis H. Brereton, supply drops for the airborne forces would also be made as soon as possible to ensure adequate supplies were available to the airborne troops as they fought. By this period of the conflict, the number of German divisions remaining on the Western Front was rapidly declining, both in numbers and quality, a fact in the Allies favour. By the night of 23 March, Montgomery had the equivalent of more than 30 divisions under his command, while the Germans fielded around 10 divisions, all weakened from constant fighting. First Parachute Army had three corps stationed along the river, 2nd Parachute Corps to the north, 86th Corps in the centre, and 63rd Corps in the south. After their retreat to the Rhine both divisions were under-strength and did not number more than 4,000 men each, with 84th Infantry Division supported by only 50 or so medium artillery pieces. The mobile reserves that the Germans did possess consisted of some 150 armoured fighting vehicles under the command of 1st Parachute Army, intelligence also pointed to the possibility of a heavy anti-tank battalion being stationed in the area. The situation of the German defenders, and their ability to any assault effectively, was worsened when the Allies launched a large-scale air attack one week prior to Operation Varsity. The air attack involved more than 10,000 Allied aircraft and concentrated primarily on Luftwaffe airfields and the German transportation system. Operation Plunder began at 9 pm on the evening of 23 March, the airlift consisted of 541 transport aircraft containing airborne troops, and a further 1,050 troop-carriers towing 1,350 gliders
14.
Operation Blackcock
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It was conducted by the British Second Army between 14 and 26 January 1945. The objective was to drive the German 15th Army back across the rivers Rur and Wurm, the operation was carried out by Lieutenant-General Neil Ritchies XII Corps by three divisions, the 7th Armoured Division, the 43rd Infantry Division and the 52nd Infantry Division. The operation, named after the Scottish black male grouse, is relatively unknown despite the fierce battles that were fought for each and every village. By the end of 1944, the frontline in Dutch Limburg had stabilized along several natural barriers, by far the most difficult barrier to cross was the River Maas running along the Dutch - Belgian border. The next barrier was the River Rur, running from the German Eifel area through Heinsberg towards Roermond, from Heinsberg, southwards the famous Siegfried Line or West Wall was formed along the banks of the Rur. Dutch South-Limburg was already liberated in September by the First United States Army, here the front had settled along the Saefeller Beek, a small creek forming another seemingly immense obstacle. These obstacles formed an area, indeed, it was referred to as the Roermond Triangle. As a result of the German offensive - Operation Herbstnebel - in the Ardennes, therefore, the British Second Armys XII Corps, had taken over the task of guarding the frontline north of Sittard for the US Army. The Maas front was guarded by the British VIII Corps, the British XII Corps was facing the German XII SS Corps, commanded by Günther Blumentritt, which had two infantry divisions present along the frontline between Geilenkirchen and Roermond. In the Roermond area these divisions were strengthened by the Fallschirmjäger-Regiment Hübner, the clearing of the Roer Triangle was planned along three axes. The left axis, formed by the 7th Armoured Division, was aimed at capturing the bridge across the Roer in Sint Odiliënberg, for the 7th, the operation would start with bridging the creeks south of Susteren. The centre axis, formed by the 52nd Lowland Division, was aimed at the capture of Heinsberg, in order to do this, a break-through at the German defence line was to be undertaken near Hongen in order to open the road between Sittard and Heinsberg for moving troops. The right axis, formed by the 43rd Wessex Division, was aimed at clearing the area south-east of Dremmen and this axis would use the break in the German defence line that was to be created by the Lowland Division. The Victoria Cross was awarded twice, both posthumously, for actions during Operation Blackcock, fusilier Dennis Donnini of the 4/5 Royal Scots Fusiliers, 52nd Lowland Division, received the VC after his heroic actions in the village of Stein in Selfkant on 18 January. Fusilier Donnini is buried at the Sittard War Cemetery, lance Corporal Harden is buried at Nederweert War Cemetery. The Battle for the Dutch village of Sint Joost was a point in Operation Blackcock. The small village of Sint Joost was on the route of the 7th Armoured Division’s drive north towards Montfort and it would take four attacks to clear the village, the final assault taking place on Sunday,21 January. In total, sixty Fallschirmjäger were taken prisoner, the 9th Durham Light Infantry and 1st Rifle Brigade had suffered heavy losses in Sint Joost
15.
Operation Veritable
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Operation Veritable was the northern part of an Allied pincer movement that took place between 8 February and 11 March 1945 during the final stages of the Second World War. Ninth Army was incorporated into the 21st Army Group, the objective of the operation was to clear German forces from the area between the Rhine and Maas rivers, east of the German/Dutch frontier, in the Rhineland. It was part of General Dwight D. Eisenhowers broad front strategy to occupy the entire west bank of the Rhine before its crossing, Veritable had been planned for execution in early January,1945 when the ground had been frozen and thus more advantageous to the Allies. Second, Veritable was the arm of a pincer movement. The southern pincer arm, Operation Grenade, by Lieutenant General William Hood Simpsons U. S, ninth Army, had had to be postponed for two weeks when the Germans released the waters from the Roer dams and river levels rose. No military actions could proceed across the Roer until the water subsided, Veritable started on schedule, with XXX Corps advancing through the forest and the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division, in amphibious vehicles, clearing enemy positions in the drowned Rhine flood plain. The Allied advance proceeded more slowly than expected and at greater cost, the fighting was hard, but the Allied advance continued. On 22 February, once clear of the Reichswald, and with the towns of Kleve and Goch in their control, ninth Army near Geldern on 4 March. Fighting continued as the Germans sought to retain a bridgehead on the west bank of the Rhine at Wesel and evacuate as many men, finally, on 10 March, the German withdrawal ended and the last bridges were destroyed. This first required that Allied forces should close up to the Rhine along its whole length, one such proposal, Valediction - an assault south-eastwards from Nijmegen between the Rhine and Maas rivers, initially had been shelved by Montgomery. A conference was convened at Maastricht on 7 December 1944 between Allied generals, to consider ways of maintaining pressure on the Germans throughout the winter, consequently, Valediction was brought forward and allocated to the 1st Canadian Army. British XXX Corps were attached to the Canadians for the operation, at this point, the name Veritable was attached to the operation in place of Valediction. In the event, Veritable was delayed by the diversion of forces to stem the German attack through the Ardennes in December, at this stage, 21st Army Group consisted of the British Second Army, First Canadian Army and the U. S. In ‘’Veritable’’, the reinforced British XXX Corps, under Lieutenant-General Brian Horrocks, would advance through the Reichswald Forest, ninth Army was to execute Operation Grenade, the southern part of the pincer. The First Canadian Army had had a severe time clearing the approaches to Antwerp during the previous autumn and it was, numerically, the smallest of the Allied armies in northern Europe and, despite its name, contained significant British units as part of its structure. For Veritable, it was strengthened by XXX Corps. Guards Armoured Division – Part of XXX Corps reserve at the start of the operation, 11th Armoured Division – transferred across the Maas from the British Second Army as the operation progressed. Assessments by the German High Command were that an Allied advance through the Reichswald would be too difficult, reserves were therefore placed to respond to this
16.
Operation Grenade
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During World War II, Operation Grenade was the crossing of the Roer river between Roermond and Düren by the U. S. Ninth Army, commanded by Lieutenant General William Hood Simpson, in February 1945, on 9 February, the U. S. However, once the Canadians had advanced, the Germans destroyed the dams upstream. This stopped the Americans from crossing as planned and it had been anticipated that the Germans would try to do this, and that General Omar Bradley′s U. S. 12th Army Group could capture them in time to stop the flooding. During the two weeks that the river was flooded, Hitler would not allow Generalfeldmarschall Gerd von Rundstedt to withdraw behind the Rhine and he ordered him to fight where his forces stood. The Ninth Army was finally able to cross the river on 23 February, by then, other Allied forces were also close to the Rhine. Rundstedt′s divisions—which had remained on the west bank of the Rhine—were cut to pieces in the Battle for the Rhineland, footnotes Citations http, //www. 104infdiv. org/grenade. htm From the Rur to the Elbe http, //www-cgsc. army. mil/carl/download/csipubs/fromroer/from_cii. pdf
17.
Operation Lumberjack
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Operation Lumberjack was a military operation with the goal of capturing the west bank of the Rhine River and seizing key German cities, near the end of World War II. The First United States Army launched the operation in March 1945 to capture cities in Nazi Germany. One unexpected outcome was the capture of the Ludendorff bridge, a railroad bridge across the Rhine. The Germans had repeatedly frustrated Allied efforts to cross the Rhine, with the 21st Army Group firmly established along the Rhine, Bradleys 12th Army Group prepared to execute Operation Lumberjack. General Omar Bradleys plan called for the U. S, First Army to attack southeastward toward the juncture of the Ahr and Rhine Rivers and then swing south to meet Patton, whose U. S. Third Army would simultaneously drive northeastward through the Eifel, if successful, Lumberjack would capture Cologne, secure the Koblenz sector, and bring the 12th Army Group to the Rhine in the entire area north of the Moselle River. The 12th Army Group also hoped to capture a number of Germans. Montgomery would then capture the Ruhr, the heartland of Germany. First Army controlled the III, V, and VII Corps, III Corps had the 9th Armored Division and the 1st, 9th, and 78th Infantry Divisions attached. The VII Corps controlled the 3rd Armored Division and the 8th, 99th and they were to secure the region between Mosel and the Duren-Cologne and to destroy the German armys capability to fight in that area. The First Army was to seize the region west of the Rhine. After capturing Cologne, the First Army was to wheel southeast, Patton was supposed to capture the Eifel Mountains and then the Mosel Valley, trapping the remainder of the German Seventh Army in the Eifel area. From north to south, the attacking U. S. forces were confronted by the LXXXI and LVIII Panzer Corps of the German Fifteenth Army, and the LXXIV, LXVII, over 75,000 German troops were on the western banks of the bridge. Their only escape route was across the Ludendorff bridge, hitler was angered by this incident and ordered those responsible for the destruction of the Mulheim Bridge to be court-martialed. He also ordered that demolition explosives should not be laid in place until the very last moment, the bridges should only be demolished following an order in writing from the officer in charge, and only as a last resort and at the last possible moment. This order left officers responsible for destroying bridges nervous about both the if they blew up the bridge too soon and if they failed to blow it up at all. Bradley launched Lumberjack on 1 March, in the north, the First Army rapidly exploited bridgeheads over the Erft River, entering Euskirchen on 4 March and Cologne on the fifth. Cologne was in U. S. Army control by the 7th, the First Army then pushed towards the Ahr River valley, the likely point of retreat for what was left of the German Armys LXVI and LXVII Korps
18.
