"Leningrad–Novgorod Offensive The Leningrad–Novgorod strategic offensive was a strategic offensive during World War II. It was launched by the Red Army on with an attack on the German Army Group North by the Soviet Volkhov and Leningrad fronts, along with part of the 2nd Baltic Front, with a goal of fully lifting the Siege of Leningrad. Approximately two weeks later, the Red Army regained control of the Moscow–Leningrad railway, and on Joseph Stalin declared that the Siege of Leningrad was lifted, and that German forces were expelled from the Leningrad Oblast. The lifting of the 900-day-long blockade was celebrated in"
"armies were approaching the Soviet capital in the Operation Typhoon in the autumn of 1941, Hitler determined that Moscow, like Leningrad and Kiev, would be levelled and its 4 million inhabitants killed, to destroy it as a potential center of Bolshevist resistance. For this purpose Moscow was to be covered by a large artificial lake which would permanently submerge it, by opening the sluices of the Moscow-Volga Canal. During the advance on Moscow Otto Skorzeny was tasked with capturing these dam structures. During a conference on 16 July 1941, Hitler stated his personal desires on the division of the eastern"
"2"". Operations had been expensive. In August ""Fliegerkorps VIII"" had lost 27 aircraft destroyed and 143 damaged. Frustrated in the north, Hitler turned to Moscow. On 2 October 1941 he enacted Operation Typhoon, an offensive aimed at capturing Moscow via a pincer movement. It achieved early success in enveloping considerable Soviet forces at Vyazma and Bryansk by 10 October. However, the initial success gave way to a grinding battle of attrition. By 11 November the situation in the air was also changing from a position of initial parity. Kesselring's ""Luftflotte 2"" and the headquarters of ""Fliegerkorps I"" were moved to"
"April 1941, Germany invaded Yugoslavia and Greece. The LSSAH and ""Das Reich"" were attached to separate army Panzer Corps. Fritz Klingenberg, a company commander in the ""Das Reich"", led his men across Yugoslavia to the capital, Belgrade, where a small group in the vanguard accepted the surrender of the city on 13 April. A few days later Yugoslavia surrendered. For the invasion of the Soviet Union (Operation Barbarossa), ""Das Reich"" fought with Army Group Center, taking part in the Battle of Yelnya near Smolensk; it was then in the spearhead of Operation Typhoon aimed at the capture of the Soviet"
"On 22 June 1941, Germany, supported by Italy and Romania, invaded the Soviet Union in Operation Barbarossa, with Germany accusing the Soviets of plotting against them. They were joined shortly by Finland and Hungary. The primary targets of this surprise offensive were the Baltic region, Moscow and Ukraine, with the ultimate goal of ending the 1941 campaign near the Arkhangelsk-Astrakhan line, from the Caspian to the White Seas. Hitler's objectives were to eliminate the Soviet Union as a military power, exterminate Communism, generate ""Lebensraum"" (""living space"") by dispossessing the native population and guarantee access to the strategic resources needed to"
"Order of battle for Operation Barbarossa This is the order of battle for Operation Barbarossa, the German invasion of the Soviet Union during World War II. It was fought between the German-led Axis Forces and the Soviet Forces. The operation started on June 22, 1941, and ended on December 5, 1941, at the conclusion of Operation Typhoon. Commanded by Feldmarshal Wilhelm von Leeb Colonel General Ernst Busch Colonel General Georg von Küchler Colonel General Erich Hoepner Commanded by Feldmarshal Fedor von Bock Colonel General Günther von Kluge Colonel General Adolf Strauß Colonel General Heinz Guderian Colonel General Hermann Hoth Commanded"
"convenient location. At the time of the initial invasion of the Soviet Union (Operation Barbarossa) in June 1941, Hitler expected to win victory in World War II by 1945, and he then planned, after completing the construction of the Welthauptstadt Germania plan, to hold a great World's Fair in Berlin in 1950. Notes Further reading Germania (city) Germania, in full Welthauptstadt Germania (, ""World Capital Germania""), was the projected renewal of the German capital Berlin during the Nazi period, part of Adolf Hitler's vision for the future of Nazi Germany after the planned victory in World War II. Albert Speer,"
"of the situation. After the assault on Moscow, Operation Typhoon, began on 2 October 1941, Goebbels described in his diary the ""excessive optimism"" that was developing in the population after the announcements about the initial rapid advance of the German forces. Concerned about an ""almost illusionistic"" mood, he instructed the press to adopt a more cautious approach and spoke to Jodl about tempering down the tone of the Wehrmacht communiqués. Nonetheless, the broadcast on 16 October announced that the first defensive line in front of Moscow had been broken, being still ""too optimistic"" for Goebbels. The ""Wehrmachtbericht"" communiqués around the"
"City"" in 1965, on the 20th anniversary of Victory Day. A Museum of the Defence of Moscow was created in 1995. Both German and Soviet casualties during the battle of Moscow have been a subject of debate, as various sources provide somewhat different estimates. Not all historians agree on what should be considered the ""Battle of Moscow"" in the timeline of World War II. While the start of the battle is usually regarded as the beginning of Operation Typhoon on 30 September 1941 (or sometimes on 2 October 1941), there are two different dates for the end of the offensive."
