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Heinrich Kreipe
Karl Heinrich Georg Ferdinand Kreipe (5 June 1895 – 14 June 1976) was a German career soldier who served in both World War I and World War II. While leading German forces in occupied Crete in April 1944, he was abducted by British SOE officers Patrick Leigh Fermor and William Stanley Moss, with the support of the Cretan resistance. Early life and career Born in 1895, the thirteenth child of a Lutheran pastor from Hanover. He fought in World War I, seeing action at the Battle of Verdun where he won an Iron Cross First Class. After the war, he joined the Freikorps, and then the new Reichswehr in October 1919. By 1939, Kreipe had attained the rank of colonel in the Wehrmacht. World War II As commander of Infantry Regiment 909 of the 58th Infantry Division, Kreipe participated in the Battle of France, the drive towards Leningrad and the fighting in Kuban during Operation Barbarossa. He was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on 13 October 1941. Kreipe remained at the Sie ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
William Stanley Moss
Ivan William Stanley Moss MC (15 June 1921 – 9 August 1965), commonly known as W. Stanley Moss or Billy Moss, was a British army officer in World War II, and later a successful writer, broadcaster, journalist and traveller. He served with the Coldstream Guards and the Special Operations Executive (SOE) and is best known for the Kidnap of General Kreipe. He was a best-selling author in the 1950s, based both on his novels and books about his wartime service. His SOE years are featured in '' Ill Met by Moonlight: The Abduction of General Kreipe'', (also adapted as a British film released under the main title) and '' A War of Shadows''. Moss travelled around the world and went to Antarctica to meet the Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition. A biography, ''Billy Moss: Soldier, Writer, Traveller - A Brief Life'' by Alan Ogden, was published in 2014 as an Afterword to '' A War of Shadows''. An abbreviated text was published in the Coldstream Gazette 2018. Early life and educati ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Schwarzburg-Sondershausen
Schwarzburg-Sondershausen was a small principality in Germany, in the present day state of Thuringia, with its capital at Sondershausen. History Schwarzburg-Sondershausen was a county until 1697. In that year, it became a principality, which lasted until the fall of the German monarchies in 1918, during the German Revolution of 1918–1919. After the German Revolution, it became a republic and joined the Weimar Republic as a constituent state. In 1920, it joined with other small states in the area to form the new state of Thuringia. Schwarzburg-Sondershausen had an area of 862 km² (333 sq. mi.) and a population of 85,000 (1905). Towns placed in the state were: Arnstadt, Sondershausen, Gehren, Langewiesen, Großbreitenbach, Ebeleben, Großenehrich, Greußen and Plaue. Rulers of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen, 1552–1918 Counts of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen * 1552–1586 John Günther I * 1586–1631 Günther XLII, ''with'' Anton Henry, John Günther II and Christian ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
