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221st Security Division (Wehrmacht)
The 221st Security Division () was a rear-area security division in the ''Wehrmacht'' during World War II. Commanded by General Johann Pflugbeil, the unit was deployed in German-occupied areas of the Soviet Union, in the Army Group Centre Rear Area, for security and ''Bandenbekämpfung'' ("anti-bandit") duties. It was responsible for large-scale war crimes and atrocities including the deaths of thousands of Soviet civilians. Operational history Formation and Operation Barbarossa The division was formed in '' Wehrkreis VIII'' from a third of the 221st Infantry Division on March 15, 1941. Along with ''Wehrmacht'' army troops, it included Police Battalion 309 of the Orpo (uniformed police), its only motorised formation. The unit spent three months at the front and six months on rear-area security duties in the Gomel area. Its duties included ensuring the security of communications and supply lines, economic exploitation and combatting partisans in the ''Wehrmacht'''s rear area ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Johann Pflugbeil
__NOTOC__ Johann Pflugbeil (24 August 1882 – 21 October 1951) was a German general during World War II. During 1941 and 1942, he commanded the 221st Security Division in the Army Group Centre Rear Area. Under Pflugbeil's command, the division took part in Nazi security warfare and was responsible for numerous war crimes and crimes against humanity. World War II On June 27, 1941, the 221st Security Division held the Polish city of Białystok, which had been in the Soviet zone of occupation. That day, the 309th Police battalion started a pogrom on the Jewish community: Jews were arrested, beaten, beards were cut, and people were shot. The Jewish community chiefs went to see general Pflugbeil, and asked him to stop that pogrom. They were in his office, on their knees to implore him. A policeman of the 309th Police Battalion urinated on them; the general offered his back, to see elsewhere. After that "meeting", the pogrom became slaughter and massacre: the Jews on the market pla ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
German Army (Wehrmacht)
The German Army (, 'army') is the land component of the armed forces of Federal Republic of Germany, Germany. The present-day German Army was founded in 1955 as part of the newly formed West German together with the German Navy, ''Marine'' (German Navy) and the German Air Force, ''Luftwaffe'' (German Air Force). , the German Army had a strength of 63,047 soldiers. History Overview A German army equipped, organized, and trained following a single doctrine and permanently unified under one command was created in 1871 during the unification of Germany under the leadership of Prussia. From 1871 to 1919, the title ''German Army (German Empire), Deutsches Heer'' (German Army) was the official name of the German land forces. Following the German defeat in World War I and the end of the German Empire, the main army was dissolved. From 1921 to 1935 the name of the German land forces was the ''Reichswehr, Reichsheer'' (Army of the Realm) and from 1935 to 1945 the name ''German Army (We ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Counter-insurgency
Counterinsurgency (COIN, or NATO spelling counter-insurgency) is "the totality of actions aimed at defeating irregular forces". The Oxford English Dictionary defines counterinsurgency as any "military or political action taken against the activities of guerrillas or revolutionaries" and can be considered war by a state against a non-state adversary. Insurgency and counterinsurgency campaigns have been waged since ancient history. Western thought on fighting 'small wars' gained interest during initial periods of European colonisation, with modern thinking on counterinsurgency was developed during decolonization. During insurgency and counterinsurgency, the distinction between civilians and combatants is often blurred. Counterinsurgency may involve attempting to win the hearts and minds of populations supporting the insurgency. Alternatively, it may be waged in an attempt to intimidate or eliminate civilian populations suspected of loyalty to the insurgency through indiscri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
391st Security Division
391st may refer to: * 391st Bombardment Group, non-flying unit of the Pennsylvania Air National Guard, stationed at Horsham Air National Guard Station * 391st Bombardment Squadron, part of the 6th Air Mobility Wing at MacDill Air Force Base, Florida *391st Fighter Squadron The 391st Fighter Squadron is part of the 366th Fighter Wing at Mountain Home Air Force Base, Idaho. The squadron participated in combat missions in World War II and the Vietnam War, provided air defense in Korea and Japan from 1968 to 1971, an ... (391 FS), part of the 366th Fighter Wing at Mountain Home Air Force Base, Idaho See also * 391 (number) * 391, the year 391 (CCCXCI) of the Julian calendar * 391 BC {{mil-unit-dis ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
75th Security Regiment