Battle of Remagen
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The Battle of Remagen during the Allied invasion of Germany resulted in the unexpected capture of the Ludendorff Bridge over the Rhine and possibly shortened World War II in Europe. After capturing the Siegfried Line, the 9th Armored Division of the U. S, First Army had advanced unexpectedly quickly towards the Rhine. They were very surprised to see one of the last bridges across the Rhine still standing, the Germans had wired the bridge with about 2,800 kilograms of demolition charges. When they tried to blow it up, only a portion of the explosives detonated, U. S. forces captured the bridge and rapidly expanded their first bridgehead across the Rhine, two weeks before Operation Plunder. The GIs actions prevented the Germans from regrouping east of the Rhine, the battle for control of the bridge caused both the American and German forces to employ new weapons and tactics in combat for the first time. Over the next 10 days, the Germans used virtually every weapon at their disposal to try to destroy the bridge and this included infantry and armor, howitzers, mortars, floating mines, mined boats, a railroad gun, and a giant 540 mm super-heavy mortar. They also attacked the bridge using the newly developed Arado Ar 234 B-2 turbojet bombers, the Americans counted 367 different German Luftwaffe aircraft attacking the bridge over the next 10 days. The Americans claimed to have shot down nearly 30% of the aircraft dispatched against them, on 14 March, German Reich Chancellor Adolf Hitler ordered Schutzstaffel General Hans Kammler to fire V2 rockets to destroy the bridge. This marked the first time the missiles had been used against a tactical objective, the 11 missiles launched killed six Americans and a number of German citizens in nearby towns, but failed to damage the bridge. When the Germans sent a squad of seven naval demolition swimmers wearing Italian underwater breathing apparatus, for the first time in combat, they had deployed the top-secret Canal Defence Lights which successfully detected the frogmen in the dark, and they were all killed or captured. The sudden capture of a bridge across the Rhine was front page news in American newspapers, the Allies were able to rapidly transport five divisions across the Rhine into the Ruhr, Germanys industrial heartland. The bridge had endured months of bombing, direct artillery hits, near misses. It finally collapsed at 3,00 PM on 17 March, twenty-eight American Engineers were killed and 63 were wounded. But by then U. S. Army combat engineers had finished building a tactical steel treadway bridge, over 25,000 troops crossed into Germany before the Americans broke out of the bridgehead on 25 March 1945. This was 18 days after the bridge had been captured, German and American military authorities agreed that capturing the bridge shortened the war. The Ludendorff Bridge was not rebuilt following World War II, romans originally built a settlement at Remagen in the first century AD. Over that long period of time, it had been destroyed multiple times by invading armies from several nations, the town was rebuilt each time. In March,1945 about 5,000 people lived in the resort town
19.
Operation Undertone
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Operation Undertone was a large assault by the U. S. Seventh and French 1st Armies of the U. S, Sixth Army Group as part of the Allied invasion of Germany in March 1945 during World War II. A force of three corps was to attack abreast from Saarbrücken, Germany, along a 75 km sector to a point southeast of Hagenau, the Seventh Army′s main effort was to be made in the center up the Kaiserslautern corridor. Third Army of the 12th Army Group was to be limited to diversionary attacks across the Moselle to protect the Sixth Army Group′s left flank, General Jacob L. Devers, commanding U. S. Sixth Army Group and German SS General Paul Hausser, commanding German Army Group G, General Devers′ victory—along with a rapid advance by the U. S. Third Army—completed the advance of Allied armies to the west bank of the Rhine along its length within Germany. The bulk of the text in this article is directly from The Last Offensive. The material was extracted from Chapter XII, The Saar-Palatinate, pp. 236–265, assigned a target date of 15 March, the offensive was to begin only after the 21st Army Group had reached the Rhine. It was to be designed both to draw enemy units from the north and to provide a line of attack across the Rhine should the principal Allied drive in the north fail. The main effort, SHAEF planners contemplated, was to be made by the Sixth Army Groups Seventh Army, during the first week of March, General Devers at Sixth Army Group approved a plan prepared by General Alexander Patch′s Seventh Army. A force of three corps was to attack abreast from Saarbrücken along a 75 km sector to a point southeast of Hagenau, the Seventh Army′s main effort was to be made in the center up the Kaiserslautern corridor. Third Army of the 12th Army Group was to be limited to diversionary attacks across the Moselle to protect the Sixth Army Group′s left flank. Eisenhower approved on 8 March, the day that General George S. Patton obtained approval from General Bradley for the plan prepared by the Third Army staff for a major attack across the Moselle. The 12th Army Group commander in turn promoted the plan with General Eisenhower, General Eisenhower approved the plan without qualification. This boundary gave the Third Army responsibility for clearing the third of the Saar-Palatinate. Bradley and Devers also authorized the commanders of the two armies—Third and Seventh—to deal directly with other rather than through their respective army group headquarters. Facing the undented fortifications of the Siegfried Line, the Seventh Army commander planned a set-piece attack, before the attack could begin, supplies had to be accumulated, division and corps boundaries adjusted, some units shuffled, and new divisions joining the army fed into jump-off positions. This meant to General Patch that the Seventh Army could not attack before the date,15 March
20.
Ruhr Pocket
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The Ruhr Pocket was a battle of encirclement that took place in late March and early April 1945, near the end of World War II, in the Ruhr Area of Germany. It marked the end of organized resistance on Nazi Germanys Western Front. In March 1945, the Allies crossed the River Rhine, bradley and his subordinates quickly exploited the crossing made on March 7,1945, and expanded the bridgehead until the bridge collapsed 10 days later. Having crossed the Rhine, both Army groups fanned out into the German hinterland, in the south, while the Third Army headed east, the First Army headed northeast and formed the southern pincer of the Ruhr envelopment. Facing the Allied armies were the remnants of a shattered Wehrmacht, a few SS training units, lead elements of the two Allied pincers met on April 1,1945, near Lippstadt. By April 4, the encirclement was completed and the Ninth Army reverted to the command of General Bradleys 12th Army Group, while the main operations headed further toward central and northern Germany, American forces concentrated on the pocket, taking it section by section. On April 12,1945, the U. S, First and Ninth Armies divided the area coming from the south, the smaller, eastern part surrendered the next day. The western part continued a weak resistance until April 18 and April 21,1945, rather than surrender and face trial for war crimes, the commander, Field Marshal Walter Model, committed suicide in a forest south of the city of Duisburg, in Ratingen. German anti-Nazi resistance groups in Düsseldorf attempted to surrender the city to the Allied armies in the so-called Aktion Rheinland in order to spare Düsseldorf from further destruction, however, SS units were able to crush the resistance, and executed a number of those involved. Executions of foreign labourers and political prisoners by the Gestapo had already been occurring since February, the act of resistance did accomplish a cancellation of further bombings on the city by another 800 bombers, through contact with the Americans. Düsseldorf was captured by Americans on 17 April without any notable fighting, the surviving 325,000 German soldiers from the Ruhr Pocket, and some civilians, were imprisoned in the Rheinwiesenlager near Remagen, a temporary prison enclosure
21.
Task Force Baum
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Task Force Baum was a secret and controversial World War II task force set up by U. S. Army general George S. Patton and commanded by Capt. Abraham Baum in late March 1945, Baum was given the task of penetrating 50 miles behind German lines and liberating the POWs in camp OFLAG XIII-B, near Hammelburg. Controversy surrounds the true reasons behind the mission, which may have been simply to liberate Pattons son-in-law, John K. Waters, all of the 57 tanks, jeeps, and other vehicles were lost. Camp Hammelburg, located just 1.8 miles south from its town, was originally used as a military training ground before World War I. It was converted into two separate POW camps during the second war, one camp was for Allied enlisted men, while the other was used for Allied officers. Originally, all of the Oflag camp’s occupants were Serb officers, the camp was later split into sections of American officers on one side and Serbs in the other. Most of the American portion of the camp was upgraded in January 1945 after an influx of POWs from the Battle of the Bulge. As Soviets continued an advance toward Germany in the winter of 1944. In the dead of winter,1,290 POWs headed west into Germany, among them was Lt. Col. John K. Waters, General Patton’s son-in-law, who had been captured in Tunisia in February 1943. Col. Paul Goode, the ranking officer at the camp, kept a list of the men in his ranks. Traveling 340 miles —mostly by foot—in 7 weeks time, the men arrived at their destination on 9 March, conditions at the camp were miserable for both the prisoners and their guards. The winter of 1944 was considered one of the coldest on record, the seven 5-room buildings each were crowded with two hundred men. One small room was to house 40 prisoners on bunk beds, although some men were able to scavenge for wood nearby, it still was not enough to keep the soldiers warm. The average temperature in the rooms at any time was estimated to be 20 °F. Food was just as scarce as heat. Initially, the men in camps were given a diet of 1,700 calories a day and this was cut even more as supplies ran low and the camp population increased, until an estimated 1070 calories were distributed daily. Many men in the camp suffered dramatic weight loss of more than 50 pounds and atrophy of muscles because of the lack of food, dysentery due to unsterile conditions and utensils further weakened many men in the camp. General Patton assigned the mission to Combat Command B, 4th Armored Division, the tank battalion commander tabbed to command the mission was ill and suggested that Baum, the battalion S-3, instead lead the task force, which set out on late evening of 26 March. On the evening of 26 March, the force reached Aschaffenburg, encountering heavy fire that disabled several vehicles
22.
Battle of Frankfurt
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The Battle of Frankfurt was a four-day struggle for control of Frankfurt am Main during World War II. The 5th Infantry Division conducted the attack while the 6th Armored Division provided support. The city was defended by the LXXX Corps of the Seventh Army, the 5th Infantry Division crossing the Rhine on 22 March and quickly established a bridgehead. By 23 March, the 5th had expanded its bridgehead five miles east, on 25 March the 6th Armored crossed the Rhine at Oppenheim and pushed north towards the city. On 26 March the 5th reached the outskirts of the city. The 6th linked up with the 5th and pushed through the outskirts to the Main. Much to their surprise, units of the 5th found a bridge across the river, crossed it under heavy fire on 27 March. The two divisions then fought the Germans in fierce house to house combat, slowly pushing through the city, on 29 March the city was brought under American control, however, small sporadic fighting continued until 4 April
23.
