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Fritz Witt
Fritz Witt (27 May 1908 – 14 June 1944) was a German SS commander during the Nazi era. During World War II, he served with the SS Division Leibstandarte before taking command of the SS Division Hitlerjugend. He was killed in action in June 1944. Early life and career Born in 1908 into the family of a merchant, Witt worked in the textile industry until he lost his job in June 1931. Witt joined the Nazi Party (NSDAP) (Nr. 816,769) in December 1931 and the SS (Nr. 21,518). In March 1933, Witt became a member of the SS-''Stabswache'' Berlin, a bodyguard unit protecting Adolf Hitler. It was renamed to SS-''Sonderkommando'' Berlin in September and in the following month, Witt was appointed a platoon leader. This unit was the nucleus of the later SS Division Leibstandarte (LSSAH). In January 1935, Witt was appointed company commander in the SS-Standarte Deutschland, a unit that later became part of the SS Division Das Reich. World War II Witt participated in the German Invasion of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Max Wünsche
__NOTOC__ Max Wünsche (20 April 1914 – 17 April 1995) was a member of the SS of Nazi Germany and a regimental commander in the Waffen-SS during World War II. He was a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves. Biography Max Wünsche was born on 20 April 1914 in Kittlitz. In July 1933 Wünsche joined the SS. In 1935, he graduated from ''SS-Junkerschule'' at Bad Tölz and was promoted to ''Untersturmführer''. Wünsche was then posted to the ''Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler'' (LSSAH) as a platoon leader. In October 1938, Wünsche was assigned as an orderly officer for Hitler. In that role, Wünsche joined the '' Führerbegleitkommando'' (the SS bodyguard unit), which provided personal security for Hitler. In January 1940 he was again posted to the LSSAH, as a platoon commander in a motorcycle company under the command of Kurt Meyer, for the invasion of the Netherlands and the Battle of France. In December 1940 he became an adjutant to Sepp Dietrich du ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nazi Party
The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party (german: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP), was a far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported the ideology of Nazism. Its precursor, the German Workers' Party (; DAP), existed from 1919 to 1920. The Nazi Party emerged from the extremist German nationalist, racist and populist paramilitary culture, which fought against the communist uprisings in post– World War I Germany. The party was created to draw workers away from communism and into nationalism. Initially, Nazi political strategy focused on anti– big business, anti- bourgeois, and anti-capitalist rhetoric. This was later downplayed to gain the support of business leaders, and in the 1930s, the party's main focus shifted to antisemitic and anti-Marxist themes. The party had little popular support until the Great Depression. Pseudoscientific racist theories were ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Battle Of France
The Battle of France (french: bataille de France) (10 May – 25 June 1940), also known as the Western Campaign ('), the French Campaign (german: Frankreichfeldzug, ) and the Fall of France, was the German invasion of France during the Second World War. On 3 September 1939, France declared war on Germany following the German invasion of Poland. In early September 1939, France began the limited Saar Offensive and by mid-October had withdrawn to their start lines. German armies invaded Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands on 10 May 1940. Italy entered the war on 10 June 1940 and attempted an invasion of France. France and the Low Countries were conquered, ending land operations on the Western Front until the Normandy landings on 6 June 1944. In ''Fall Gelb'' ("Case Yellow"), German armoured units made a surprise push through the Ardennes and then along the Somme valley, cutting off and surrounding the Allied units that had advanced into Belgium to meet the German armies ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Battle Of The Netherlands
The German invasion of the Netherlands ( nl, Duitse aanval op Nederland), otherwise known as the Battle of the Netherlands ( nl, Slag om Nederland), was a military campaign part of Case Yellow (german: Fall Gelb), the Nazi German invasion of the Low Countries (Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands) and France during World War II. The battle lasted from 10 May 1940 until the surrender of the main Dutch forces on 14 May. Dutch troops in the province of Zeeland continued to resist the ''Wehrmacht'' until 17 May when Germany completed its occupation of the whole country. The invasion of the Netherlands saw some of the earliest mass paratroop drops, to occupy tactical points and assist the advance of ground troops. The German ''Luftwaffe'' used paratroopers in the capture of several airfields in the vicinity of Rotterdam and The Hague, helping to quickly overrun the country and immobilise Dutch forces. After the devastating Nazi bombing of Rotterdam by the ''Luftwaffe'' on 14 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Massacre In Zakroczym
The Massacre in Zakroczym, Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ..., took place on 28 September 1939 when, in spite of a cease-fire, soldiers of Panzerdivision Kempf stormed Polish positions at Zakroczym, where soldiers from the 2nd Infantry Division were getting ready to surrender. Hundreds of Polish soldiers were murdered.Szymon Datner: Zbrodnie Wehrmachtu na jeńcach wojennych w II wojnie światowej. Warszawa: Wydawnictwo MON, 1961. The rest were beaten and abused. Many civilians were killed or wounded. German troops broke into houses, robbed them, set on fire, and tossed hand grenades into the basements filled with scared civilians. Kazimierz Szczerbatko estimated, based on the testimony of the eyewitnesses, that the Germans killed around 500 soldiers and 100 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Zakroczym
