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Infantry Division Ferdinand Von Schill (Wehrmacht)
The Infantry Division Ferdinand von Schill () was an infantry division of the German Wehrmacht during World War II. It was formed in April 1945, within a month of the end of the war, and was among the last divisions fielded by the German army during the war. The division was named after the Prussian commander at the Battle of Stralsund of 1809, Ferdinand von Schill (1776–1809). History The Infantry Division Ferdinand von Schill was formed on 24 April 1945 by ''Sturmgeschützschule Burg'' personnel, the former Kampfgruppe Burg, and assigned to the 12th Army ( Wenck). Its commander was Alfred Müller. Müller held the rank of Oberstleutnant (lieutenant colonel) and thus deviated from the typical Wehrmacht divisional commander in that he was not a general. The division was the last infantry division fielded by the German Army in World War II. Its deployment was so late in the war that it does not even appear in the listings of the German military postal service. At the end o ... [...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] |
12th Army (Wehrmacht)
The 12th Army (German: ''12. Armee'') was a World War II field army of the Wehrmacht. History Campaign in the west The 12th Army was activated on October 13, 1939, with General Wilhelm List in command. First seeing defensive action along the Siegfried Line, the army was part of Rundstedt's Army Group A responsible for the Ardennes offensive. It had under its command seven infantry divisions and one mountain division in May 1940. After the breakthrough on the Meuse near Sedan, the infantry divisions fought their way to the Aisne. In the ensuing Fall Rot the army marched to the Swiss border and secured the demarcation line with Zone libre. For the rest of 1940 the army was assigned to occupation duties in France. Balkan campaign In February 1941, an agreement between Field Marshal List and the Bulgarian General Staff allowed the passage of German troops. On the night of February 28, German Army units crossed the Danube from Romania and took up strategic positions in Bulgaria. On ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ferdinand Von Schill
Major Ferdinand Baptista von Schill (6 January 1776 – 31 May 1809) was a Prussian Army officer who revolted unsuccessfully against France's domination of Prussia in May 1809. Schill's rebellion ended at the Battle of Stralsund, a battle which also saw Schill's own death in action. Outnumbered 3 to 1, Schill's Prussian forces succumbed to a Napoleonic force supported by Dutch and Danish auxiliaries. Life Schill was born at Wilmsdorf (now a part of Bannewitz, Saxony) and entered the Prussian Army's cavalry at the age of twelve or fourteen (sources differ).Sam Mustafa, ''The Long Ride of Major von Schill'' (Boulder: Rowman & Littlefield, 2008), pgs. 109, 124–136, 132 His father, Johann-Georg Schill, had been an ambitious commoner from Bohemia, who attained the aristocratic "von" for his services to Austria and Saxony during the Seven Years' War. J.-G. von Schill had raised a "Freikorps", a small raiding party of cavalry and mounted infantry, operating behind enemy lines, and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Infantry Division
A division is a large military unit or Formation (military), formation, usually consisting of between 10,000 and 25,000 soldiers. In most armies, a division is composed of several regiments or brigades; in turn, several divisions typically make up a corps. Historically, the division has been the default combined arms unit capable of independent Military tactics, operations. Smaller combined arms units, such as the American regimental combat team (RCT) during World War II, were used when conditions favored them. In recent times, modern Western militaries have begun adopting the smaller brigade combat team (similar to the RCT) as the default combined arms unit, with the division to which they belong being less important. A similar word, ''Divizion, //'', is also used in Slavic languages (such as Russian, Serbo-Croatian, and Polish) for a battalion-size artillery or cavalry unit. In naval usage "division (naval), division" has a completely different range of meanings. Aboard ship ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wehrmacht
The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the German Army (1935–1945), ''Heer'' (army), the ''Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmacht''" replaced the previously used term (''Reich Defence'') and was the manifestation of the Nazi regime's efforts to German rearmament, rearm Germany to a greater extent than the Treaty of Versailles permitted. After the Adolf Hitler's rise to power, Nazi rise to power in 1933, one of Adolf Hitler's most overt and bellicose moves was to establish the ''Wehrmacht'', a modern offensively-capable armed force, fulfilling the Nazi regime's long-term goals of regaining lost territory as well as gaining new territory and dominating its neighbours. This required the reinstatement of conscription and massive investment and Military budget, defence spending on the arms industry. The ''Wehrmacht'' formed the heart of Germany's politico-military po ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the world's countries participated, with many nations mobilising all resources in pursuit of total war. Tanks in World War II, Tanks and Air warfare of World War II, aircraft played major roles, enabling the strategic bombing of cities and delivery of the Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, first and only nuclear weapons ever used in war. World War II is the List of wars by death toll, deadliest conflict in history, causing World War II casualties, the death of 70 to 85 million people, more than half of whom were civilians. Millions died in genocides, including the Holocaust, and by massacres, starvation, and disease. After the Allied victory, Allied-occupied Germany, Germany, Allied-occupied Austria, Austria, Occupation of Japan, Japan, a ... [...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] |
