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79th Volksgrenadier Division (Wehrmacht)
The 79th Infantry Division ''(79. Infanterie-Division)'' was an infantry division of Nazi Germany's Wehrmacht during World War II. Operational history The 79th Infantry Division began mobilization on March 1, 1939, as a part of the second German "wave" system of mobilization. The "wave" was the German designation for groups of infantry divisions raised at approximately the same time, with approximately the same type of organization, equipment, personnel and training. Raised from Rheinlanders in the German Military District ''(Wehrkreis)'' XII, and headquartered in Wiesbaden, the home station of the 79th was Koblenz. It was designated as a Division on August 26, 1939. Assigned to the French-German border in the Saar region, the 79th trained and worked on the West Wall. The Division saw action against the French on the Saar Front on May 10, 1940, when it was part of the invasion forces. In June, the division participated in attacks on the Maginot Line and the capture of Epinal. Th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Infantry
Infantry, or infantryman are a type of soldier who specialize in ground combat, typically fighting dismounted. Historically the term was used to describe foot soldiers, i.e. those who march and fight on foot. In modern usage, the term broadly encompasses a wide variety of subspecialties, including light infantry, irregular infantry, heavy infantry, mountain infantry, motorized infantry, mechanized infantry, Airborne forces, airborne infantry, Air assault, air assault infantry, and Marines, naval infantry. Other subtypes of infantry, such as line infantry and mounted infantry, were once commonplace but fell out of favor in the 1800s with the invention of more accurate and powerful weapons. Etymology and terminology In English, use of the term ''infantry'' began about the 1570s, describing soldiers who march and fight on foot. The word derives from Middle French , from older Italian (also Spanish) ''infanteria'' (foot soldiers too inexperienced for cavalry), from Latin '' ... [...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] |
Führer Grenadier Brigade
The Führer Grenadier Brigade (formerly Führer Grenadier Battalion later Führer Grenadier Division) was an élite German Army combat unit which saw action during World War II. The Führer Grenadier Brigade is sometimes mistakenly perceived as being a part of the Waffen-SS, whereas it was actually an Army unit and technically assigned to the Großdeutschland Division. This misconception comes from its original duty of guarding Adolf Hitler's East Prussian Wolfsschanze Headquarters, a task which sounded similar to the original one of Waffen-SS 1. Panzer Division "Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler", which in turn stemmed from the Führer's original bodyguard corps. Fighting on both the Eastern and Western Fronts, the brigade surrendered to U.S. forces in Austria in 1945. Creation and Early History The Führer Grenadier Battalion was raised in April 1943 to act as a second guard unit on the outer perimeter of Hitler's ''Wolfsschanze'' in Rastenburg, East Prussia. Despite the idea of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Diekirch
Diekirch (; ; or (locally) ; from ''Diet-Kirch'', i.e. "people's church") is a Communes of Luxembourg, commune with List of towns in Luxembourg, town status in north-eastern Luxembourg, in the Diekirch (canton), canton of Diekirch and, until its abolition in 2015, the Diekirch (district), district of Diekirch. The town is situated on the banks of the Sauer river. The town's heraldic shield, showing a crowned lion on a castle, was granted in 1988. It is based on the town's 14th-century seal and arms. In 1977, Diekirch became the first town in Luxembourg to have a pedestrian zone. Diekirch is home to a brewery of national importance carrying the town's name. Three secondary schools are located in Diekirch: ''Lycée classique de Diekirch'', ''Lycée technique hôtelier Alexis Heck'' and ''Nordstadlycée''. The town is home to the national operational headquarters of the Luxembourg Armed Forces, Luxembourgish Army at the Haerebierg Military Centre (located on the hill Herrenberg, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Operation Herbstnebel
Unternehmen Herbstnebel ("Operation Autumn Mist") was an offensive planned by German Field Marshal Walter Model and his Army Group B operational staff in late 1944 during World War II. It envisaged a German Army attack targeting the Allied forces in eastern Belgium and Luxembourg, east of the Meuse River. Concept of the operation ''Herbstnebel'' was created as an alternative to '' Wacht am Rhein'', Adolf Hitler's plan to seize Antwerp and bottle up all Allied forces in Belgium and the Netherlands. Model, along with all the other senior commanders involved, believed this was unachievable given Germany's limited resources at the time. Thus he devised a less ambitious scenario that would not cross the Meuse, but still deliver a sharp defeat to the Allies. Like ''Wacht am Rhein'', Model's attack would be launched in the Ardennes sector, but would then turn north instead of continuing west and northwest. Field Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt commanding OB West, had come up with a similar p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
7th Army (Wehrmacht)
