345th Rifle Division (Soviet Union)
The 345th Rifle Division began forming in September, 1941, as a standard Red Army rifle division, at Makhachkala on the Caspian Sea. Its first formation served exclusively in the southernmost parts of the Soviet-German front, specifically in the Caucasus and Crimea. It arrived at Sevastopol in December, and fought stubbornly in defense of the fortress-port until mid-July, 1942, when the city capitulated and the division was destroyed. In March, 1945, a new 345th was formed in the Far East, and a few months later took part in the Soviet invasion of Manchuria in August, but as it was in a reserve formation it saw little, if any, actual combat. 1st Formation The division formed for the first time on September 9, 1941, at Makhachkala in the North Caucasus Military District. Just before it was sent to the front, its personnel were noted as being 38 percent Russian, with the remaining 62 percent Central Asian and Caucasian; most of the Caucasian troops were Ossetians and Chechens. Its o ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Red Army Flag
Red is the color at the long wavelength end of the visible spectrum of light, next to orange and opposite violet. It has a dominant wavelength of approximately 625–740 nanometres. It is a primary color in the RGB color model and a secondary color (made from magenta and yellow) in the CMYK color model, and is the complementary color of cyan. Reds range from the brilliant yellow-tinged scarlet and vermillion to bluish-red crimson, and vary in shade from the pale red pink to the dark red burgundy. Red pigment made from ochre was one of the first colors used in prehistoric art. The Ancient Egyptians and Mayans colored their faces red in ceremonies; Roman generals had their bodies colored red to celebrate victories. It was also an important color in China, where it was used to color early pottery and later the gates and walls of palaces. In the Renaissance, the brilliant red costumes for the nobility and wealthy were dyed with kermes and cochineal. The 19th century broug ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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11th Army (Wehrmacht)
The 11th Army (german: 11. Armee) was a World War II field army. History The 11th Army was established on 5 October 1940 as "Kommandostab Leipzig", but changed its designation to Kommandostab München on 23 April 1941. It was restructured into Heeresgruppe Don on 21 November 1942. After being reformed on 26 January 1945 and taking part in various counter-offensives against the Soviet and US advance, the army surrendered to American troops on 23 April 1945. Formation The 11th Army was activated in 1940 to prepare for the forthcoming German attack on the Soviet Union. The 11th Army was part of Army Group South when it invaded the USSR during Operation Barbarossa. In September 1941, Erich von Manstein was appointed its commander. His predecessor, Colonel-General Eugen Ritter von Schobert, perished when his Fieseler Storch aircraft landed in a Soviet minefield. At the start of ''Barbarossa'', the 11th Army order of battle included: *LIV Corps ** 50th Infantry division * ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Russian Battleship Sevastopol (1911)
''Sevastopol'' (russian: Севастополь) was the first ship completed of the s of the Imperial Russian Navy, built before World War I. The ''Gangut''s were the first class of Russian dreadnoughts. She was named after the Siege of Sevastopol during the Crimean War. She was completed during the winter of 1914–1915, but was not ready for combat until mid-1915. Her role was to defend the mouth of the Gulf of Finland against the Germans, who never tried to enter, so she spent her time training and providing cover for minelaying operations. Her crew joined the general mutiny of the Baltic Fleet after the February Revolution and joined the Bolsheviks later that year. She was laid up in 1918 for lack of manpower, but her crew joined the Kronstadt Rebellion of 1921. She was renamed ''Parizhskaya Kommuna'' after the rebellion was crushed to commemorate the Paris Commune and to erase the ship's 'betrayal' of the Communist Party. She was recommissioned in 1925, and refitted in 19 ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Nebelwerfer
The Nebelwerfer (smoke mortar) was a World War II German series of weapons. They were initially developed by and assigned to the Wehrmacht's "smoke troops" (''Nebeltruppen''). Initially, two different mortars were fielded before they were replaced by a variety of rocket launchers ranging in size from . The thin walls of the rockets had the great advantage of allowing much larger quantities of gases, fluids or high explosives to be delivered than artillery or even mortar shells of the same weight. With the exception of the Balkans Campaign, ''Nebelwerfer'' were used in every campaign of the German Army during World War II. A version of the 21 cm calibre system was adapted for air-to-air use against Allied bombers. Weapons 10 cm Nebelwerfer 35 The lower muzzle velocity of a mortar meant that its shell walls could be thinner than those of artillery shells, and it could carry a larger payload than artillery shells of the same weight. This made it an attractive delivery system ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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22nd Air Landing Division (Wehrmacht)
The 22nd Infantry Division was a specialized German infantry division in World War II. Its primary method of transportation was gliders. The division played a significant role in the development of modern day air assault operations. History Created as 22. Infanterie-Division in 1935, one regiment participated in the 1939 Invasion of Poland; the rest of the division stayed in garrison on the Siegfried Line in case of a French attack in defense of Poland. The division retrained as 22. Luftlande-Division (''Air Landing Division'') for rapid tactical deployment to capture enemy airbases and performed in that role during the Battle of the Netherlands, invasion of the Netherlands suffering heavy losses during the failed Battle for The Hague (operation “Fall Festung”), and afterward advanced into France operating as ordinary ground infantry. Though planned for use in its air-landing role for the Battle of Crete, it was replaced by another division at the last minute. It joined Army ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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T-26