"Operation Barbarossa Operation Barbarossa (German: ""Unternehmen Barbarossa"") was the code name for the Axis invasion of the Soviet Union, which started on Sunday, 22 June 1941, during World War II. The operation stemmed from Nazi Germany's ideological aims to conquer the western Soviet Union so that it could be repopulated by Germans, to use Slavs, especially Poles, as a slave-labour force for the Axis war effort, and to seize the oil reserves of the Caucasus and the agricultural resources of Soviet territories. In the two years leading up to the invasion, Germany and the Soviet Union signed political and economic"
"military tasks: one automobile factory was turned into a submachine gun armory, a clock factory manufactured mine detonators, the chocolate factory shifted to food production for the front, and automobile repair stations worked fixing damaged tanks and military vehicles. Despite these preparations, the capital was within striking distance of German tanks, with the Luftwaffe mounting large-scale air raids on the city. The air raids caused only limited damage because of extensive anti-aircraft defenses and effective civilian fire brigades. On Monday, 13 October 1941 (Wednesday, 15 October, according to other sources), the Wehrmacht resumed its offensive. At first, the German forces"
"1943. During the German operation Typhoon, the whole territory of Lyudinovo raion was occupied by 4 October 1941. However three months later it was briefly re-occupied by Soviet forces during the Moscow counteroffensive. On 17 January 1942, the Germans started a counterattack. They suddenly attacked the main column of 1088th Infantry Regiment on march by aviation and tanks. Soviet column was attacked directly on the road and the heavy snow didn't give the truck drivers any chance for maneuvering. Uncontrolled retreat began, most of the heavy weapons were lost. At the same time one of the bombs dropped by Luftwaffe"
"for the blockade of Leningrad in anticipation that the city would soon be abandoned by the Soviets. On September 5, Hitler ordered Hoepner's 4th Panzer Group and an air corps transferred to Army Group Centre effective 15 September, in preparation for Operation Typhoon, the German assault on Moscow. Leeb objected and was given a reprieve in the transfer of his mobile forces, with the view of making one last push towards Leningrad. The 4th Panzer Group was to be the main attacking force, which reached south of the Neva River, where it was faced with strong Soviet counter-attacks. By 24"
"Lobnya Lobnya () is a town in Moscow Oblast, Russia, located north west of Moscow. Population: 30,000 (1970). Lobnya was founded in 1902 and granted town status in 1961. The German attack starting the Battle of Moscow (code-named ‘Operation Typhoon’) began on October 2 1941. The attack on a broad front brought German forces to occupy the village of Krasnaya Polyana (now in the town of Lobnya) to Moscow's North West. Krasnaya Polyana was taken on November 30. This is accepted by many as the closest point occupied by German forces to Moscow. Less accepted is that this is the"
"invasion of the Soviet Union — in our timeline — occurred on the same day. The name of the German invasion plan was Operation Barbarossa, named after a well-known German Emperor in the Middle Ages who had according to legend, 'a great red beard', thus the CSA's operation's name.) At 3:30 am on June 22, 1941, the North American front of the Second Great War kicks off with massive bombing raids on Philadelphia and military installations all over southern Ohio. In an immediate joint session of Congress, President Smith calls for and receives a unanimous declaration of war against the"
"Operation Beowulf Operation Beowulf refers to two German plans to occupy the islands of Saaremaa, Hiiumaa and Muhu, off the Estonian west coast. Both plans had the same objectives but assumed differing start points. The attack, using ""Beowulf II"", started on 8 September 1941 and had achieved its objectives by 21 October. This version assumed a rapid German victory in the Baltic States. It would have been a re-working of the World War I Operation ""Albion"", launched from Courland in Latvia. In the event, German forces were delayed as they crossed into Estonian territory. This version, which was executed, was"
"October, German troops began Operation Typhoon, an offensive which aimed to capture Moscow. German tank troops quickly broke through Soviet lines and advanced deep into the Soviet rear. The 4th Panzer Division reached Orel on 3 October, surprising the military district's headquarters, which hastily left the city. Tyurin, district chief of staff P.E. Glinsky, and district commissar N.E. Yefimov were held responsible for the abandonment of Orel, with Tyurin sentenced to seven years of imprisonment, and Glinsky and Yefimov to five years. However, all three were later pardoned, demoted, and sent back to the front. The district headquarters was subsequently"
