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Operation Brassard
The invasion of Elba, codenamed Operation Brassard, was part of the Italian campaign during the Second World War. The invasion was carried out between 17–19 June 1944 by Free French Forces supported by British and American ships and aircraft. According to the testimony of captured Germans, Allied activity had been observed on Corsica, thus the defenders were aware of the impending invasion 24 hours in advance. They resisted for two days before being given permission to withdraw to the mainland. Background The Allied 15th Army Group, commanded by General Sir Harold Alexander, captured Rome on and forced the German 14th and 10th Armies to withdraw into northern Italy.Tomblin, p. 379. This success was followed by orders for the invasion of southern France, Operation Dragoon. The 15th Army Group was asked to supply the majority of the troops for the landings. This reduced the U.S. 5th Army to five divisions. The whole of the 15th Army Group now only ...
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14th Army (Wehrmacht)
The 14th Army (german: 14. Armee) was a World War II field army of the German Army. History Poland The 14th Army was activated on 1 August 1939 with General Wilhelm List in command and saw service in Poland until the end of the Polish campaign on 13 October 1939. Italy The 14th Army was reactivated for the defence of Italy in late 1943 when its headquarters was created using the headquarters personnel of Army Group B which had been abolished when Albert Kesselring was given command of all Axis troops in Italy. 14th Army was initially responsible for the defence of Rome and dealing with any amphibious landings the Allies might make to the rear of the German 10th Army, which was fighting on the defensive lines south of Rome. The 14th Army faced the Allied amphibious landings at Anzio in January 1944 and after the Allied breakthrough in May 1944 took part in the fighting retreat to the Gothic Line. The German armies in Italy finally surrendered on 2 May 1945 after being defeated ...
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Universal Newsreel
Universal Newsreel (sometimes known as Universal-International Newsreel or just U-I Newsreel) was a series of 7- to 10-minute newsreels that were released twice a week between 1929 and 1967 by Universal Studios. A Universal publicity official, Sam B. Jacobson, was involved in originating and producing the newsreels. Nearly all of them were filmed in black-and-white, and many were narrated by Ed Herlihy. From January 1919 to July 1929, Universal released ''International Newsreel'', produced by Hearst's International News Service—this series later became ''Hearst Metrotone News'' released first by Fox Film Corporation 1929–1934 and then by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer beginning in 1934. In 1974, the films' owner, MCA, made the decision to donate all its edited newsreels and outtakes collection to the National Archives, without copyright restrictions. The decision effectively released the films into the public domain, although some stories may contain other underlying intellectual pro ...
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Senegalese Tirailleurs
The Senegalese Tirailleurs (french: Tirailleurs Sénégalais) were a corps of colonial infantry in the French Army. They were initially recruited from Senegal, French West Africa and subsequently throughout Western, Central and Eastern Africa: the main sub-Saharan regions of the French colonial empire. The noun ''tirailleur'', which translates variously as 'skirmisher', 'rifleman', or 'sharpshooter', was a designation given by the French Army to indigenous infantry recruited in the various colonies and overseas possessions of the French Empire during the 19th and 20th centuries. Despite recruitment not being limited to Senegal, these infantry units took on the adjective since that was where the first black African Tirailleur regiment had been formed. The first ''Senegalese Tirailleurs'' were formed in 1857 and served France in a number of wars, including World War I (providing around 200,000 troops, more than 135,000 of whom fought in Europe and 30,000 of whom were killed) and W ...
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Royal Navy
The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against France. The modern Royal Navy traces its origins to the early 16th century; the oldest of the UK's armed services, it is consequently known as the Senior Service. From the middle decades of the 17th century, and through the 18th century, the Royal Navy vied with the Dutch Navy and later with the French Navy for maritime supremacy. From the mid 18th century, it was the world's most powerful navy until the Second World War. The Royal Navy played a key part in establishing and defending the British Empire, and four Imperial fortress colonies and a string of imperial bases and coaling stations secured the Royal Navy's ability to assert naval superiority globally. Owing to this historical prominence, it is common, even among non-Britons, to ref ...
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Pianosa
Pianosa () is an island in the Tuscan Archipelago in the Tyrrhenian Sea, Italy. It is about in area, with a coastal perimeter of . Geography In Roman times the island was named ''Planasia'' (plain) because of its flatness – its highest point stands at above sea level. It is a triangular-shaped land mass south west of Elba, and is a frazione of the municipality of Campo nell'Elba. Pianosa is the fifth biggest island of the Tuscan Archipelago and the only one to be formed out of sedimentary rock of the Neogene and Quaternary; such fossils as echinoderms, mollusca and bryozoa of the Pliocene are frequently found. Flora The vegetation consists mainly of Mediterranean species as lentisco, fennel, juniper, rosemary and ''Pinus halepensis'', which was introduced on the island in the 1900s. Fauna The animals living on the island are largely small mammals, such as hedgehog and hare, introduced in the 1800s, as well as the pheasant and the red-legged partridge; the magpie and t ...
