Battalions Of Death
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Battalions Of Death
The Battalions of Death (), also called shock battalions (), were infantry shock troops established by the Russian Imperial Army during World War I. There were two different types of these units: the "battalions of death" were formed using many civilian volunteers recruited across Russia and given a short training in stormtrooper tactics with grenades. The "shock battalions" were created from soldiers of existing military units, in some cases with entire regiments being designated as shock units, and received additional training with grenades and machine guns. All of the shock unit members were able to wear red and black Chevron (insignia), chevrons and the Totenkopf, death's head skull insignia. The volunteers for these units mainly came from officers, sergeants, or civilians, while the ordinary soldiers were less likely to join. History They were initially formed in 1916 during the Brusilov offensive as special forces for infiltrating enemy lines, but in the spring of 1917 they ...
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8th Army (Russian Empire)
The Russian Eight Army (8-я армия, ''8А'') was a World War I Russian field army that fought on the Eastern theatre of war. Field management was established in July 1914 at the headquarters of the Kiev Military District. The unit was disbanded in the beginning of 1918. At the beginning of the war the 8th Army was composed of the VII, VIII, XII, XXIV Army Corps. Military Fronts in which the 8th Army participated * Southwestern Front (July 1914 - August 1917) * Romanian Front The Romanian Front (, FR) was a moderate fascist party created in Romania in 1935. Led by former Prime Minister of Romania, Prime Minister Alexandru Vaida-Voevod, it originated as a right-wing splinter group from the mainstream National Peasants' ... (August 1917 - the beginning of 1918) Commanders * 28.07.1914 – 17.03.1916 — General of Cavalry Aleksei Brusilov * 23.03.1916 – 29.04.1917 — General of Cavalry Alexey Kaledin * 29.04.1917 – 10.07.1917 — General of Infantry Lavr Kornilov ...
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Totenkopf
''Totenkopf'' (, i.e. ''skull'', literally "dead person's head") is the German word for skull. The word is often used to denote a figurative, graphic or sculptural symbol, common in Western culture, consisting of the representation of a human skull – usually frontal, more rarely in profile with or without the mandible. In some cases, other human skeletal parts may be added, often including two crossed long bones (femurs) depicted below or behind the skull (when it may be referred to in English as a " skull and crossbones"). The human skull is an internationally used symbol for death, the defiance of death, danger, or the dead, as well as piracy or toxicity. In English, the term ''Totenkopf'' is commonly associated with 19th- and 20th-century German military use, particularly in Nazi Germany. The german word for skull without emotional connotation is ''Schädel''. Naval use In early modern sea warfare to early modern sea piracy, buccaneers and pirates used the ''Totenkopf ...
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Military Units And Formations Of The Russian Empire
A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. Militaries are typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with their members identifiable by a distinct military uniform. They may consist of one or more military branches such as an army, navy, air force, space force, marines, or coast guard. The main task of a military is usually defined as defence of their state and its interests against external armed threats. In broad usage, the terms "armed forces" and "military" are often synonymous, although in technical usage a distinction is sometimes made in which a country's armed forces may include other paramilitary forces such as armed police. Beyond warfare, the military may be employed in additional sanctioned and non-sanctioned functions within the state, including internal security threats, crowd control, promotion of political agendas, emergency services and reconstruction, prot ...
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Jagdkommando
The Jagdkommando () is the Austrian Armed Forces' special forces unit. The unit is based at Wiener Neustadt and is known to have a manpower of 400 operators. History The history of the Austrian Special Operations Forces begins in 1961, when a group of Austrian officers participated in the US Army's Ranger School as part of their training in order to set up a similar course for the eventual establishment of Jagdkommando. Jagdkommando training courses were set up on May 4, 1963, to train the first operators. The Jagdkommando is the Austrian Armed Forces' special forces unit. The name ''Jagdkommando'' has its origins in the time of World War I, when small assault squads of the Austro-Hungarian Army were called what translates to "manhunt command". Most of the missions are classified, but the Jagdkommando usually operates in places where regular Austrian troops are also located - such as the Balkans ( KFOR, etc.), Afghanistan (ISAF/ Resolute Support), and Chad ( EUFOR Tchad/RCA). ...
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Arditi
Arditi (from the Italian verb ''ardire'', 'to dare', and translates as "The Daring nes) was the name adopted by a Royal Italian Army elite special force of World War I. They and the opposing German '' Stormtroopers'' were the first modern shock troops, and they have been called "the most feared corps by opposing armies".''Circolare Comando Supremo n. 6230 del 14 marzo 1917, da CS (UAVS) a C. d'Armata e Zona Gorizia (fino a C. di Brigata). Oggetto: reparti d'assalto.''Supreme Command Circular No. 6230 14 March 1917, from CS (UAVS) to Army Corps Area and Gorizia (up to Brigade Corps). Subject: assault troops. ''Reparti d'Assalto'' ('Assault units') were formed in the summer of 1917 by Colonel Bassi, and were assigned the tactical role of shock troops, breaching enemy defenses in order to prepare the way for a broad infantry advance. The Arditi were not units within infantry divisions, but were considered a separate combat arm. The ''Reparti d'Assalto'' were successful in bri ...