South German Offensive
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The South German Offensive is the general name of one of the final offensives of World War II in Europe. The offensive was led by the Seventh and Third armies of the United States along with the First Army of France, soviet troops linked up with American forces in Czechoslovakia notably in the Battle of Slivice. The offensive was made by the US 6th Army Group to protect the US 12th Army Groups right flank, however German resistance was much more fierce than in the north, which slowed the 6th Army Groups progress. However, by the end of April, many German divisions surrendered without a fight to the advancing American forces to avoid the inevitable destruction. Fighting continued a few days after the Surrender of Germany on 8 May, due to German forces fighting west to surrender to the Americans instead of the Soviets
24.
Battle of Kassel (1945)
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The battle resulted as the U. S. Third Army pushed northeast from the region of Frankfurt and Mainz, the battle opened on April 1,1945 and ended with an American victory three days later. Opposing the Third Armys 80th Infantry Division were a replacement battalion, some heavy tanks. Although the Germans gave battle at Kassel, their army was on the brink of collapse as the Western Allies, the defense of Kassel did not materially impede the Allied advance, and, one month after the battle ended, Germany was forced to capitulate. After the Ardennes Offensive, the U. S, Third Army had pushed east and southeast into Germany, capturing Pruem and Trier. This advance brought General Pattons troops to the Rhine River, which crossed at Oppenheim, near Mainz. Moving east from its bridgehead across the Rhine, the Third Armys XII Corps fought through scattered German opposition, after Frankfurt, Kassel was the largest city in Hessen, having had a population of 200,000 in 1939. Another corps of the Third Army, the XX, was directed to capture it, by March 30, elements of the Third Army were nearing Kassel, having moved some 220 kilometers in eight days. Much of Kassels center lay in ruins as the city had been bombed 40 times by the Allied air forces, among the bombing targets in the city was the Henschel factory complex, which produced Tiger II tanks. As the Americans approached, the Henschel Works finished work on thirteen Tiger II tanks, deployed on a military training ground south of the city was a battery of 88 mm anti-aircraft guns manned by Reichsarbeitdienst members, a paramilitary labor service of the Nazi Party. Besides the tanks and AA-guns, the Germans had several hundred men of the 15th Armored Infantry Replacement, the German high command had designated Kassel a Festung with dire orders to resist to the last round. In the event, however, the designation of the city as Festung had little impact on the outcome of the battle, in command of the citys defense was Generalmajor Johannes Erxleben, a communications officer with little battle experience. On March 30,1945, seven German Tiger II tanks rolled south,3 kilometres northeast of Fritzlar, the Tigers fought a meeting engagement with an armored spearhead of the U. S. Third Army, resulting in damage or destruction to six U. S. tank destroyers, the German tanks, however, were forced to retreat when their unit was subjected to heavy artillery fire. On April 1, leading elements of Major General Horace L. McBrides U. S, on April 2, the Americans again responded with heavy artillery fire, destroying the RAD AA battery. The U. S. 318th Infantry Regiment moved a battalion into the high ground west of Kassel, while the U. S. 319th Infantry Regiment crossed the Fulda River. The 80th Divisions third regiment, the 317th Infantry, was in divisional reserve, by the end of the day, western and southern suburbs of Kassel had been occupied by the Americans. In the south, German infantry of the 15th Battalion mounted 15 half-tracks and, supported by about 12 tanks, moved south and surprised elements of the 1st Battalion, the subsequent exchange of fire saw six U. S. tank destroyers knocked out and one Tiger II damaged
25.
Battle of Heilbronn (1945)
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Despite the impending end of the war, the battle was characterized by very firm German resistance and the presence of various Nazi Party auxiliaries among the regular German troops. Following days of combat, troops of the U. S. 100th Infantry Division captured Heilbronn. These troops and remnants of four divisions, plus the panzer grenadiers, were all subordinated to General Bork’s XIII Corps. Loose ends of two divisions, including the 2d Mountain Division, were positioned on the north wing of Beyer’s LXXX Corps. As the men turned south toward the city after daybreak, a German battalion, using in some cases underground tunnels to emerge in the rear of the U. S. troops, the ensuing fight forced the American infantrymen back to within a few hundred feet of the river. There they held, but not until another battalion of the 398th crossed under fire in late afternoon were they able to resume their advance, even then they could penetrate no deeper than a thousand yards, scarcely enough to rid the crossing site of small arms fire. Until the bridgehead could be expanded, engineers had no hope of building a bridge, later on 4 April, General Burress of the 100th Division had the 397th Infantry cross the Neckar just south of the 398ths position. Bitter from the first, the fighting for Heilbronn had continued heavy, since the crossing site remained under German fire, engineers still had no hope of putting in a bridge. Without close fire support, the infantrymen depended upon artillery on the west bank of the Neckar, but fire was difficult to adjust in the confined factory district. At one point, in response to mortar fire, a platoon of Hitler Youth soldiers ran screaming into American lines to surrender while their officers shot at them to make them stop. During the night of 5 April, a battalion of the 397th Infantry crossed the Neckar south of Heilbronn and found resistance at that point just as determined. There engineers had completed a bridge during the afternoon of the 7th when German artillery, controlled by observers in the hills on the east edge of Heilbronn. Two days later much the same thing happened to a pontoon ferry after it had transported only a few more tanks. On 8 April, the U. S. 399th Infantry crossed the Neckar to the south of Heilbronn, moving into southern industrial suburbs and the village of Sontheim. Most of Heilbronn was under U. S. control by 9 April, but not until 12 April was the rubble of Heilbronn cleared of Germans and a bridge built across the Neckar. On that day, the 397th Infantry took two hill summits to the east of the city, nicknamed Tower Hill and Cloverleaf Hill and these actions, coupled with the general advance of all three U. S. regiments, signaled the end of organized German resistance in Heilbronn. In nine days of fighting, the 100th Division lost 85 men killed, in the process, men of the 100th captured 1,500 Germans. Although a contingent of armor at last established contact with the 100th Division near Heilbronn on 14 April, General Foertsch’s hasty but surprisingly strong position along the Jagst-Neckar crescent had required eleven days of often heavy fighting to reduce
26.
Battle of Nuremberg (1945)
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The Battle of Nuremberg was a five-day battle between the forces of the United States 7th Army on one side, and Nazi Germany and Russian Liberation Army volunteers on the other during World War II. The battle saw some of the fiercest urban combat during the war, the battle was a blow to Nazi Germany as Nuremberg was a center of the Nazi regime. Many rallies took place in the city and to lose the city to the Americans took a toll on already low German morale. Even though American forces heavily outnumbered the German forces, it wasnt until 20 April, the United States, United Kingdom, France and Canada jointly invaded Germany from the west on 8 February 1945. The German Army took heavy losses as the Allied armies crossed the Rhine and surrounded the Ruhr area as the Soviet and Polish armies pushed from the east. By April the US and Soviet armies were closing in on other, constricting an already narrow gap of German-controlled territory running from Berlin to Munich. As the 12th Army Group continued to push east towards Berlin, despite the heavier resistance from the German Army in the south as compared to the north, the US 7th Army broke out of its bridgehead on the Rhine south of Frankfurt on 28 March. After fierce fighting, the 7th Army captured Aschaffenburg in Bavaria on 3 April and Heilbronn in Württemberg on 12 April, on 15 April the 7th Army advanced towards Nuremberg, rapidly capturing Bamberg in the process. As the 7th Army neared Nuremberg, Holz ordered setting up anti-tank barriers as well as anti-aircraft guns around the old city, Holzs forces were heavily outnumbered, but he still believed that the Americans would break sooner or later. By 16 April, the 7th Army had begun its assault on Nuremberg—not from the west as Holz expected, by the end of the day, the Americans had captured the outskirts of Erlenstegen and Buch. Arthur Schoeddert, a constable of anti-aircraft artillery, failed to execute Hitlers orders to blow up electricity, gas, by 17 April, the 7th Army captured the marshaling yard and the surrounding area as well as the Veilhofstrasse and Woehrd neighborhoods. By evening, the airport to the north was captured and US artillery began to shell the old city, American troops met fierce resistance around the old city on 18 April, which destroyed and damaged many buildings around the old city, including the historic city castle. On 18 April, as American artillery continued to shell the old city, on 20 April, the 3rd Infantry Division under the command of Major General John W. ODaniel and the 45th Infantry Division under Major General Robert T. Frederick laid siege to the old city. German resistance was so great that American heavy artillery and air support was deployed, Holz ordered his men to continue to fight. Holz himself was trapped in the station in the old city. After American troops gave him four chances for a peaceful surrender, after Holzs death, second-in-command Colonel Wolf realized that the city could no longer be held. At 11,00 he ordered all German troops in the area to surrender, on the evening of 20 April, the American flag was hoisted at Adolf Hitler Platz, formally ending the battle
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Operation Archway
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Operation Archway was the codename for one of the largest and most diverse operations carried out by the Special Air Service during the Second World War. It went on to support the three British Armoured Divisions in their advance into Germany until the end of the war, the Archway force was under command of Lieutenant Colonel Brian Franks and comprised two squadrons, one each from the 1st and 2nd Special Air Service regiments. Following these operations both of the Special Air Service regiments were recalled to the United Kingdom to regroup, both having suffered casualties in the French operations, Operation Archway was planned to support the XVIII Airborne Corps Operation Varsity parachute landings across the Rhine river. The force from the Special Air Service would be known as Frankforce, named after the officer selected to command it, the commanding officer of 2nd Special Air Service, Lieutenant Colonel Brian Franks. Frankforce was made up of two reinforced Special Air Force squadrons, one each from the 1st and 2nd Special Air Service regiments, the force would number about 300 all ranks, mounted in 75 armed Jeeps, some also equipped with 3-inch mortars. They were supported by a number of 15-cwt and 3-ton trucks, the 1st Special Air Service squadron was led by Major Poat and consisted of three troops, each consisting of three sections with three Jeeps. They had a 3 in. mortar section at Squadron Headquarters which also kept a reserve of 12 Jeeps, the 2nd SAS squadron under command Major Power had a similar composition but only two troops. Their first mission in support of the XVIII Airborne Corps consisted of patrols in northern Germany. They crossed the Rhine in amphibious LVT Buffalos, on the 25 March at Bislich, Frankforce was then assigned to support the British Guards Armoured Division in the area around the Dortmund–Ems Canal. The Special Air Service Jeeps being a faster and lighter alternative to the Cromwell tanks used by the armoured regiments and it was the 1st SAS squadron working with the 11th Armoured Division, who were among the first British troops into Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. They found between 50,000 and 60,000 inmates in the camp and for days later SAS patrols assisted the Field Security Police in hunting down war criminals making several arrests. By the end of April 1945, they had reached the Elbe river, where they were joined by the Operation Keystone team, before any training could start, both regiments together with the 1st Airborne Division were sent to disarm the German garrison in Norway Operation Doomsday. In August 1945 the Special Air Service regiments returned home from Norway, the British Authorities of the time could see no further use for such a force. The complete encyclopedia of the SAS, SAS, the first secret wars, the unknown years of combat & counter-insurgency. After Daybreak, The Liberation of Belsen,1945
28.