Zakroczym (; yi, זאקראטשין ''Zakrotshin'') is a small town in the Masovian Voivodeship, Poland. It is located at around . The Vistula River flows through the town. Zakroczym has a long and rich history: in the Kingdom of Poland and the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, it was the capital of an administrative unit (ziemia), part of Mazovian Voivodeship. Also, Zakroczym was a royal town of the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland. The town lies at the intersection of two main roads - national road 62, and national road 7. Name The name of Zakroczym comes from ancient Polish word ''zakrot'', which means river crossing. Originally, the town was located closer to the Vistula river, and was called Kroczym or Kroczyn. Due to numerous floods, Zakroczym was moved to a higher location. History * c. 1155 - first mention of the gord and settlement of Zakroczym, property of Benedictine Monastery from Mogilno, * 8 June 1335. Mazovian dukes Siemowit II and Trojden I renew here truc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Werner Kempf
Werner Kempf (9 March 1886 – 6 January 1964) was a general in the German Army rising to corps-level command during World War II. Kempf is best known for commanding the Army Detachment Kempf during the Battle of Kursk. Career Kempf joined the Imperial German Army in 1905; following World War I, he served in the ''Reichswehr'' and later the ''Wehrmacht''. In October 1937 Kempf took command of the newly formed 4th Panzer Brigade; in January 1939 he was promoted to ''Generalmajor''. At the beginning of World War II in Europe, he took part in the invasion of Poland as commander of Panzer Division Kempf, which was also known as the ''Panzerverband Ostpreußen'' (Panzer Group East Prussia) of the 3rd Army under Georg von Küchler. As divisional commander, he received the capitulation of Fort Zakroczym, which was followed by Massacre in Zakroczym, at the conclusion of the Battle of Modlin. The division returned to East Prussia at the end of the Poland campaign, and Kempf was name ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Combined Arms
Combined arms is an approach to warfare that seeks to integrate different combat arms of a military to achieve mutually complementary effects (for example by using infantry and armour in an urban environment in which each supports the other). According to the strategist William S. Lind, combined arms can be distinguished from the concept of "supporting arms" as follows: Combined arms hits the enemy with two or more arms simultaneously in such a manner that the actions he must take to defend himself from one make him more vulnerable to another. In contrast, supporting arms is hitting the enemy with two or more arms in sequence, or if simultaneously, then in such combination that the actions the enemy must take to defend himself from one also defends himself from the other(s). Though the lower-echelon units of a combined arms team may be of similar types, a balanced mixture of such units are combined into an effective higher-echelon unit, whether formally in a table of organiz ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Panzer Division Kempf
The Panzer Division "Kempf" (german: Panzer-Division "Kempf"), also ''East Prussia Panzer Formation'' (de: ''Panzerverband Ostpreußen'') was an ''ad hoc'' combined arms formation consisting of regular German Army personnel and SS. It was created for operations out of East Prussia during the Invasion of Poland in 1939. The formation was generally called ''Panzer Division "Kempf"'' after General der Panzertruppe Werner Kempf assumed command, though it was only about half the strength of the other Panzer Divisions of the time. The division participated in the Battle of Mława. The SS components of the division committed war crimes against Polish Jews ( Massacre in Krasnosielc ) on September 6, 1939, and against the Polish soldiers, civilians, including Polish Jews in the Massacre in Zakroczym on September 28, 1939.Kazimierz Szczerbatko: Za życie oddane w ofierze. Zakroczym: Urząd Gminy w Zakroczymiu, 2002. . See also *List of German divisions in World War II *List of Waffen-SS ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Invasion Of Poland
The invasion of Poland (1 September – 6 October 1939) was a joint attack on the Republic of Poland by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union which marked the beginning of World War II. The German invasion began on 1 September 1939, one week after the signing of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact between Germany and the Soviet Union, and one day after the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union had approved the pact. The Soviets invaded Poland on 17 September. The campaign ended on 6 October with Germany and the Soviet Union dividing and annexing the whole of Poland under the terms of the German–Soviet Frontier Treaty. The invasion is also known in Poland as the September campaign ( pl, kampania wrześniowa) or 1939 defensive war ( pl, wojna obronna 1939 roku, links=no) and known in Germany as the Poland campaign (german: Überfall auf Polen, Polenfeldzug). German forces invaded Poland from the north, south, and west the morning after the Gleiwitz incident. Slovak military forces ad ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
SS Division Das Reich
The 2nd SS Panzer Division Das Reich (german: 2. SS-Panzerdivision "Das Reich") or SS Division Das Reich was an elite division of the Waffen-SS of Nazi Germany during World War II, formed from the regiments of the ''SS-Verfügungstruppe'' (SS-VT). The division served during the invasion of France and took part in several major battles on the Eastern Front, including in the Battle of Prokhorovka against the 5th Guards Tank Army at the Battle of Kursk. It was then transferred to the West and took part in the fighting in Normandy and the Battle of the Bulge, ending the war fighting the Soviets in Hungary and Austria. The division committed the Oradour-sur-Glane and Tulle massacres along with others on the Eastern Front. Operational history In August 1939 Adolf Hitler placed the Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler (LSSAH), later SS Division Leibstandarte, and the ''SS-Verfügungstruppe'' (SS-VT) under the operational command of the High Command of the German Army. The units' perfor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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