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Battle Of Narva - Battle Of The Tannenbergstellung (1944)
The Battle of Tannenberg Line (german: Die Schlacht um die Tannenbergstellung; russian: Битва за линию «Танненберг») or the Battle of the Blue Hills ( et, Sinimägede lahing) was a military engagement between the German Army Detachment Narwa and the Soviet Leningrad Front. They fought for the strategically important Narva Isthmus from 25 July–10 August 1944. The battle was fought on the Eastern Front during World War II. The strategic aim of the Soviet Estonian Operation was to reoccupy Estonia as a favorable base for the invasions of Finland and East Prussia. Waffen-SS forces included 24 volunteer infantry battalions from the SS Division Nordland, the SS Division Langemarck, the SS Division Nederland, and the Walloon Legion. Roughly half of the infantry consisted of the personnel of the 20th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (1st Estonian). The German force of 22,250 men held off 136,830 Soviet troops. As the Soviet forces were constantly rein ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eastern Front (World War II)
The Eastern Front of World War II was a Theater (warfare), theatre of conflict between the European Axis powers against the Soviet Union (USSR), Polish Armed Forces in the East, Poland and other Allies of World War II, Allies, which encompassed Central Europe, Eastern Europe, Northern Europe, Northeast Europe (Baltic states, Baltics), and Southeast Europe (Balkans) from 22 June 1941 to 9 May 1945. It was known as the Great Patriotic War (term), Great Patriotic War in the Soviet Union – and still is in some of its successor states, while almost everywhere else it has been called the ''Eastern Front''. In present-day German and Ukrainian historiography the name German-Soviet War is typically used. The battles on the Eastern Front of the Second World War constituted the largest military confrontation in history. They were characterised by unprecedented ferocity and brutality, wholesale destruction, mass deportations, and immense loss of life due to combat, starvation, expos ... [...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] |
III SS (Germanic) Panzer Corps
The III (Germanic) SS Panzer Corps (''III. (germanisches) SS-Panzerkorps'') was a German Waffen-SS armoured corps which saw action on the Eastern Front during World War II. The ''(germanische)'' (lit. Germanic) part of its designation was granted as it was composed primarily of foreign volunteer formations. History The corps was formed in April, 1943 as a headquarters for the SS Division Wiking and SS Division Nordland. The corps was placed under the control of former Wiking commander SS-Obergruppenführer Felix Steiner. After training, the corps took part in operations against Yugoslav partisans. The corps was then sent to a quiet sector in Army Group North, now made up of the Nordland Division and the 4th SS Volunteer Panzergrenadier Brigade Netherlands. By this stage, Wiking had been sent south and came under the control of Army Group South's Eighth Army. Forced back by the 1944 Soviet winter offensive, the corps participated in the Battle for the Narva Bridgehead in the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gruppenführer
__NOTOC__ ''Gruppenführer'' (, ) was an early paramilitary rank of the Nazi Party (NSDAP), first created in 1925 as a senior rank of the SA. Since then, the term ''Gruppenführer'' is also used for leaders of groups/teams of the police, fire departments, military and several other organizations. History In 1930, ''Gruppenführer'' became an SS rank and was originally bestowed upon those officers who commanded '' SS-Gruppen'' and also upon senior officers of the SS command staff. In 1932, the SS was reorganized and the ''SS-Gruppen'' were reformed into '' SS-Abschnitte''. A ''Gruppenführer'' commanded an ''SS-Abschnitt'' while a new rank, that of ''Obergruppenführer'', oversaw the '' SS-Oberabschnitte'' which were the largest SS units in Germany. Initially in the SA, NSKK, and SS, the rank of ''Gruppenführer'' was considered equivalent to a full general, but became regarded as equivalent to ''Generalleutnant'' after 1934. During the Second World War, when the Waffen-SS b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Estonians
Estonians or Estonian people ( et, eestlased) are a Finnic ethnic group native to Estonia who speak the Estonian language. The Estonian language is spoken as the first language by the vast majority of Estonians; it is closely related to other Finnic languages, e.g. Finnish, Karelian and Livonian. The Finnic languages are a subgroup of the larger Uralic family of languages, which also includes, e.g., the Sami languages. These languages are markedly different from most other native languages spoken in Europe, most of which have been assigned to Indo-European family of languages. Estonians can also be classified into subgroups according to dialects (e.g., Võros, Setos), although such divisions have become less pronounced due to internal migration and rapid urbanisation in Estonia in the 20th century. There are approximately 1.1 million ethnic Estonians and their descendants with some degree of Estonian identity worldwide; the large majority of them are living in Estonia. H ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Narva Offensive (July 1944)
