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Karl-Heinz Schnell
Karl-Heinz Schnell (10 January 1915 – 13 March 2013) was a German Luftwaffe ace and recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross during World War II. For the fighter pilots, it was a quantifiable measure of skill and success. Schnell was widely credited with 72 aerial victories in over 500 combat missions. Military career At the start of the war, Lieutenant Karl-Heinz 'Bubi' Schnell was assigned to I. ''Gruppe'' of ''Jagdgeschwader'' 71 (JG 71—71st Fighter Wing), an independent fighter-group. When this unit was flagged for absorption into ''Jagdgeschwader'' 51 (JG 51—51st Fighter Wing) on 1 November 1939 he was transferred to the newly formed 3./JG 20 - itself part of an independent fighter-group but also seconded to JG 51. Through the opening of the campaign in the west, in May 1940, I./JG 20 met very little aerial opposition covering the advance into Holland and then Belgium. Instead, all attention was focused on the dramatic breakthrough to t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated between the Baltic and North seas to the north, and the Alps to the south; it covers an area of , with a population of almost 84 million within its 16 constituent states. Germany borders Denmark to the north, Poland and the Czech Republic to the east, Austria and Switzerland to the south, and France, Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Netherlands to the west. The nation's capital and most populous city is Berlin and its financial centre is Frankfurt; the largest urban area is the Ruhr. Various Germanic tribes have inhabited the northern parts of modern Germany since classical antiquity. A region named Germania was documented before AD 100. In 962, the Kingdom of Germany formed the bulk of the Holy Roman Empire. During the 16th ce ... [...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 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bryansk
Bryansk ( rus, Брянск, p=brʲansk) is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and the administrative center of Bryansk Oblast, Russia, situated on the Desna (river), River Desna, southwest of Moscow. Population: Geography Urban layout The location of the settlement was originally associated with navigable river-routes and was located in the area of the Chashin Kurgan, where the fortress walls were erected. For reasons that have not yet been clarified, the city changed its location and by the middle of the 12th century had established itself on the steep slopes of the right bank of the Desna on Pokrovskaya Hill (russian: Покровская гора). The foundations of the future urban development of the city were laid even earlier, when around the city-fortress in the 17th century after the Time of Troubles of 1598-1613 on the coastal strip at the foot of the Bryansk fortress the posadskaya "Zatinnaya Sloboda" was upset, and on the upper plateau, between Verkhniy ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hans Strelow
Hans Strelow (26 March 1922 – 22 May 1942) was a Luftwaffe military aviation, military aviator during World War II, a fighter ace credited with 68 enemy aircraft shot down in over 200 combat missions, all of which claimed over the Eastern Front (World War II), Eastern Front. Born in Berlin, Strelow volunteered for military service in the Luftwaffe of Nazi Germany in 1939. Following flight training, he was posted to Jagdgeschwader 51, ''Jagdgeschwader'' 51 (JG 51—51st Fighter Wing) in 1941 and participated in Operation Barbarossa, the German invasion of the Soviet Union. He claimed his first aerial victory on 25 June 1941. In February 1942, Strelow was appointed ''Staffelkapitän'' (squadron leader) of the 5. ''Organization of the Luftwaffe (1933–1945)#Staffel, Staffel'' (5th squadron) of JG 51. Following his 52nd aerial victory, he was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on 18 March 1942. Six days and 14 aerial victories later, he was awarded the Knight ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Battle Of Moscow
The Battle of Moscow was a military campaign that consisted of two periods of strategically significant fighting on a sector of the Eastern Front during World War II. It took place between September 1941 and January 1942. The Soviet defensive effort frustrated Hitler's attack on Moscow, the capital and largest city of the Soviet Union. Moscow was one of the primary military and political objectives for Axis forces in their invasion of the Soviet Union. The German Strategic Offensive, named Operation Typhoon, called for two pincer offensives, one to the north of Moscow against the Kalinin Front by the 3rd and 4th Panzer Armies, simultaneously severing the Moscow–Leningrad railway, and another to the south of Moscow Oblast against the Western Front south of Tula, by the 2nd Panzer Army, while the 4th Army advanced directly towards Moscow from the west. Initially, the Soviet forces conducted a strategic defence of the Moscow Oblast by constructing three defensive belts, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Battle Of Kiev (1941)
The First Battle of Kiev was the German name for the operation that resulted in a huge encirclement of Soviet troops in the vicinity of Kiev during World War II. This encirclement is considered the largest encirclement in the history of warfare (by number of troops). The operation ran from 7 July to 26 September 1941, as part of Operation Barbarossa, the Axis invasion of the Soviet Union. Much of the Southwestern Front of the Red Army (commanded by Mikhail Kirponos) was encircled, but small groups of Red Army troops managed to escape the pocket days after the German panzers met east of the city, including the headquarters of Marshal Semyon Budyonny, Marshal Semyon Timoshenko and Commissar Nikita Khrushchev. Kirponos was trapped behind German lines and was killed while trying to break out. The battle was an unprecedented defeat for the Red Army, exceeding even the Battle of Białystok–Minsk of June–July 1941. The encirclement trapped 452,700 soldiers, 2,642 guns and mort ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Battle Of Smolensk (1941)