The T-26 tank was a Soviet light tank used during many conflicts of the Interwar period and in World War II. It was a development of the British Vickers 6-Ton tank and was one of the most successful tank designs of the 1930s until its light armour became vulnerable to newer anti-tank guns.Franco, ''El Tanque de la Guerra Civil Española'', p. 74. It was produced in greater numbers than any other tank of the period, with more than 11,000 units manufactured. During the 1930s, the USSR developed 53 variants of the T-26, including flame-throwing tanks, combat engineer vehicles, remotely controlled tanks, self-propelled guns, artillery tractors, and armoured carriers. Twenty-three of these were series-produced, others were experimental models. The T-26 and BT were the main tanks of the Red Army's armoured forces during the interwar period. The T-26 was the most important tank of the Spanish Civil War and played a significant role during the Battle of Lake Khasan in 1938, as w ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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132nd Infantry Division (Wehrmacht)
The 132nd Infantry Division (German: ''132. Infanterie-Division'') was a German division in World War II. It was formed on 5 October 1940 in Landshut, as part of the 11th Wave of Wehrmacht mobilization, and was destroyed in the Courland Pocket in 1945. In May 1941 the units of this division participated in the suppression of the Serb uprising in Sanski Most in the Independent State of Croatia, a fascist puppet state created from Yugoslav territory. Following operations in the Balkans, the division participated in Operation Barbarossa as part of Army Group South. The division was held in reserve and did not see combat in the Soviet Union until July 27, 1941, near Koziatyn in Ukraine. The division was then involved in operations south of Kiev along the Dnieper River and later was diverted to the Crimea, where it served on the Isthmus of Perekop, Kerch Peninsula and Sevastopol front. During the Siege of Sevastopol the division captured the Fortress of Maxim Gorky. Subsequent ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Belbek
Belbek ( uk, Бельбек; detatarized name: uk, Фруктове, Fruktove; russian: Фруктовое) is a village in Crimea. It is home to Sevastopol International Airport A military airfield in Belbek, a village near Sevastopol, Crimea, was also used for civil aviation, named Sevastopol International Airport Belbek, uk, Міжнародний аеропорт Севастополь "Бельбек", russian: Аэ .... {{coord, 44.6806, N, 33.6028, E, source:wikidata, display=title Villages in Crimea Nakhimov District ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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388th Rifle Division (Soviet Union)
The 388th Rifle Division was raised in 1941 as an infantry division of the Red Army, and served twice during World War II in that role. The division followed a very similar combat path to that of the 386th Rifle Division in both of its formations. It was first formed on August 19, in the Transcaucasus Military District. From December 7 to 13, it was shipped from the Black Sea ports to Sevastopol, which was under siege by the German 11th Army. The division arrived about a week before the second Axis assault on the fortress began and played an important role in the defense but suffered heavy casualties in the process. The battered unit remained in the fortress through the winter and spring until the final offensive, Operation ''Störfang'', began on June 2, 1942. It continued the struggle, in much diminished strength, through to the final Axis victory and was finally stricken from the Red Army order of battle on August 5. In the buildup to the Sovie ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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302nd Rifle Division (Soviet Union)
The 302nd Rifle Division began service as a specialized Red Army mountain rifle division, which saw service in the disastrous operations in the Crimea in early 1942. It was later converted to serve for the balance of the war as a standard rifle division. The division played a leading role in the 51st Army's breakthrough south of Stalingrad in the opening stages of Operation Uranus, and then in the exploitation following this success; however, it was badly battered and routed in the initial stage of the German Operation Winter Storm. After recovering from this, the division continued to turn in a creditable record of service in the southern sectors of the Soviet-German front for the duration, and was especially recognized for its role in the liberation of the city of Ternopol, for which it received that city's name as an honorific. 1st Formation The division originally began forming on July 18, 1941 at Krasnodar in the North Caucasus Military District as a mountain rifle division ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Kerch
Kerch ( uk, Керч; russian: Керчь, ; Old East Slavic: Кърчевъ; Ancient Greek: , ''Pantikápaion''; Medieval Greek: ''Bosporos''; crh, , ; tr, Kerç) is a city of regional significance on the Kerch Peninsula in the east of the Crimea, Ukraine. Kerch has a population of about Founded 2,600 years ago as an ancient Greek colony, Kerch is considered to be one of the most ancient cities in Crimea. The city experienced rapid growth starting in the 1920s and was the site of a major battle during World War II. Today, it is one of the largest cities in Crimea and is among the republic's most important industrial, transport and tourist centres. History Ancient times Archeological digs at Mayak village near the city ascertained that the area had already been inhabited in 17th–15th centuries BC. While many finds from Kerch can be found in the Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg and the local museum, a large number of antique sculptures, reliefs, bronze and ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |