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Schnez-Truppe
The Schnez-Truppe or Schnez Organisation was an illegal clandestine paramilitary organisation formed in West Germany in 1949 by veterans of the ''Wehrmacht'' and ''Waffen-SS'' under the leadership of Albert Schnez. The paramilitary was intended to fight against the Soviet Union in the event of an invasion or German communists in a civil war. It has been reported as having been founded with a membership of some 2,000 former officers; later obtaining a total strength of up to 40,000 members. The organisation was active in the US occupation zone in southern Germany, and aimed to field up to four armoured divisions in case of war. It was to become active in case of an attack by East Germany in a domestic German conflict similar to the Korean War, but without outside interference. History The organisation was formed in secret in 1949 by Albert Schnez, who had risen to the rank of colonel in the ''Wehrmacht'' during World War II. The aim of the secret army formed by Schnez was to liber ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Albert Schnez
Albert Schnez (30 August 1911 – 26 April 2007) was an officer in three successive German armies: the ''Reichswehr'', the ''Wehrmacht'', and finally the ''Bundeswehr'', the armed forces of the modern Federal Republic of Germany. He was involved in the debate on the internal leadership of the newly formed ''Bundeswehr'' and was close to the German defense minister, Franz Josef Strauss. Schnez served from 1968 to 1971 with the rank of lieutenant-general (''Generalleutnant'') as the Inspector of the Army. From 1949, Schnez, together with other veterans of the ''Wehrmacht'' and ''Waffen-SS'', built a clandestine shadow army, the " Schnez-Truppe", that intended to fight against the Soviet Union in the event of an invasion, or German communists during a civil war. By 1951, Chancellor Konrad Adenauer Konrad Hermann Joseph Adenauer (5 January 1876 – 19 April 1967) was a German statesman and politician who served as the first Chancellor of Germany, chancellor of West Germany fro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Adolf Heusinger
Adolf Bruno Heinrich Ernst Heusinger (a.k.a. Adolf Horn while in Gehlen Org.; 4 August 1897 – 30 November 1982) was a German military officer whose career spanned the German Empire, the Weimar Republic, Nazi Germany, West Germany and NATO. He joined the German Army as a volunteer in 1915 and later became a professional soldier. He served as the Operations Chief within the general staff of the High Command of the German Army in the Wehrmacht from 1938 to 1944. He was then appointed acting Chief of the General Staff for two weeks in 1944 following Kurt Zeitzler's resignation. That year, despite his presence in the conference room where the bomb detonated, Heusinger was accused of involvement in the 20 July plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler, but was cleared by the People's Court. Heusinger was later appointed head of the military cartography office when the war ended. Despite his extensive knowledge and participation in war crimes, he later became a general for West Germany a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hans Speidel
Hans Speidel (28 October 1897 – 28 November 1984) was a German military officer who successively served in the armies of the German Empire, Nazi Germany and West Germany. The first general officer of the '' Bundeswehr'', he was a key player in West German rearmament during the Cold War as well as West Germany's integration into NATO and international negotiations on European and Western defence cooperation in the 1950s. He served as Commander of the Allied Land Forces Central Europe (COMLANDCENT) from 1957 to 1963 and then as President of the German Institute for International and Security Affairs from 1964. Speidel joined the Imperial German Army in 1914, seeing action during World War I, and served in the '' Reichswehr'' during the interwar period. He served as chief of staff to Field Marshal Erwin Rommel during World War II and was promoted to lieutenant general in 1944. Speidel participated in the 20 July Plot to assassinate Hitler due to objecting to the racial polic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Anton Grasser
__NOTOC__ Anton Grasser (3 November 1891 – 3 November 1976) was a German general during World War II who commanded several corps. He was a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves. Grasser joined the Bundesgrenzschutz (Federal Border Guards) in 1951, retiring in 1953. In the 1950s, Grasser was involved in organizing an illegal underground army set up by Wehrmacht and Waffen-SS veterans in the event of a Soviet invasion of West Germany. Grasser's role, as inspector general of the police and border police, was to provide this secret army with weapons from the police force in case of war. Grasser was connected to it through Albert Schnez, its leader, who had been Grasser's employer in the first post-war years. Awards and decorations * Iron Cross (1914) 2nd Class (18 June 1915) & 1st Class (6 June 1916)Thomas 1997, p. 215. * Clasp to the Iron Cross (1939) 2nd Class (21 May 1940) & 1st Class (8 June 1940) * German Cross in Gold on 11 March 1943 as ''Gene ... [...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] |
Paramilitary
A paramilitary is a military that is not a part of a country's official or legitimate armed forces. The Oxford English Dictionary traces the use of the term "paramilitary" as far back as 1934. Overview Though a paramilitary is, by definition, not a military, it is usually equivalent to a light infantry or special forces in terms of strength, firepower, and organizational structure. Paramilitaries use combat-capable kit/equipment (such as Internal security vehicle, internal security/SWAT vehicles), or even actual military equipment (such as Long gun, long guns and Armoured personnel carrier, armored personnel carriers; usually military surplus resources), skills (such as battlefield medicine and bomb disposal), and tactics (such as urban warfare and close-quarters combat) that are compatible with their purpose, often combining them with skills from other relevant fields such as law enforcement, coast guard, or search and rescue. A paramilitary may fall under the command of a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Albert Kesselring
Albert Kesselring (30 November 1885 – 16 July 1960) was a German military officer and convicted war crime, war criminal who served in the ''Luftwaffe'' during World War II. In a career which spanned both world wars, Kesselring reached the rank of the (Field marshal) and became one of Nazi Germany's most highly decorated commanders. Kesselring joined the Bavarian Army as an officer cadet in 1904, serving in the artillery branch. He completed training as a Observation balloon, balloon observer in 1912. During World War I, he served on both the Western Front (World War I), Western and Eastern Front (World War I), Eastern fronts and was posted to the Army Staff (Germany), Army Staff, despite not having attended the War Academy (Kingdom of Bavaria), War Academy. Kesselring served in the after the war, but was discharged in 1933 to become head of the Department of Administration at the Ministry of Aviation (Nazi Germany), Ministry of Aviation, where he became involved in the re-e ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Helmut Schmidt
Helmut Heinrich Waldemar Schmidt (; 23 December 1918 – 10 November 2015) was a German politician and member of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), who served as the chancellor of West Germany from 1974 to 1982. He was the longest lived chancellor in German history and had the longest post-chancellorship, at over 33 years. Before becoming chancellor, he served as the minister of defence (1969–1972) and the minister of finance (1972–1974) in the government of Willy Brandt. In the latter role he gained credit for his financial policies. He had also briefly been minister of economics and acting foreign minister. As chancellor, he focused on international affairs, seeking "political unification of Europe in partnership with the United States". He was an energetic diplomat who sought European co-operation and international economic co-ordination. He was re-elected chancellor in 1976 and 1980, but his coalition fell apart in 1982 with the switch by his coalition all ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Die Zeit
(, ) is a German national weekly newspaper published in Hamburg in Germany. The newspaper is generally considered to be among the German newspapers of record and is known for its long and extensive articles. History The first edition of was first published in Hamburg on 21 February 1946. The founding publishers were Gerd Bucerius, Lovis H. Lorenz, Richard Tüngel and Ewald Schmidt di Simoni. Marion Gräfin Dönhoff joined as an editor in March 1946. She became publisher of from 1972 until her death in 2002. In 1983 she was joined by former Chancellor of Germany (1949–), German chancellor Helmut Schmidt. Later Josef Joffe and former German federal secretary of culture Michael Naumann joined them as well. The paper's publishing house, Zeitverlag Gerd Bucerius in Hamburg, is owned by the Georg von Holtzbrinck Publishing Group and Dieter von Holtzbrinck, Dieter von Holtzbrinck Media. The paper is published weekly on Thursdays. As of 2018, has additional offices in Brussels, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bundeswehr
The (, ''Federal Defence'') are the armed forces of the Germany, Federal Republic of Germany. The is divided into a military part (armed forces or ''Streitkräfte'') and a civil part, the military part consists of the four armed forces: German Army, German Navy, German Air Force and Cyber and Information Domain Service (Germany), Cyber and Information Domain Service, which are supported by the Bundeswehr Support Area. , the had a strength of 180,215 active-duty military personnel and 80,761 civilians, placing it among the 30 largest military forces in the world, and making it the second largest in the European Union behind French Armed Forces, France. In addition, the has approximately 34,600 reserve personnel (2024). With German military expenditures at $88.5 billion (2024), the is the fourth-highest-funded military in the world, though military expenditures have until recently remained low at an average at 1.5% of national GDP, well below the non-binding NATO targ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chairman Of The NATO Military Committee
The Chair of the NATO Military Committee (CMC) is the head of the NATO Military Committee, which advises the North Atlantic Council (NAC) on military policy and strategy. The CMC is the senior military spokesperson of the 32-nation alliance and principal advisor to the Secretary General. The chair is one of the foremost officials of NATO, next to the Secretary General and the Supreme Allied Commander Europe. The CMC is assisted by the deputy chair, who advises the Deputy Secretary General and serves as the principal agent for coordination of nuclear, biological, and chemical matters for the Military Committee. Originally titled the Chairman, the post was redesignated in 2021 to reflect the gender-neutrality of the post. The current Chair of the NATO Military Committee is Admiral Giuseppe Cavo Dragone, former Chief of the Defence Staff of Italy, who took office on 17 January 2025. Origins In accordance with Article 9 of the North Atlantic Treaty and the guidance given by the Wo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Inspector General Of The Bundeswehr
The Inspector General of the (), is the highest-ranking military position held by a commissioned officer on active duty in the , the present-day armed forces of Germany. All Inspectors General have been of the rank of a ( four-star) general or admiral, and they head the , the German Defence Staff within the Federal Ministry of Defence, and is the direct military advisor to the Federal Minister of Defence who, in peacetime according to the Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany, is the default holder of the supreme command authority () to ensure civilian control of the military. The Inspector General is responsible for the overall military defense concept of the , including the overall planning, preparation, as well as assessment of the whole operations. Subordinate to the Inspector General are the commanders of the branches of the , the Inspector of the Army, Inspector of the Air Force, and Inspector of the Navy, and the commanders of the Joint Support Service ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
