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German Cruiser Lützow (1940)
was the lead ship of her class of heavy cruisers (often termed pocket battleships) which served with the of Nazi Germany during World War II. Ordered by the Weimar government for the , she was laid down at the shipyard in Kiel in February 1929 and completed by April 1933. Originally classified as an armored ship () by the , in February 1940 the Germans reclassified the remaining two ships of this class as heavy cruisers. In 1940, she was renamed , after the unfinished heavy cruiser was sold to the Soviet Union the previous year. The ship saw significant action with the , including several non-intervention patrols in the Spanish Civil War, during which she was attacked by Republican bombers in the Deutschland incident. At the outbreak of World War II, she was cruising the North Atlantic, prepared to attack Allied merchant traffic. Bad weather hampered her efforts, and she sank or captured only a handful of vessels before returning to Germany. She then participated in Op ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalitarianism, totalitarian dictatorship. The Third Reich, meaning "Third Realm" or "Third Empire", referred to the Nazi claim that Nazi Germany was the successor to the earlier Holy Roman Empire (800–1806) and German Empire (1871–1918). The Third Reich, which the Nazis referred to as the Thousand-Year Reich, ended in May 1945, after 12 years, when the Allies of World War II, Allies defeated Germany and entered the capital, Berlin, End of World War II in Europe, ending World War II in Europe. After Hitler was appointed Chancellor of Germany in 1933, the Nazi Party began to eliminate political opposition and consolidate power. A 1934 German referendum confirmed Hitler as sole ''Führer'' (leader). Power was centralised in Hitler's person, an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Weimar Republic
The Weimar Republic, officially known as the German Reich, was the German Reich, German state from 1918 to 1933, during which it was a constitutional republic for the first time in history; hence it is also referred to, and unofficially proclaimed itself, as the German Republic. The period's informal name is derived from the city of Weimar, which hosted the constituent assembly that established its government. In English, the republic was usually simply called "Germany", with "Weimar Republic" (a term introduced by Adolf Hitler in 1929) not commonly used until the 1930s. The Weimar Republic had a semi-presidential system. Toward the end of the First World War (1914–1918), Germany was exhausted and suing for peace, sued for peace in desperate circumstances. Awareness of imminent defeat sparked a German Revolution of 1918–1919, revolution, Abdication of Wilhelm II, the abdication of Kaiser Wilhelm II, the proclamation of the Weimar Republic on 9 November 1918, and formal cessa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Task Force Thiele
Task Force Thiele () was an organizational unit of the German ''Kriegsmarine'' during World War II. It was named after its commander ''Vizeadmiral'' August Thiele who led the task force from 23 March 1945 until it was disbanded on 27 April 1945. It was formed from the Second Task Force () which had been created on 28 July 1944 from the Baltic Sea Training Unit, also under command of Thiele. Prinz Eugen served as the flagship of Task Force Thiele. Background Operational history Thiele on-board of ''Prinz Eugen'' led the task force on 19 August 1944 in support of the German forces in Courland. ''Prinz Eugen'' steamed into the Gulf of Riga and bombarded Tukums from a distance of . ''Prinz Eugen'' ship fired a total of 265 rounds from its 20.3 cm (8.0 in) SK L/60 guns. In parallel, the destroyers '' Z25'', '' Z28'', '' Z35'' and '' Z36'' and the torpedo boats '' T23'' and '' T28'' attacked further targets. The Soviet advance in the Baltic continued. The last German convoy left R ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Baltic Sea
The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by the countries of Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden, and the North European Plain, North and Central European Plain regions. It is the world's largest brackish water basin. The sea stretches from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from 10°E to 30°E longitude. It is a Continental shelf#Shelf seas, shelf sea and marginal sea of the Atlantic with limited water exchange between the two, making it an inland sea. The Baltic Sea drains through the Danish straits into the Kattegat by way of the Øresund, Great Belt and Little Belt. It includes the Gulf of Bothnia (divided into the Bothnian Bay and the Bothnian Sea), the Gulf of Finland, the Gulf of Riga and the Bay of Gdańsk. The "Baltic Proper" is bordered on its northern edge, at latitude 60°N, by Åland and the Gulf of Bothnia, on its northeastern edge by the Gulf of Finland, on its eastern edge by the Gulf of Riga, and in the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Convoy JW 51B