75th may refer to: *75th Academy Awards honored the best films of 2002, held on March 23, 2003 * 75th Avenue–61st Street Historic District, a national historic district in Ridgewood, Queens, New York * 75th Grey Cup, the 1987 Canadian Football League championship game that was played at BC Place Stadium in Vancouver * 75th meridian east, a line of longitude * 75th meridian west, a line of longitude * 75th parallel north, a circle of latitude that is 75 degrees north of the Earth's equatorial plane *75th parallel south, a circle of latitude that is 75 degrees south of the Earth's equatorial plane * 75th Police Precinct Station House, a historic police station located at Brooklyn in New York, New York Military units * 75th Air Base Wing, a unit of the United States Air Force * 75th Battalion (Mississauga), CEF a unit of the Canadian Expeditionary Force *75th Brigade (other), several units *75th Division (other), several units * 75th Regiment (disambiguati ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Operation Bagration
Operation Bagration () was the codename for the 1944 Soviet Byelorussian strategic offensive operation (), a military campaign fought between 22 June and 19 August 1944 in Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic, Soviet Byelorussia in the Eastern Front (World War II), Eastern Front of World War II, just over two weeks after the start of Operation Overlord in the west. It was during this operation that Nazi Germany was forced to fight simultaneously on two major fronts for the first time since the war began. The Soviet Union destroyed 28 of the divisions of Army Group Centre and completely shattered the German front line. The overall engagement is the largest defeat in German military history, with around 450,000 German casualties, while setting the stage for the subsequent isolation of 300,000 German soldiers in the Courland Pocket. On 22 June 1944, the Red Army attacked Army Group Centre in Byelorussia, with the objective of encircling and destroying its main component armies. By ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People's Commissars to oppose the military forces of the new nation's adversaries during the Russian Civil War, especially the various groups collectively known as the White Army. In February 1946, the Red Army (which embodied the main component of the Soviet Armed Forces alongside the Soviet Navy) was renamed the "Soviet Army". Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union it was split between the post-Soviet states, with its bulk becoming the Russian Ground Forces, commonly considered to be the successor of the Soviet Army. The Red Army provided the largest land warfare, ground force in the Allies of World War II, Allied victory in the European theatre of World War II, and its Soviet invasion of Manchuria, invasion of Manchuria assisted the un ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Geheime Feldpolizei
The ''Geheime Feldpolizei'' (; ), shortened to GFP, was the secret military police of the German ''Wehrmacht'' until the end of the Second World War (1945). Its units carried out plainclothes and undercover security work in the field. Their operations included clandestine operations, counterpropaganda, counterinsurgency, counterintelligence, creation of a counterinsurgency intelligence network, detection of treasonable activities, infiltration of resistance movements, gathering intelligence and destroying targets, protecting military installations, assisting the German Army (''Heer'') in courts-martial investigations, tracking and raiding targets to capture or kill, and setting-up security checkpoints in high-risk areas. GFP personnel, who were also classed as ''Abwehrpolizei'', operated as an executive branch of the ''Abwehr'' (German armed forces military intelligence), detecting resistance activity in Germany and in occupied France. They were known to torture and execute pr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Smolensk
Smolensk is a city and the administrative center of Smolensk Oblast, Russia, located on the Dnieper River, west-southwest of Moscow. First mentioned in 863, it is one of the oldest cities in Russia. It has been a regional capital for most of the past millennium, beginning as the capital of an eponymous principality in the 11th-15th centuries, then the Smolensk Voivodeship of Lithuania and Poland, and Smolensk Governorate and Oblast within Russia. It was the main stronghold of the Smolensk Gate, a geostrategically significant pass between the Daugava and Dnieper rivers, and as such was an important point of contention in the struggle for dominance in Eastern Europe, passing at various times between Lithuania, Poland and Russia. In more recent history, it was captured by Napoleon's Franco–Polish forces and Hitler's Germany during their marches towards Moscow, and was the place of the Smolensk air disaster of 2010. It has a population of Etymology The name of the c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dorogobuzh
Dorogobuzh (; Belarusian: Дарагабуж) is a historic town and the administrative center of Dorogobuzhsky District in Smolensk Oblast, Russia, straddling the Dnieper River and located east of Smolensk, the administrative center of the oblast. Population: History First mentioned in 1150, it was established as a fortress defending eastern approaches to Smolensk. It was located in the Principality of Smolensk, which in 1404 became part of Lithuania. It passed to the Grand Duchy of Moscow after the Battle of Vedrosha in 1500. In 1508, Vasily III sent Italian masters to build a wooden fort there. During the Time of Troubles, Dorogobuzh passed between Lithuania and various Muscovite factions several times, and was ravaged, with its population reduced to ten people in 1614. It was captured by Russia in 1613, and then re-captured by Polish Prince Władysław IV Vasa in 1617. Within the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, it was part of the Smolensk Voivodeship. Du ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
