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Erich Raeder During World War II
Erich Johann Albert Raeder (24 April 1876 – 6 November 1960) was a naval leader in Germany who played a major role in the naval history of World War II. Raeder attained the highest possible naval rank, '' Großadmiral'' (Grand Admiral), in 1939 and thus became the first person to hold that rank since Henning von Holtzendorff. Raeder led the ''Kriegsmarine'' (German: War Navy) for the first half of the war. He resigned in 1943 and was replaced by Karl Dönitz. Raeder was sentenced to life in prison at the Nuremberg Trials but was released early because of failing health. Raeder is also well known for dismissing Reinhard Heydrich from the ''Reichsmarine'' in April 1931 for "conduct unbecoming to an officer and a gentleman". This article covers Raeder's activities during World War II. Beginning of the war: Raeder's political-naval plan When Britain and France declared war on Germany on 3 September 1939, Raeder was shocked and shattered by the outbreak of a general war tha ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Navy
A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval warfare, naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral zone, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and related functions. It includes anything conducted by surface Naval ship, ships, amphibious warfare, amphibious ships, submarines, and seaborne naval aviation, aviation, as well as ancillary support, communications, training, and other fields. The strategic offensive role of a navy is Power projection, projection of force into areas beyond a country's shores (for example, to protect Sea lane, sea-lanes, deter or confront piracy, ferry troops, or attack other navies, ports, or shore installations). The strategic defensive purpose of a navy is to frustrate seaborne projection-of-force by enemies. The strategic task of the navy also may incorporate nuclear deterrence by use of submarine-launched ballistic missiles. Naval operations can be broa ... [...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] |
Joachim Von Ribbentrop
Ulrich Friedrich Wilhelm Joachim von Ribbentrop (; 30 April 1893 – 16 October 1946) was a German politician and diplomat who served as Minister of Foreign Affairs of Nazi Germany from 1938 to 1945. Ribbentrop first came to Adolf Hitler's notice as a well-travelled businessman with more knowledge of the outside world than most senior Nazis and as a perceived authority on foreign affairs. He offered his house Schloss Fuschl for the secret meetings in January 1933 that resulted in Hitler's appointment as Chancellor of Germany. He became a close confidant of Hitler, to the disgust of some party members, who thought him superficial and lacking in talent. He was appointed ambassador to the Court of St James's, the royal court of the United Kingdom, in 1936 and then Foreign Minister of Germany in February 1938. Before World War II, he played a key role in brokering the Pact of Steel (an alliance with Fascist Italy) and the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact (the Nazi–Soviet non-aggr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alfred Von Tirpitz
Alfred Peter Friedrich von Tirpitz (19 March 1849 – 6 March 1930) was a German grand admiral, Secretary of State of the German Imperial Naval Office, the powerful administrative branch of the German Imperial Navy from 1897 until 1916. Prussia never had a major navy, nor did the other German states before the German Empire was formed in 1871. Tirpitz took the modest Imperial Navy and, starting in the 1890s, turned it into a world-class force that could threaten Britain's Royal Navy. However, during World War I, his High Seas Fleet proved unable to end Britain's command of the sea and its chokehold on Germany's economy. The one great engagement at sea, the Battle of Jutland, ended in a narrow German tactical victory but a strategic failure. As the High Seas Fleet's limitations became increasingly apparent during the war, Tirpitz became an outspoken advocate for unrestricted submarine warfare, a policy which would ultimately bring Germany into conflict with the United States. By ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Großadmiral
Grand admiral is a historic naval rank, the highest rank in the several European navies that used it. It is best known for its use in Germany as . A comparable rank in modern navies is that of admiral of the fleet. Grand admirals in individual navies France In Bourbon Restoration France, the rank was an honorific one equivalent to that of marshal in the French Army. Germany In the Imperial German Navy, and later in the , the rank was the equivalent of a British admiral of the fleet or a United States fleet admiral; as a five-star rank (OF-10). Like field marshals its holders were authorised to carry a baton. The rank was created in 1901 and discontinued in 1945, after eight men were promoted to it. The next most junior rank was (admiral-general). Imperial Germany Before and during World War I, the following were made grand admirals of the Imperial German Navy (): * King Edward VII of the United Kingdom (26 June 1902) * (28 June 1905) * King Oscar II of Sweden (13 Ju ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wilhelm Marschall
Wilhelm Marschall (30 September 1886 – 20 March 1976) was a German admiral during World War II. He was also a recipient of the ''Pour le Mérite'' which he received as commander of the German U-boat during World War I. The ''Pour le Mérite'' was the Kingdom of Prussias highest military order for German officers until the end of World War I. Biography Marschall was born in Augsburg, Kingdom of Bavaria, in 1886. In 1906, he entered the Kaiserliche Marine as a Seekadett. During World War I he served as a watch officer on . In 1916, he was trained as a U-boat commander and captained both and by war's end. He sank 41 merchant ships and two troopships, for a total of 119,170 GRT, and was awarded the Pour la Mérite, Germany's highest military honour. While in the Reichsmarine, Marschall served primarily as a ''Vermessungsoffizier'' (surveying officer) and in different staff positions. At the end of 1934 he became commander of the pocket battleship ''Admiral Scheer''. As a Kont ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rolf Carls