Convoy JW 51B was an Arctic convoy sent from United Kingdom by the Western Allies to aid the Soviet Union during the Second World War. It sailed in late December 1942, reaching the Soviet northern ports in early January 1943. Convoy JW 51B came under attack by German surface units, engaged in Operation Regenbogen, on 31 December. In the engagement, a British minesweeper and a British destroyer were sunk and a German destroyer were sunk; no ships were lost from the convoy in what became known as the Battle of the Barents Sea. Background Convoy escorts Convoy JW 51A consisted of 15 merchant ships which departed from Loch Ewe on 22 December 1942. Close escort was provided by the minesweeper , two corvettes and two armed trawlers. The close escort was supported by six Home Fleet destroyers led by (Captain Robert Sherbrooke). The convoy sailed with a local escort group from Britain and was joined later by a local escort group from Murmansk. A cruiser cover force comprising , and t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Battle Of The Barents Sea
The Battle of the Barents Sea was a World War II naval engagement on 31 December 1942 between warships of the German Navy (''Kriegsmarine'') and British ships escorting Convoy JW 51B to Kola Inlet in the USSR. The action took place in the Barents Sea north of North Cape, Norway. The German raiders' failure to inflict significant losses on the convoy infuriated Hitler, who ordered that German naval strategy would henceforth concentrate on the U-boat fleet rather than surface ships. Background Convoy JW 51B Convoy JW 51B comprised fourteen merchant ships carrying war materials to the USSR, about 202 tanks, 2,046 vehicles, 87 fighters, 33 bombers, of fuel, of aviation fuel and just over of other supplies. They were protected by the destroyers , , , , and , with the s and , the minesweeper and trawlers and . The escort commander was Captain Robert Sherbrooke (in ''Onslow''). The convoy sailed in the dead of winter to preclude attacks by German aircraft like those that had ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Convoy PQ 17
Convoy PQ 17 was an Allied Arctic convoy during the Second World War. On 27 June 1942, the ships sailed from Hvalfjörður, Iceland, for the port of Arkhangelsk in the Soviet Union. The convoy was located by German forces on 1 July, shadowed and attacked. The First Sea Lord, Admiral Sir Dudley Pound, acting on information that German ships, including , were moving to intercept, ordered the covering force, based on the Allied battleships and away from the convoy and told the convoy to scatter. Because of vacillation by ''Oberkommando der Wehrmacht'' (OKW, German armed forces high command), the ''Tirpitz'' raid never materialised. The convoy was the first large joint Anglo-American naval operation under British command; in Churchill's view this encouraged a more careful approach to fleet movements. As the close escort and the covering cruiser forces withdrew westwards to intercept the German raiders, the merchant ships were left without escorts. The freighters were attacked ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Operation Rösselsprung (1942)
(Operation Knight's Move) was a plan by the German Navy () to intercept an Arctic convoy in mid-1942. It was the largest operation of its type mounted by the and resulted in the near-destruction of Convoy PQ 17. The success of the operation was indirect in that none of the ships engaged the convoy, its losses being inflicted by U-boat and aircraft attacks. Despite not making contact with the convoy a number of the ships of were damaged and the heavy cruiser , ran aground in thick fog, needing three months of repairs. Background is the Knight's move in chess and was a plan to intercept Convoy PQ 17, expected in late June 1942. Two German naval forces were assembled, one at Trondheim, comprised the battleship , the heavy cruiser and six destroyers (Admiral Otto Schniewind); the second, at Narvik, was composed of the heavy cruisers , and six destroyers (Vice-Admiral Oskar Kummetz). Wolfpack (Ice Devil) of six (later eight) U-boats was established in the Norwegian Sea no ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
