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Army Group Rear Area
Army Group Rear Area Command () was an area of military jurisdiction behind each of the three Wehrmacht army groups from 1941, the German invasion of the Soviet Union in Operation Barbarossa, through 1944 when the pre-war territories of the Soviet Union had been liberated. The areas were sites of mass murder during the Holocaust and other crimes against humanity targeting the civilian population. Background and planning During the early stages of the planning for the invasion of the Soviet Union, Operation Barbarossa, the rear areas behind the front lines were envisioned to be subordinated to the respective armies, as they had during the invasion of Poland. By early April 1941, however, the military planners decided to limit the areas of army jurisdiction (), with the bulk of the territory to be controlled by the Army Group Rear Areas. The planners envisioned that the occupied territories would quickly pass onto civilian administration; thus, the directives called for the Army Gro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
German Army (Wehrmacht)
The German Army (, "army") is the land component of the armed forces of Federal Republic of Germany, Germany. The present-day German Army was founded in 1955 as part of the newly formed West German ''Bundeswehr'' together with the German Navy, ''Marine'' (German Navy) and the German Air Force, ''Luftwaffe'' (German Air Force). , the German Army had a strength of 62,766 soldiers. History Overview A German army equipped, organized, and trained following a single doctrine and permanently unified under one command in 1871 during the unification of Germany under the leadership of Prussia. From 1871 to 1919, the title ''German Army (German Empire), Deutsches Heer'' (German Army) was the official name of the German land forces. Following the German defeat in World War I and the end of the German Empire, the main army was dissolved. From 1921 to 1935 the name of the German land forces was the ''Reichswehr, Reichsheer'' (Army of the Empire) and from 1935 to 1945 the name ''German Army (We ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Einsatzgruppen
(, ; also ' task forces') were (SS) paramilitary death squads of Nazi Germany that were responsible for mass murder, primarily by shooting, during World War II (1939–1945) in German-occupied Europe. The had an integral role in the implementation of the so-called "Final Solution to the Jewish question" () in territories conquered by Nazi Germany, and were involved in the murder of much of the intelligentsia and cultural elite of Poland, including members of the Catholic priesthood. Almost all of the people they murdered were civilians, beginning with the intelligentsia and swiftly progressing to Soviet political commissars, Jews, and Romani people, as well as actual or alleged partisans throughout Eastern Europe. Under the direction of Heinrich Himmler and the supervision of SS- Reinhard Heydrich, the operated in territories occupied by the Wehrmacht (German armed forces) following the invasion of Poland in September 1939 and the invasion of the Soviet Union in Ju ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Edwin Graf Von Rothkirch Und Trach
Edwin Graf Rothkirch und Trach (1 November 1888 - 29 July 1980) born in Militsch, was a German general during World War II who commanded Army Group Centre Rear Area and later an army corps. As a show jumper, he took part in the 1932 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. Career Rothkirch und Trach commanded Army Group Centre Rear Area starting in 1943. Between 18 April and 27 October 1944, he was ''Wehrmachtbefehlshaber Weißruthenien'' (Military commander in Belarus). In November 1944, he was appointed to command the LIII Army Corps. On 6 March 1945 Rothkirch, still commanding officer of LIII Corps, wandered into U.S. lines and was taken prisoner west of Coblenz, Germany. He was interned at Trent Park, an English prison camp in North London for high-ranking German officers. Knowledge of the Holocaust While stationed in General Government, Rothkirch und Trach became aware of mass shootings by the SS (Schutzstaffel). In its review of ''Soldaten'' ("Soldiers") by historian Sönke Ne ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ludwig Kübler
Ludwig Kübler (2 September 1889 – 18 August 1947) was a German ''General der Gebirgstruppe'' (Lieutenant General) who commanded the 1st Mountain Division, XXXXIX Mountain Corps, 4th Army and the Operational Zone of the Adriatic Littoral during World War II. He was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross for his actions commanding the 1st Mountain Division during the invasion of Poland in 1939. He also commanded the division during the invasion of France and the Low Countries before being appointed to command XXXXIX Mountain Corps. During his command of this corps it was involved in the invasion of Yugoslavia and the attack on the Soviet Union. In December 1941 he was appointed to command the 4th Army, but was dismissed from this post in January of the following year, and placed in the ''Führerreserve des Heeres'' (senior officer reserve pool). In September 1943 he was appointed as the commanding general of security troops for Army Group Centre on the Eastern Fron ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Max Von Schenckendorff
Max von Schenckendorff (24 February 1875 – 6 July 1943) was a general in the Wehrmacht of Nazi Germany during World War II. He was the commander of Army Group Rear Area behind Army Group Centre from March 1941 until his death. He is best known for organising the Mogilev conference, in which Wehrmacht and SS officers discussed " bandit fighting" tactics, meaning the mass murder of Jews and other real or perceived enemies. The conference resulted in an intensification of the genocide that was already taking place in Army Group Centre Rear Area. Security operations in occupied Soviet Union The Wehrmacht's aggressive rear security doctrine, and the use of the "security threat" to disguise genocidal policies, resulted in close cooperation between the army and the security apparatus behind the front lines during Operation Barbarossa, the 1941 German invasion of the Soviet Union. Schenckendorff organised a three-day field conference in Mogilev to create an "exchange of experiences ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kuno-Hans Von Both