The first Battle of Smolensk (german: Kesselschlacht bei Smolensk, ' Cauldron-battle at Smolensk'; ) was a battle during the second phase of Operation Barbarossa, the Axis invasion of the Soviet Union, in World War II. It was fought around the city of Smolensk between 10 July and 10 September 1941, about west of Moscow. The Ostheer had advanced into the USSR in the 18 days after the invasion on 22 June 1941. The Soviet 16th, 19th and the 20th armies were encircled and destroyed just to the east of Smolensk, though many of the men from the 19th and 20th armies managed to escape the pocket. Some historians have asserted that the cost to the Germans during this drawn-out battle and the delay in the drive towards Moscow led to the victory of the Red Army in the Battle of Moscow of December 1941. Background and planning On 22 June 1941, the Axis nations invaded the Soviet Union in Operation Barbarossa. At first, the campaign met with spectacular success, as the surprised Sovi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aviators Who Became Ace In A Day
The term "ace in a day" is used to designate a pilot who has shot down five or more airplanes in a single day, based on usual definition of an " ace" as one with five or more aerial victories. World War I Ace in a day on two occasions A Bristol F2B crew – Canadian pilot Captain Alfred Atkey and English observer Lieutenant Charles Gass – became "ace in a day" twice in the same week. On 7 May 1918, they shot down five German planes in a single sortie over Arras. Two days later, on 9 May, they were credited with another five enemy machines in the course of two sorties. Atkey and Gass survived the Great War. Atkey credited with a total of 38 victories, making him the most successful two-seater pilot and Gass with 39 claims was the most successful observer ace of all time. René Fonck, the top scoring French ''Aéronautique Militaire'' and Allied ace of the war, scored six in a day on both 9 May and 26 September 1918. Ace in a day The first aviators to ever achieve "ace ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Operation Barbarossa
Operation Barbarossa (german: link=no, Unternehmen Barbarossa; ) was the invasion of the Soviet Union by Nazi Germany and many of its Axis allies, starting on Sunday, 22 June 1941, during the Second World War. The operation, code-named after Frederick Barbarossa ("red beard"), a 12th-century Holy Roman emperor and German king, put into action Nazi Germany's ideological goal of conquering the western Soviet Union to repopulate it with Germans. The German aimed to use some of the conquered people as forced labour for the Axis war effort while acquiring the oil reserves of the Caucasus as well as the agricultural resources of various Soviet territories. Their ultimate goal was to create more (living space) for Germany, and the eventual extermination of the indigenous Slavic peoples by mass deportation to Siberia, Germanisation, enslavement, and genocide. In the two years leading up to the invasion, Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union signed political and economic pacts ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Air-sea Rescue
Air-sea rescue (ASR or A/SR, also known as sea-air rescue), and aeronautical and maritime search and rescue (AMSAR) by the ICAO and IMO, is the coordinated search and rescue (SAR) of the survivors of emergency water landings as well as people who have survived the loss of their seagoing vessel. ASR can involve a wide variety of resources including seaplanes, helicopters, submarines, rescue boats and ships. Specialized equipment and techniques have been developed. Both military and civilian units can perform air-sea rescue. Its principles are laid out in the International Aeronautical and Maritime Search and Rescue Manual. The International Convention on Maritime Search and Rescue is the legal framework that applies to international air-sea rescue. Air-sea rescue operations carried out during times of conflict have been credited with saving valuable trained and experienced airmen. Moreover, the knowledge that such operations are being carried out greatly enhanced the morale of t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Seenotdienst
The ''Seenotdienst'' (sea rescue service) was a German military organization formed within the ''Luftwaffe'' (German Air Force) to save downed airmen from emergency water landings. The ''Seenotdienst'' operated from 1935 to 1945 and was the first organized air-sea rescue service. The ''Seenotdienst'' was at first operated as a civilian service run by the military, and later was brought formally into the ''Luftwaffe''. Throughout their existence, the group solved a number of organizational, operational and technical challenges to create an effective rescue force. When British and American air leaders observed the German success, they modeled their own rescue forces after the ''Seenotdienst''. As the Allies of World War II advanced, denying sea areas to German forces, local groups of the ''Seenotdienst'' were disbanded. The last active group served in the Baltic Sea in March 1945. 1930s In 1935, Lieutenant Colonel Konrad Goltz of the ''Luftwaffe'', a supply officer based at the por ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Messerschmitt Bf 109
The Messerschmitt Bf 109 is a German World War II fighter aircraft that was, along with the Focke-Wulf Fw 190, the backbone of the Luftwaffe's fighter force. The Bf 109 first saw operational service in 1937 during the Spanish Civil War and was still in service at the end of World War II in 1945. It was one of the most advanced fighters when it first appeared, with an all-metal monocoque construction, a closed canopy, and retractable landing gear. It was powered by a liquid-cooled, inverted-V12 aero engine. It was called the Me 109 by Allied aircrew and some German aces, even though this was not the official German designation. It was designed by Willy Messerschmitt and Robert Lusser who worked at Bayerische Flugzeugwerke during the early to mid-1930s. It was conceived as an interceptor, although later models were developed to fulfill multiple tasks, serving as bomber escort, fighter-bomber, day-, night-, all-weather fighter, ground-attack aircraft, and reconnais ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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