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Allied Siege Of La Rochelle
The Allied siege of La Rochelle occurred during the Second World War in 1944–45, when Allied troops invaded France. La Rochelle was an important German naval base on the Atlantic for surface ships and submarines, from which U-boat campaigns were launched. La Rochelle and other harbours such as Royan and Saint-Nazaire, became " Atlantic pockets" still occupied by the Germans, which were bypassed by the main thrust of the Allied invasion, as was Dunkirk on the North Sea. The city was liberated only at the very end of the war, nine months after the Liberation of Paris, after the general German capitulation on 8 May 1945. Siege The Allied siege of the pocket of La Rochelle lasted from September 1944 to May 1945, without heavy bombardment. La Rochelle remained in German hands until the end of the war, like other Atlantic pockets such as Saint-Nazaire and Lorient. Just surrounding the city was considered wiser than conducting a frontal attack, as the city would ultimately fall anyw ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
French Army
The French Army, officially known as the Land Army (french: Armée de Terre, ), is the land-based and largest component of the French Armed Forces. It is responsible to the Government of France, along with the other components of the Armed Forces. The current Chief of Staff of the French Army (CEMAT) is General , a direct subordinate of the Chief of the Defence Staff (CEMA). General Schill is also responsible to the Ministry of the Armed Forces for organization, preparation, use of forces, as well as planning and programming, equipment and Army future acquisitions. For active service, Army units are placed under the authority of the Chief of the Defence Staff (CEMA), who is responsible to the President of France for planning for, and use of forces. All French soldiers are considered professionals, following the suspension of French military conscription, voted in parliament in 1997 and made effective in 2001. , the French Army employed 118,600 personnel (including the Fo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wehrmacht
The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the ''Heer'' (army), the ''Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmacht''" replaced the previously used term and was the manifestation of the Nazi regime's efforts to rearm Germany to a greater extent than the Treaty of Versailles permitted. After the Nazi rise to power in 1933, one of Adolf Hitler's most overt and audacious moves was to establish the ''Wehrmacht'', a modern offensively-capable armed force, fulfilling the Nazi régime's long-term goals of regaining lost territory as well as gaining new territory and dominating its neighbours. This required the reinstatement of conscription and massive investment and defense spending on the arms industry. The ''Wehrmacht'' formed the heart of Germany's politico-military power. In the early part of the Second World War, the ''Wehrmacht'' employed combined arms tactics (close-cover ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Croix-Chapeau
Croix-Chapeau () is a commune in the Charente-Maritime department in southwestern France. History From 1953 to 1966 there was a 500-bed U.S. Army hospital in Croix-Chapeau, run by the 28th General Hospital unit,Labrude Pierre (2008) "Les hôpitaux construits en France pour l'US Army de 1950 a 1967: Organisation, localisation, usage." ("The hospitals constructed in France for the U.S. Army from 1950 to 1967: Organization, location, usage") ''Histoire des sciences médicales'' 42(3): pp. 301-310, in FrenchAbstract/ref> which is actually located on the neighboring town of Aigrefeuille-d'Aunis. For a while after 1966 it was used as a French Military Hospital. After being abandoned for several years, it was sold to a developer, who in the 2000s repurposed it as an industrial park. Notable people Paul Henderson, born August 15, 1962 in Croix-Chapeau, former Chief Minister of the Northern Territory for Australia. Population See also *Communes of the Charente-Maritime dep ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Atlantic Alliance
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two North American. Established in the aftermath of World War II, the organization implemented the North Atlantic Treaty, signed in Washington, D.C., on 4 April 1949. NATO is a collective security system: its independent member states agree to defend each other against attacks by third parties. During the Cold War, NATO operated as a check on the perceived threat posed by the Soviet Union. The alliance remained in place after the dissolution of the Soviet Union and has been involved in military operations in the Balkans, the Middle East, South Asia, and Africa. The organization's motto is ''animus in consulendo liber'' (Latin for "a mind unfettered in deliberation"). NATO's main headquarters are located in Brussels, Belgium, while NATO's ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Memorial De La Poche De La Rochelle
A memorial is an object or place which serves as a focus for the memory or the commemoration of something, usually an influential, deceased person or a historical, tragic event. Popular forms of memorials include landmark objects or works of art such as sculptures, statues or fountains and parks. Larger memorials may be known as monuments. Types The most common type of memorial is the gravestone or the memorial plaque. Also common are war memorials commemorating those who have died in wars. Memorials in the form of a cross are called intending crosses. Online memorials are often created on websites and social media to allow digital access as an alternative to physical memorials which may not be feasible or easily accessible. When somebody has died, the family may request that a memorial gift (usually money) be given to a designated charity, or that a tree be planted in memory of the person. Those temporary or makeshift memorials are also called grassroots memorials.''Grassroo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Zouaves
