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Rudolf Schmidt
Rudolf Schmidt (12 May 1886 – 7 April 1957) was a general in the Wehrmacht of Nazi Germany during World War II who commanded the 2nd Panzer Army on the Eastern Front. He was a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves. Career Schmidt joined the Prussian Army in 1906 and served during World War I. He was retained in the Reichswehr where he served in staff roles. In October 1936 he was promoted to Generalmajor and appointed commander of the 1st Panzer Division. In 1939 Schmidt led the division in the invasion of Poland. On 1 February 1940 he was appointed commanding general of the XXXIX Panzer Corps. He led the Corps in France and was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross for his role in that campaign on 3 June 1940. He was promoted to General der Panzertruppe and appointed acting commander of the 2nd Army which took part in the Battle of Moscow. On 25 December 1941 he was appointed Commander of the 2nd Panzer Army (replacing the sacked Gen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constituent states, Berlin is surrounded by the State of Brandenburg and contiguous with Potsdam, Brandenburg's capital. Berlin's urban area, which has a population of around 4.5 million, is the second most populous urban area in Germany after the Ruhr. The Berlin-Brandenburg capital region has around 6.2 million inhabitants and is Germany's third-largest metropolitan region after the Rhine-Ruhr and Rhine-Main regions. Berlin straddles the banks of the Spree, which flows into the Havel (a tributary of the Elbe) in the western borough of Spandau. Among the city's main topographical features are the many lakes in the western and southeastern boroughs formed by the Spree, Havel and Dahme, the largest of which is Lake Müggelsee. Due to its l ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eastern Front (World War II)
The Eastern Front of World War II was a Theater (warfare), theatre of conflict between the European Axis powers against the Soviet Union (USSR), Polish Armed Forces in the East, Poland and other Allies of World War II, Allies, which encompassed Central Europe, Eastern Europe, Northern Europe, Northeast Europe (Baltic states, Baltics), and Southeast Europe (Balkans) from 22 June 1941 to 9 May 1945. It was known as the Great Patriotic War (term), Great Patriotic War in the Soviet Union – and still is in some of its successor states, while almost everywhere else it has been called the ''Eastern Front''. In present-day German and Ukrainian historiography the name German-Soviet War is typically used. The battles on the Eastern Front of the Second World War constituted the largest military confrontation in history. They were characterised by unprecedented ferocity and brutality, wholesale destruction, mass deportations, and immense loss of life due to combat, starvation, expos ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gestapo
The (), abbreviated Gestapo (; ), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of Prussia into one organisation. On 20 April 1934, oversight of the Gestapo passed to the head of the ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS), Heinrich Himmler, who was also appointed Chief of German Police by Hitler in 1936. Instead of being exclusively a Prussian state agency, the Gestapo became a national one as a sub-office of the (SiPo; Security Police). From 27 September 1939, it was administered by the Reich Security Main Office (RSHA). It became known as (Dept) 4 of the RSHA and was considered a sister organisation to the (SD; Security Service). During World War II, the Gestapo played a key role in the Holocaust. After the war ended, the Gestapo was declared a criminal organisation by the International Military Tribunal (IMT) at the Nuremberg trials. History After Adol ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Deuxième Bureau
The Deuxième Bureau de l'État-major général ("Second Bureau of the General Staff") was France's external military intelligence agency from 1871 to 1940. It was dissolved together with the Third Republic upon the armistice with Germany. However the term "Deuxième Bureau" (), like " MI6" and " KGB", outlived the original organization as a general label for the country's intelligence service. French military intelligence was composed of two separate bureaus prior to World War II. The Premier Bureau was charged with informing the high command about the state of French, allied and friendly troops, while the Deuxième Bureau developed intelligence concerning enemy troops. The Deuxième Bureau was celebrated for its cryptanalytical work, but it was criticized for its involvement in the Dreyfus affair and its consistent overestimation of German military formations prior to World War II. Its final director was Colonel Louis Rivet. History 19th century On June 8, 1871, the French ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Heinz Guderian
