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1st SS Infantry Brigade
The 1st SS Infantry Brigade () was a unit of the German Waffen SS formed from former concentration camp guards for service in the Soviet Union behind the main front line during the Second World War. They conducted Nazi security warfare in the rear of the advancing German troops and took part in the Holocaust. The unit also filled gaps in the front line when called upon in emergencies. In 1944, the brigade was used as the cadre in the formation of the SS Division Horst Wessel. Invasion of the Soviet Union The 1 SS Infantry Brigade ( mot) was formed on 21 April 1941, from men of the SS-Totenkopfverbände (concentration camp guards). It received the designation of the 1st SS Infantry Brigade (motorised) on 20 September 1941. When Germany invaded the Soviet Union (Operation Barbarossa) in June 1941, the brigade was stationed in Kraków, Poland awaiting its full complement of men and materials. On 23 July the unit moved east into the occupied territories and between July and August ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Flag Schutzstaffel
A flag is a piece of fabric (most often rectangular) with distinctive colours and design. It is used as a symbol, a signalling device, or for decoration. The term ''flag'' is also used to refer to the graphic design employed, and flags have evolved into a general tool for rudimentary signalling and identification, especially in environments where communication is challenging (such as the maritime environment, where semaphore is used). Many flags fall into groups of similar designs called flag families. The study of flags is known as " vexillology" from the Latin , meaning "flag" or "banner". National flags are patriotic symbols with widely varied interpretations that often include strong military associations because of their original and ongoing use for that purpose. Flags are also used in messaging, advertising, or for decorative purposes. Some military units are called "flags" after their use of flags. A ''flag'' (Arabic: ) is equivalent to a brigade in Arab countr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Operation Barbarossa
Operation Barbarossa was the invasion of the Soviet Union by Nazi Germany and several of its European Axis allies starting on Sunday, 22 June 1941, during World War II. More than 3.8 million Axis troops invaded the western Soviet Union along a front, with the main goal of capturing territory up to a line between Arkhangelsk and Astrakhan, known as the A-A line. The attack became the largest and costliest military offensive in history, with around 10 million combatants taking part in the opening phase and over 8 million casualties by the end of the operation on 5 December 1941. It marked a major escalation of World War II, opened the Eastern Front—the largest and deadliest land war in history—and brought the Soviet Union into the Allied powers. The operation, code-named after the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick Barbarossa ("red beard"), put into action Nazi Germany's ideological goals of eradicating communism and conquering the western Soviet Union to repopulate it w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hannes Heer
Hans Georg Heer (known as ''Hannes'') (born 16 March 1941) is a German historian, chiefly known for the ''Wehrmachtsausstellung'' (German: "Wehrmacht Exhibition") in the 1990s. While controversial at that time, the exhibition is nowadays widely credited with opening the eyes of the German public to the war crimes of the Wehrmacht committed on the Eastern Front (World War II), Eastern Front during World War II. Having been suspended in 1999 for review, the exhibit reopened in 2001 under the name "Crimes of the German Wehrmacht: Dimensions of a War of Annihilation 1941–1944". The exhibitions were instrumental in the debunking of the myth of the clean Wehrmacht in Germany. Education and student activism Heer was born in Wissen, Rhine Province. He studied literature and history, and passed his state examination in 1968 at the University of Bonn. From 1970 to 1972 he completed postgraduate studies in economics and economic history, at the University of Bonn. As a student, he became ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
2nd SS Infantry Brigade
The 2nd SS Infantry Brigade (mot.) () was formed on the 15 May 1941, under the command of Karl Fischer von Treuenfeld with the 4th and 5th SS Infantry (formerly ''Totenkopf'') Regiments and began its operational service in September in the Army Group North Rear Area, under which command it would spend its entire existence. It gradually began to incorporate foreign legions of the SS under its operational control. After the western legions departed for refit, it began operating with Latvian volunteer formations and eventually was redesignated the 2nd Latvian SS Infantry Brigade () and on the 18 May 1943, and used as the cadre in the formation of the Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (2nd Latvian) in January 1944. Operational history The 2 SS Infantry Brigade was raised on 15 May 1941 and was placed under the command of Army Group North Rear Area for the invasion of the Soviet Union. Prior to this, the role that the unit would undertake during the assault was discussed in a me ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
SS Cavalry Brigade
The SS Cavalry Brigade (''SS-Kavallerie-Brigade'') was a cavalry brigade unit of the German Waffen-SS during World War II that specialized in artillery observer, cavalry reconnaissance, close combat, crowd control and riot control, counterinsurgency, fire support, gathering field military intelligence, maneuver warfare, raiding with cavalry tactics, providing security in areas at risk of attack, rearguard, screening for provide early warning of enemy approach, supporting military logistics, and tracking the targets. Operating under the control of the '' Kommandostab Reichsführer-SS'', it initially performed counterinsurgency, crowd control and riot control, rear security, and vanguard duties in German-occupied Poland. During the Invasion of the Soviet Union, the brigade operated in the rear of the German forces, in the Army Group Rear Area Command. It engaged bypassed Red Army units with rapid cavalry tactics and carried out murders of Jews, Communists and suspected Soviet ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Reich Security Main Office