"by winter's onset they nevertheless continued to advance slowly during the following weeks. Medvezhyegorsk was captured on 5 December and Poventsa fell the next day. On 7 December Finland called a stop to all offensive operations, going onto the defensive. After Kiev, the Red Army no longer outnumbered the Germans and there were no more trained reserves directly available. To defend Moscow, Stalin could field 800,000 men in 83 divisions, but no more than 25 divisions were fully effective. Operation Typhoon, the drive to Moscow, began on 30 September 1941. In front of Army Group Center was a series of"
"the authority to summarily execute any suspicious person. The destruction battalions burned down villages, schools, and public buildings. As a part of this policy, the NKVD massacred thousands of anti-Soviet prisoners. Hitler then decided to resume the advance on Moscow, re-designating the panzer groups as panzer armies for the occasion. Operation Typhoon, which was set in motion on 30 September, saw the 2nd Panzer Army rush along the paved road from Oryol (captured 5 October) to the Oka River at Plavsk, while the 4th Panzer Army (transferred from Army Group North to Centre) and 3rd Panzer armies surrounded the Soviet"
"to Operation Typhoon while the armies were reorganized. The pause gave the Soviets, far better supplied, time to consolidate their positions and organize formations of newly activated reservists. In little over a month, the Soviets organized eleven new armies that included 30 divisions of Siberian troops. These had been freed from the Soviet Far East after Soviet intelligence assured Stalin that there was no longer a threat from the Japanese. During October and November 1941, over 1,000 tanks and 1,000 aircraft arrived along with the Siberian forces to assist in defending the city. With the ground hardening due to the"
"no fortification was allowed along the common border. 9 April 1940 The goal of the German operation was the simultaneous occupation of Denmark and Norway through a strategic Coup d'état. Denmark was considered vital because its location facilitated greater air and naval control of the area. In Norway, the plan called for the capture of six primary targets by amphibious landings in Oslo, Kristiansand, Egersund, Bergen, Trondheim and Narvik. Supporting paratroops (Fallschirmjäger), were to capture other key locations such as airfields at Fornebu (outside Oslo) and Sola (outside Stavanger). The plan was designed to quickly overwhelm the Norwegian defenders and"
"capture. Hoepner's Panzer group, along with the 3rd Panzer Group, spearheaded the advance on Moscow in Operation Typhoon, the failed attempt to seize the Soviet capital. Dismissed from the Wehrmacht after the failure of the 1941 campaign, Hoepner restored his pension rights through a lawsuit. He was implicated in the failed 20 July plot against Adolf Hitler and executed in 1944. Hoepner was born in Frankfurt (Oder), the son of General Kurt Hoepner. He was commissioned into the Imperial German Army as a cavalry lieutenant in 1906, joining the 13th Schleswig-Holstein Dragoons Regiment . In 1911 he attended the Prussian"
"Operation Barbarossa, the invasion of the Soviet Union. The German offensive against the Soviet Union began early on 22 June 1941 with an artillery barrage. The 16th Panzer Division was subordinated to ""Heeresgruppe Süd"" (Army Group South) under the command of ""Generalfeldmarschall"" Von Rundstedt. The goal, together with the 6. Armee and 17. Armee as well as ""Panzergruppe"" I, was to follow the pincers of both armies, heading for Kiev and rolling up the Soviet flanks in the process, and finally encircling them at the Dnieper River. The main objective was to conquer the economically important Donets Basin as well"
"Operation Retribution (1941) Operation Retribution (), also known as Operation Punishment, was the April 1941 German bombing of Belgrade, the capital of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, in retaliation for the coup d'état that overthrew the government that had signed the Tripartite Pact. The bombing occurred in the first days of the German-led Axis invasion of Yugoslavia during World War II. The Royal Yugoslav Army Air Force (VVKJ) had only 77 modern fighter aircraft available to defend Belgrade against the hundreds of German fighters and bombers that struck in the first wave early on 6 April. Three days prior, VVKJ Major"
"offensive, issued on 30 April, gave a start date of 18 May. The Germans had made a big effort to reinforce Army Group South, and transferred Field Marshal Fedor von Bock, former commander of Army Group Center during Operation Barbarossa and Operation Typhoon. On 5 April 1942, Hitler issued Directive 41, which made the south the main area of operations under Case Blue, the summer campaign, at the expense of the other fronts. The divisions of Army Group South were brought up to full strength in late April and early May. The strategic objective was illustrated after the victories of"