''This is a sub-article to Battle of Narva (1944).'' The Narva offensive was a campaign fought between the German army detachment "Narwa" and the Soviet Leningrad Front for the city of Narva in 24–30 July 1944. The Soviet breakthrough in Belorussia made the German Army Group North withdraw a large portion of their troops from Narva to the central part of the Eastern Front and to Finland. As there were no more sufficient forces for the defence of the former front line at Narva in July, the army group began preparations for the withdrawal of their forces to the Tannenberg defence line at the Sinimäed Hills 16 kilometres from Narva. While the command of the Soviet Leningrad Front was unaware of the preparations, they designed the Narva offensive. Shock troops from the Finnish front were concentrated near Narva, giving the Leningrad Front a 4:1 superiority both in manpower and equipment. Before the German forces had implemented the plan, the Soviet 8th Army launched the off ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Battle For Narva Bridgehead
The Battle of Narva Bridgehead ( et, Narva lahingud, german: Schlacht um den Brückenkopf von Narva, russian: Битва за плацдарм Нарва; 2 February – 26 July 1944) was the campaign that stalled the Soviet Estonian operation in the surroundings of the town of Narva for six months. It was the first phase of the Battle of Narva campaign fought at the Eastern Front during World War II, the second phase being the Battle of Tannenberg Line. A number of volunteer Waffen SS units from Norway, Denmark, the Netherlands and Belgium fought on the German side. Several Western authors dealing with the foreign national units nickname the campaign as the "Battle of the European SS". The involved Estonian conscripts fought to defend their country against the looming Soviet reoccupation. The Soviet Estonian offensive was a follow-on of the Leningrad–Novgorod offensive. Its aim was to reconquer Estonia, which was annexed by the Soviet Union in 1940. Although Narva ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vaivara Sinimäed 2007
Vaivara was the largest of the 22 concentration and labor camps established in occupied Estonia by the Nazi regime during World War II. It had 20,000 Jewish prisoners pass through its gates, mostly from the Vilna and Kovno Ghettos, but also from Latvia, Poland, Hungary and the Theresienstadt concentration camp. Vaivara was one of the last camps to be established. It existed from August 1943 to February 1944. Creation On 21 June 1943, Heinrich Himmler ordered the liquidation of the remaining ghettos in the Baltic states. Subsequently, German occupation authorities met under the auspices of the Commander of the Security Police and SD in Reval (the German name for the Estonian capital Tallinn) in order to plan the establishment of forced labor camps for the oil-shale extraction operations of Baltöl, an IG Farben subsidiary. Beginning in August 1943, a series of concentration camps was established all over Estonia by the Organisation Todt. In September 1943, took over from the O ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mart Laar
Mart Laar (born 22 April 1960) is an Estonian politician and historian. He served as the Prime Minister of Estonia from 1992 to 1994 and from 1999 to 2002. Laar is credited with having helped bring about Estonia's Economy_of_Estonia#Restoration_of_independence,_modernisation_and_liberalisation, rapid economic development during the 1990s. He is a member of the centre-right Isamaa party. In April 2011, Mart Laar became Minister of Defence (Estonia), Minister of Defence in the cabinet of Prime Minister Andrus Ansip and served until his resignation for reasons of health in May 2012. In April 2013, Riigikogu appointed Laar as chairman of the supervisory board of the Bank of Estonia, his term beginning on 12 June 2013. Career Mart Laar was born in Viljandi. He studied history at the University of Tartu, graduating in 1983; he received his master's degree in philosophy and his doctorate in history in 2005. Laar taught history in Tallinn, and served as president of the Council of Hist ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Walloon Legion
The Walloon Legion (french: Légion Wallonie, "Wallonia Legion") was a unit of the German Army (''Wehrmacht'') and later of the Waffen-SS recruited among French-speaking collaborationists in German-occupied Belgium during World War II. It was formed in the aftermath of the German invasion of the Soviet Union and fought on the Eastern Front alongside similar formations from other parts of German-occupied Western Europe. Established in July 1941, the Walloon Legion was envisaged by Léon Degrelle's Rexist Party as a means of demonstrating its loyalty and political indispensability in German-occupied Belgium where it had been largely ignored since the German invasion of May 1940. A similar formation had already been created by Flemish collaborators as the Flemish Legion, preventing Degrelle from being able to establish the "Belgian Legion" he had originally intended. The formation, initially part of the German Army, was officially designated Infantry Battalion 373 (''Infanter ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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