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Losheim Gap
The Battle of Losheim Gap was fought in the Ardennes, in Eastern Belgium, between the Allies and Nazi Germany, part of the Battle of the Bulge. It was the first battle and spearhead of the German attack, inflicting heavy American casualties, and causing disorder on the frontlines. It paved the way for further German attacks, deeper into the Ardennes. The Americans suffered high casualties, but could replace them. The Germans, on the other hand, couldn't replace their men, as all reserves were directed to the counter offensive. This reflected the poor state that the German Army was in at this time, which would be the precedent for the following battles. Background Near the end of 1944, Nazi Germany was in a dire state. Germany proper was fighting a two front war against giants it could not compete with. With the US and Britain in the West, and the Soviets in the east, Hitler made plans to launch a last ditch blitzkrieg offensive through the Ardennes, a very forested part of Eastern ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Battle Of The Bulge
The Battle of the Bulge, also known as the Ardennes Offensive or Unternehmen Die Wacht am Rhein, Wacht am Rhein, was the last major German Offensive (military), offensive Military campaign, campaign on the Western Front (World War II), Western Front during the World War II, Second World War, taking place from 16 December 1944 to 25 January 1945. It was launched through the densely forested Ardennes region between Belgium and Luxembourg. The offensive was intended to stop Allied use of the Belgian port of Antwerp and to split the Allied lines, allowing the Germans to Encirclement, encircle and destroy each of the four Allied armies and force the western Allies to negotiate a peace treaty in the Axis powers' favor. The Germans achieved a total surprise attack on the morning of 16 December 1944, due to a combination of Allied overconfidence based on the favorable defensive terrain and faulty intelligence about Wehrmacht intentions, poor aerial reconnaissance due to bad weather, an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tanks
A tank is an armoured fighting vehicle intended as a primary offensive weapon in front-line ground combat. Tank designs are a balance of heavy firepower, strong armour, and battlefield mobility provided by tracks and a powerful engine; their main armament is often mounted within a turret. They are a mainstay of modern 20th and 21st century ground forces and a key part of combined arms combat. Modern tanks are versatile mobile land weapons platforms whose main armament is a large- calibre tank gun mounted in a rotating gun turret, supplemented by machine guns or other ranged weapons such as anti-tank guided missiles or rocket launchers. They have heavy vehicle armour which provides protection for the crew, the vehicle's munition storage, fuel tank and propulsion systems. The use of tracks rather than wheels provides improved operational mobility which allows the tank to overcome rugged terrain and adverse conditions such as mud and ice/snow better than wheeled vehicle ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Trois-Ponts
Trois-Ponts (; ; both literally "Three Bridges") is a municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Liège, Belgium. On January 1, 2006, Trois-Ponts had a total population of 2,445. The total area is 68.90 km² which gives a population density of 35 inhabitants per km². It is situated at the confluence of the rivers Amblève and Salm. The municipality consists of the following districts: Basse-Bodeux, Fosse, and Wanne. A railway junction at Trois-Ponts connected the Vennbahn with the Liège-Troisvierges, Luxembourg Luxembourg, officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, is a landlocked country in Western Europe. It is bordered by Belgium to the west and north, Germany to the east, and France on the south. Its capital and most populous city, Luxembour ... line. See also * List of protected heritage sites in Trois-Ponts * Coo-Trois-Ponts Hydroelectric Power Station References External links * Municipalities of Liège Province {{Liege ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
12th SS Panzer Division Hitlerjugend
The SS Division Hitlerjugend or 12th SS Panzer Division "Hitlerjugend" () was a German armoured warfare, armoured division of the Waffen-SS during World War II. The majority of its junior enlisted men were drawn from members of the Hitler Youth, while the senior Non-commissioned officer, NCOs and officers were from other Waffen-SS divisions. Most of the enlisted men were teenagers, starting from the ages of 16 or even 15. The division committed several war crimes while en route to and during the early battles of the Allied Normandy landings, including the Ascq massacre, Ascq and Normandy massacres, and several massacres, arsons and rapes in the cities of Plomion, Tavaux, Bouillon, Godinne, Hun, Rivere, Warnant and Namur. It first saw action on 7 June 1944 as part of the German defensive operations at Battle for Caen, Caen against Allied Forces, and suffered great casualties during the Falaise Pocket, Battle of the Falaise Pocket. In December 1944, the division was committed agai ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
6th Panzer Army
The 6th Panzer Army () was a formation of the German Army, formed in the autumn of 1944. The 6th Panzer Army was first used as an offensive force during the Battle of the Bulge, in which it operated as the northernmost element of the German offensive. The army was subsequently transferred to Hungary in early 1945 and used in both offensive and defensive actions there. The final battles of the 6th Panzer Army were fought in Austria, preventing its fall to Soviet forces. The remnants of the army eventually surrendered to the United States Army. The army's commander throughout its existence, SS-'' Oberstgruppenführer'' Josef Dietrich said in early 1945: "We call ourselves the 6th Panzer Army, because we've only got six Panzers left." Unit history The 6th Panzer Army is best noted for its leading role in the Battle of the Bulge (December 16, 1944 – January 25, 1945). Although it never received an SS designation, calling it the ''6th SS Panzer Army'' came into general use in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Josef Dietrich
