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Strategic Bombing During World War II
World War II (1939–1945) involved sustained strategic bombing of railways, harbours, cities, workers' and civilian housing, and industrial districts in enemy territory. Strategic bombing as a military strategy is distinct both from close air support of ground forces and from tactical air power. During World War II, many military strategists of air power believed that air forces could win major victories by attacking industrial and political infrastructure, rather than purely military targets. Strategic bombing often involved bombing areas inhabited by civilians, and some campaigns were deliberately designed to target civilian populations in order to terrorize them and disrupt their usual activities. International law at the outset of World War II did not specifically forbid the aerial bombardment of cities – despite the prior occurrence of such bombing during World War I (1914–1918), the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939), and the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis powers. World War II was a total war that directly involved more than 100 million personnel from more than 30 countries. The major participants in the war threw their entire economic, industrial, and scientific capabilities behind the war effort, blurring the distinction between civilian and military resources. Aircraft played a major role in the conflict, enabling the strategic bombing of population centres and deploying the only two nuclear weapons ever used in war. World War II was by far the deadliest conflict in human history; it resulted in 70 to 85 million fatalities, mostly among civilians. Tens of millions died due to genocides (including the Holocaust), starvation, ma ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
George Jones (RAAF Officer)
Air Marshal Sir George Jones, (18 October 1896 – 24 August 1992) was a senior commander in the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF). He rose from private soldier in World War I to air marshal in 1948, and served as Chief of the Air Staff from 1942 to 1952, the longest continuous tenure of any RAAF chief. Jones was a surprise appointee to the Air Force's top role, and his achievements in the position were coloured by a divisive relationship during World War II with his nominal subordinate, the head of RAAF Command, Air Vice-Marshal William Bostock. During World War I, Jones saw action as an infantryman in the Gallipoli Campaign of 1915, transferring to the Australian Flying Corps a year later. Originally a mechanic, he undertook flying training in 1917 and was posted to a fighter squadron in France. He achieved seven victories to become an ace, and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. After a short spell in civilian life following World War I, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Francesco Pricolo
Francesco Pricolo (30 January 1891 in Grumento Nova – 14 October 1980 in Rome) was an Italian aviator. He was undersecretary of Italian Minister of Air Force (currently merged into the Minister of Defence) and the Chief of staff of the Italian Regia Aeronautica during the World War II (1939–1941). Military career In 1909 he enlisted as a volunteer in Regio Esercito, he enrolled in the Royal Academy of Artillery and Engineers, subsequently attending Scuola di applicazione di artiglieria in Turin. He was appointed second lieutenant of the Engineers in August 1911. He was assigned to the dirigibles Battalion and with it he took part in the Italian-Turkish war of 1910–1911. He participated in the First World War in the rank of captain of the Engineers, obtained in September 1915. He obtained the airship pilot's license in December 1915, and that of commander in August 1917. During the war he took part in more than sixty missions on board of various airships. For his coura ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rino Corso Fougier
Rino Corso Fougier (14 November 1894 in Bastia – 24 April 1963 in Rome) was a general of the Italian Royal Air Force. From 1940 to 1941 he served as the commander of the Corpo Aereo Italiano which, in concert with the Luftwaffe, took part in the Battle of Britain. From 1941 to 1943 he commanded the ''Regia Aeronautica''. He was awarded the German Cross in Gold in January 1943. Military career On 31 December 1912 he enlisted in the Royal Army and participated in the course for additional officer student. He was appointed second lieutenant of the Infantry in 1914 and was entrusted with the command of a platoon of cyclist Bersaglieri. He participated in the First World War with the 7th Bersaglieri Regiment. On June 23, 1915, he was wounded by a mine during a reconnaissance mission to the quarries northwest of Seltz, but he continued to serve. For this act of heroism, he was awarded the Silver Medal of Military Valor. On 29 June 1916, he went to the Aviator Schools Battalion as an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chūichi Nagumo
Chūichi Nagumo (, ''Nagumo Chūichi''; 25 March 1887 – 6 July 1944) was an admiral in the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) during World War II. Nagumo led Japan's main carrier battle group, the ''Kido Butai'', in the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Indian Ocean raid and the Battle of Midway. He committed suicide during the Battle of Saipan. Early life Nagumo was born in the city of Yonezawa, Yamagata Prefecture in northern Japan in 1887. He graduated from the 36th class of the IJN Academy in 1908, with a ranking of 8 out of a class of 191 cadets. As a midshipman, he served in the protected cruisers and and the armored cruiser . After his promotion to ensign in 1910, he was assigned to cruiser . After attending torpedo and naval artillery schools, he was promoted to sub-lieutenant and served in the battleship , followed by the destroyer . In 1914, he was promoted to lieutenant and was assigned to the battlecruiser , followed by the destroyer . He was assigned his first command, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Masakazu Kawabe
