Battle of the BulgeThe Battle of the Bulge, also known as the Ardennes Offensive and referred to by the Germans as Unternehmen Wacht am Rhein (transl. Operation Watch on the Rhine), was an offensive campaign on the Western Front during the Second World War, taking place from 16 December 1944 to 25 January 1945.
Siege of BudapestBelligerentsGermanyHungary(Szálasi government)Soviet UnionRomania (later recalled) Hungary()Commanders and leadersKarl Pfeffer-Wildenbruch(POW)Gerhard Schmidhuber†Dezső LászlóIván Hindy(POW)Rodion MalinovskyFyodor TolbukhinStrengthIn the city:79,000 men 41,000 men (ration strength) 38,000 men (ration strength)489 guns125 tanks and assault guns117 heavy anti-tank gunsIn the city:177,000 men1,000 gunsCasualties and losses3 November–15 February: 137,000 men24 December–15 February: 114,000 menGarrison besieged in Budapest: 79,000 men 30,000 killed 11,000 captured 9,000 killed 29,000 capturedRelief attempts:Unknown3 November–11 February, throughout Budapest Offensive: 320,082At Budapest: ~200 tanks76,000 civilians dead38,000 civilians died in the siege (7,000 executed)38,000 died in labour or POW campsThe Siege of Budapest or Battle of Budapest, was a major battle fought between Soviet and Romanian forces and Hungarian and German forces for the Hungarian capital of Budapest, near the end of World War II.
Fyodor TolbukhinFyodor Ivanovich Tolbukhin (Russian: Фёдор Ива́нович Толбу́хин; 16 June 1894 – 17 October 1949) was a Soviet military commander and Marshal of the Soviet Union. He is regarded as one of the finest Soviet generals of World War II. Born into a peasant family in Yaroslavl, Tolbukhin volunteered for the Imperial Russian Army during the First World War and served with distinction. He joined the Red Army in 1918 and fought in the Russian Civil War.
ViennaCapital and largest city of AustriaPlace in AustriaVienna ( ; German: Wien; Austro-Bavarian: Wean) is the capital, most populous city, and one of the nine states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. Its larger metropolitan area has a population of nearly 2.9 million, representing nearly one-third of the country's population.
6th Army (Wehrmacht)The 6th Army (German: 6. Armee) was a field army of the German Army during World War II. It is widely known for its defeat by and subsequent surrender to the Red Army at the Battle of Stalingrad on 2 February 1943. It committed war crimes at Babi Yar while under the command of Field Marshal Walther von Reichenau during Operation Barbarossa.
German Army (1935–1945)The German Army (German: Deutsches Heer, pronounced [ˈdɔʏtʃəs] [heːɐ̯] ) was the land forces component of the Wehrmacht, the regular armed forces of Nazi Germany, from 1935 until it effectively ceased to exist in 1945 and then was formally dissolved in August 1946. During World War II, a total of about 13.6 million volunteers and conscripts served in the German Army.
MonschauMonschau (German pronunciation:; French: Montjoie, pronounced; Walloon: Mondjoye) is a small resort town in the Eifel region of western Germany, located in the Aachen district of North Rhine-Westphalia. GeographyThe town is located in the hills of the North Eifel, within the Hohes Venn – Eifel Nature Park in the narrow valley of the Rur river.German languageGerman (Deutsch, pronounced [dɔɪ̯tʃ] ) is a West Germanic language in the Indo-European language family, mainly spoken in Western and Central Europe. It is the majority and official (or co-official) language in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and Liechtenstein. It is also an official language of Luxembourg, Belgium and the Italian autonomous province of South Tyrol, French autonomous region of Alsace and as well as a recognised national language in Namibia.
Lake BalatonLake Balaton (Hungarian: [ˈbɒlɒton] ) is a freshwater rift lake in the Transdanubian region of Hungary. It is the largest lake in Central Europe, and one of the region's foremost tourist destinations. The Zala River provides the largest inflow of water to the lake, and the canalized Sió is the only outflow.
Operation Spring AwakeningOperation Spring Awakening (German: Unternehmen Frühlingserwachen) was the last major German offensive of World War II. The operation was referred to in Germany as the Plattensee Offensive and in the Soviet Union as the Balaton Defensive Operation. It took place in Western Hungary on the Eastern Front and lasted from 6 March until 15 March 1945.
Sepp DietrichJosef "Sepp" Dietrich (28 May 1892 – 21 April 1966) was a German general, politician and war criminal in the Schutzstaffel (SS) during the Nazi era. Despite having no formal staff officer training (and little formal education at all), Dietrich rose to become (along with Paul Hausser) SS-Oberst-Gruppenführer, the highest-ranking commissioned officer rank in the Waffen-SS, the military branch of the SS, commanding units up to the army level during World War II.
SS-Oberst-GruppenführerSS-Oberst-Gruppenführer () was (from 1942 to 1945) the highest commissioned rank in the Schutzstaffel (SS), under SS commander Heinrich Himmler as Reichsführer-SS. The rank is translated as "highest group leader". The rank was correctly spelled Oberst-Gruppenführer to avoid confusion with the more junior rank of Obergruppenführer.
Military organizationStructuring of armed forces of a state Organization chart of the Royal Danish Army, April 1940 Military organization is the structuring of the armed forces of a state so as to offer such military capability as a national defense policy may require. Formal military organization tends to use hierarchical forms (see below under "Modern hierarchy" for terminology and approximate troop-strength per hierarchical unit).*As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.