The Zouaves were a class of light infantry regiments of the French Army serving between 1830 and 1962 and linked to French North Africa; as well as some units of other countries modelled upon them. The zouaves were among the most decorated units of the French Army. It was initially intended that the zouaves would be a regiment of Berbers, Berber volunteers from the Igawawen, Zwawa group of tribes in Algeria ("Zwawa" being the origin of the French term ''wikt:zouave#French, zouave'') who had gained a martial reputation fighting for local rulers under the Ottoman Empire. The regiment was to consist of 1,600 Zwawa Berbers, French non-commissioned officers and French officers. 500 Zwawa were recruited in August and September 1830. However, twelve years later, this idea was dropped. More zouave regiments were raised and the men recruited to serve in them were almost exclusively French people, French or people of French descent born in French Algeria (pied-noirs), a policy which conti ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gironde
Gironde ( US usually, , ; oc, Gironda, ) is the largest department in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region of Southwestern France. Named after the Gironde estuary, a major waterway, its prefecture is Bordeaux. In 2019, it had a population of 1,623,749.Populations légales 2019: 33 Gironde INSEE The famous region is in Gironde. It has six arrondissements, making it one of the departments with the most arrondissement ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Royan Pocket
The Royan pocket (french: Poche de Royan) was one of the Atlantic pockets towards the end of World War II, an isolated position held by German troops left behind as the German army retreated from occupied France. It became important to the German High Command that these pockets be held to deny port facilities to the advancing Allies. Description Known to the Germans as the ''Festungen Girondemündung Nord und Süd'' ("fortresses north and south of the Gironde estuary"), the pocket was not restricted to Royan itself, but included also the peninsula of Arvert and the island of Oléron north of the Gironde, and a stretch from Pointe de Grave to Saint-Vivien-de-Médoc and Vensac to its south. Assault The Royan pocket was fully invested by the autumn of 1944 and plans were drawn up, codenamed "Operation Independence", to assault and to capture the stronghold, but the plans were delayed by the commencement of the German offensive in the Ardennes in December. The first position ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constituent states, Berlin is surrounded by the State of Brandenburg and contiguous with Potsdam, Brandenburg's capital. Berlin's urban area, which has a population of around 4.5 million, is the second most populous urban area in Germany after the Ruhr. The Berlin-Brandenburg capital region has around 6.2 million inhabitants and is Germany's third-largest metropolitan region after the Rhine-Ruhr and Rhine-Main regions. Berlin straddles the banks of the Spree, which flows into the Havel (a tributary of the Elbe) in the western borough of Spandau. Among the city's main topographical features are the many lakes in the western and southeastern boroughs formed by the Spree, Havel and Dahme, the largest of which is Lake Müggelsee. Due to its l ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hermann Göring
Hermann Wilhelm Göring (or Goering; ; 12 January 1893 – 15 October 1946) was a German politician, military leader and convicted war criminal. He was one of the most powerful figures in the Nazi Party, which ruled Germany from 1933 to 1945. A veteran World War I fighter pilot ace, Göring was a recipient of the ("The Blue Max"). He was the last commander of ''Jagdgeschwader'' 1 (Jasta 1), the fighter wing once led by Manfred von Richthofen. An early member of the Nazi Party, Göring was among those wounded in Adolf Hitler's failed Beer Hall Putsch in 1923. While receiving treatment for his injuries, he developed an addiction to morphine which persisted until the last year of his life. After Hitler became Chancellor of Germany in 1933, Göring was named as minister without portfolio in the new government. One of his first acts as a cabinet minister was to oversee the creation of the Gestapo, which he ceded to Heinrich Himmler in 1934. Following the establishment of th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kolberg (film)
''Kolberg'' is a 1945 Nazi German historical film directed by Veit Harlan. One of the last films of the Third Reich, it was intended as a Nazi propaganda piece to bolster the will of the German population to resist the Allies. The film is based on the autobiography of , mayor of Kolberg in Pomerania, and on a play drawn from the book by Paul Heyse. It tells the story of the defence of the besieged fortress town of Kolberg against French troops between April and July 1807, during the Napoleonic Wars. In reality, the city's defence, led by then-Lieutenant Colonel August von Gneisenau, held out until the war was ended by the Treaty of Tilsit. In the film, the French abandon the siege. Plot The film begins in 1813 after the phase of the Napoleonic Wars known in German as the ''Befreiungskriege'' (Wars of Liberation). The opening scenes show Prussian Landwehr and volunteers marching down the streets of Breslau through enthusiastic crowds. This is followed by a dialogue between K ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Luftwaffe
The ''Luftwaffe'' () was the aerial-warfare branch of the German ''Wehrmacht'' before and during World War II. Germany's military air arms during World War I, the ''Luftstreitkräfte'' of the Imperial Army and the '' Marine-Fliegerabteilung'' of the Imperial Navy, had been disbanded in May 1920 in accordance with the terms of the 1919 Treaty of Versailles which banned Germany from having any air force. During the interwar period, German pilots were trained secretly in violation of the treaty at Lipetsk Air Base in the Soviet Union. With the rise of the Nazi Party and the repudiation of the Versailles Treaty, the ''Luftwaffe''s existence was publicly acknowledged on 26 February 1935, just over two weeks before open defiance of the Versailles Treaty through German rearmament and conscription would be announced on 16 March. The Condor Legion, a ''Luftwaffe'' detachment sent to aid Nationalist forces in the Spanish Civil War, provided the force with a valuable testing grou ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