was a general in the Imperial Japanese Army. He held important commands in the Imperial Japanese Army during the Second Sino-Japanese War, and during World War II in the Burma Campaign and defense of the Japanese homeland late in the war. He was also the elder brother of General Torashirō Kawabe. Biography Early career A native of Toyama prefecture, Kawabe graduated from the 19th class of the Imperial Japanese Army Academy in 1907 and the 27th class of the Army Staff College in 1915. From 1927 to 1929, he served as an instructor at the War College. He was then assigned as a military attaché to Switzerland from 1918 to 1921 and to Berlin, Germany from 1929 to 1932. Promoted to infantry colonel in 1932, he served in a number of staff assignments on his return to Japan, before being assigned command of the IJA 6th Infantry Regiment from 1932 to 1933. Kawabe went on to be Commandant of the Infantry School from 1933 to 1934, and was Chief of 1st Section within the Inspectorate Gen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hajime Sugiyama
was a Japanese field marshal and one of the leaders of Japan's military throughout most of World War II. As Army Minister in 1937, Sugiyama was a driving force behind the launch of hostilities against China in retaliation for the Marco Polo Bridge Incident. After being named the Army’s Chief of Staff in 1940, he became a leading advocate for expansion into Southeast Asia and preventive war against the United States. Upon the outbreak of hostilities in the Pacific, Sugiyama served as the army’s commander-in-chief until his removal by Prime Minister Hideki Tojo in February 1944. Following Tojo's ouster in July 1944, he once again held the post of Army Minister in Kuniaki Koiso's cabinet until its dissolution in April 1945. Ten days after Japan's surrender on 2 September 1945, he committed suicide. Early life and career Born to a former ''samurai'' family from Kokura (now part of Kitakyushu City is a Cities of Japan, city located in Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. As of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Naruhiko Higashikuni
General was a Japanese imperial prince, a career officer in the Imperial Japanese Army and the 30th Prime Minister of Japan from 17 August 1945 to 9 October 1945, a period of 54 days. An uncle-in-law of Emperor Hirohito twice over, Prince Higashikuni was the only member of the Japanese imperial family to head a cabinet and was the last general officer of the Imperial Japanese military to become Prime Minister. He was the founder of the Chiba Institute of Technology. He was one of the longest-lived members of any royal family. Early life Prince Naruhiko was born in Kyoto, the ninth son of Prince Kuni Asahiko (''Kuni no miya Asahiko Shinnō'') and the court lady Terao Utako. His father, Prince Asahiko, was a son of Prince Fushimi Kuniie (''Fushimi no miya Kuniie Shinnō''), the twentieth head of the Fushimi-no-miya, the oldest of the '' sesshu shinnōke'' or cadet branches of the imperial dynasty from whom an emperor might be chosen in default of a direct heir. Prince Naruhiko ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hugo Sperrle
Wilhelm Hugo Sperrle (7 February 1885 – 2 April 1953), also known as Hugo Sperrle, was a German military aviator in World War I and a Generalfeldmarschall in the Luftwaffe during World War II. Sperrle joined the Imperial German Army in 1903. He served in the artillery upon the outbreak of World War I. In 1914 he joined the Luftstreitkräfte as an observer then trained as a pilot. Sperrle ended the war at the rank of Hauptmann (Captain) in command of an aerial reconnaissance attachment of a field army. In the inter-war period Sperrle was appointed to the General Staff in the Reichswehr, serving the Weimar Republic in the aerial warfare branch. In 1934 after Nazi Party seized power, Sperrle was promoted to Generalmajor (Brigadier General) and transferred from the army to the Luftwaffe. Sperrle was given command of the Condor Legion in November 1936 and fought with the expeditionary force in the Spanish Civil War until October 1937. Sperrle was appointed as commanding officer o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wolfram Von Richthofen
Wolfram Karl Ludwig Moritz Hermann Freiherr von Richthofen (10 October 1895 – 12 July 1945) was a German World War I flying ace who rose to the rank of ''Generalfeldmarschall'' in the Luftwaffe during World War II. Born in 1895 into a family of the Prussian nobility, Richthofen grew up in prosperous surroundings. At the age of eighteen, after leaving school, he opted to join the German Army rather than choose an academic career, and joined the army's cavalry arm in 1913. On the outbreak of the First World War, Richthofen fought on the Western Front, winning the Iron Cross Second Class. In 1915 he was posted to the Eastern Front, where he stayed until 1917. The Richthofen family produced several notable personalities that would become famous during the First War. His cousins, the brothers Lothar and Manfred, both became flying aces and encouraged him to join the ''Luftstreitkräfte'' (German Imperial Air Service). He did so, and joined Manfred's '' Jagdgeschwader 1'' (Fig ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hermann Göring
Hermann Wilhelm Göring (or Goering; ; 12 January 1893 – 15 October 1946) was a German politician, military leader and convicted war criminal. He was one of the most powerful figures in the Nazi Party, which ruled Germany from 1933 to 1945. A veteran World War I fighter pilot ace, Göring was a recipient of the ("The Blue Max"). He was the last commander of ''Jagdgeschwader'' 1 (Jasta 1), the fighter wing once led by Manfred von Richthofen. An early member of the Nazi Party, Göring was among those wounded in Adolf Hitler's failed Beer Hall Putsch in 1923. While receiving treatment for his injuries, he developed an addiction to morphine which persisted until the last year of his life. After Hitler became Chancellor of Germany in 1933, Göring was named as minister without portfolio in the new government. One of his first acts as a cabinet minister was to oversee the creation of the Gestapo, which he ceded to Heinrich Himmler in 1934. Following the establishment of th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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