Battle of Hamburg (1945)
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British troops were met with fierce resistance inside the city as Hamburg was the last significant remaining pocket of resistance in the north. Once the British had captured the city, they continued their advance north-east, after the Western Allies crossed the River Rhine, the German armies in the west began to fall apart. Army Group B, under the command of Walter Model, was the last effective German defence in the west, however the Army Group, consisting of three armies, were encircled and captured by the 1st and 9th American Armies, thus ending effective German resistance in the west. After the defeat of Army Group B, the Germans were only able to organize resistance in a few cities and were not able to communicate each other very well. The Allied armies started an advance across Germany, with the Americans pushing the centre. The main British thrust came from the British Second Army, under the command of Lieutenant General Miles C. Dempsey, the armys objective was to advance across northern Germany and push on to Berlin. The British came across little resistance, compared with the Americans further south, the 1st Parachute Army and the newly-formed Army Group Northwest were the last German forces in the north. As the British continued their advance, the German high command in Berlin, the Germans managed to resist the British in Bremen for a week, the surviving troops retreated to the Jutland peninsula. The last remaining defence was the city of Hamburg and the Germans sought to make a stand there. After capturing Soltau, the British 7th Armoured Division of the VIII Corps was poised to assault the city, elements of the XII Corps attacked Hamburg itself from the northwest. On their way to Harburg, the 7th Division captured Welle and Tostedt on 18 April, by this time, the Germans had built up defenses in Harburg as the British moved closer. On 20 April, the division captured Daerstorf, eight miles west of the city, the RHA Forward Observation Officers, reached the Elbe and began to direct artillery fire upon troops and trains on the other side of the river. On the same day, the 131st Infantry Brigade took Vahrendorf just two miles south of Harburg, the Division halted the advance for five days just short of Hamburg, it set up a perimeter and prepared for its assault on the city. However, on 26 April, the 12th SS Regiment, supported by troops of the Hitler Youth, sailors and policemen and they were supported by 88mm guns and 75mm howitzers and reached the town centre, but were pushed back once British tanks arrived. The battle continued until the day, when the Germans retreated back to Harburg, leaving 60 dead. On 28 April the British began their assault on the city, the 5th Royal Tank Regiment, 9th Durham Light Infantry and 1st Rifle Brigade captured Jesteburg and Hittfeld, where the autobahn was. Nevertheless, the Germans blew up parts of the autobahn, slowing the British advance, once the British entered Hamburg, they were met with fierce resistance and house to house combat as the Germans would not surrender. By this time the troops of the 1st Parachute Army were a mix of SS, paratroopers, Volkssturm, along with regular Wehrmacht soldiers, supported by sailors, police, firemen and Hitler Youth
29.
21st Army Group
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Commanded by General Sir Bernard Montgomery, 21st Army Group initially controlled all ground forces in Operation Overlord. The Germans lacked the ability to prevent the American breakout at the end of the Normandy beachhead in early August 1944. After the successful landings in the south of France by the U. S. 6th Army Group and it was therefore responsible for securing the ports upon which Allied supply depended, and also with overrunning German V-1 and V-2 launching sites along the coasts of western France and Belgium. By 29 August, the Germans had largely withdrawn across the Seine River without their heavy equipment. The advance was so rapid,250 miles in four days, that Antwerp, Belgium was captured undefended on 4 September 1944, on 1 September 1944, the 21st Army Group was relieved of operational control of the American armies, and those armies formed the 12th Army Group. By mid-September, elements of 21st Army Group had reached the Dutch border, but were halted due to lack of supplies, after the break-out from Normandy, there were high hopes that the war could be ended in 1944. In order to do so, the last great natural barrier of Germany in the west. Operation Market Garden was orchestrated to attempt just this, however, the British armoured forces had only one main highway to operate on, and crucial information about the German forces in the operational area was either missing or ignored. Thus an operation was needed to clear the approaches and thereby ease the supply problem, the island of Walcheren was strongly held by German forces and commanded the estuary of the Scheldt which flows through Antwerp. Operations by II Canadian Corps cleared the approaches to Antwerp both north and south of the water during the Battle of the Scheldt, Walcheren itself was captured in late 1944 by the last major amphibious assault in Europe in the Second World War. A combination of British and Canadian forces and Royal Marines undertook the operation, after the capture of Walcheren came the last great German offensive of the war. In a repeat of their 1940 attack, German formations smashed through weak Allied lines in the Ardennes in Belgium, the Battle of the Bulge presented a command problem to General Eisenhower. It had sliced through US lines, leaving some American formations north and south of the new German salient. However, the headquarters of U. S. 12th Army Group lay to the south and they, with the US Third Army under General George S. Patton, reduced the salient. After the battle, control of the First US Army which had placed under Field Marshal Montgomerys temporary command was returned to Bradleys 12th Army Group. The US Ninth Army remained under Montgomery longer, before being returned to American command in Germany, prior to the Rhineland Campaign the enemy had to be cleared from the Roer Triangle during Operation Blackcock. This large methodical mopping up operation took place between 14 and 27 January 1945 and it was not planned to make any deep thrust into the enemy defences or capture large numbers of prisoners. It proceeded from stage to stage almost entirely as planned and was completed with minimal casualties, Allied forces closed up to the Rhine by March 1945
30.
Field marshal (United Kingdom)
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Field marshal has been the highest rank in the British Army since 1736. A five-star rank with NATO code OF-10, it is equivalent to an admiral of the fleet in the Royal Navy or a marshal of the Royal Air Force in the Royal Air Force. A field marshals insignia consists of two crossed batons surrounded by yellow leaves below St Edwards Crown. As with marshals of the RAF and admirals of the fleet in their services, field marshals remain officers of the British Army for life. The rank has been used throughout its history and was vacant through parts of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. After the Second World War, it became practice to appoint the Chief of the Imperial General Staff to the rank on his last day in the post. Army officers occupying the post of Chief of the Defence Staff, in total,141 men have held the rank of field marshal. The majority led careers in the British Army or the British Indian Army, some members of the British Royal Family—most recently Prince Edward, Duke of Kent, and Charles, Prince of Wales—were promoted to the rank after shorter periods of service. Other ceremonial appointments were made as diplomatic gestures, twelve foreign monarchs held the honour, though three were stripped of it when their countries became enemies of Britain and her allies in the two world wars. Also awarded the rank were two distinguished foreign military officers, honoured for their contributions to World War I and World War II respectively, and one foreign statesman. A report commissioned by the Ministry of Defence in 1995 made a number of recommendations for financial savings in the forces budget. The recommendation was not taken up in full, but the convention of promoting service chiefs to five-star ranks was stopped, Sir Peter Inge was, in 1994, the last active officer to be promoted to the rank. Inge relinquished the post of Chief of the Defence Staff in 1997 and his successor, at the same time, Guthrie, who relinquished the post of CDS and retired from active service in 2001, was promoted to honorary field marshal. In June 2014 former Chief of the Defence Staff Lord Walker of Aldringham was also promoted to field marshal. The rank insignia of a marshal in the British Army comprises two crossed batons in a wreath of oak leaves, with a crown above. On appointment, British field marshals are awarded a gold-tipped baton which they may carry on formal occasions, the vast majority of officers to hold the rank of field marshal were professional soldiers in the British Army, though eleven served as officers in the British Indian Army. At least fifty-seven field marshals were wounded in battle earlier in their careers, of whom 24 were wounded more than once, and eight had been prisoners of war. Fifteen future field marshals were present at the Battle of Vitoria, where the Duke of Wellington earned the rank, and ten others served under Wellington at the Battle of Waterloo
31.
