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Fritz Freitag
Fritz Freitag (28 April 1894 – 10 May 1945) was a German SS commander during the Nazi era. During World War II, he commanded the 2nd SS Infantry Brigade, the SS Cavalry Division Florian Geyer, and the SS Division Galicia. Freitag committed suicide in May 1945. Career Fritz Freitag was born in Allenstein, East Prussia, the son of a railroad official. After passing his high school examinations he joined the 1st (East Prussian) Grenadier Regiment of the Prussian Army. During World War I, Freitag served on both the Eastern Front and the Western Front. In 1919, Freitag joined the ''Freikorps'' and in 1920, the ''Schutzpolizei''. By the time of World War II, Freitag had been promoted to Police Colonel. During the invasion of Poland, he was the Chief of Operations of the 3rd Police Regiment and the Chief of Staff to the senior police commander in the 14th Army, Udo von Woyrsch.Mitcham, pp. 74-75 In September 1940, Freitag joined the ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) and was posted ont ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Olsztyn
Olsztyn ( , ) is a city on the Łyna River in northern Poland. It is the capital of the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, and is a city with powiat rights, city with county rights. The population of the city was estimated at 169,793 residents Olsztyn is the largest city in Warmia, and has been the capital of the voivodeship since 1999. In the same year, the University of Warmia and Masuria was founded from the fusion of three other local universities. The city is the seat of the Archbishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Warmia. The most important sights of the city include the Old Town with the medieval Olsztyn Castle, Castle of Warmian Cathedral Chapter and Co-Cathedral Basilica of St. James in Olsztyn, St. James Co-cathedral, which dates back more than 600 years. The market square is part of the European Route of Brick Gothic and the co-cathedral is regarded as one of the greatest monuments of Gothic architecture in Poland. The city is also known for its association with Ni ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Western Front (World War I)
The Western Front was one of the main Theatre (warfare), theatres of war during World War I. Following the outbreak of war in August 1914, the Imperial German Army, German Army opened the Western Front by German invasion of Belgium (1914), invading Luxembourg and Belgium, then gaining military control of important industrial regions in Third Republic of France, France. The German advance was halted with the First Battle of the Marne, Battle of the Marne. Following the Race to the Sea, both sides dug in along a meandering line of fortified trench warfare, trenches, stretching from the North Sea to the Swiss frontier with France, the position of which changed little except during early 1917 and again in 1918. Between 1915 and 1917 there were several offensives along this Front (military), front. The attacks employed massive artillery bombardments and massed infantry advances. Entrenchments, machine gun emplacements, barbed wire, and artillery repeatedly inflicted severe casualties ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Standartenführer
__NOTOC__ ''Standartenführer'' (short: ''Staf'', , ) was a Nazi Party (NSDAP) paramilitary rank that was used in several NSDAP organizations, such as the SA, SS, NSKK and the NSFK. First founded as a title in 1925, in 1928 it became one of the first commissioned NSDAP ranks and was bestowed upon those SA and SS officers who commanded a unit known as a '' Standarte'' (plural ''Standarten''), a unit equivalent to an army battalion and comprising 300–500 personnel. In 1929 the rank of ''Standartenführer'' was divided into two separate ranks known as ''Standartenführer'' (I) and ''Standartenführer'' (II). This concept was abandoned in 1930 when both the SA and SS expanded their rank systems to allow for more officer positions and thus the need for only a single ''Standartenführer'' rank. In 1933, when Adolf Hitler came to national power in Germany, the rank of ''Standartenführer'' had been established as the highest field officer rank, lower than that of ''Oberführer'' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Death Squad
A death squad is an armed group whose primary activity is carrying out extrajudicial killings, massacres, or enforced disappearances as part of political repression, genocide, ethnic cleansing, or revolutionary terror. Except in rare cases in which they are formed by an insurgency, domestic or foreign governments actively participate in, support, or ignore the death squad's activities. Death squads are distinguished from assassination groups by their permanent organization and the larger number of victims (typically thousands or more) who may not be prominent individuals. Other violence, such as rape, torture, arson, or bombings may be carried out alongside murders. They may comprise a secret police force, paramilitary militia groups, government soldiers, policemen, or combinations thereof. They may also be organized as vigilantes, bounty hunters, mercenaries, or contract killers. When death squads are not controlled by the state, they may consist of insurgent forces or organize ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Einsatzgruppen
(, ; also 'task forces') were (SS) paramilitary death squads of Nazi Germany that were responsible for mass murder, primarily by shooting, during World War II (1939–1945) in German-occupied Europe. The had an integral role in the implementation of the so-called " Final Solution to the Jewish question" () in territories conquered by Nazi Germany, and were involved in the murder of much of the intelligentsia and cultural elite of Poland, including members of the Catholic priesthood. Almost all of the people they murdered were civilians, beginning with the intelligentsia and swiftly progressing to Soviet political commissars, Jews, and Romani people, as well as actual or alleged partisans throughout Eastern Europe. Under the direction of Heinrich Himmler and the supervision of SS- Reinhard Heydrich, the operated in territories occupied by the ''Wehrmacht'' (German armed forces) following the invasion of Poland in September 1939 and the invasion of the Soviet Un ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bandenbekämpfung
