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Battle Of Halbe
The Battle of Halbe (german: Kesselschlacht von Halbe, russian: Хальбский котёл, Halbe pocket) was a battle lasting from April 24 – May 1, 1945 in which the German Ninth Army—under the command of General Theodor Busse—was destroyed as a fighting force by the Red Army during the Battle of Berlin. The Ninth Army, encircled in a large pocket in the Spree Forest region south-east of Berlin, attempted to break out westwards through the village of Halbe and the pine forests south of Berlin to link up with the German Twelfth Army commanded by General Walther Wenck with the intention of heading west and surrendering to the Western Allies. To do this, the Ninth Army had to fight its way through three lines of Soviet troops of the 1st Ukrainian Front under the command of Marshal Ivan Konev, while at the same time units of the 1st Belorussian Front, under the command of Marshal Georgy Zhukov, attacked the German rearguard from the northeast. After heavy fighting, a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Walther Wenck
Walther Wenck () (18 September 1900 – 1 May 1982) was a German officer and industrialist. He was the youngest General of the branch (''General der Truppengattung'') in the German Army and a staff officer during World War II. At the end of the war, he commanded the German Twelfth Army that took part in the Battle of Berlin. Wenck left the military after surrendering to the Allies. He was asked to become Inspector General of the Bundeswehr as West Germany was re-arming in 1957, but declined to take the post when conditions he set were not met, such as the Inspector General being the commander-in-chief of the armed forces, not just an administrative leader. Historians consider Wenck a capable commander and a brilliant improviser, although incapable of the impossible task he was given of saving Berlin in 1945. Early life The third son of officer Maximilian Wenck, Walter was born in Wittenberg, Germany in 1900. In 1911 he joined the Naumburg Cadet Corps of the Prussian Army. From t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Battle Of Berlin
The Battle of Berlin, designated as the Berlin Strategic Offensive Operation by the Soviet Union, and also known as the Fall of Berlin, was one of the last major offensives of the European theatre of World War II. After the Vistula–Oder Offensive of January–February 1945, the Red Army had temporarily halted on a line east of Berlin. On 9 March, Germany established its defence plan for the city with Operation Clausewitz. The first defensive preparations at the outskirts of Berlin were made on 20 March, under the newly appointed commander of Army Group Vistula, General Gotthard Heinrici. When the Soviet offensive resumed on 16 April, two Soviet fronts (army groups) attacked Berlin from the east and south, while a third overran German forces positioned north of Berlin. Before the main battle in Berlin commenced, the Red Army encircled the city after successful battles of the Seelow Heights and Halbe. On 20 April 1945, Hitler's birthday, the 1st Belorussian Fro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Soviet Fronts In World War II
A front (russian: фронт, ''front'') is a type of military formation that originated in the Russian Empire, and has been used by the Polish Army, the Red Army, the Soviet Army, and Turkey. It is roughly equivalent to an army group in the military of most other countries. It varies in size but in general contains three to five armies. It should not be confused with the more general usage of ''military front,'' describing a geographic area in wartime. Russian Empire After the outbreak of the First World War, the Russian General Headquarters set up two Fronts: Northwestern Front, uniting forces deployed against German Empire, and Southwestern Front, uniting forces deployed against Austria-Hungary. In August 1915, Northwestern Front was split into Northern Front and Western Front. At the end of 1916 Romanian Front was established, which also included remnants of the Romanian army. In April 1917, Caucasus Front was established by the reorganization of the Caucasus Arm ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gotthard Heinrici