Rolf Hans Wilhelm Karl Carls (29 May 1885 – 24 April 1945) was a high-ranking German admiral during World War II. He was a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross of Nazi Germany. Carls served as ''Flottenchef'' (Fleet Commander), the highest ranking administrative officer of the ''Kriegsmarine'' and member of the ''Oberkommando der Marine'' (High Command of the Navy). Carls was instrumental in planning German naval operations during Operation Weserübung, the invasion of Denmark and Norway. When Grand Admiral Erich Raeder resigned as commander-in-chief of the ''Kriegsmarine'' in early 1943, he suggested Carls as a potential candidate to succeed him. After Admiral Karl Donitz succeeded Raeder instead, Carls was discharged from the navy. Carls was killed in a British air raid on the town of Bad Oldesloe on 24 April 1945. Early life and career Rolf Carls was the son of Lieutenant Friedrich Wilhelm Anton Carls and his wife Martha Victoria Wilhelmine Anna Sophie, née P ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hermann Boehm (admiral)
Hermann Boehm (18 January 1884, Rybnik – 11 April 1972, Kiel) was a German naval officer who rose to the rank of General Admiral during the Second World War. Military service Boehm joined the Kaiserliche Marine on 1 April 1903 as a cadet and did his basic training on SMS ''Stein''. He was promoted to Kapitänleutnant on 19 September 1914 and during the First World War commanded various torpedo boats (such as SMS G41 during the Battle of Jutland and later SMS V 69). In 1919 he was dismissed from the service, but when the navy was reactivated as the Reichsmarine in 1920 he was recalled to it, mainly serving in staff posts until 1933. On 3 October 1933 Boehm was made the commander of the ''Hessen'' for a year, until he was promoted to Konteradmiral in autumn 1934 and appointed commander in chief of the navy's reconnaissance forces. From 25 August 1936 to 3 August 1937, during the opening stages of the Spanish Civil War, he commanded the German naval forces off the Spanish coas ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hans Langsdorff
Hans Wilhelm Langsdorff (20 March 1894 – 20 December 1939) was a German naval officer, most famous for his command of the German pocket battleship ''Admiral Graf Spee'' during the Battle of the River Plate off the coast of Uruguay in 1939. After the ''Panzerschiff'' () was unable to escape a pursuing squadron of Royal Navy ships, Langsdorff scuttled his ship. Three days later he died by suicide in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Career Langsdorff was born on 20 March 1894 in Bergen, Germany on the island of Rügen. He was the eldest son in a family with legal and religious traditions rather than a naval tradition. In 1898, the family moved to Düsseldorf, where they were neighbours of the family of Graf (Count) Maximilian von Spee, who was to become a German naval hero (while losing his life) at the Battle of the Falkland Islands in 1914. Influenced by his honoured neighbours, Langsdorff entered the Kiel Naval Academy against his parents' wishes in 1912. During the First World Wa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Battle Of The River Plate
The Battle of the River Plate was fought in the South Atlantic on 13 December 1939 as the first naval battle of the Second World War. The Kriegsmarine heavy cruiser , commanded by Captain Hans Langsdorff, engaged a Royal Navy squadron, commanded by Commodore Henry Harwood, comprising the light cruisers , (on loan to the New Zealand Division) and the heavy cruiser . ''Graf Spee'' had sailed into the South Atlantic in August 1939, before the war began, and had begun commerce raiding after receiving appropriate authorisation on 26 September 1939. Harwood's squadron was one of several search groups sent in pursuit by the British Admiralty. They sighted ''Graf Spee'' off the estuary of the River Plate near the coasts of Argentina and Uruguay. In the ensuing battle, ''Exeter'' was severely damaged and forced to retire; ''Ajax'' and ''Achilles'' suffered moderate damage. Damage to ''Graf Spee'', although not extensive, was critical because her fuel system was crippled. ''Ajax'' and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gerhard Weinberg
Gerhard Ludwig Weinberg (born 1 January 1928) is a German-born American diplomatic and military historian noted for his studies in the history of Nazi Germany and World War II. Weinberg is the William Rand Kenan, Jr. Professor Emeritus of History at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He has been a member of the history faculty at UNC-Chapel Hill since 1974. Previously he served on the faculties of the University of Michigan (1959–1974) and the University of Kentucky (1957–1959). Youth and education Weinberg was born in Hanover, Germany, and resided there the first ten years of his life. As Jews living in Nazi Germany, he and his family suffered increasing persecution. They emigrated in 1938, first to the United Kingdom and then in 1941 to New York State. Weinberg became a U.S. citizen, served in the U.S. Army during its Occupation of Japan in 1946-1947, and returned to receive a BA in social studies from the State University of New York at Albany. He received h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Manstein Plan
(Case Yellow), the invasion of France and the Low Countries , scope = Strategic , type = , location = South-west Netherlands, central Belgium, northern France , coordinates = , planned = 1940 , planned_by = Erich von Manstein , commanded_by = Gerd von Rundstedt , objective = Defeat of the Netherlands, Belgium and France , target = , date = , time = , time-begin = , time-end = , timezone = , executed_by = Army Group A , outcome = German victory , casualties = , fatalities = , injuries = The Manstein Plan or Case Yellow (german: Fall Gelb) also known as Operation Sichelschnitt (german: Sichelschnittplan, from the English term sickle cut), was the war plan of the German armed forces (german: Wehrmacht) during the Battle of France in 1940. The original invasion plan was an awkward compromise devised by General Franz Halder, the chief of staff of (OKH, Army High Command) that satisfied no one. Documents ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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