In Military history of Germany, German military history, (), also referred to as Nazi security warfare during World War II, refers to the concept and military doctrine of Counterinsurgency, countering Resistance movement, resistance or insurrection in the Rear (military), rear area during wartime with extreme brutality. The doctrine provided a rationale for disregarding the established Law of war, laws of war and for targeting any number of groups, from Guerrilla warfare, armed guerrillas to civilians, as "bandits" or "members of gangs". As applied by the German Empire and later Nazi Germany, it became instrumental in the crimes against humanity committed by the two regimes, including the Herero and Nama genocide and the Holocaust. Historian Alex J. Kay estimates that around one million civilians died as a result of German anti-partisan warfare—excluding actual partisans—among the 13 to 14 million people murdered by the Nazis during World War II. Background According to his ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1 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] |
Heinrich Himmler
Heinrich Luitpold Himmler (; 7 October 1900 – 23 May 1945) was a German Nazism, Nazi politician and military leader who was the 4th of the (Protection Squadron; SS), a leading member of the Nazi Party, and one of the most powerful people in Nazi Germany. He is primarily known for being one of the main architects of the Holocaust. After serving in a reserve battalion during World War I without seeing combat, Himmler went on to join the Nazi Party in 1923. In 1925, he joined the SS, a small paramilitary arm of the Nazi Party that served as a bodyguard unit for Adolf Hitler. Subsequently, Himmler rose steadily through the SS's ranks to become by 1929. Under Himmler's leadership, the SS grew from a 290-man battalion into one of the most powerful institutions within Nazi Germany. Over the course of his career, Himmler acquired a reputation for good organisational skills as well as for selecting highly competent subordinates, such as Reinhard Heydrich. From 1943 onwards, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Schutzstaffel
The ''Schutzstaffel'' (; ; SS; also stylised with SS runes as ''ᛋᛋ'') was a major paramilitary organisation under Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party in Nazi Germany, and later throughout German-occupied Europe during World War II. It began with a small guard unit known as the ''Saal-Schutz'' ("Hall Security") made up of party volunteers to provide security for party meetings in Munich. In 1925, Heinrich Himmler joined the unit, which had by then been reformed and given its final name. Under his direction (1929–1945) it grew from a small paramilitary formation during the Weimar Republic to one of the most powerful organisations in Nazi Germany. From the time of the Nazi Party's rise to power until the regime's collapse in 1945, the SS was the foremost agency of security, mass surveillance, and state terrorism within Germany and German-occupied Europe. The two main constituent groups were the '' Allgemeine SS'' (General SS) and ''Waffen-SS'' (Armed SS). The ''Allgemeine ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Udo Von Woyrsch
Udo Gustav Wilhelm Egon von Woyrsch (24 July 1895 – 14 January 1983) was a Nazi Party politician and SS-''Obergruppenführer'' in Nazi Germany who participated in the massacre of Jews in Poland, and was later convicted of being an accessory to manslaughter in connection with the Night of the Long Knives murders. Early life Woyrsch was a member of an aristocratic Silesian family. His father was a '' Rittmeister'' and estate owner and his uncle was Remus von Woyrsch, a Prussian Field Marshal in the First World War. Born in 1895, he was tutored at home until 1905 then went to secondary school in Brieg (today, Brzeg in Poland) followed by cadet school in Wahlstatt (today, Legnickie Pole) and the military academy at Lichterfelde, Berlin. Commissioned as a '' Leutnant'' in the Prussian Army in August 1914, he served on the Eastern Front during the First World War and earned the Iron Cross first and second class. He was captured by the Russians but after the end of the war wa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
14th Army (Wehrmacht)
The 14th Army () was a German field army in World War II. History Poland The 14th Army was activated on 1 August 1939 with General Wilhelm List in command and saw service in Poland until the end of the Polish campaign on 13 October 1939. Italy The 14th Army was reactivated for the defence of Italy in late 1943 when its headquarters was created using the headquarters personnel of Army Group B which had been abolished when Albert Kesselring was given command of all Axis troops in Italy. 14th Army was initially responsible for the defence of Rome and dealing with any amphibious landings the Allies might make to the rear of the German 10th Army, which was fighting on the defensive lines south of Rome. The 14th Army faced the Allied amphibious landings at Anzio in January 1944 and after the Allied breakthrough in May 1944 took part in the fighting retreat to the Gothic Line. The German armies in Italy finally surrendered on 2 May 1945 after being defeated during the Allies' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
3rd SS Police Regiment
The 3rd SS Police Regiment () was named the 3rd Police Regiment (''Polizei-Regiment 3'') when it was temporarily formed in 1939 from existing Order Police (''Ordnungspolizei'') units for security duties during the invasion of Poland. The second formation was ordered in 1942 from existing Order Police units in the Netherlands. It was redesignated as an SS unit in early 1943. It remained in the Netherlands for the rest of World War II. Formation and organization The first incarnation of the 3rd Police Regiment was formed on 8 September 1939 in Katowice, Poland, from elements of Police Group 1 (''Polizeigruppe 1'') for security duties in the rear area of the 14th Army during the Polish Campaign. The regiment was presumably disbanded after the end of the campaign. The regiment was ordered to be reformed in July 1942 in the Netherlands, but the regimental headquarters and the signal company were not formed until 2 September in The Hague.Tessin & Kanapin, p. 616 Police Battalion 66 (' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
