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Walter Kuntze
__NOTOC__ Walter Kuntze (23 February 1883 – 1 April 1960) was a German general and war criminal during World War II who commanded the 12th Army. He was the commanding officer responsible for the execution of men and teenage boys in the Kragujevac massacre, when Serbian civilians were murdered in reprisal for an attack on German troops, at the ratio of one hundred Serbs for every German soldier killed. Kuntze was assigned Deputy Wehrmacht Commander Southeast and Commander-in-Chief of the 12th Army on October 29. This was a temporary appointment, until Wilhelm List could return to duty. On October 31, Franz Böhme submitted a report to Kuntze in which he detailed the shootings in Serbia: "Shooting: 405 hostages in Belgrade (total up to now in Belgrade, 4,750). 90 Communists in Camp Sebac. 2,300 hostages in Kragujevac. 1,700 hostages in Kraljevo." Executions of Serbian civilians continued well into the following year. Kuntze stated the following in a directive of March 19, 1942: ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rathenow
Rathenow () is a town in the district of Havelland in Brandenburg, Germany, with a population of 24,063 (2020). Overview The Protestant church of St. Marien Andreas, originally a basilica, and transformed to the Gothic style in 1517-1589, and the Roman Catholic Church of St. George, are noteworthy. Rathenow is known for being the former capital of eyewear manufacturing in East Germany. It is also known for its stones, called Rathenow stones. After the fall of the Soviet Union, it was revealed that the remains of Hitler and his assistants were secretly buried in graves near Rathenow.V.K. Vinogradov and others, ''Hitler's Death: Russia's Last Great Secret from the Files of the KGB'', Chaucer Press 2005, 111. This work reproduces a Soviet map showing that the bodies were buried in a field near the village of Neu Friedrichsdorf, approximately one kilometre east of Rathenow. Demography File:Bevölkerungsentwicklung Rathenow.pdf, Development of Population since 1875 within the Curre ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Siege Of Leningrad
The siege of Leningrad (russian: links=no, translit=Blokada Leningrada, Блокада Ленинграда; german: links=no, Leningrader Blockade; ) was a prolonged military blockade undertaken by the Axis powers against the Soviet city of Leningrad (present-day Saint Petersburg) on the Eastern Front of World War II. Germany's Army Group North advanced from the south, while the German-allied Finnish army invaded from the north and completed the ring around the city. The siege began on 8 September 1941, when the Wehrmacht severed the last road to the city. Although Soviet forces managed to open a narrow land corridor to the city on 18 January 1943, the Red Army did not lift the siege until 27 January 1944, 872 days after it began. The blockade became one of the longest and most destructive sieges in history, and it was possibly the costliest siege in history due to the number of casualties which were suffered throughout its duration. While not classed as a war crime at the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alexander Löhr
Alexander Löhr (20 May 1885 – 26 February 1947) was an Austrian Air Force commander during the 1930s and, after the annexation of Austria, he was a Luftwaffe commander. Löhr served in the Luftwaffe during World War II, rising to commander of Army Group E and then to commander-in-chief in Southeastern Europe (OB Südost). Löhr was captured by Yugoslav Partisans at the end of the war in Europe. He was tried and convicted of war crimes by the Yugoslav government for anti-partisan reprisals committed under his command, and the bombing of Belgrade in 1941. He was executed by firing squad on 26 February 1947 In Belgrade, Yugoslavia. Early life and career Löhr was born on 20 May 1885 in Turnu-Severin in the Kingdom of Romania. He was the youngest child of Friedrich Johann Löhr and his wife Catherine, née Heimann. His father had served as a 2nd captain on a hospital ship in the Black Sea during the Russo-Turkish War. Here his father had met his mother, a Ukrainian nurse. She ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hans Graf Von Sponeck
Hans Emil Otto Graf von Sponeck (12 February 1888 – 23 July 1944) was a German general during World War II who was imprisoned for disobeying orders and later executed. Pre-World War II career Sponeck was born in 1888 in Düsseldorf. He received a military education and was commissioned as an officer in 1908. He married in 1910 and had two sons by this marriage. He served in World War I as a battalion adjutant. He was wounded three times and in 1916 was promoted to the rank of Colonel. Afterwards he was awarded both orders of the Iron Cross with (oak) Leaves. Between 1924 and 1934, he served on the General Staff HQ and later, as full colonel, commanded an infantry regiment at Neustrelitz. In 1925, Sponeck was admitted to the Order of Saint John (Bailiwick of Brandenburg) as a Knight of Honor. Sponeck commanded Infantry Regiment 48 at Döberitz until late 1937 when he transferred to the Luftwaffe to establish paratrooper units. During the course of the Blomberg–Fritsch A ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Leo Freiherr Geyr Von Schweppenburg
Leo Dietrich Franz Reichsfreiherr Geyr von Schweppenburg (2 March 1886 – 27 January 1974), was a German general during World War II, noted for his pioneering stance and expertise in the field of armoured warfare. He commanded the 5th Panzer Army (formalised as Panzer Group West) during the Invasion of Normandy, and later served as Inspector General of Armoured Troops. After the war he was involved in the development of the newly built German Army (Bundeswehr). Early life and career Freiherr von Geyr was born 1886 in Potsdam into the Prussian military aristocracy and descended from a family that produced two Prussian Field Marshals. He joined the German Army in 1904. In World War I he fought on several fronts and rose to the rank of captain. After the war, he remained in the army, becoming an Oberst in 1932, and a Generalmajor in 1935. From 1933 to 1937, he was a military attaché to the United Kingdom, Belgium and the Netherlands, residing in London. Promoted to Generalleutn ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Arnold Freiherr Von Biegeleben
