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Heinrich Hoffmann (pilot)
Heinrich Hoffmann (8 March 1913 – 3 October 1941) was a German fighter ace in the Luftwaffe during World War II. Hoffmann was credited with 63 aerial victories in 261 combat missions and was the first non-commissioned officer and first posthumous Wehrmacht recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves, the highest award in the military and paramilitary forces of Nazi Germany during World War II. He was " ace-in-a-day" twice, shooting down five aircraft on a single day. Early life and career Hoffmann, the son of carpenter master craftsman Ernst Hoffmann, was born on 8 March 1913 in Pfiffigheim. Pfiffigheim is a borough of Worms, at the time in the Grand Duchy of Hesse and by Rhine, a constituent state of the German Empire. Interested in flight, he was an active member of the Hitler Youth and later with the National Socialist Flyers Corps where he received his first flight training in 1936. He joined the Luftwaffe in 1937 and was promoted to ''Unteroffiz ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Worms, Germany
Worms () is a city in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, situated on the Upper Rhine about south-southwest of Frankfurt am Main. It had about 82,000 inhabitants . A pre-Roman foundation, Worms is one of the oldest cities in northern Europe. It was the capital of the Kingdom of the Burgundians in the early fifth century, hence is the scene of the medieval legends referring to this period, notably the first part of the ''Nibelungenlied''. Worms has been a Roman Catholic bishopric since at least 614, and was an important palatinate of Charlemagne. Worms Cathedral is one of the imperial cathedrals and among the finest examples of Romanesque architecture in Germany. Worms prospered in the High Middle Ages as an imperial free city. Among more than a hundred imperial diets held at Worms, the Diet of 1521 (commonly known as ''the'' Diet of Worms) ended with the Edict of Worms, in which Martin Luther was declared a heretic. Worms is also one of the historical ShUM-cities as a cultural ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Carpentry
Carpentry is a skilled trade and a craft in which the primary work performed is the cutting, shaping and installation of building materials during the construction of buildings, ships, timber bridges, concrete formwork, etc. Carpenters traditionally worked with natural wood and did rougher work such as framing, but today many other materials are also used and sometimes the finer trades of cabinetmaking and furniture building are considered carpentry. In the United States, 98.5% of carpenters are male, and it was the fourth most male-dominated occupation in the country in 1999. In 2006 in the United States, there were about 1.5 million carpentry positions. Carpenters are usually the first tradesmen on a job and the last to leave. Carpenters normally framed post-and-beam buildings until the end of the 19th century; now this old-fashioned carpentry is called timber framing. Carpenters learn this trade by being employed through an apprenticeship training—normally 4 years—an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Iron Cross
The Iron Cross (german: link=no, Eisernes Kreuz, , abbreviated EK) was a military decoration in the Kingdom of Prussia, and later in the German Empire (1871–1918) and Nazi Germany (1933–1945). King Frederick William III of Prussia established it on 17 March 1813 during the Napoleonic Wars (EK 1813). The award was backdated to the birthday (10 March) of his late wife, Queen Louise. Louise was the first person to receive this decoration (posthumously). Recommissioned Iron Cross was also awarded during the Franco-Prussian War (EK 1870), World War I (EK 1914), and World War II (EK 1939). During the 1930s and World War II, the Nazi regime superimposed a swastika on the traditional medal. The Iron Cross was usually a military decoration only, though there were instances awarded to civilians for performing military functions, including Hanna Reitsch, who received the Iron Cross, 2nd class, and Iron Cross, 1st Class, and Melitta Schenk Gräfin von Stauffenberg, who received ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tupolev SB
The Tupolev ANT-40, also known by its service name Tupolev SB (russian: Скоростной бомбардировщик – ''Skorostnoi Bombardirovschik'' – high speed bomber) and development co-name TsAGI-40, was a high speed twin-engined three-seat monoplane bomber, first flown in 1934. The Tupolev design was advanced but lacked refinement, much to the dismay of crews, maintenance personnel, and Stalin, who pointed out that "there are no trivialities in aviation". Numerically the most important bomber in the world in the late 1930s, the SB was the first modern stressed skin aircraft produced in quantity in the Soviet Union and probably the most formidable bomber of the mid-1930s. It was produced in the Soviet Union and was also built under license in Czechoslovakia. Many versions saw extensive action in Spain, the Republic of China, Mongolia, Finland and at the beginning of World War II against Germany in 1941. It was also used in various duties in civil variants, as tra ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
English Channel
