Operation Overlord was the code name for the Battle of Normandy, the Allied operation that launched the successful invasion of German-occupied Western Europe during World War II. The operation was launched on 6 June 1944 with the Normandy landings (Operation Neptune, commonly known as D-Day). A 1,200-plane airborne assault preceded amphibious assault involving more than 5,000 vessels. Nearly 160,000… Read more »
Kyra Petrovskaya was born 31-12-1918 in Crimea, on the coast of the Black Sea 1918. She is the descendant of one of the Russian noble families. Her father was a pilot during World War I. He was executed by the Bolshevik firing squad after the Russian Revolution, when Kyra was 7 months old. Her young mother never remarried, and they… Read more »
Hermann-Friedrich “Jupp” Joppien was born on 19 July 1912 at Bochum in Ruhrgebiet. In October 1931, Joppien was serving with an Infantry Regiment. In 1935 he joined the Luftwaffe and underwent flying training. He was promoted to the rank of Leutnant in 1938. He was appointed Technischer Offizier in a Zerstörergruppe but was then transferred… Read more »
We know a great deal about what transpired at Oradour sur Glane because despite the thorugnness of the SS killing operation, there were a few survivors. There was only one school child among the survivors. The lone child who managed to survive was Roger Godfrin .He was a refugee from Lorraine. Roger was born… Read more »
The forces available to General Helmuth Otto Ludwig Weidling for the city’s defence included roughly 45,000 soldiers in several severely depleted German Army, Wehrmacht Heer and Armed SS , Waffen SS divisions. Weidling died on 17 November 1955, age 64, in the custody of the KGB in Vladimir. KGB records listed the cause of death… Read more »