Rees, Germany
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Rees is a town in the district of Cleves in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located on the bank of the Rhine, approx. Founded in 1228, Rees is the oldest town in the lower Rhine area, the origin of the town is a Frankish settlement established between 500-800 AD. The name Rees most probably goes back to the Franconian term Rys, the Lower Rhine area was Christianized by the Irish missionary Willibrord between 657-739. Around 1000 the nearby monastery of Aspel was first mentioned, on 14 July 1228 Rees was granted municipal rights by Heinrich I von Müllenark, Archbishop of Cologne. At that time it had about 600 inhabitants, in 1289/90 the works on a fortified city wall began, which was completed in 1350. In 1392 Rees and the monastery of Aspel became parts of the County of Cleves, during the Eighty Years War, the town was captured by Spanish troops in 1598. After the death of the last duke of Cleves in 1609 the town belonged to the Margraviate of Brandenburg, between 1616 and 1625 Rees was occupied by Dutch troops who transformed the town into a huge fortress. In 1701 Rees became a part of the Kingdom of Prussia, in 1816 Rees became capital of the newly founded Rees District within Regierungsbezirk Kleve. The railway line from Oberhausento Arnhem was inaugurated in 1856 and a station was built near Rees. At the beginning of the 20th century Rees had 4.096 inhabitants of whom 330 were Protestants and 52 were Jews, during the Nazi period, many Jewish inhabitants were deported. Today the only reminders on Jewish culture in Rees are two historic Jewish cemeteries, the city was almost completely destroyed by an Allied air raid on February 16,1945 during World War II. It became part of North Rhine-Westphalia after the war, the Rhine bridge of Rees was completed in 1967. The mayor of Rees is since 2009 Christoph Gerwers and he was reelected in 2015 with 66,6 % of the votes. In the Middle Ages Rees was surrounded by a city wall which was built from 1289 -1307, several parts of the wall are well-preserved and can be visited, e. g. the White Tower built in 1410 which was used as a prison until the 18th century. The watch tower near the Jewish cemetery dates from 1480 and it was destroyed by bombs in 1945 and rebuilt in 1993. Mühlenturm, the tallest tower, was built in 1470 and used as a windmill and it suffered comparatively little bomb damage and was renovated in 1984. Near the river there are further remains of the ancient city fortification
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Wesel
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Wesel is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is the capital of the Wesel district, Wesel is situated at the confluence of the Lippe River and the Rhine. Suburbs of Wesel include Lackhausen, Obrighoven, Ginderich, Feldmark, Fusternberg, Büderich, Flüren, the city originated from a Franconian manor that was first recorded in the 8th century. In the 12th century, the Duke of Clèves took possession of Wesel, the city became a member of the Hanseatic League during the 15th century. Within the Duchy of Cleves, Wesel was second only to Cologne in the lower Rhine region as an entrepôt and it was an important commercial centre, a clearing station for the transshipment and trading of goods. In 1590 the Spanish captured Wesel after a four-year siege, the city changed hands between the Dutch and Spanish several times during the Eighty Years War. In 1672 a French force under Louis II de Bourbon, Prince de Condé captured the city, Wesel was inherited by the Hohenzollerns of the Margraviate of Brandenburg in 1609 but they were unable to take control of Wesel until the Treaty of Nijmegen in 1678. Although the city had been heavily fortified the Prussians evacuated the city during the Seven Years War and it was returned to Prussia at the end of the war. Friedrich Wilhelm von Dossow was the Prussian Governor of Wesel during the 18th century, Wesel was ceded to the French in 1805 under the treaty of Schönbrunn. The French heavily fortified the city constructing a fort called the Citadelle Napoleon at Büderich. Though blockaded by the Allies in 1813 the city remained in French hands until after the Battle of Waterloo, after the Napoleonic Wars of the early 19th century, the city became part of the Prussian Rhine Province and the Citadelle Napoleon was renamed Fort Blücher. During World War II, as a depot, Wesel became a target of Allied bombing. On the 16,17 and 19 February 1945, the town was attacked with impact and air-burst bombs, the Wehrmacht blew up bridges along the Rhine and Lippe to prevent Allied forces from advancing. The Wehrmacht also destroyed the 1, 950m-long railway bridge, the last Rhine bridge remaining in German hands, on 23 March, Wesel came under the fire of over 3,000 guns when it was bombarded anew, in preparation for Operation Plunder. The shelling was assisted by a raid of RAF bombers and a raid that night. At 2100 hours on the 23rd, ten individual bombers each dropped a 10,000 kg bomb on Wesel, before the town was finally taken by Allied troops, 97% of its structures were destroyed. In the ensuing attacks by Allied forces, the town was taken for minimal casualties, Operation Varsity – the largest airborne landings of the war – dropped 18,000 troops into the area to take the hills behind Wesel. The British 1st Commando Brigade was already attacking Wesel carried into action by LVT Buffalos, the remainder of the Allied force crossed the Rhine in more amphibious vehicles
33.
Lippe (river)
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The Lippe is a river in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is a tributary of the Rhine and 220.1 km in length with an elevation difference of 125 metres. The source is located at the edge of the Teutoburg Forest in Bad Lippspringe close to the city of Paderborn and it runs westward through Paderborn, Lippstadt and then along the northern edge of the Ruhr area, parallel to the river Emscher and river Ruhr. The river finally enters the Rhine at Wesel, the river Lippe has been used as an infrastructure in Roman times. For the Romans the river was a gateway to Germania, running from the river Rhine to the region around Paderborn, the watercourse was used for transport of supplies, so along the banks of the Lippe many former Roman camps can be found. In the last 200 years many of these camps have been identified, the distance between the camps is about a one-day walk of the troops, which is almost 30 km. Today’s identified Roman camps are, Olfen, Xanten, Haltern, today, the river appears as a two-tier water course, Upstream, eastward of the city of Hamm, the catchment is more rural. Downstream of Hamm settlements and industrial impacts characterize the situation, though the Lippe was partly navigable from 1820 on it was not sufficient for the transport of industrial goods. Moreover, this supported the coal and steel industry development in the northern Ruhr region. The historical city of Hamm and the towns Lünen, Haltern and Dorsten were small settlements located at the Lippe, since 1914 the Datteln-Hamm Canal and 1930 the Wesel-Datteln Canal are located in parallel to the Lippe which is not navigable for mass transportation. The canals receive Lippe water or feed the Lippe from a facility in Hamm. Until the 1970s water pollution played no important role in the public debate, towns, Wesel, Dorsten, Marl, Lünen and Haltern Cities, Paderborn, Lippstadt and Hamm Lippe – Roman settlements along the Lippe. Life Project Lippeaue – One of the Lippeaue renaturation projects
34.
Second Army (United Kingdom)
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The British Second Army was a field army of the British Army active during both World War I and World War II. During the First World War the army was active on the Western Front throughout most of the war, during the Second World War the army was the core element in the British contribution in the D-Day landings in Normandy and subsequent advance across Europe. The Second Army was part of the British Army formed on 26 December 1914, the army controlled both III Corps and IV Corps. Second Army spent most of the war positioned around the Ypres salient, in 1919 it was reconstituted as the British Army of the Rhine. Two of its formations, I Corps and XXX Corps took part in the D-Day landings of Operation Overlord, the third corps to land, VIII Corps, entered the line during late June to add its weight to the assault, in particular for the launching of Operation Epsom. The main British objective during the stages of the campaign was to capture the French city of Caen. However, due to various factors the city was not captured until mid-July during Operation Atlantic, by the end of July, American forces had broken out of Normandy. As they swept east, the German Seventh Army was pinned by the Second Army, the German formation was subsequently annihilated during the battle of the Falaise pocket. The Second Army then commenced a dash across France in tandem with the Americans on its right, during the interim, I Corps was transferred from Second Armys control, and assigned to the First Canadian Army. Due to the casualties sustained by the army during the Normandy campaign. Second Army entered Belgium quickly, and cleared much of the country and its captures included the capital Brussels and the port city of Antwerp. Second Armys highest profile operation in 1944, apart from Operation Overlord, was providing the force for Operation Market Garden. Second Army spent the rest of 1944 exploiting the salient in the German line that it had created during Operation Market Garden, to advance on the Rhine and Meuse rivers in the Netherlands. The final part of this took place in mid-January 1945. This enabled the completion of the advance on the River Roer, during February,1945, Second Army entered a holding phase. Second Army crossed the Rhine on 23 March in an attack codenamed Operation Plunder and it then headed across the North German Plain towards Osnabrück, with the First Canadian Army on its left wheeling to clear the north of the Netherlands and the area of Lower Saxony west of Oldenburg. The US Ninth Army on its right turned south-east towards Lippstadt to trap the German Army Group B, under General Walther Model, with Army Group B trapped, the last major German formation in the west had been neutralized. Second Army reached the Weser on 4 April, the Elbe on 19 April, by 7 May the Soviet Army had met up with the British forces
35.
Lieutenant-general (United Kingdom)
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Please see lieutenant general for other countries which use this rank Lieutenant general, formerly more commonly lieutenant-general, is a senior rank in the British Army and the Royal Marines. It is the equivalent of a multinational three-star rank, some British lieutenant generals sometimes wear three-star insignia, in addition to their standard insignia, Lieutenant general is a superior rank to major general, but subordinate to a general. The rank has a NATO rank code of OF-8, equivalent to a vice-admiral in the Royal Navy and an air marshal in the Royal Air Force, the rank insignia for both the Army and the Royal Marines is a crown over a crossed sabre and baton. Since the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, the St Edwards Crown, prior to 1953, the Tudor Crown, commonly known as the Kings Crown was used. Ordinarily, lieutenant general is the held by the officer in command of an entire battlefield corps. The General Officer Commanding NATOs Allied Rapid Reaction Corps is a British lieutenant general, historically, I Corps and II Corps were commanded by British lieutenant generals. Additionally, three lieutenant general appointments also exist within the extant British Armys Headquarters and they are the Commander Field Army, the Commander Home Command and the Chief of Materiel in Defence Equipment and Support. Examples include Lieutenant-General Sir Robert Fry, Lieutenant-General Sir James Dutton, from 1 April 1918 to 31 July 1919, the Royal Air Force maintained the rank of lieutenant general. It was superseded by the rank of air marshal on the following day, although Sir David Henderson was an RAF lieutenant general, the then RAF Chief-of-Staff, Sir Hugh Trenchard never held this rank. Additionally, the retired Royal Navy admiral, John de Mestre Hutchison, the RAF lieutenant general rank insignia was similar to the naval rank insignia for a vice-admiral, with a broad band of gold being worn on the cuff with two narrower bands above it. Unlike the naval insignia the RAF lieutenant general insignia did not have an executive curl
36.
Miles Dempsey
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General Sir Miles Christopher Dempsey, GBE, KCB, DSO, MC was a senior British Army officer who served in both World Wars. During the Second World War he had a relationship with Bernard Montgomery. He later commanded the British Second Army during the Battle of Normandy and made rapid advances in the subsequent campaign in Northern France. Dempsey was the first British Army commander to cross the Rhine, a career infantryman who made his reputation in active service, he remains relatively unknown. Dempsey was born in Cheshire in 1896 and was educated at Shrewsbury School where he captained the first eleven Cricket team in 1914, on leaving Shrewsbury he attended the Royal Military College, Sandhurst during the First World War. He is the descendant of a clan in Offaly and Laois in Ireland with a very long history. His ancestor Terence ODempsey, Viscount Clanmalier, was loyal to the Catholic King James II and, as a result, Dempseys branch of the family then left Ireland for Cheshire. Promoted to lieutenant in August 1915, he served on the Western Front with the 1st Battalion, Royal Berkshires, from June 1916 onwards. Dempsey, serving as a commander in D Company, first saw action during the Battle of Delville Wood in late July 1916. The battalion, although successful in its role, had suffered casualties, including 8 officers. Dempsey was promoted to acting captain and assumed command of D Company, in November the battalion took part in an assault on Munich Trench, near the River Serre. As at Delville Wood earlier in the year, the assault was successful but with losses, although Dempsey again remained unscathed. In February 1917 he became the adjutant of the battalion, Dempsey was soon posted as a staff officer at II Corps HQ, before returning to the 1st Royal Berkshires, this time in command of A Company. In late November the battalion attacked Bourlon Wood as part of the Battle of Cambrai, Dempsey, along with 10 officers and 250 other ranks, was wounded and later evacuated to England, where he had a lung removed. Returning to the battalion in July, where, with the tide of the war having turned, by then the battalion was at Escarmain. He was awarded the Military Cross which was gazetted in the Kings Birthday Honours list in June 1919, after the war, in 1919, Dempsey played two first-class cricket matches for Sussex against Oxford University and Northamptonshire. Between 1926 and 1932, he also played Minor Counties Championship cricket for Berkshire, by the start of the Second World War in September 1939, Dempsey had reached the rank of lieutenant colonel and was commanding officer of the 1st Battalion, Royal Berkshire Regiment. The division was commanded by Major General Harold Franklyn, in May 1940 the brigade saw action on the retreat from the River Dyle and then fought in the major defensive battle on the River Scarpe
37.