The 7th Army () was a World War II field army of the German land forces. History Origins The 7th Army was activated in Stuttgart on August 25, 1939 with General Friedrich Dollmann in command. At the outbreak of the war, the 7th Army defended the French border and manned the Westwall in the Upper Rhine region. At the start of the Campaign in the West in 1940, the 7th Army was part of General Wilhelm Ritter von Leeb's Army Group C. On 14 June 1940, Army Group C attacked the Maginot Line after it had been cut off by armored units of the XXXXI Panzer Corps. Lead elements of the 7th Army reached the area in front of Colmar and later pursued parts of the French 2nd Army Group into Lorraine. At the conclusion of the campaign, the 7th Army was in eastern France. From July 1940 until April 1941, the 7th Army guarded a region of the coast in southwestern France. From 18 April 1941, the 7th Army was responsible for coastal defense in Brittany and Normandy. By mid-1944, the 7th Arm ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Volksgrenadier
''Volksgrenadier'', also spelt ''Volks-Grenadier'', was the name given to a type of German Army division formed in the autumn of 1944 after the double loss of Army Group Centre to the Soviets in Operation Bagration and the Fifth Panzer Army to the Western Allies in Normandy. The name itself was intended to build morale, appealing at once to nationalism (''Volk'') and Germany's older military traditions (''Grenadier''). Germany formed 78 VGDs during the war. ''Volksgrenadier'' divisions were professional military formations with standardized weapons and equipment, unlike the unrelated '' Volkssturm'' militia. History and organization The strategic emergency and concomitant manpower shortage resulting from the losses in mid-1944 required the creation of infantry divisions that economized on personnel and emphasized defensive strength over offensive strength. The ''Volksgrenadier'' divisions met this need by using only six line infantry battalions instead of the normal nine for ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Prussia
Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a Germans, German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussia (region), Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, the House of Hohenzollern ruled Prussia, expanding its size with the Prussian Army. Prussia, with its capital at Königsberg and then, when it became the Kingdom of Prussia in 1701, History of Berlin, Berlin, decisively shaped the history of Germany. Prussia formed the German Empire when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by 1932 Prussian coup d'état, an emergency decree transferring powers of the Prussian government to German Chancellor Franz von Papen in 1932 and ''de jure'' by Abolition of Prussia, an Allied decree in 1947. The name ''Prussia'' derives from the Old Prussians who were conquered by the Teutonic Knightsan organized Catholic medieval Military order (religious society), military order of Pru ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
King Michael's Coup
King is a royal title given to a male monarch. A king is an absolute monarch if he holds unrestricted governmental power or exercises full sovereignty over a nation. Conversely, he is a constitutional monarch if his power is restrained by fixed laws. Kings are hereditary monarchs when they inherit power by birthright and elective monarchs when chosen to ascend the throne. *In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the title may refer to tribal kingship. Germanic kingship is cognate with Indo-European traditions of tribal rulership (cf. Indic '' rājan'', Gothic '' reiks'', and Old Irish '' rí'', etc.). *In the context of classical antiquity, king may translate in Latin as '' rex'' and in Greek as '' archon'' or ''basileus''. *In classical European feudalism, the title of ''king'' as the ruler of a ''kingdom'' is understood to be the highest rank in the feudal order, potentially subject, at least nominally, only to an emperor (harking b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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] |
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to the east, and the Black Sea to the southeast. It has a mainly continental climate, and an area of with a population of 19 million people. Romania is the List of European countries by area, twelfth-largest country in Europe and the List of European Union member states by population, sixth-most populous member state of the European Union. Europe's second-longest river, the Danube, empties into the Danube Delta in the southeast of the country. The Carpathian Mountains cross Romania from the north to the southwest and include Moldoveanu Peak, at an altitude of . Bucharest is the country's Bucharest metropolitan area, largest urban area and Economy of Romania, financial centre. Other major urban centers, urban areas include Cluj-Napoca, Timiș ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the north; Poland and Slovakia to the west; Hungary, Romania and Moldova to the southwest; and the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov to the south and southeast. Kyiv is the nation's capital and List of cities in Ukraine, largest city, followed by Kharkiv, Odesa, and Dnipro. Ukraine's official language is Ukrainian language, Ukrainian. Humans have inhabited Ukraine since 32,000 BC. During the Middle Ages, it was the site of early Slavs, early Slavic expansion and later became a key centre of East Slavs, East Slavic culture under the state of Kievan Rus', which emerged in the 9th century. Kievan Rus' became the largest and most powerful realm in Europe in the 10th and 11th centuries, but gradually disintegrated into rival regional powers before being d ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