The English Channel, "The Sleeve"; nrf, la Maunche, "The Sleeve" (Cotentinais) or ( Jèrriais), (Guernésiais), "The Channel"; br, Mor Breizh, "Sea of Brittany"; cy, Môr Udd, "Lord's Sea"; kw, Mor Bretannek, "British Sea"; nl, Het Kanaal, "The Channel"; german: Ärmelkanal, "Sleeve Channel" ( French: ''la Manche;'' also called the British Channel or simply the Channel) is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates Southern England from northern France. It links to the southern part of the North Sea by the Strait of Dover at its northeastern end. It is the busiest shipping area in the world. It is about long and varies in width from at its widest to at its narrowest in the Strait of Dover."English Channel". ''The Columbia Encyclopedia'', 2004. It is the smallest of the shallow seas around the continental shelf of Europe, covering an area of some . The Channel was a key factor in Britain becoming a naval superpower and has been utilised by Britain as a natural def ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and the Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS). Following the Allied victory over the Central Powers in 1918, the RAF emerged as the largest air force in the world at the time. Since its formation, the RAF has taken a significant role in British military history. In particular, it played a large part in the Second World War where it fought its most famous campaign, the Battle of Britain. The RAF's mission is to support the objectives of the British Ministry of Defence (MOD), which are to "provide the capabilities needed to ensure the security and defence of the United Kingdom and overseas territories, including against terrorism; to support the Government's foreign policy objectives particularly in promoting international peace and security". The R ... [...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] |
Organization Of The Luftwaffe (1933–1945)
Between 1933 and 1945, the organization of the Luftwaffe underwent several changes. Originally, the German military high command, for their air warfare forces, decided to use an organizational structure similar to the army and navy, treating the aviation branch as a strategic weapon of war. Later on, during the period of rapid rearmament, the Luftwaffe was organized more in a geographical fashion. Under the terms of the Treaty of Versailles (1919), Germany was prohibited from having an air force, with the former German Empire's ''Luftstreitkräfte'' disbandment in 1920. German pilots were secretly trained for military aviation, first in the Soviet Union during the late 1920s, and then in Germany in the early 1930s. In Germany, the training was done under the guise of the German Air Sports Association (german: Deutscher Luftsportverband (DLV)) at the Central Commercial Pilots School (german: Zentrale der Verkehrs Fliegerschule (ZVF)). Following its 15 May 1933 formation in secret, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Military Reserve Force
A military reserve force is a military organization whose members have military and civilian occupations. They are not normally kept under arms, and their main role is to be available when their military requires additional manpower. Reserve forces are generally considered part of a permanent standing body of armed forces, and allow a nation to reduce its peacetime military expenditures and maintain a force prepared for war. In countries with a volunteer military, such as Canada, Spain, the United States and the United Kingdom, reserve forces are civilians who maintain military skills by training periodically (typically one weekend per month). They may do so as individuals or as members of standing reserve regiments—for example, the UK's Army Reserve (United Kingdom), Army Reserve. A militia, home guard, State defense force, state guard or state military may constitute part of a military reserve force, such as the National Guard (United States), United States National Guard a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Unteroffizier
() is a junior non-commissioned officer rank used by the . It is also the collective name for all non-commissioned officers in Austria and Germany. It was formerly a rank in the Imperial Russian Army. Austria , also , is the collective name to all junior NCO-ranks in the modern day's Austrian ''Bundesheer''. It comprises the ranks of the assignment group M BUO 2 (professional NCO 2; de: Berufsunteroffizier 2) with the rank Oberwachtmeister (OR6), and M ZUO 2 (time serving NCO 2; de: Zeitunteroffizier 2) with the rank Wachtmeister (OR5). Training and education of the ''Unteroffizier corps'' was reformed in 1995 and until 2000 finally introduced to the armed forces. First effected were professional NCOs of the assignment group M BUO 1 (Stabsunteroffiziere, staff NCO's), followed by the assignment group M BUO 2 (Unteroffiziere, NCO's). In the result of a positive entrance examination aspirants attended the NCO traini ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
National Socialist Flyers Corps
The National Socialist Flyers Corps (german: Nationalsozialistisches Fliegerkorps; NSFK) was a paramilitary aviation organization of the Nazi Party. History NSFK was founded 15 April 1937 as a successor to the German Air Sports Association; the latter had been active during the years when a German air force was forbidden by the Treaty of Versailles. The NSFK organization was based closely on the para-military organization of the ''Sturmabteilung'' (SA). A similar group was the National Socialist Motor Corps (NSKK). During the early years of its existence, the NSFK conducted military aviation training in Glider aircraft, gliders and private airplanes. Leadership Friedrich Christiansen, originally a ''Generalleutnant'' then later a Luftwaffe ''General der Flieger'', was NSFK ''Korpsführer'' from 15 April 1937 until 26 June 1943, followed by ''Generaloberst'' Alfred Keller until 8 May 1945. Ranks, uniforms and other insignia The Nazi party paramilitary ranks, paramilitary rank s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hitler Youth
The Hitler Youth (german: Hitlerjugend , often abbreviated as HJ, ) was the youth organisation of the Nazi Party in Germany. Its origins date back to 1922 and it received the name ("Hitler Youth, League of German Worker Youth") in July 1926. From 1936 until 1945, it was the sole official boys' youth organisation in Germany and it was partially a paramilitary organisation. It was composed of the Hitler Youth proper for male youths aged 14 to 18, and the German Youngsters in the Hitler Youth ( or "DJ", also "DJV") for younger boys aged 10 to 14. With the surrender of Nazi Germany in 1945, the organisation ''de facto'' ceased to exist. On 10 October 1945, the Hitler Youth and its subordinate units were outlawed by the Allied Control Council along with other Nazi Party organisations. Under Section 86 of the Criminal Code of the Federal Republic of Germany, the Hitler Youth is an "unconstitutional organisation" and the distribution or public use of its symbols, except for educ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