Gotthard Fedor August Heinrici (25 December 1886 – 10 December 1971) was a German general during World War II. Heinrici is considered as the premier defensive expert of the ''Wehrmacht''. His final command was Army Group Vistula, formed from the remnants of Army Group A and Army Group Center to defend Berlin from the Soviet armies advancing from the Vistula River. Early life and career Heinrici was born in 1886 at Gumbinnen in East Prussia, the son of a minister of the (Protestant) Evangelical Church in Germany. He came from a long line of East Prussian theologians, including his uncle Georg Heinrici and his grandfather Carl August Heinrici, and remained a devout Lutheran throughout his life. Following graduation from secondary school in 1905, he broke from family tradition and joined the army on 8 March 1905 as a cadet in an infantry division. From 1905 to 1906, Heinrici attended a war school. During World War I, Heinrici fought in the German invasion of Belgium and ear ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Army Group Vistula
Army Group Vistula () was an Army Group of the '' Wehrmacht'', formed on 24 January 1945. It lasted for 105 days, having been put together from elements of Army Group A (shattered in the Soviet Vistula-Oder Offensive), Army Group Centre (similarly largely destroyed in the East Prussian Offensive), and a variety of new or ad hoc formations. It was formed to protect Berlin from the Soviet armies advancing from the Vistula River. Establishment and history Heinz Guderian had originally urged the creation of a new army group as an essentially defensive measure to fill the gap opening in German defences between the lower Vistula and the lower Oder. The new Army Group Vistula was duly formed from an assortment of rebuilt, new and existing units. Guderian intended to propose Field-Marshal Maximilian von Weichs as commander. However, in a reflection of Hitler's desire to transfer control of the conflict from the ''Wehrmacht'' to the SS, Heinrich Himmler was appointed. Himmler, who ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
German Fourth Panzer Army
The 4th Panzer Army (german: 4. Panzerarmee) (operating as Panzer Group 4 (german: 4. Panzergruppe) from its formation on 15 February 1941 to 1 January 1942, when it was redesignated as a full army) was a German panzer formation during World War II. As a key armoured component of the Wehrmacht, the army took part in the crucial battles of the German-Soviet war of 1941–45, including Operation Barbarossa, the Battle of Moscow, the Battle of Stalingrad, the Battle of Kursk, and the 1943 Battle of Kiev. Formation and preparations for Operation Barbarossa As part of the German High Command's preparations for Operation Barbarossa, Generaloberst Erich Hoepner was appointed to command the 4th Panzer Group in February 1941. It was to drive toward Leningrad as part of Army Group North under Wilhelm von Leeb. On 30 March 1941, Hitler delivered a speech to about two hundred senior Wehrmacht officers where he laid out his plans for an ideological war of annihilation (''Vernichtungskri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Forst (Lausitz)
Forst (Lausitz) ( dsb, Baršć) is a town in Lower Lusatia, Brandenburg, Germany. It lies east of Cottbus, on the river Lausitzer Neiße which is also the German- Polish border, the Oder-Neisse line. It is the capital of the Spree-Neiße district. It is known for its rose garden and textile museum. The town's population is 18,651. In Forst, there is a railway bridge across the Neiße belonging to the line Cottbus– Żary which is serviced by regional trains and a EuroCity train between Hamburg and Kraków (2011). There is also a road bridge across the river north of Forst. Overview Part of the region of Lower Lusatia, Forst was awarded to the Kingdom of Prussia in the 1815 Congress of Vienna. The town was administered as a part of the Province of Brandenburg from 1815 to 1947. After World War II it became part of the German Democratic Republic, from 1952 to 1990 within Bezirk Cottbus. Forst has experienced severe problems as a result of the 1990 German reunification, most n ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
V SS Mountain Corps
__NOTOC__ V SS Mountain Corps was a Waffen-SS formation that existed in later periods of World War II. The Corps fought against Yugoslav Partisans in the Balkans as part of 2nd Panzer Army from October 1943 to December 1944. At this time it rarely had more than two low strength divisions. In 1945, the Corps fought on the Oder line as part of the 9th Army, in the Frankfurt am Oder area and in the Battle of Berlin that followed. Commanders * SS-Obergruppenführer und General der Waffen-SS Artur Phleps (1 July 1943 – 21 September 1944) * SS-Brigadeführer und Generalmajor der Waffen-SS Karl von Oberkamp (21 September – 1 October 1944) * SS-Obergruppenführer und General der Waffen-SS Friedrich-Wilhelm Krüger (1 October 1944 – 