__NOTOC__ Kuno-Hans von Both (9 April 1884 – 22 May 1955) was a German general during World War II. He was a recipient of both the Pour le Mérite of the German Empire and the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross of Nazi Germany. He was also awarded the Nazi Party Blood Order by Adolf Hitler for his participation in Nazi activities prior to Adolf Hitler's rise to power. Awards and decorations * Order of Franz Joseph (Austria-Hungary, 27 January 1911)Thomas & Wegmann 1992, p. 318. * Lippe House Order, 4th class (18 June 1914) * Iron Cross 2nd Class (22 September 1914) & 1st Class (9 February 1915) * Knight's Cross of the Royal House Order of Hohenzollern 3rd Class with Swords (23 December 1917) * Military Merit Order, 4th class with Swords (Bavaria) (27 June 1918) * Pour le Mérite (10 April 1918) * Honour Cross of the World War 1914/1918 (20 December 1934) * Clasp to the Iron Cross 2nd Class & 1st Class (September 1939) * German Cross in Gold on 9 September 1942 as ''General de ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Franz Von Roques
__NOTOC__ Franz von Roques (1 September 1877 – 7 August 1967) was a German general during World War II. He was the commander of Army Group North Rear Area behind Army Group North from March 1941 to April 1943. Biography Roques was the descendant of Huguenots who had fled to German territories from France. Adolf Hitler regarded him as a member of the "ultra-reactionaries" within the Wehrmacht, older officers who had a low opinion of Nazism. In March 1941, Roques was appointed commander of Army Group North Rear Area; he assumed the post in July 1941. Notably, his cousin Karl von Roques served as commander of Army Group Centre Rear Area. Roques was not enthusiastic about Adolf Hitler's concept of waging a racial war. In late June and early July 1941, Roques informed his superior Wilhelm Ritter von Leeb of the massacres of Jews by '' Einsatzgruppe A'', Lithuanian auxiliaries and the men of the 16th Army outside of Kaunas. He expressed opposition to the mass shootings, stating that t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bandenbekämpfung
In German military history, ''Bandenbekämpfung'' (German; ), also Nazi security warfare (during World War II), refers to the concept and military doctrine of countering resistance or insurrection in the rear area during wartime through extreme brutality. The doctrine provided a rationale for disregarding the established laws of war and for targeting of any number of groups, from armed guerrillas to the civilian population, as "bandits" or "members of gangs". As applied by the German Empire and later by Nazi Germany, it became instrumental in the mass crimes against humanity committed by the two regimes, including the Herero and Namaqua genocide and the Holocaust. Emergence Concept and origins According to historian and television documentary producer, Christopher Hale, there are indications that the term ''Bandenbekämpfung'' may go back as far as the Thirty Years' War. Under the German Empire established by Bismarck in 1871 after the Franco-Prussian War—formed as a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Holocaust
The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; around two-thirds of Europe's Jewish population. The murders were carried out in pogroms and mass shootings; by a policy of extermination through labor in concentration camps; and in gas chambers and gas vans in German extermination camps, chiefly Auschwitz-Birkenau, Bełżec, Chełmno, Majdanek, Sobibór, and Treblinka in occupied Poland. Germany implemented the persecution in stages. Following Adolf Hitler's appointment as chancellor on 30 January 1933, the regime built a network of concentration camps in Germany for political opponents and those deemed "undesirable", starting with Dachau on 22 March 1933. After the passing of the Enabling Act on 24 March, which gave Hitler dictatorial plenary powers, the government began isolating Je ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ordnungspolizei
The ''Ordnungspolizei'' (), abbreviated ''Orpo'', meaning "Order Police", were the uniformed police force in Nazi Germany from 1936 to 1945. The Orpo organisation was absorbed into the Nazi monopoly on power after regional police jurisdiction was removed in favour of the central Nazi government ("Reich-ification", ''Verreichlichung'', of the police). The Orpo was controlled nominally by the Interior Ministry, but its executive functions rested with the leadership of the '' SS'' until the end of World War II. Owing to their green uniforms, Orpo were also referred to as ''Grüne Polizei'' (green police). The force was first established as a centralised organisation uniting the municipal, city, and rural uniformed police that had been organised on a state-by-state basis. The ''Ordnungspolizei'' encompassed virtually all of Nazi Germany's law-enforcement and emergency response organisations, including fire brigades, coast guard, and civil defence. In the prewar period, Heinrich Himm ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kommandostab Reichsführer-SS
''Kommandostab Reichsführer-SS'' (“Command Staff Reichsführer-SS”) was a paramilitary organisation within the SS of Nazi Germany under the personal control of Heinrich Himmler, the head of the SS. Established in 1941, prior to the German invasion of the Soviet Union, it consisted of the Waffen-SS security forces deployed in the occupied territories. The units perpetrated mass murder against Jews and other civilians. Function The organisation was formed on 7 April 1941 out of Waffen-SS troops as “special staff” (''Einsatzstab''), reporting directly to ''Reichsführer-SS'' Heinrich Himmler. It was officially designated as ''Kommandostab Reichsführer-SS'' on 6 May. To head the organisation, Himmler appointed a career army officer Kurt Knoblauch who acted as chief of staff for the units. The purpose of the formation was to conduct so-called “pacification operations” in the Army Group Rear Areas and civilian-administered territories (''Reichskommissariats''). Prior t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Waffen-SS
The (, "Armed SS") was the combat branch of the Nazi Party's ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) organisation. Its formations included men from Nazi Germany, along with Waffen-SS foreign volunteers and conscripts, volunteers and conscripts from both occupied and unoccupied lands. The grew from three regiments to over 38 division (military), divisions during World War II, and served alongside the German Army (Wehrmacht), German Army (''Heer''), ''Ordnungspolizei'' (uniformed police) and other security units. Originally, it was under the control of the (SS operational command office) beneath Heinrich Himmler, the head of the SS. With the start of World War II, tactical control was exercised by the (OKW, "High Command of the Armed Forces"), with some units being subordinated to (Command Staff Reichsführer-SS) directly under Himmler's control. Initially, in keeping with the racial policy of Nazi Germany, membership was open only to people of Germanic origin (so-called "Nazi racial theor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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