Wilhelm Bittrich
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Wilhelm Bittrich
Wilhelm Bittrich (26 February 1894 – 19 April 1979) was a high-ranking Waffen-SS commander of Nazi Germany. Between August 1942 and February 1943, Bittrich commanded the SS Cavalry Division Florian Geyer, in rear security operations (''Bandenbekämpfung'', literally: "gang fighting") in the Soviet Union. From July 1944 until the end of the war Bittrich commanded the 2nd SS Panzer Corps in Normandy, during Market Garden and in Hungary. After his arrest in May 1945, Bittrich was extradited to France to stand trial for allegedly ordering the executions of 17 members of the French Resistance. After being convicted of less serious charges in relation to the executions, Bittrich was sentenced to five years in prison. Following his release, he became active in HIAG, a revisionist organization and a lobby group of former Waffen-SS members and served as chairman during the 1970s. World War I and inter-war career Born in 1894 into the family of a traveling salesman, Bittrich volunteer ...
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Wernigerode
Wernigerode () is a town in the Harz (district), district of Harz, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Until 2007, it was the capital of the Wernigerode (district), district of Wernigerode. Its population was 32,181 in 2020. Wernigerode is located southwest of Halberstadt, and is picturesquely situated on the Holtemme river, on the northern slopes of the Harz Mountains. Wernigerode is located on the German Timber-Frame Road. Geography Location The town lies at about above Normalnull, sea level (NN) on the northeastern flank of the Harz Mountains in central Germany, at the foot of their highest peak, the Brocken, on the Bundesstraße 6, B 6 and Bundesstraße 244, B 244 federal highways and on the Halberstadt–Vienenburg railway, railway line from Halberstadt to Vienenburg that links the cities of Halle (Saale) and Hanover. The River Holtemme flows through the town and, not far from its western gate, it is joined by the Zillierbach stream, which is also known as the near its mouth. ...
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Invasion Of Poland
The invasion of Poland, also known as the September Campaign, Polish Campaign, and Polish Defensive War of 1939 (1 September – 6 October 1939), was a joint attack on the Second Polish Republic, Republic of Poland by Nazi Germany, the Slovak Republic (1939–1945), Slovak Republic, 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 Soviet invasion of Poland, 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 aim of the invasion was to disestablish Poland as a sovereign country, with its citizens destined for The Holocaust, extermination. German and Field Army Bernolák, Slovak forces ...
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Historical Revisionism (negationism)
Historical negationism, also called historical denialism, is falsification or distortion of the historical record. This is not the same as ''historical revisionism'', a broader term that extends to newly evidenced, fairly reasoned academic reinterpretations of history."The two leading critical exposés of Holocaust denial in the United States were written by historians Deborah Lipstadt (1993) and Michael Shermer and Alex Grobman (2000). These scholars make a distinction between historical revisionism and denial. Revisionism, in their view, entails a refinement of existing knowledge about an historical event, not a denial of the event itself, that comes through the examination of new empirical evidence or a re-examination or reinterpretation of existing evidence. Legitimate historical revisionism acknowledges a 'certain body of irrefutable evidence' or a 'convergence of evidence' that suggest that an event – like the black plague, American slavery, or the Holocaust – did in fac ...
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HIAG
HIAG () was a Advocacy group, lobby group and a denialist veterans' organisation founded by former high-ranking Waffen-SS personnel in West Germany in 1951. Its main objective was to achieve legal, economic, and historical rehabilitation of the Waffen-SS. To achieve these aims, the organisation used contacts with political parties, and employed multi-prong historical negationism and propaganda efforts, including periodicals, books, and public speeches. A HIAG-owned publishing house, Munin Verlag, served as a platform for its publicity. This extensive body of work, 57 book titles and more than 50 years of monthly periodicals, has been described by historians as revisionist apologia. Always in touch with its members' Nazi past, HIAG was a subject of significant controversy, both in West Germany and abroad. The organisation drifted into open far-right extremism in its later history; it disbanded in 1992 at the federal level, but local groups continue to exist into the 21st century. ...
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French Resistance
The French Resistance ( ) was a collection of groups that fought the German military administration in occupied France during World War II, Nazi occupation and the Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy#France, collaborationist Vichy France, Vichy regime in France during the World War II, Second World War. Resistance Clandestine cell system, cells were small groups of armed men and women (called the Maquis (World War II), Maquis in rural areas) who conducted guerrilla warfare and published Underground press, underground newspapers. They also provided first-hand intelligence information, and escape networks that helped Allies of World War II, Allied soldiers and airmen trapped behind Axis powers, Axis lines. The Resistance's men and women came from many parts of French society, including émigrés, academics, students, aristocrats, conservative Catholic Church in France, Roman Catholics (including clergy), Protestantism in France, Protestants, History of the Jews in F ...
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Operation Spring Awakening
Operation Spring Awakening () 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. The objective was to secure the last significant oil reserves still available to the European Axis powers and prevent the Red Army from advancing towards Vienna. The Germans failed in their objectives. The operation, initially planned for 5 March, began after German units were moved in great secrecy to the Lake Balaton () area. Many German units were involved, including the 6th Panzer Army and its subordinate Waffen-SS divisions after being withdrawn from the failed Ardennes offensive on the Western Front. The Germans attacked in three prongs: ''Frühlingserwachen'' in the Balaton- Lake Velence-Danube area, ''Eisbrecher'' south of Lake Balaton, and ''Waldteufel'' south o ...