Josef "Sepp" Dietrich (28 May 1892 – 21 April 1966) was a German politician, general and war criminal in the ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) during the Nazi era. Despite having no formal staff officer training, Dietrich was, along with Paul Hausser, the highest-ranking officer in the Waffen-SS, the military branch of the SS. He joined the Nazi Party in 1928 and was elected to the Reichstag of the Weimar Republic in 1930. Prior to 1929, Dietrich was Adolf Hitler's chauffeur and bodyguard. Reaching the rank of '' SS-Oberst-Gruppenführer'', he commanded units up to army level during World War II. As commanding officer of the 6th Panzer Army during the Battle of the Bulge, Dietrich bore responsibility for the Malmedy massacre, the murder of U.S. prisoners of war in December 1944. After the war, an American military tribunal convicted Dietrich of war crimes at the Malmedy massacre trial. Upon his release from Landsberg Prison in 1955, Dietrich became active in HIAG, a lobby group est ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Waffen-SS
The (; ) was the military branch, combat branch of the Nazi Party's paramilitary ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) organisation. Its formations included men from Nazi Germany, along with Waffen-SS foreign volunteers and conscripts, volunteers and conscripts from both German-occupied Europe and unoccupied lands. With the start of World War II, tactical control was exercised by the (OKW, "High Command of the Armed Forces"), with some units being subordinated to the (Command Staff ''Reichsführer-SS'') directly under Himmler's control. It was disbanded in May 1945. The grew from three regiments to over 38 division (military), divisions during World War II. Combining combat and police functions, it served alongside the German Army (1935–1945), German Army (''Heer''), ''Ordnungspolizei'' (Order Police), and other security units. Originally, it was under the control of the (SS operational command office) beneath Heinrich Himmler, the head of the SS. Initially, in keeping with the raci ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Siegfried Line
The Siegfried Line, known in German as the ''Westwall (= western bulwark)'', was a German defensive line built during the late 1930s. Started in 1936, opposite the French Maginot Line, it stretched more than from Kleve on the border with the Netherlands, along the western border of Nazi Germany, to the town of Weil am Rhein on the border with Switzerland. The line featured more than 18,000 bunkers, tunnels and tank traps. From September 1944 to March 1945, the Siegfried Line was subjected to a large-scale Allied offensive. Name The official German name for the defensive line construction program before and during the Second World War changed several times during the late 1930s. It came to be known as the "Westwall", but in English it was referred to as the "Siegfried Line" or, sometimes, the "West Wall". Various German names reflected different areas of construction: * Border Watch programme (pioneering programme) for the most advanced positions (1938) * Limes programme ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
2nd Infantry Division (United States)
The 2nd Infantry Division (2ID, 2nd ID) ("Indianhead") is a formation of the United States Army. Since the 1960s, its primary mission has been the pre-emptive defense of South Korea in the event of an invasion from North Korea. Approximately 17,000 soldiers serve in the 2nd Infantry Division, with 10,000 stationed in South Korea, accounting for about 35% of the United States Forces Korea personnel. Known as the 2nd Infantry Division-ROK/U.S. Combined Division (2ID/RUCD), the division is bolstered by rotational Brigade combat team, Brigade Combat Teams (BCTs) from other U.S. Army divisions.Sgt. Raquel Villlalona, 2ID/RUCD Public Affair(5 Nov 2018) 2ID Regimental Walk, A New ChapterDavid Cho The 2nd Infantry Division is unique as the only U.S. Army division to incorporate South Korean soldiers through the KATUSA (Korean Augmentation to the U.S. Army) program, which began in 1950 with the agreement of South Korean President Syngman Rhee. By the end of the Korean War, around 27,000 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Defeatism
Defeatism is the acceptance of defeat without struggle, often with negative connotations. It can be linked to pessimism in psychology, and may sometimes be used synonymously with fatalism or determinism. In politics, defeatism is used for one's perceived cooperation with the opposition party. In wartime and on the front lines of war, defeatism is synonymous with treason. The term covers soldiers who refuse to fight or voice doubt about the national policy of their own faction. History The term ''defeatism'' is commonly used in politics as a descriptor for an ideological stance that considers cooperation with the opposition party. In the military context, in wartime, and especially on the front lines, ''defeatism'' is viewed as synonymous with treason. Under military law, a soldier can be accused of being defeatist if the soldier refuses to fight by voicing doubt of the ideological validity of national policy; thus, existential questions such as "Is the war already lost?" and "I ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ardennes Offensive
The Ardennes ( ; ; ; ; ), also known as the Ardennes Forest or Forest of Ardennes, is a region of extensive forests, rough terrain, rolling hills and ridges primarily in Belgium and Luxembourg, extending into Germany and France. Geologically, the range is a western extension of the Eifel; both were raised during the Givetian age of the Devonian (382.7 to 387.7 million years ago), as were several other named ranges of the same greater range. The Ardennes proper stretches well into Germany and France (lending its name to the Ardennes department and the former Champagne-Ardenne region) and geologically into the Eifel (the eastern extension of the Ardennes Forest into Bitburg-Prüm, Germany); most of it is in the southeast of Wallonia, the southern and more rural part of Belgium (away from the coastal plain but encompassing more than half of the country's total area). The eastern part of the Ardennes forms the northernmost third of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, also called ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