Heinz Wilhelm Guderian (; 17 June 1888 – 14 May 1954) was a German general during World War II who, after the war, became a successful memoirist. An early pioneer and advocate of the " blitzkrieg" approach, he played a central role in the development of the panzer division concept. In 1936, he became the Inspector of Motorized Troops. At the beginning of the Second World War, Guderian led an armoured corps in the Invasion of Poland. During the Invasion of France, he commanded the armoured units that attacked through the Ardennes forest and overwhelmed the Allied defenses at the Battle of Sedan. He led the 2nd Panzer Army during Operation Barbarossa, the invasion of the Soviet Union. The campaign ended in failure after the German offensive Operation Typhoon failed to capture Moscow, after which Guderian was dismissed. In early 1943, Adolf Hitler appointed Guderian to the newly created position of Inspector General of Armoured Troops. In this role, he had broad responsi ... [...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 (World War II), Eastern Front during World War II. It took place between September 1941 and January 1942. The Soviet defensive effort frustrated Adolf Hitler, Hitler's attack on Moscow, the capital and largest city of the Soviet Union. Moscow was one of the primary Strategic goal (military), military and political objectives for Axis forces in their Operation Barbarossa, invasion of the Soviet Union. The German Strategic Offensive, named Operation Typhoon, called for two Pincer movement, pincer offensives, one to the north of Moscow against the Kalinin Front by the 3rd Panzer Army, 3rd and 4th Panzer Army, 4th Panzer Armies, simultaneously severing the Saint Petersburg–Moscow Railway, Moscow–Leningrad railway, and another to the south of Moscow Oblast against the Western Front (Soviet Union), Western Front south of Tula, Russia, Tul ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
2nd Army (Wehrmacht)
The 2nd Army () was a field army of the German Army during World War II. History 1939 and 1940 The 2nd Army headquarters was briefly established in Berlin from Group Command 1 on 26 August 1939 and at the beginning of the Invasion of Poland it was renamed Army Group North on 2 September. The 2nd Army was reestablished on 20 October 1939, with ''Generaloberst'' Maximilian von Weichs in command, by renaming the 8th Army, which had been moved from Poland to the west. It was assigned to the reserve of the ''Oberkommando des Heeres'' (OKH). After the beginning of the Battle of France on 10 May, the army was assigned to Army Group A and marched through Luxembourg, Belgium, and northern France. From 31 May to 4 June it marched to the front north of the Somme, Aisne, and Oise and participated in the expansion of bridgeheads. When it entered battle on 9 June on the Aisne, the army included IX ( 295th and 294th Infantry Divisions), XXVI ( 34th and 45th Infantry Divisions), and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
General Der Panzertruppe
General der Panzertruppe () was a General of the branch OF8 rank of the German Army, introduced in 1935. A ''General der Panzertruppe'' was a Lieutenant General, above Major General (Generalleutnant), commanding a Panzer corps. Rank and rank insignia The rank was equivalent to the long established ''General der Kavallerie'', ''General der Artillerie'' and ''General der Infanterie''. The Wehrmacht also introduced ''General der Gebirgstruppe'' (mountain troops), ''General der Pioniere'' (engineers), ''General der Fallschirmtruppe'' (parachute troops), ''General der Flieger'' (aviators), ''General der Nachrichtentruppe'' (communications troops) and ''General der Luftnachrichtentruppe'' (air communications troops). Position In the present-day German Army, there is a ''General der Panzertruppen'', which is not a ''rank'' but a ''position'', who is usually a brigadier general (''Brigadegeneral''). The General der Panzertruppen commands the Armoured Corps Training Centre. In ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Knight's Cross Of The Iron Cross
The Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross (german: Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes), or simply the Knight's Cross (), and its variants, were the highest awards in the military and paramilitary forces of Nazi Germany during World War II. The Knight's Cross was awarded for a wide range of reasons and across all ranks, from a senior commander for skilled leadership of his troops in battle to a low-ranking soldier for a single act of military valour. Presentations were made to members of the three military branches of the : the (army), the (navy) and the (air force), as well as the , the Reich Labour Service and the (German People storm militia), along with personnel from other Axis powers. The award was instituted on 1 September 1939, at the onset of the German invasion of Poland. The award was created to replace the many older merit and bravery neck awards of the German Empire. A higher grade, the Oak Leaves to the Knight's Cross, was instituted in 1940. In 1941, two higher grades ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
XXXIX Panzer Corps
The XXXIX Panzer Corps (german: XXXIX.Panzerkorps, also previously designated the ''XXXIX.Armeekorps (mot)'') was a German panzer corps which saw action on the Western and Eastern Fronts during World War II. Operational history The Corps whose home station was formed (as the XXXIX Army Corps) in 1940 for the German invasion of France, in which it was part of Group Guderian, the 2nd and 1st Armies. In June 1941 the Corps was assigned to Army Group Centre for Operation Barbarossa, Nazi Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union. It initially attacked towards Vilnius and then took part in the first Battle of Minsk. By August, it was assigned to Army Group North for the attack on Leningrad. In 9 July 1942 the Corps was reorganised as the XXXIX Panzer Corps. It was shifted to the Rzhev salient, under the 9th Army of Army Group Centre, where it was involved in Battle of Rzhev in the summer of 1942. Army Group Centre evacuated the Rzhev salient early in 1943. During the autumn, the Cor ... [...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] |