"the Soviet forces around Kiev in the south, followed by the seizure of Ukraine. The move was successful, resulting in the loss of nearly 1,000,000 Red Army personnel killed, captured, or wounded by 26 September, and further advances by Axis forces. With the end of summer, Hitler redirected his attention to Moscow and assigned Army Group Center to this task. The forces committed to Operation Typhoon included four infantry armies (the 2nd, 4th, 9th and 6th) supported by three ""Panzer"" (tank) Groups (the 2nd, 3rd and 4th) and by the Luftwaffes ""Luftflotte"" 2. Up to two million German troops were"
"reflected in its sobriquet: ""The Rzhev Meat Grinder"". Rzhev lies west of Moscow and was captured by the German Wehrmacht in Operation Typhoon in the autumn of 1941, which took them to the gates of Moscow. When the Soviet counteroffensive drove them back, Rzhev became a cornerstone of the Germans' defense. By mid-1942, the city stood at the apogee of a salient that protruded from the front lines, pointing in the general direction of Moscow. In July and August 1942, Stalin tasked two of his front commanders, General Georgy Zhukov (commanding Western Front) and General Ivan Konev (commanding Kalinin Front),"
"for Crete and then Cairo. On 20 May 1941, the Germans attempted to seize Crete with a large attack by paratroopers, with the aim of reducing the threat of a counter-offensive by Allied forces in Egypt, but faced heavy resistance. The Greek campaign might have delayed German military plans against Soviet Union, and it is argued that had the German invasion of the Soviet Union started on 20 May 1941 instead of 22 June 1941, the Nazi assault against the Soviet Union might have succeeded. The heavy losses of German paratroopers led the Germans to launch no further large-scale air-invasions."
"city on the left bank of the Rhine was captured in half a day on 6 March 1945, meeting only minor resistance. Because the Hohenzollernbrücke was destroyed by retreating German pioneers, the boroughs on the right bank remained under German control until mid-April 1945. Although Cologne was larger than its neighbors, Düsseldorf was chosen as the political capital of the newly established Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia, and Bonn as the (provisional) capital of the Federal Republic. Cologne benefited from being sandwiched between the two important political centers of West Germany by becoming home to a large number of federal"
"Papers Operation Retribution (1941) Operation Retribution (), also known as Operation Punishment, was the April 1941 German bombing of Belgrade, the capital of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, in retaliation for the coup d'état that overthrew the government that had signed the Tripartite Pact. The bombing occurred in the first days of the German-led Axis invasion of Yugoslavia during World War II. The Royal Yugoslav Army Air Force (VVKJ) had only 77 modern fighter aircraft available to defend Belgrade against the hundreds of German fighters and bombers that struck in the first wave early on 6 April. Three days prior, VVKJ"
"Operation Kremlin Operation Kremlin (""Fall Kreml"" in German) was a successful German deception operation against Soviet forces in May–June 1942. After German troops captured the city of Kharkov in October 1941, the German High Command planned an offensive to destroy the Soviet forces toward the southern sector of the Eastern Front. To divert the attention of the Soviets from that thrust (which would lead to the Battle of Stalingrad), on May 29, 1942, the High Command ordered ""the earliest possible resumption of the attack on Moscow"" by Army Group Centre. The factor that made Operation Kremlin plausible to the Soviet"
"Conference Protocol, which documented the co-operation of various German state agencies in the SS-led Holocaust, as well as some 3,000 tons of original German records captured by Allied armies, including the Einsatzgruppen reports, which documented the progress of the mobile killing units assigned, among other tasks, to kill Jewish civilians during the attack on the Soviet Union in 1941. The evidential proof which documented the mechanism of the Holocaust were submitted at Nuremberg. The Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union codenamed Operation Barbarossa, which commenced on 22 June 1941, set in motion a ""war of destruction"" which quickly opened the"
"penetrated to within of the capital. Martial law was declared in Moscow. Almost from the beginning of Operation Typhoon, however, the weather worsened. Temperatures fell while there was continued rainfall. This turned the unpaved road network into mud and slowed the German advance on Moscow. Additional snows fell which were followed by more rain, creating a glutinous mud that German tanks had difficulty traversing, whereas the Soviet T-34, with its wider tread, was better suited to negotiate. At the same time, the supply situation for the Germans rapidly deteriorated. On 31 October, the German Army High Command ordered a halt"