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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 Air supremacy#World War II, 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 Non-combatant, civilians, and some campaigns were deliberately designed to target civilian populations in order to terrorism, terrorize them or to weaken their morale. 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 t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the world's countries participated, with many nations mobilising all resources in pursuit of total war. Tanks in World War II, Tanks and Air warfare of World War II, aircraft played major roles, enabling the strategic bombing of cities and delivery of the Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, first and only nuclear weapons ever used in war. World War II is the List of wars by death toll, deadliest conflict in history, causing World War II casualties, the death of 70 to 85 million people, more than half of whom were civilians. Millions died in genocides, including the Holocaust, and by massacres, starvation, and disease. After the Allied victory, Allied-occupied Germany, Germany, Allied-occupied Austria, Austria, Occupation of Japan, Japan, a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sergei Khudyakov
Sergei Alexandrovich Khudyakov (; ); born Armenak Artemi Khanferiants (, – 18 April 1950), was a Soviet Armenian Marshal of the aviation. Russian Revolution Armenak Khanferiants (or Khanperiants) was born in 1902 in the village of Mets Tagher (Böyük Tağlar), Shushinsky Uyezd, Elisabethpol Governorate, Russian Empire. His father died in 1908, leaving a widow with three sons. Khanferiants travelled to Baku to study and started working at oilfields owned by Armenian tycoon and philanthropist Alexander Mantashev. In 1918, he was involved in the production of the newspaper ''Iskra''. While in Baku, he joined the Bolsheviks and organized the Red Guards of Baku in April 1918. While he was in Astrakhan during the Russian Civil War, he was saved from drowning in a steamer sunk by a British gunboat by his friend, Sergei Khudyakov, who was later killed fighting the Whites. Khanferiants adopted Sergei's name as his own as memorial to the man who saved his life. [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ettore Muti
Ettore Muti (2 May 1902 – 24 August 1943) was an Italian aviator and Fascist politician. He was party secretary of the National Fascist Party (''Partito Nazionale Fascista'', or PNF) from October 1939 until shortly after the entry of Italy into World War II on 10 June 1940. World War I and Fiume Born in Ravenna, Romagna, Muti was banned from any school in the country at age 13, after punching one of his teachers. The next year, he ran away from home in order to fight in World War I, but was recovered and returned by the ''Carabinieri''. At 15, a new attempt was successful, and Muti joined the famed '' Arditi''. On the front, Muti distinguished himself through feats of audacity. His detachment of 800 men was ordered to establish a bridgehead under enemy fire: it managed to do so, but was only left with 23 members at the end of the day. Gabriele D'Annunzio benefited from Muti's services during his seizing of Fiume (now Rijeka, Croatia) in September 1919–January 1921; h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rino Corso Fougier
Rino Corso Fougier (14 November 1894 – 24 April 1963) 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 aspiring p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Francesco Pricolo
Francesco Pricolo (30 January 1891 – 14 October 1980) 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 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 courage he was decorated with two s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chūichi Nagumo
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 in 1941, and over the next months in successful raids on Darwin in Australia and in the Indian Ocean. In June 1942, he participated at the Battle of Midway, where his strike force suffered a crushing defeat. Nagumo was re-assigned to another fleet during the Guadalcanal campaign, and later stationed in the Japanese home islands. In 1944, he was deployed to a naval command in the Mariana Islands, where 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 ... [...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 Japan's military leaders for most of the Second World War. 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 theater of World War II, Sugiyama served as the army’s ''de facto'' 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), Fukuoka Prefecture, Sugiyama graduated ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Naruhiko Higashikuni
was a member of the Imperial House of Japan, Japanese imperial family and general of the army who served as Prime Minister of Japan, prime minister of Japan from 17 August to 9 October 1945. He is the only member of the Japanese imperial family to head a cabinet, and Japan's shortest-serving prime minister, serving for only 54 days. Born in Kyoto, Prince Higashikuni was a son of Prince Kuni Asahiko and married Toshiko, Princess Yasu, a daughter of Emperor Meiji, thus making him an uncle-in-law of Hirohito, Emperor Hirohito. He graduated from the Army Academy and War College, and studied military tactics in France from 1920 to 1926. Upon his return to Japan, he was promoted to general in 1930 and held several military posts, including as commander of the General Defense Command from 1941 to 1944. Prince Higashikuni's appointment as prime minister following the war reflected a hope that his prestige as an imperial prince would help to unite the defeated country. He presided over ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hugo Sperrle
Hugo Wilhelm Sperrle (7 February 1885 – 2 April 1953) was a Nazi Germany, German military aviator in World War I and a ''Generalfeldmarschall'' (Field marshal, Field Marshal) in the ''Luftwaffe'' during World War II. Sperrle joined the German Army (German Empire), 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 the 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 ... [...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'' (Field Marshal) in the Luftwaffe during World War II. In the First World War, Richthofen fought on the Western and Eastern Fronts as a cavalry officer until 1917. He joined the ''Luftstreitkräfte'' (German Imperial Air Service) after his cousins, brothers Lothar and Manfred ('The Red Baron'), both of whom became flying aces. On his first mission in '' Jagdgeschwader 1'' (Fighter Wing 1), Manfred was killed while chasing a fighter that attacked Wolfram. Wolfram went on to claim eight aerial victories before the armistice in November 1918. After the war, Richthofen joined the ''Reichswehr'' and became a member of the ''Luftwaffe'' after Hitler's rise to power in 1933. He served as part of the ''Condor Legion'' which supported the Nationalists in the Spanish Civil War. During this time, he recognise ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