Battle Of Stralsund (1809)
The Battle of Stralsund took place on 31 May 1809 during the Dano-Swedish War of 1808–1809 and Franco-Swedish War, both part of the larger Napoleonic Wars. It was fought between Prussian ''freikorps'' under Ferdinand von Schill and French, Dutch and Dano-Norwegian troops in Stralsund. In a "vicious street battle", Schill's army was defeated and he was killed in action. Background Stralsund, a port at the Baltic Sea in Swedish Pomerania, was surrendered to France after the siege of 1807 during the War of the Fourth Coalition. During this war, Prussian captain Ferdinand von Schill distinguished himself by cutting off French supply lines using guerrilla tactics in 1806. In 1807, he raised a freikorps and successfully fought the French forces in what he intended to become a patriotic insurrection. When his corps was disbanded after the Peace of Tilsit on 9 July 1807, Schill was promoted to the rank of a major, decorated with the Pour le Mérite, and became a hero of Ger ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kampfgruppe Burg (Wehrmacht)
In military history, the German language, German term (pl. ; abbrev. KG, or KGr in usage during World War II, literally "fighting group" or "Battlegroup (army), battlegroup") can refer to a combat formation of any kind, but most usually to that employed by the of Nazi Germany and its Tripartite Pact, allies during World War II, and, to a lesser extent, the German Empire in World War I. It also referred to Group (military aviation unit), bomber groups Organization of the Luftwaffe (1933–1945)#Gruppe, in ''Luftwaffe'' usage, which themselves consisted of three or four (squadrons), and usually (but not exclusively) existed within bomber wing (military aviation unit), wings of three or four per wing. Nature The ''Kampfgruppe'' was an ''ad hoc'' combined arms formation, usually employing a combination of tanks, infantry, and artillery (including anti-tank) elements, generally organised for a particular task or operation.While the word ''Kampfgruppe'' in German Language, Ge ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Walther Wenck
Walther Wenck (; 18 September 1900 – 1 May 1982) was a German military officer and industrialist. He was the youngest General of the branch (''General der Truppengattung'') in the German Army and a staff officer during World War II. At the end of the war, he commanded the German Twelfth Army that took part in the Battle of Berlin. Wenck left the military after surrendering to the Allies. He was asked to become Inspector General of the Bundeswehr as West Germany was re-arming in 1957, but declined to take the post when conditions he set were not met, such as the Inspector General being the commander-in-chief of the armed forces, not just an administrative leader. Historians consider Wenck a capable commander and a brilliant improviser, although incapable of the impossible task he was given of saving Berlin in 1945. His efforts and achievements have been captured by the Swedish power metal band Sabaton in the song "Hearts of Iron". Early life The third son of officer Maximil ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alfred Müller (lieutenant Colonel)
Alfred Müller or Alfred Mueller may refer to: *Alfred Müller (entrepreneur) (1888–1945), Croatian entrepreneur *Alfred Müller-Armack (1901–1978), German economist and politician *Alfred Müller (runner) (1905–1959), German Olympic middle-distance runner *Alfred Müller (general) (1915–1997), German Wehrmacht general *Alfred Müller (swimmer) (born 1948), German Olympic swimmer *Alfred Mueller (born 1939), American theoretical physicist *Alfred Müller-Felsenburg, honored by the Alfred-Müller-Felsenburg-Preis Alfred-Müller-Felsenburg-Preis is a prize awarded in recognition of critical literature writings, created by Hans-Werner Gey in 1988. History Description Winners External links * References Footnotes Citations German non ... literary prize in Germany * Alfred Muller (1940-2020), former (1993-1997) French deputy {{hndis, Muller, Alfred ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oberstleutnant
() (English: Lieutenant Colonel) is a senior field officer rank in several German-speaking and Scandinavian countries, equivalent to lieutenant colonel. It is currently used by both the ground and air forces of Austria, Germany, Switzerland, Denmark, Finland and Norway. The Swedish rank is a direct translation, as is the Finnish rank . Austria Austria's armed forces, the ''Bundesheer'', uses the rank Oberstleutnant as its sixth-highest officer rank. Like in Germany and Switzerland, Oberstleutnants are above Majors and below Obersts. The term also finds usage with the Austrian Bundespolizei (federal police force) and Justizwache (prison guards corps). These two organizations are civilian in nature, but their ranks are nonetheless structured in a military fashion. Belgium File:Army-BEL-OF-04.svg, Denmark The Danish rank of is based around the German term. Ranked OF-4 within NATO and having the paygrade of M401, it is used in the Royal Danish Army and the Ro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