Ninth United States Army
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The Ninth Army is a field army of the United States Army, garrisoned at Caserma Ederle, Vicenza, Italy. It is the United States Army Service Component Command of United States Africa Command and it was one of the main U. S. Army combat commands used during the campaign in Northwest Europe in 1944 and 1945. It was commanded at its inception by Lieutenant General William Simpson and it had been designated Eighth Army, but on arrival in the United Kingdom it was renamed to avoid confusion with the famous British formation of the same designation. All American field armies in the European Theatre of Operation were designated with odd numbers, the first responsibility for Ninth Army, upon its arrival on 5 September was to take part in the final reduction of the German forces holding out in the French port of Brest. After the surrender of the fifteen days later, Ninth Army was sent east to take its place in the line. It came into the line between Third Army and First Army, in November, Ninth Army was shifted to the very northern flank of 12th Army Group. It undertook operations to close the front up to the Roer River,16 December saw the opening of the last great German offensive of the war, the Battle of the Bulge. Simpson reoriented his command quickly to help in the reduction of the salient that the Germans had created, many of Ninth Armys units passed to the command of First Army, which was doing the main work of reducing the German salient from the north. In the meantime, the remainder of Ninth Army continued to hold the line along the Roer, by 10 March, the Rhine had been reached in all sectors of Ninth Armys front. It was not until after 20 March that Ninth Army units first crossed the Rhine itself, however, after doing so, the Army quickly struck east around the north of the Ruhr. An enormous pocket soon formed containing the German Army Group B under Model, by 4 April, Ninth Army had reached the Weser and was switched back to 12th Army Group. The end was now clearly in sight, and as part of Ninth Army, along with the newly arrived Fifteenth Army, reduced the enormous Ruhr Pocket, other elements reached the Elbe on 12 April. On 2 May 1945, the whole of Ninth Armys front reached the agreed demarcation point with the Russians, in 2012, US Army Africa was re-designated as US Army Africa under the Army modularization program. Operation Queen Operation Plunder The Struggle for Europe, Chester Wilmot Interviews with William Hood Simpson. 30 June 1976,7 July 1976, University of Texas at San Antonio, Institute of Texan Cultures, Oral History Collection, UA15.01, University of Texas at San Antonio Libraries Special Collections
38.
Lieutenant general (United States)
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In the United States Army, United States Marine Corps, and the United States Air Force, lieutenant general is a three-star general officer rank, with the pay grade of O-9. Lieutenant general ranks above major general and below general, Lieutenant general is equivalent to the rank of vice admiral in the other uniformed services. The United States Code explicitly limits the number of generals that may be concurrently active to 230 for the Army,60 for the Marine Corps. For the Army and Air Force, no more than about 25% of the active duty general officers may have more than two stars. Some of these slots can be reserved by statute, officers serving in certain intelligence positions are not counted against either limit, including the Deputy Director of the Central Intelligence Agency. The President may also add three-star slots to one if they are offset by removing an equivalent number from other services. Finally, all statutory limits may be waived at the presidents discretion during time of war or national emergency, the Superintendent of the United States Military Academy is almost always a U. S. Army lieutenant general, either upon appointment or shortly thereafter. The three-star grade goes hand-in-hand with the position of office to which it is linked, officers may only achieve three-star grade if they are appointed to positions that require the officer to hold such a rank. Their rank expires with the expiration of their term of office, the nominee must be confirmed via majority vote by the Senate before the appointee can take office and thus assume the rank. The standard tour length for most lieutenant general positions is three years but some are set four or more years by statute, some statutory limits under the U. S. Code can be waived in times of national emergency or war. Three-star ranks may also be given by act of Congress but this is extremely rare, other than voluntary retirement, statute sets a number of mandates for retirement. Lieutenant generals must retire after 38 years of service unless appointed for promotion or reappointed to grade to serve longer, otherwise all general officers must retire the month after their 64th birthday. However, the Secretary of Defense can defer a three-star officers retirement until the officers 66th birthday, General officers typically retire well in advance of the statutory age and service limits, so as not to impede the upward career mobility of their juniors. Since there is a number of three-star slots available to each service. Additionally, lieutenant generals of all services serve as staff officers at various major command headquarters and The Pentagon. Currently, five women serve as lieutenant generals in the US Army, in theory, a general vacates their three or four-star rank at termination of their assignment unless placed in an equal ranking billet. Douglas MacArthur, who served as general and Army Chief of Staff. Even with the status, such officers are also almost always granted permanent retirement in the last grade they held with the satisfactory completion of at least two or three years in grade
39.
William Hood Simpson
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General William Hood Simpson was a senior and highly distinguished United States Army officer who served with distinction in both World War I and World War II. He is most notable, however, for being the Commanding General of the U. S, Ninth Army in Western Europe on the Western Front during the final stages of World War II. Simpson was born on May 18,1888, at Weatherford and his fellow graduates from the USMA included Jacob L. Devers, John C. H. Lee, Edwin F. Harding, George S. Patton, Delos Carleton Emmons, Thomas D. Milling and James Garesche Ord, all later having distinguished careers, Simpsons first assignment was with the 6th Infantry Regiment at Fort Lincoln, North Dakota. In February 1917 he became aide-de-camp to Major General George Bell, Simpson was promoted to captain in May 1917, a month after the American entry into World War I, and moved with Major General Bell to activate the 33rd Infantry Division. The 33rd Division was sent to the Western Front in April 1918, as a temporary lieutenant colonel he was division chief of staff, and was awarded the Army Distinguished Service Medal and the Silver Citation Star during the Meuse-Argonne Offensive in late 1918. In the inter-war years, 1919–1941, Simpson filled staff appointments and attended military schools, on Christmas Eve,1921, he married Ruth Krakauer, an English-born widow whom he had first met while at West Point. From 1932 to 1936, he served as the Professor of Military Science at Pomona College in Claremont, from April to September 1941 he was the first commander of the countrys largest Infantry Replacement Training Center, Camp Wolters, located in Mineral Wells, Texas. In mid-1940, he was appointed to command the 9th Infantry Regiment at Fort Sam Houston, before the U. S. entry into World War II, he had commanded divisions and served as the Assistant Division Commander of the 2nd Infantry Division. He received a promotion to major general, taking the 35th Infantry Division. He relinquished command in May 1942 and briefly assumed command of the 30th Infantry Division, another Army National Guard formation, further promotions followed, including command of XII Corps, and later the U. S. Second Army. In May 1944, now with the rank of lieutenant general. This formation was activated as part of Lieutenant General Omar Bradleys U. S. 12th Army Group, on September 5 at Brest, Brest was liberated on September 20,1944. The Ninth Army joined the Allied armies on the Western Front in the advance and. In November 1944 it broke through the Siegfried Line and advanced, in some of the heaviest fighting of the war, at this point the advance stalled, due to the threat posed by dams upstream. During the crisis of the Battle of the Bulge in December Simpsons Ninth Army came under command of Field Marshal Bernard Montgomerys Anglo-Canadian 21st Army Group, after the battle was over in early 1945 the Ninth Army remained with Montgomerys 21st Army Group for the final attack into Germany. On April 4, it had reverted to Bradleys 12th Army Group, the Ninth was the first American field army across the Elbe, on April 12,1945. The Ninth Army continued its advance into Germany until the end of World War II in Europe on May 8,1945, Simpson returned to the United States for a rest a month later, in June 1945
40.
First Allied Airborne Army
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The First Allied Airborne Army was an Allied formation formed on 2 August 1944 by the order of General Dwight D. Eisenhower, the Supreme Allied Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force. The formation was part of the Allied Expeditionary Force and controlled all Allied airborne forces in Western Europe from August 1944 to May 1945 and these included the U. S. IX Troop Carrier Command, the U. S. The First Allied Airborne Army was activated on 2 August 1944, by order of General Dwight D. Eisenhower, the Supreme Allied Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force. However, the 21st Army Group and the Allied Expeditionary Air Force both agreed to the recommendation, only suggesting a few changes to be made. Creating such an organization, however, was complicated by the position of the Royal Air Force, arnold asking for the assignment of an Air Corps officer as commander of the unified headquarters. Having solved the problems of what the commander of the headquarters would control, and when. In addition, the United States Strategic Air Forces in Europe would allocate ten officers, the new organization was then assigned operational control over a number of airborne and troop carrier units. As commander of First Allied Airborne Army, Brereton was directly responsible to the Supreme Commander Allied Force, General Eisenhower, for a number of functions. On 2 August 1944, First Allied Airborne Army was officially activated by the orders of General Eisenhower, several more airborne operations were planned for First Allied Airborne Army in late August and early September, after the cancellation of Transfigure. The genesis for Operation Market-Garden was an operation planned by the staff of the 1st Airborne Division. By March 1945, the Allied armies had advanced into Germany and had reached the River Rhine, field Marshal Bernard Montgomery, commanding the British 21st Army Group devised a plan to allow the forces under his command to breach the Rhine, which he entitled Operation Plunder. Plunder envisioned the British Second Army, under Lieutenant-General Sir Miles Dempsey, ninth Army under Lieutenant General William Simpson crossing the Rhine at Rees, Wesel, and an area south of the Lippe Canal. One of these formations, the British 6th Airborne Division, was a veteran division, it had taken part in Operation Overlord. However, the 17th Airborne Division had only been activated in April 1943 and had arrived in Britain in August 1944, the plan for the operation was therefore altered to accommodate the two remaining airborne divisions, the British 6th Airborne and the US 17th Airborne Division. This avoided risking the same type of disaster that had befallen the British 1st Airborne Division when it had isolated and practically annihilated by German infantry. It was also decided by General Brereton that the two divisions would be dropped simultaneously in a single lift, instead of being dropped several hours apart. Supply drops for the forces would also be made as soon as possible to ensure adequate supplies were available to the airborne troops as they fought. Several airborne operations were planned for the divisions under the control of First Allied Airborne Army after the end of Operation Varsity
41.