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Operation Overlord
Operation Overlord was the codename for the Battle of Normandy, the Allies of World War II, Allied operation that launched the successful liberation of German-occupied Western Front (World War II), Western Europe during World War II. The operation was launched on 6 June 1944 (D-Day (military term), D-Day) with the Normandy landings (Operation Neptune). A 1,200-plane Airborne forces, airborne assault preceded an amphibious warfare, amphibious assault involving more than 5,000 vessels. Nearly 160,000 troops crossed the English Channel on 6 June, and more than two million Allied troops were in France by the end of August. The decision to undertake cross-channel landings in 1944 was made at the Washington Conference (1943), Trident Conference in Washington, D.C., Washington in May 1943. American General Dwight D. Eisenhower was appointed commander of Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force, and British General Bernard Montgomery was named commander of the 21st Army Group, ...
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2nd SS Panzer Corps
The II SS Panzer Corps was a German ''Waffen-SS'' armoured corps which saw action on both the Eastern and Western Fronts during World War II. It was commanded by Paul Hausser during the Third Battle of Kharkov and the Battle of Kursk in 1943 and by Wilhelm Bittrich on the Western Front in 1944. World War II 1942–1943 The II SS Panzer Corps was formed to take command of SS Division "Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler", SS Division "Das Reich", and SS Division "Totenkopf" in July 1942 as the SS Panzer Corps. In August, it was sent to northern France before taking part in Case Anton, the occupation of Vichy France in November, during which it captured Toulon. In early February 1943, the corps, under the command of SS-''Obergruppenführer'' Paul Hausser, was attached to Army Group South in Ukraine and participated in the Third Battle of Kharkov. The corps was renamed II SS Panzer Corps in June 1943, after the I SS Panzer Corps was created during that same month. In July 1943, the ...
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Bandenbekämpfung
In Military history of Germany, German military history, (), also referred to as Nazi security warfare during World War II, refers to the concept and military doctrine of Counterinsurgency, countering Resistance movement, resistance or insurrection in the Rear (military), rear area during wartime with extreme brutality. The doctrine provided a rationale for disregarding the established Law of war, laws of war and for targeting any number of groups, from Guerrilla warfare, armed guerrillas to civilians, as "bandits" or "members of gangs". As applied by the German Empire and later Nazi Germany, it became instrumental in the crimes against humanity committed by the two regimes, including the Herero and Nama genocide and the Holocaust. Historian Alex J. Kay estimates that around one million civilians died as a result of German anti-partisan warfare—excluding actual partisans—among the 13 to 14 million people murdered by the Nazis during World War II. Background According to his ...
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Clasp To The Iron Cross
Clasp, clasper or CLASP may refer to: * Book clasp, fastener for a book cover * Folding clasp, a device used to close a watch strap * Lobster clasp, fastener for jewellery * Wrist clasp, a dressing accessory * Medal bar, an element in military decoration * Fastener, a hardware device that mechanically joins objects together * CLASP (British Rail), a prefabricated building system * "Clasp", a song by Jethro Tull from '' The Broadsword and the Beast'' * Clasp, a Common Lisp implementation * Clasper, an anatomical structure in male cartilaginous fish * Clasper (mathematics), a surface (with extra structure) in a 3-manifold on which surgery can be performed * Grasp, holding or seizing firmly with (or as if with) the hand Acronyms and initialisms * Center for Law and Social Policy, an American organization, based Washington, D.C., that advocates for policies aimed at improving the lives of low-income people * CLASP1 and CLASP2, cytoplasmic linker associated proteins * Cla ...
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Knight's Cross Of The Iron Cross With Oak Leaves And Swords
The Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross (), 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. While it was order of precedence, lower in precedence than the Grand Cross of the Iron Cross#1939 Grand Cross, Grand Cross of the Iron Cross, the Grand Cross was never awarded at-large to Nazi German military and paramilitary forces. The Grand Cross's sole award was made to ''Reichsmarschall'' Hermann Göring in September 1939, making the Knight's Cross (specifically, the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross#Grades, Knight's Cross with Golden Oak Leaves, Swords, and Diamonds grade) the ''de facto'' highest award among the Orders, decorations, and medals of Nazi Germany, decorations of Nazi Germany. 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 ...
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Battle Of The Bulge
The Battle of the Bulge, also known as the Ardennes Offensive or Unternehmen Die Wacht am Rhein, Wacht am Rhein, was the last major German Offensive (military), offensive Military campaign, campaign on the Western Front (World War II), Western Front during the World War II, Second World War, taking place from 16 December 1944 to 25 January 1945. It was launched through the densely forested Ardennes region between Belgium and Luxembourg. The offensive was intended to stop Allied use of the Belgian port of Antwerp and to split the Allied lines, allowing the Germans to Encirclement, encircle and destroy each of the four Allied armies and force the western Allies to negotiate a peace treaty in the Axis powers' favor. The Germans achieved a total surprise attack on the morning of 16 December 1944, due to a combination of Allied overconfidence based on the favorable defensive terrain and faulty intelligence about Wehrmacht intentions, poor aerial reconnaissance due to bad weather, an ...
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