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Stormtroopers (Imperial Germany)
Stormtroopers ( or ''Stoßtruppen'') were the only elite shock troops of the Imperial German Army (Deutsches Heer) that specialized in commando style raids, infiltrating the trenches and wiping out the enemy quickly, maneuver warfare, reconnaissance, and shock tactics. In the last years of World War I, ''Stoßtruppen'' (" shock troopers" or "shove troopers") were trained to use infiltration tactics – part of the Germans' improved method of attack on enemy trench warfare. The German Empire entered the war certain that the conflict would be won in the course of great military campaigns, thus relegating results obtained during individual clashes to the background; consequently the best officers, concentrated in the German General Staff, placed their attention on maneuver warfare and the rational exploitation of railways, rather than concentrating on the conduct of battles. This attitude made a direct contribution to operational victories of Germany in Russia, Romania, Serbia and ...
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Women's Battalion
Women's Battalions (Russia) were all-female combat units formed after the February Revolution by the Russian Provisional Government, in a last-ditch effort to inspire the mass of war-weary soldiers to continue fighting in World War I. In the spring of 1917, Kerensky, the Russian Ministry of War authorized the creation of sixteen separate all-female military formations. Four were designated as infantry battalions, eleven slated as communications detachments and a singular naval unit. Already some women had successfully petitioned to join regular military units, and with the planning of the Kerensky Offensive, a number began pressing the new Provisional Government to create special women's battalions.Stoff 2006, p. 114. These women, along with a number of high-ranking members of the Russian government and military administration, believed that female soldiers would have significant propaganda value, their example revitalizing the weary and demoralized men of the Russian army.Stof ...
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February Revolution
The February Revolution (), known in Soviet historiography as the February Bourgeois Democratic Revolution and sometimes as the March Revolution or February Coup was the first of Russian Revolution, two revolutions which took place in Russia in 1917. The main events of the revolution took place in and near Petrograd (now Saint Petersburg), the then-capital of Russia, where long-standing discontent with the monarchy erupted into mass protests against food rationing on 23 February Old Style and New Style dates, Old Style (8 March Old Style and New Style dates, New Style). Revolutionary activity lasted about eight days, involving mass demonstrations and violent armed clashes with police and Special Corps of Gendarmes, gendarmes, the last loyal forces of the Russian monarchy. On 27 February O.S. (12 March N.S.), most of the forces of the capital's garrison sided with the revolutionaries. In the same day, the Russian Provisional Government, made up by left-leaning State Duma (Russ ...
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Stavka Of The Supreme Commander
The Stavka of the Supreme Commander () was the wartime supreme headquarters of the Russian Imperial Army in the field during World War I until the demobilization of the army in March 1918. The Stavka was led by the supreme commander, Grand Duke Nicholas Nikolaevich of Russia (1856–1929), Grand Duke Nicholas Nicholaevich from 1914 to 1915 and then Emperor Nicholas II of Russia, Nicholas II until the February Revolution in 1917. Grand Duke Nicholas presided over the initial offensives in East Prussia and Galicia (Central Europe), Galicia before the Gorlice–Tarnów offensive forced Russia to withdraw, becoming known as the Great Retreat (Russia), Great Retreat. After this the emperor took command, and the second half of 1915 and early 1916 was a break from large-scale operations (with the exception of the Lake Naroch offensive, Lake Naroch and Erzurum offensive, Erzurum offensives) until the start of the Brusilov Offensive. While Nicholas II was the supreme commander he left mil ...
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Southwestern Front (Russian Empire)
The Southwestern Front () was an army group of the Imperial Russian Army during World War I as part of the Eastern Front war theater. During the conflict it was responsible for managing operations along a front line that stretched 615 kilometers across Ukraine, starting from what is now southern Belarus to northern Romania. To its left side (south), there was located Romanian Front which was a joint formation of the Russian Empire and the Kingdom of Romania. To its right side (north), there was located Northwestern Front which in 1915 split and Western Front was one that covered right flank of the Southwestern Front. The front was facing primarily against Austro-Hungarian Army and in few operations against Imperial German Army. In 1917 the headquarters of the Front was located in Berdychiv and later moved west to Rivne. It was established in August 1914 based on units of the Kiev Military District and the Odessa Military District and lasted throughout the war until the unre ...
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Central Powers
The Central Powers, also known as the Central Empires,; ; , ; were one of the two main coalitions that fought in World War I (1914–1918). It consisted of the German Empire, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire, and the Kingdom of Bulgaria; this was also known as the Quadruple Alliance., , , The Central Powers' origin was the Dual Alliance (1879), alliance of Germany and Austria-Hungary in 1879. Despite having nominally joined the Triple Alliance (1882), Triple Alliance before, Kingdom of Italy, Italy did not take part in World War I on the side of the Central Powers and later joined on the side of the Allies of World War I, Allies. The Ottoman Empire and Bulgaria did not join until after World War I had begun. The Central Powers faced, and were defeated by, the Allied Powers, which themselves had formed around the Triple Entente. They dissolved in 1918 after they lost the war. Name The name 'Central Powers' is derived from the location of its member countries. All f ...
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