Airborne forces
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Airborne forces are military units, usually light infantry, set up to be moved by aircraft and dropped into battle, typically by parachute. Thus, they can be placed behind enemy lines, and have the capability to deploy almost anywhere with little warning. The formations are limited only by the number and size of their aircraft, so given enough capacity a huge force can appear out of nowhere in minutes, Major Lewis H. Brereton and his superior Brigadier General Billy Mitchell suggested dropping elements of the U. S. 1st Division behind German lines near Metz, the operation was planned for February 1919 but the war ended before such an attack could be seriously planned. Mitchell conceived that US troops could be trained to utilize parachutes. Following the war, the United States Army Air Service experimented with the concept of having carried on the wings of aircraft pulled off by the opening of their parachutes. The first true paratroop drop was by Italy in November 1927, within a few years several battalions had been raised and were eventually formed into two Folgore and Nembo divisions. Although these would fight with distinction in World War II. Men drawn from the Italian parachute forces were dropped in a special operation in North Africa in 1943 in an attempt to destroy parked aircraft of the United States Army Air Forces. Subsequently, on May 10,1928, Second Lieutenant César Álvarez War Palmas Las voluntarily jumped from a height of 3,000 meters, then on May 16,1928, Major Fernando Melgar Conde and Sergeant 1st. Jose Pineda Castro, jumped from the famous Las Palmas at altitudes of 2,000 and 4,300 meters, at about the same time, the Soviet Union was also experimenting with the idea, planning to drop entire units complete with vehicles and light tanks. To help train enough experienced jumpers, parachute clubs were organized with the aim of transferring into the armed forces if needed, one of the observing parties, Germany, was particularly interested. In 1936, Major F. W. Immans was ordered to set up a school at Stendal. The military had purchased large numbers of Junkers Ju 52 aircraft which were slightly modified for use as paratroop transports in addition to their other duties. The first training class was known as Ausbildungskommando Immans and they commenced the first course on May 3,1936. Other nations, including Argentina, Peru, Japan, France, France became the first nation to organize women in an airborne unit. Recruiting 200 nurses who during peacetime would parachute into natural disasters, several groups within the German armed forces attempted to raise their own paratroop formations, resulting in confusion. As a result, Luftwaffe General Kurt Student was put in command of developing a paratrooper force to be known as the Fallschirmjäger
42.
XVIII Airborne Corps
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The XVIII Airborne Corps is a corps of the United States Army that has been in existence since 1942 and saw extensive service during World War II. The corps is designed for deployment anywhere in the world and is referred to as Americas Contingency Corps. Its headquarters are at Fort Bragg, North Carolina and its command group includes, Commanding General, Lieutenant General Stephen J. Townsend Deputy Commanding General, Major General Jefforey A. When the concept of armored corps proved unnecessary, II Armored Corps was re-designated as XVIII Corps on 9 October 1943 at the Presidio of Monterey, California. Prior to this time the two divisions were assigned to VII Corps and jumped into Normandy during Operation Overlord, the Allied invasion of Normandy, the corps was unable to see service in Operation Market Garden, with the British I Airborne Corps being chosen instead. Following the Battle of the Bulge, in which the played a significant part. XVIII Airborne Corps planned and executed Operation Varsity, the component of Operation Plunder. It was one of the largest airborne operations of the war, with the British 6th, the U. S. 13th Airborne Division was to participate in the assault. However, due to a lack of a sufficient number of transports, however, the Japanese surrendered just weeks later and XVIII Airborne Corps was inactivated on 15 October 1945 at Fort Campbell, Kentucky. 1st Infantry Division —26 January 1945 –12 February 1945, 8th Infantry Division —26 January 1945 –10 July 1945. 17th Airborne Division —12 August 1944 –1 January 1945,15 February 1945 –24 March 1945, 30th Infantry Division —21 December 1944 –3 February 1945. 75th Infantry Division —29 December 1944 –2 January 1945,7 January 1945, 78th Infantry Division —3 February 1945 –12 February 1945. 82nd Airborne Division —12 August 1944 –17 September 1944,19 December 1944 –14 February 1945,30 April 1945 –3 January 1946, 84th Infantry Division —20 December 1944 –21 December 1944. 86th Infantry Division —5 April 1945 –22 April 1945, 97th Infantry Division —10 April 1945 –22 April 1945. 101st Airborne Division —12 August 1944 —21 September 1944,28 February 1945 –1 April 1945, 106th Infantry Division —20 December 1944 –6 February 1945. 3rd Armored Division —19 December 1944 –23 December 1944, 5th Armored Division —4 May 1945 –10 October 1945. 7th Armored Division —20 December 1944 –29 January 1945,30 April 1945 –9 October 1945, 13th Armored Division —10 April 1945 –22 April 1945. The corps was reactivated at Fort Bragg on 21 May 1951 under the command of Major General John W. Leonard, in 1958 the XVIII Airborne Corps was given the additional designation of the Strategic Army Corps
43.
6th Airborne Division (United Kingdom)
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The 6th Airborne Division was an airborne infantry division of the British Army during the Second World War. Despite its name, the 6th was actually the second of two airborne divisions raised by the British Army during the war, the other being the 1st Airborne Division. The 6th Airborne Division was formed in World War II, in mid-1943, the division consisted of the 3rd and 5th Parachute Brigades along with the 6th Airlanding Brigade and supporting units. The division remained in Normandy for three months before being withdrawn in September, while still recruiting and reforming in England, it was mobilised again and sent to Belgium in December 1944, to help counter the surprise German offensive in the Ardennes, the Battle of the Bulge. Their final airborne mission followed in March 1945, Operation Varsity, after the war the division was identified as the Imperial Strategic Reserve, and moved to the Middle East. Initially sent to Palestine for parachute training, the division involved in an internal security role. In Palestine, the division went through changes in formation. Then on 23 April 1943 the War Office authorised the formation of a second British airborne division and this second formation was numbered the 6th Airborne Division, and commanded by Major-General Richard Nelson Gale, who had previously raised the 1st Parachute Brigade. Under his command would be the existing 3rd Parachute Brigade, along with two battalions transferred from the 1st Airborne Division, to form the nucleus of the new 6th Airlanding Brigade. At the same time, several officers, combat veterans from the 1st Airborne Division, were posted to the division as brigade, headquarters were at Syrencot House, Figheldean, Wiltshire. From June to December 1943, the division prepared for operations, training at every level from section up to division by day, Airborne soldiers were expected to fight against superior numbers of the enemy, who would be equipped with artillery and tanks. Training was therefore designed to encourage a spirit of self-discipline, self-reliance and aggressiveness, with emphasis given to physical fitness, marksmanship, a large part of the training consisted of assault courses and route marching. Military exercises included capturing and holding airborne bridgeheads, road or rail bridges, at the end of most exercises, the troops would march back to their barracks, usually a distance of around 20 miles. An ability to cover long distances at speed was expected, airborne platoons were required to cover a distance of 50 miles in 24 hours, and battalions 32 miles. At the end of the war in Europe, in May 1945, the division’s advance party, formed around the 5th Parachute Brigade, had already arrived in India, when the Japanese surrendered after the Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Following the surrender, all these plans changed, the post-war British Army only needed one airborne division, and the 6th Airborne was chosen to remain on strength and was sent to the Middle East as the Imperial Strategic Reserve. When the division was dispatched to the Middle East, the 2nd Parachute Brigade was assigned to bring them up to strength, in May 1946, after the 1st Airborne Division was disbanded, the 1st Parachute Brigade joined the division, replacing the 6th Airlanding Brigade. On 18 February 1947, it was announced that the 6th Airborne Division would be disbanded when they left Palestine, on 23 December 1943, the division was told to be prepared for active service from 1 February 1944
44.
17th Airborne Division (United States)
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The 17th Airborne Division was an airborne infantry division of the United States Army during World War II, and was commanded by Major General William M. Miley. It was officially activated as a division in April 1943 but was not immediately sent to a combat theater. However, after the end of Operation Market Garden the division was shipped to France, the 17th gained its first Medal of Honor during its time fighting in the Ardennes, and was then withdrawn to Luxembourg to prepare for an assault over the River Rhine. The division then advanced through Northern Germany until the end of World War II, there, it was officially inactivated in September 1945, although it was briefly reactivated as a training division between 1948 and 1949. The Allied governments were aware of the success of these operations and this decision would eventually lead to the creation of five American and two British airborne divisions, as well as many smaller units. The 17th Airborne Division was activated on 15 April 1943 at Camp Mackall in North Carolina, once activated, the division remained in the United States for training and exercises. As the division, like all airborne units, was intended to be an elite formation, as the division trained, a debate developed in the U. S. Army over whether the best use of airborne forces was en masse or as small compact units. On 9 July 1943, the first large-scale Allied airborne operation–the Allied invasion of Sicily –was carried out by elements of the U. S. 82nd Airborne Division and the British 1st Airborne Division. The U. S. 82nd Airborne Division had been deployed by parachute and glider and had suffered high casualties, leading to a perception that it had failed to achieve many of its objectives. General Eisenhower had reviewed the role in Operation Husky, and had concluded that large-scale formations were too difficult to control in combat to be practical. However, other high-ranking officers believed otherwise, notably the U. S. Army Chief of Staff and he persuaded Eisenhower to set up a review board and to withhold judgement on the effectiveness of divisional-sized airborne forces until a large-scale maneuver could be tried in December. When Swing returned to the United States to resume command of the 11th Airborne Division in mid-September 1943, the objective for the 11th as the attacking force was to capture Knollwood Army Auxiliary Airfield near Fort Bragg in North Carolina, after which the maneuver was named. The defending forces were to try to defend the airport and the surrounding area, the entire operation would be observed by Lieutenant General McNair. His observations and reports to the U. S, War Department, and ultimately General Eisenhower, would do much to decide the success or failure of the exercise. These airborne troops then seized the Knollwood Army Auxiliary Airfield from the troops and secured the area in which the rest of the division landed. The exercise was judged to be a success by those who observed it. Due to the success of the units of the 11th Airborne Division during the exercise, the division also participated in the Second Army maneuvers in the Tennessee Maneuver Area from 6 February 1944. It finished its training on 27 March 1944, and transferred to Camp Forrest on 24 March 1944, the division staged at Camp Myles Standish on 12 August 1944 before departing Boston Port of Embarkation on 20 August 1944
45.