The Reich Security Main Office ( , RSHA) was an organization under Heinrich Himmler in his dual capacity as ''Chef der Deutschen Polizei'' (Chief of German Police) and , the head of the Nazi Party's ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS). The organization's stated duty was to fight all "enemies of the Reich" inside and outside the borders of Nazi Germany. From its very inception, the RSHA was a central institution for the Nazis, playing a pivotal role in orchestrating and executing the Holocaust. Formation and development In 1934, the Nazi regime accelerated the centralization of state power, abolishing the sovereignty of Germany's federal states and subordinating them directly to the Reich government. Even before the formal creation of the Reich Security Main Office (RSHA), the Gestapo under Himmler had already asserted nationwide authority, laying the groundwork for a unified security apparatus. These moves toward central control were further reinforced by the establishment of the ''Volksger ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dnieper River
The Dnieper or Dnepr ( ), also called Dnipro ( ), is one of the major transboundary rivers of Europe, rising in the Valdai Hills near Smolensk, Russia, before flowing through Belarus and Ukraine to the Black Sea. Approximately long, with a drainage basin of , it is the longest river of Ukraine and Belarus and the fourth- longest river in Europe, after the Volga, Danube, and Ural rivers. In antiquity, the river was part of the Amber Road trade routes. During the Ruin in the later 17th century, the area was contested between the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and Russia, dividing what is now Ukraine into areas described by its right and left banks. During the Soviet period, the river became noted for its major hydroelectric dams and large reservoirs. The 1986 Chernobyl disaster occurred on the Pripyat River, a tributary of the Dnieper, just upstream from its confluence with the Dnieper. The Dnieper is an important navigable waterway for the economy of Ukraine and i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
XVII Army Corps (Wehrmacht)
XVII Army Corps () was a corps in the German Army during World War II. The corps was formed in Vienna on 1 April 1938 after the Annexation of Austria. Invasion of Poland At the beginning of the war in September 1939, the Corps, under the leadership of General Werner Kienitz, was assigned to the 14th Army in south Poland with the 44th and 45th Infantry Division. Together with the VIII Army Corps, XVII corps advanced from the Teschen area to the north of the Vistula via Pszczyna to Kraków. It then participated in the successful attack of the XVIII Corps on Lviv under General Eugen Beyer, which concluded the campaign. Battle of France Between 11 and 13 November 1939, the Corps was transferred to France, and from January 1940 onwards it was placed under reserve in the 2nd Army. During the second phase of the Western campaign, XVII Corps was transferred in June 1940 to the 12th Army and deployed for the attack on the Aisne. Invasion of Russia When Operation Barbarossa, the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pripet Marshes
__NOTOC__ The Pripet Marshes or Pripyat Marshes (), also known as Pinsk Marshes (), the Polesie Marshes, and the Rokitno Marshes, are a vast natural region of wetlands in Polesia, along the forested basin of the Pripyat River and its tributaries from Brest to the west, Mogilev in the northeast, and Kyiv to the southeast. Most of the region is in Belarus, and part is in Ukraine. The Pripet Marshes are the largest wetland area in Europe. Overview The Pripet Marshes mostly lie within the Polesian Lowland, hence Polesie Marshes (Woodland Marshes), and occupy most of the southern part of Belarus and the north-west of Ukraine. They cover roughly surrounding the sandy lowlands of the dense network of rivers and rivulets forming on both sides of the Pripyat River, one of the main tributaries of the Dnieper.Pripet Marshes |
6th Army (Wehrmacht)
The 6th Army () 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. The 6th Army was reformed in March 1943, and participated in fighting in Ukraine and later Romania, before being almost completely destroyed in the Second Jassy-Kishinev Offensive in August 1944. Following this it would fight in Hungary, attempting to relieve Budapest, and subsequently retreating into Austria in the Spring of 1945. 6th Army surrendered to US Army forces on 9 May 1945. Western campaigns The 6th Army was formed on 10 October 1939 with General Walther von Reichenau in command through the redesignation of the 10th Army that had fought during the Invasion of Poland. During the invasion of the Low Countries the 6th Army saw active service ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Zhitomir
Zhytomyr ( ; see #Names, below for other names) is a city in the north of the western half of Ukraine. It is the Capital city, administrative center of Zhytomyr Oblast (Oblast, province), as well as the administrative center of the surrounding Zhytomyr urban hromada (hromada, commune) and Zhytomyr Raion (Raion, district). Moreover Zhytomyr consists of two Urban districts of Ukraine, urban districts: Bohunskyi District and Koroliovskyi District (named in honour of Sergey Korolyov). Zhytomyr occupies an area of . Its population is Zhytomyr is a major transport hub. The city lies on a historic route linking the city of Kyiv with the west through Brest, Belarus, Brest. Today it links Warsaw with Kyiv, Minsk with Izmail, and several major cities of Ukraine. Zhytomyr was also the location of Ozerne (air base), Ozerne airbase, a key Cold War strategic aircraft base southeast of the city. Important economic activities of Zhytomyr include lumber milling, food processing, granite quarr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Army Group South
Army Group South () was the name of one of three German Army Groups during World War II. It was first used in the 1939 September Campaign, along with Army Group North to invade Poland. In the invasion of Poland, Army Group South was led by Gerd von Rundstedt and his chief of staff Erich von Manstein. Two years later, Army Group South became one of three army groups into which Germany organised their forces for Operation Barbarossa. Army Group South's principal objective was to capture Soviet Ukraine and its capital Kiev. In September 1944, Army Group South Ukraine was renamed Army Group South in Eastern Hungary. It fought in Western Hungary until March 1945 and retired to Austria at the end of the Second World War, where it was renamed Army Group Ostmark on 2 April 1945. Operation Barbarossa Ukraine was a major center of Soviet industry and mining and had the good farmland required for Hitler's plans for ''Lebensraum'' ('living space'). Army Group South was to advance up ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