1 March 1945) * SS-Obergruppenführer und General der Waffen-SS Friedrich Jeckeln (1 March – 8 May 1945) Walter Harzer Walter Harzer (September 29, 1912 – May 29, 1982) was a German SS commander during the Nazi era. He commanded the S ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bundesarchiv Bild 146-1977-120-09, Günther V
The German Federal Archives or Bundesarchiv (BArch) (german: Bundesarchiv) are the National Archives of Germany. They were established at the current location in Koblenz in 1952. They are subordinated to the Federal Commissioner for Culture and the Media ( Claudia Roth since 2021) under the German Chancellery, and before 1998, to the Federal Ministry of the Interior. On 6 December 2008, the Archives donated 100,000 photos to the public, by making them accessible via Wikimedia Commons. History The federal archive for institutions and authorities in Germany, the first precursor to the present-day Federal Archives, was established in Potsdam, Brandenburg in 1919, a later date than in other European countries. This national archive documented German government dating from the founding of the North German Confederation in 1867. It also included material from the older German Confederation and the Imperial Chamber Court. The oldest documents in this collection dated back to the yea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bundesarchiv Bild 146-1971-033-33, Lagebesprechung Im Hauptquartier Der Heeresgruppe Weichsel
The German Federal Archives or Bundesarchiv (BArch) (german: Bundesarchiv) are the National Archives of Germany. They were established at the current location in Koblenz in 1952. They are subordinated to the Federal Commissioner for Culture and the Media ( Claudia Roth since 2021) under the German Chancellery, and before 1998, to the Federal Ministry of the Interior. On 6 December 2008, the Archives donated 100,000 photos to the public, by making them accessible via Wikimedia Commons. History The federal archive for institutions and authorities in Germany, the first precursor to the present-day Federal Archives, was established in Potsdam, Brandenburg in 1919, a later date than in other European countries. This national archive documented German government dating from the founding of the North German Confederation in 1867. It also included material from the older German Confederation and the Imperial Chamber Court. The oldest documents in this collection dated back to the yea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
4th Guards Tank Army
The 4th Guards Tank Army was an operational military unit within the Armed Forces of the Soviet Union during the Great Patriotic War and in the post–war period. Battle path during the Great Patriotic War Fighting in Upper Silesia The 4th Guards Tank Army was formed on March 18, 1945, by transforming the 4th Tank Army of the 1st Ukrainian Front during the Upper Silesian Operation. It included the Directorate, the 6th Guards Lvov Mechanized Corps, the 10th Guards Volunteer Tank Corps, the 68th Guards Tank Brigade and a number of separate formations and units. During the operation, the army participated in the encirclement and liquidation of the Oppeln Group of German troops, which was liquidated by March 22. On March 24, the 5th Guards Mechanized Corps was included in the army, in which, in addition to artillery and motorized rifles, there were 150 tanks. On March 24, 1945, the 5th Guards Mechanized Corps went on the attack in the direction of Leobschütz – Troppau, but did no ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
3rd Guards Tank Army
The 3rd Guards Tank Army (russian: 3-я гвардейская танковая армия) was a tank army established by the Soviet Union's Red Army during World War II. The 3rd Tank Army was created in 1942 and fought in the southern areas of the Soviet Union and Poland, then in Germany and Czechoslovakia until the defeat of Germany in 1945. Postwar, the army served as occupation troops in East Germany, went through several name changes, and was finally deactivated in 1969. History Second World War First Formation The 3rd Tank Army was formed as part of the Reserve of the Supreme High Command (RVGK, Stavka reserve) on the basis of the 58th Army in the Moscow Military District in May 1942. It was placed under the command of Lieutenant General Prokofy Romanenko. Its initial composition was 12th and 15th Tank Corps, one motor rifle division, and two rifle divisions. As part of the Soviet Western Front, the 3rd Tank Army successfully counter-attacked the German Second Panze ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