Royal Navy
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The Royal Navy is the United Kingdoms naval warfare force. Although warships were used by the English kings from the medieval period. The modern Royal Navy traces its origins to the early 16th century, from the middle decades of the 17th century and through the 18th century, the Royal Navy vied with the Dutch Navy and later with the French Navy for maritime supremacy. From the mid 18th century it was the worlds most powerful navy until surpassed by the United States Navy during the Second World War. The Royal Navy played a key part in establishing the British Empire as the world power during the 19th. Due to this historical prominence, it is common, even among non-Britons, following World War I, the Royal Navy was significantly reduced in size, although at the onset of the Second World War it was still the worlds largest. By the end of the war, however, the United States Navy had emerged as the worlds largest, during the Cold War, the Royal Navy transformed into a primarily anti-submarine force, hunting for Soviet submarines, mostly active in the GIUK gap. The Royal Navy is part of Her Majestys Naval Service, which includes the Royal Marines. The professional head of the Naval Service is the First Sea Lord, the Defence Council delegates management of the Naval Service to the Admiralty Board, chaired by the Secretary of State for Defence. The strength of the fleet of the Kingdom of England was an important element in the power in the 10th century. English naval power declined as a result of the Norman conquest. Medieval fleets, in England as elsewhere, were almost entirely composed of merchant ships enlisted into service in time of war. Englands naval organisation was haphazard and the mobilisation of fleets when war broke out was slow, early in the war French plans for an invasion of England failed when Edward III of England destroyed the French fleet in the Battle of Sluys in 1340. Major fighting was confined to French soil and Englands naval capabilities sufficed to transport armies and supplies safely to their continental destinations. Such raids halted finally only with the occupation of northern France by Henry V. Henry VII deserves a large share of credit in the establishment of a standing navy and he embarked on a program of building ships larger than heretofore. He also invested in dockyards, and commissioned the oldest surviving dry dock in 1495 at Portsmouth, a standing Navy Royal, with its own secretariat, dockyards and a permanent core of purpose-built warships, emerged during the reign of Henry VIII. Under Elizabeth I England became involved in a war with Spain, the new regimes introduction of Navigation Acts, providing that all merchant shipping to and from England or her colonies should be carried out by English ships, led to war with the Dutch Republic. In the early stages of this First Anglo-Dutch War, the superiority of the large, heavily armed English ships was offset by superior Dutch tactical organisation and the fighting was inconclusive
46.
Landing craft
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Landing craft are boats and seagoing vessels used to convey a landing force from the sea to the shore during an amphibious assault. Most renowned are those used to storm the beaches of Normandy, the Mediterranean and this was the high point of the landing craft, with a significant number of different designs produced in large quantities by the United Kingdom and United States. Because of the need to run up onto a beach, World War II landing craft were flat-bottomed. This made them difficult to control and very uncomfortable in rough seas, the control point was normally at the extreme rear of the vessel, as were the engines. In all cases, they were known by a derived from the official name rather than by the full title. In the days of sail, the boats were used as landing craft. They transported 1,200 men in the first landing and took on board 600 men in less than 2 hours for the second landing, during World War I, the mass mobilization of troops equipped with rapid-fire weapons quickly rendered such boats obsolete. Initial landings during the Gallipoli campaign took place in unmodified rowing boats that were vulnerable to attack from the Turkish shore defenses. In February 1915, orders were placed for the design of purpose built landing craft, a design was created in four days resulting in an order for 200 X Lighters with a spoon-shaped bow to take shelving beaches and a drop down frontal ramp. The first use took place after they had been towed to the Aegean and performed successfully in the 6 August landing at Suvla Bay of IX Corps, commanded by Commander Edward Unwin. X Lighters, known to the soldiers as Beetles, carried about 500 men, displaced 135 tons and were based on London barges being 105 feet 6 inches long,21 feet wide, the engines mainly ran on heavy oil and ran at a speed of approximately 5 knots. The sides of the ships were bulletproof, and was designed with a ramp on the bow for disembarkation, a plan was devised to land British heavy tanks from pontoons in support of the Third Battle of Ypres, but this was abandoned. Despite this outlook, the British produced the Motor Landing Craft in 1920, the craft could put a medium tank directly onto a beach. From 1924, it was used with landing boats in annual exercises in amphibious landings, a prototype motor landing craft, designed by J. Samuel White of Cowes, was built and first sailed in 1926. It weighed 16 tons and had an appearance, having a square bow. To prevent fouling of the propellers in a craft destined to spend time in surf and possibly be beached, a crude waterjet propulsion system was devised by Whites designers. A Hotchkiss petrol engine drove a pump which produced a jet of water, pushing the craft ahead or astern. Speed was 5-6 knots and its capacity was good
47.
Special Air Service
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The Special Air Service is a special forces unit of the British Army. The SAS was founded in 1941 as a regiment, and later reconstituted as a corps in 1950, the unit undertakes a number of roles including covert reconnaissance, counter-terrorism, direct action and hostage rescue. The Special Air Service traces its origins to 1941 and the Second World War and it was reformed as part of the Territorial Army in 1947, named the 21st Special Air Service Regiment. It was conceived as a force to operate behind enemy lines in the North African Campaign. Its first mission, in November 1941, was a drop in support of the Operation Crusader offensive. Due to German resistance and adverse conditions, the mission was a disaster,22 men. Its second mission was a major success, transported by the Long Range Desert Group, it attacked three airfields in Libya, destroying 60 aircraft with the loss of 2 men and 3 Willys MB. In September 1942, it was renamed 1st SAS, consisting at that time of four British squadrons, one Free French, one Greek, in January 1943, Colonel Stirling was captured in Tunisia and Paddy Mayne replaced him as commander. In April 1943, the 1st SAS was reorganised into the Special Raiding Squadron under Maynes command and the Special Boat Squadron was placed under the command of George Jellicoe. The Special Raiding Squadron fought in Sicily and Italy along with the 2nd SAS, the Special Boat Squadron fought in the Aegean Islands and Dodecanese until the end of the war. In 1944 the SAS Brigade was formed from the British 1st and 2nd SAS, the French 3rd and 4th SAS and the Belgian 5th SAS. It was tasked with parachute operations behind the German lines in France and carried out supporting the Allied advance through Belgium, the Netherlands. As a result of Hitlers issuing of the Commando Order on 18 October 1942, in July 1944, following Operation Bulbasket,34 captured SAS commandos were summarily executed by the Germans. In October 1944, in the aftermath of Operation Loyton another 31 captured SAS commandos were summarily executed by the Germans, at the end of the war the British Government saw no further need for the force and disbanded it on 8 October 1945. The following year it was decided there was a need for a long-term deep-penetration commando unit, ultimately, the Artists Rifles, raised in 1860 and headquartered at Dukes Road, Euston, took on the SAS mantle as 21st SAS Regiment on 1 January 1947. In 1950, a 21 SAS squadron was raised to fight in the Korean War, after three months of training in Britain, it was informed that the squadron would no longer be required in Korea and so it instead volunteered to fight in the Malayan Emergency. Upon arrival in Malaya, it came under the command of Mike Calvert who was forming a new unit called the Malayan Scouts, the Rhodesians returned home after three years service and were replaced by a New Zealand squadron. By this time the need for a regular army SAS regiment had been recognised, in 1959 the third regiment, the 23rd SAS Regiment, was formed by renaming the Reserve Reconnaissance Unit, which had succeeded MI9 and whose members were experts in escape and evasion
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British Commandos
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Their operations ranged from small groups of men landing from the sea or by parachute, to a brigade of assault troops spearheading the Allied invasions of Europe and Asia. After the war most Commando units were disbanded, leaving only the Royal Marines 3 Commando Brigade, the modern Royal Marine Commandos, Parachute Regiment, Special Air Service and Special Boat Service trace their origins to the Commandos. The British Commandos were a formation of the British Armed Forces organized for service in June 1940. One staff officer, Lieutenant Colonel Dudley Clarke, had already submitted such a proposal to General Sir John Dill, Dill, aware of Churchills intentions, approved Clarkes proposal and on 23 June 1940, the first Commando raid took place. The Special Service Brigade was quickly expanded to 12 units which became known as Commandos, each Commando had a lieutenant colonel as the commanding officer and numbered around 450 men. Technically these men were only on secondment to the Commandos, they retained their own cap badges. The Commando force came under the control of the Combined Operations Headquarters. The man initially selected as the commander of Combined Operations was Admiral Roger Keyes, a veteran of the Gallipoli Campaign, Keyes resigned in October 1941 and was replaced by Vice Admiral Lord Louis Mountbatten. Major-General Robert Laycock was the last Commander of Combined Operations, he took over from Mountbatten in October 1943, the Commando units formed in the United Kingdom were, No. At the same there were four Commando units formed in the Middle East. 51, No,52, and the Middle East Commando, the No.10 Commando was formed from volunteers from the occupied territories and enemy aliens. It was the largest Commando unit formed, and contained troops from France, Belgium, Poland, Norway, the Netherlands, and No.3 Troop. The No.3 Troop consisted of enemy aliens, it was known as the English, Jewish. Most of the troop had German, Austrian, or Eastern European backgrounds, some Commandos were designated for different tasks from the start. No.2 Commando was always intended to be a parachute unit, in June 1940 they began parachute training and were re-designated the 11th Special Air Service Battalion, which eventually became the 1st Parachute Battalion. After their re-designation a new No.2 Commando was formed, other Commandos were grouped together in a larger formation known as Layforce and sent to the Middle East. The Special Air Service and the Special Boat Squadron were formed from the survivors of Layforce, the men of No.14 Commando were specially trained for operations in the Arctic Circle and specialised in using small boats and canoes to attack shipping. The joint service unit No.30 Commando was formed for intelligence gathering and its members were trained in the recognition of enemy documents, search techniques, safe cracking, prisoner handling, photography, and escape techniques
United Kingdom
United States
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