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Albert Kesselring
Albert Kesselring (30 November 1885 – 16 July 1960) was a German '' Generalfeldmarschall'' of the Luftwaffe during World War II who was subsequently convicted of war crimes. In a military career that spanned both world wars, Kesselring became one of Nazi Germany's most highly decorated commanders, being one of only 27 soldiers awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves, Swords and Diamonds. Kesselring joined the Bavarian Army as an officer cadet in 1904 and served in the artillery branch. He completed training as a balloon observer in 1912. During World War I he served on both the Western and Eastern fronts and was posted to the General Staff, despite not having attended the War Academy. Kesselring remained in the army after the war, but was discharged in 1933 to become head of the Department of Administration at the Reich Commissariat for Aviation, where he became involved in the re-establishment of the German aviation industry and the laying of the ...
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Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the leader of the Nazi Party, becoming the Chancellor of Germany, chancellor in 1933 and then taking the title of in 1934. During his dictatorship, he initiated European theatre of World War II, World War II in Europe by invasion of Poland, invading Poland on 1 September 1939. He was closely involved in military operations throughout the war and was central to the perpetration of the Holocaust: the genocide of Holocaust victims, about six million Jews and millions of other victims. Hitler was born in Braunau am Inn in Austria-Hungary and was raised near Linz. He lived in Vienna later in the first decade of the 1900s and moved to Germany in 1913. He was decorated during his Military career of Adolf Hitler, service in the German Army in Worl ...
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Piombino
Piombino is an Italian town and ''comune'' of about 35,000 inhabitants in the province of Livorno (Tuscany). It lies on the border between the Ligurian Sea and the Tyrrhenian Sea, in front of Elba Island and at the northern side of Maremma. Overview It has an ancient historical centre, derived from the time in which it was the Etruscans' port, in the surroundings of Populonia. In the Middle Ages, it was instead an important port of the Republic of Pisa. Its hinterland hosts a considerable industrial area. Its port is still heavily used, both for industry and for tourism, with ferry-boats to Portoferraio (Elba) and Olbia (Sardinia). Geography The bounding communes of Piombino are Campiglia Marittima, Follonica, San Vincenzo and Suvereto. The town has seven civil parishes (''frazioni''): Baratti, Colmata, Fiorentina, La Sdriscia, Populonia, Populonia Stazione and Riotorto. History The area of modern Piombino was settled since ancient times. During the Etruscan era the main c ...
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Interdiction
Interdiction is a military term for the act of delaying, disrupting, or destroying enemy forces or supplies en route to the battle area. A distinction is often made between strategic and tactical interdiction. The former refers to operations whose effects are broad and long-term; tactical operations are designed to affect events rapidly and in a localized area. Other uses The term interdiction is also used in criminology and law enforcement, such as in the U.S. War on Drugs and in immigration. Espionage United States The term interdiction is also used by the NSA when an electronics shipment is secretly intercepted by an intelligence agency (domestic or foreign) for the purpose of implanting bugs before they reach their destination. According to ''Der Spiegel'', the NSA's TAO group is able to divert shipping deliveries to its own "secret workshops" in a method called interdiction, where agents load malware onto the electronics or install malicious hardware that can give US int ...
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Operation Diadem
Operation Diadem, also referred to as the Fourth Battle of Monte Cassino or, in Canada, the Battle of the Liri Valley, was an offensive operation undertaken by the Allies of World War II ( U.S. Fifth Army and British Eighth Army) in May 1944, as part of the Italian Campaign of World War II. ''Diadem'' was supported by air attacks called Operation Strangle. The opposing force was the German 10th Army. The object of ''Diadem'' was to break the German defenses on the Gustav Line (the western half of the Winter Line) and open up the Liri Valley, the main route to Rome. General Sir Harold Alexander, Commander-in-Chief of the Allied Armies in Italy, planned ''Diadem'' to coordinate roughly with the invasion of Normandy, so that German forces would be tied down in Italy, and could not be redeployed to France. Four corps were employed in the attack. From right to left these were the Polish II Corps and the British XIII Corps, of the Eighth Army, and the French Corps (including Morocc ...
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Gothic Line
The Gothic Line (german: Gotenstellung; it, Linea Gotica) was a German Defense line, defensive line of the Italian Campaign (World War II), Italian Campaign of World War II. It formed Generalfeldmarschall, Field Marshal Albert Kesselring's last major line of defence along the summits of the northern part of the Apennine Mountains during the fighting retreat of the Wehrmacht, German forces in Italian Social Republic, Italy against the Allied Armies in Italy, commanded by General (United Kingdom), General Harold Alexander, 1st Earl Alexander of Tunis, Sir Harold Alexander. Adolf Hitler had concerns about the state of preparation of the Gothic Line: he feared the Allies would use Amphibious warfare, amphibious landings to flanking maneuver, outflank its defences. To downgrade its importance in the eyes of both friend and foe, he ordered the name, with its historic connotations, changed, reasoning that if the Allies managed to break through they would not be able to use the more i ...
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