__NOTOC__ Arnold Freiherr von Biegeleben (16 April 1883 – 11 October 1940) was a German general during World War II who commanded the 6th Infantry Division of the ''Wehrmacht''. He was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross. Biegeleben died of a heart attack on 11 October 1940. Awards and decorations * Iron Cross (1914) 2nd Class (14 September 1914) & 1st Class (3 March 1916)Thomas & Wegmann 1992, p. 19. * Knight's Cross of the Royal House Order of Hohenzollern with Swords (24 November 1917) * Grand Officer Cross of the Order of St Alexander (15 September 1936) * Wehrmacht Long Service Award 1st to 4th Class (2 October 1936) * Clasp to the Iron Cross (1939) 2nd Class (6 October 1939) & 1st Class (30 October 1939) * Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on 5 August 1940 as ''Generalleutnant is the Germanic variant of lieutenant general, used in some German speaking countries. Austria Generalleutnant is the second highest general officer rank in the Austrian Armed For ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
List Of Axis Personnel Indicted For War Crimes
The following is a list of people who were formally indicted for committing war crimes on behalf of the Axis powers during World War II, including those who were acquitted or never received judgment. It does not include people who may have committed war crimes but were never formally indicted, or who were indicted only for other types of crimes. The Nuremberg trials * Martin Bormann – Guilty, sentenced ''in absentia'' to death by hanging. Later proven he committed suicide to avoid capture at the end of World War II in Europe, and remains discovered in 1972 were conclusively proven to be Bormann by forensic tests on the skull in 1998. Nonetheless, Simon Wiesenthal, Hugh Thomas and Reinhard Gehlen refused to accept this. Gehlen further argued Bormann was the secret Russian double agent 'Sasha'. * Karl Dönitz – Guilty, sentenced to 10 years' imprisonment. * Hans Frank – Guilty, sentenced to death by hanging * Wilhelm Frick – Guilty, sentenced to death by hanging * Hans ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
German Cross
The War Order of the German Cross (german: Der Kriegsorden Deutsches Kreuz), normally abbreviated to the German Cross or ''Deutsches Kreuz'', was instituted by Adolf Hitler on 28 September 1941. It was awarded in two divisions: in gold for repeated acts of bravery or military leadership; and in silver for distinguished non-combat war service. The German Cross in Gold ranked higher than the Iron Cross First Class but below the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross, while the German Cross in Silver ranked higher than the War Merit Cross First Class with Swords but below the Knight's Cross of the War Merit Cross with Swords. Eligibility The German Cross was issued in two versions: gold and silver (the color of the laurel wreath around the swastika). The gold version was awarded to military personnel for repeated acts of bravery in combat, or of military leadership, with 6–8 acts as a rule of thumb. The silver version was awarded for multiple distinguished services in the war effort 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] |
Life Imprisonment
Life imprisonment is any sentence of imprisonment for a crime under which convicted people are to remain in prison for the rest of their natural lives or indefinitely until pardoned, paroled, or otherwise commuted to a fixed term. Crimes for which, in some countries, a person could receive this sentence include murder, torture, terrorism, child abuse resulting in death, rape, espionage, treason, drug trafficking, drug possession, human trafficking, severe fraud and financial crimes, aggravated criminal damage, arson, kidnapping, burglary, and robbery, piracy, aircraft hijacking, and genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes or any three felonies in case of three-strikes law. Life imprisonment (as a maximum term) can also be imposed, in certain countries, for traffic offences causing death. Life imprisonment is not used in all countries; Portugal was the first country to abolish life imprisonment, in 1884. Where life imprisonment is a possible sentence, there may als ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Franz Böhme
Franz Friedrich Böhme (15 April 1885 – 29 May 1947) was an Army officer who served in succession with the Austro-Hungarian Arny, the Austrian Army and the German Wehrmacht. He rose to the rank of general during World War II, serving as Commander of the XVIII Mountain Corps, Hitler's Plenipotentiary Commanding General (''Bevollmächtigter Kommandierender General'') in the Balkans, and commander-in-chief in German-occupied Norway during World War II. Böhme was arrested for trial by a US Army Tribunal in Nuremberg in the Hostages Trial on a charge of having massacred thousands of Serbian civilians. He committed suicide in prison. Life and career Franz Böhme was born in Zeltweg in Styria, Austria on 15 April 1885. He entered the Austro-Hungarian Army in October 1900 as a cadet and was commissioned as a lieutenant in an infantry regiment in 1905. He served in World War I and remained in the Austrian Bundesheer after 1918, transferring to the Wehrmacht on the Anschluss with G ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Reprisal
A reprisal is a limited and deliberate violation of international law to punish another sovereign state that has already broken them. Since the 1977 Additional Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions (AP 1), reprisals in the laws of war are extremely limited, as they commonly breach the rights of non-combatants. Etymology The word came from French, where it originally meant "act of taking back", for example, raiding back the equivalent of cattle lost to an enemy raid. International law Reprisals refer to acts which are illegal if taken alone, but become legal when adopted by one state in retaliation for the commission of an earlier illegal act by another state. Counter-reprisals are generally not allowed. World War I 1914 Portugal-Germany dispute An example of reprisal is the Naulila dispute between Portugal and Germany in October 1914, when they were on opposite sides of the World War I chasm. After three Germans were mistakenly killed in Naulila on the border of the then-Portugue ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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