Search

Reassessing the reasons for the German military success over France in War of 1870 up to the Battle of Sedan, we rely on publications of contemporary artillery generals, such as Kraft zu Hohenlohe-Ingelfingen and put the topic into the broader context of warfare since the 1866 German War. We reject the idea of success, being simply based on armament or a special 'soldierly spirit', but argue that the main reason for military success was based on reorganization of the Prussian artillery, which paved the way to the future 'battle of combined arms' and the dominance of fire over thrust. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the role of a subset of European militaries in responding to the Afghan insurgency during their deployment as part of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF). While part of a multinational coalition, their heterogeneous military transformation was crucial to fighting the insurrection and confronting American pressure. In comparing the counterinsurgency innovations of Germany, Sweden, and France, we find that Germany acted reluctantly, Sweden largely emulated American doctrine, and France became a counterinsurgency pioneer. We argue that these developments took time and were accompanied by conflicts within ISAF and between the respective national military and political leaderships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Cameroon Grassfields faced extreme violence during German colonization in the early twentieth century. The German colonial army used various strategies, such as armed attacks, executions, looting, hostage-taking, and other repressive measures. After military subjugation by the German colonial army, however, the use of various forms of violence continued. Germans made use of multiple strategies in this mountain region to procure laborers for the colonial apparatus on the coast. At the same time, they claimed to be fighting "slave trade" and "slavery." However, the coercive measures and violence used for this purpose were and are often characterized by those affected and their descendants as forms of "slave trade" and "slavery." This article adopts an actor-centered approach that combines written sources with corresponding oral accounts and sheds light on local narratives about "labor recruitment." This will reveal how and why colonized actors conceptualized the systems of coercion they resisted against differently from the German colonizers. The article argues that taking the perspective of colonized actors into account calls into question the distinction between "slave trading" and "labor recruitment." [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

"Iron and Blood, A Military History of the German Speaking Peoples since 1500" by Peter H. Wilson is a comprehensive study that challenges common misconceptions about German military history. Wilson argues that the military history of German-speaking peoples is similar to that of the rest of Europe and the world, and that the idea of a uniquely German way of war is a myth. He explores the decentralized political and war-making systems of Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, and rejects the notion of a German 'genius for war' or any connection to 'blood and soil'. The book covers five centuries of history and examines the political, social, and economic factors that influenced military organization. Wilson also discusses Germany's military strategies and failures in World War I and World War II, as well as its post-war rearmament and current role in global arms sales. [Extracted from the article]

This paper tracks the rise of German dominance since Bismarck’s unification of Germany in 1871 and during the 20th century, when the Germans used their economic, demographic, and military power in addition to geopolitical theories, particularly the vital space theory, to support expansionism. The «German question» evolved in the wake of the two world wars as the European States’ main concern was how to maintain a peaceful, powerful Germany. Following the Ukrainian war, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz declared Germany’s goal to have the greatest army in Europe, modernize military industries, and allocate 100 billion Euros for the defense budget. Accordingly, as strong Germany, historically, has always sought to dominate its neighbors, the paper examines the possible scenarios for the rise of Germany and its dominance over the European Union. What will be the repercussions of Germany’s rise on the future of the European Union and its institutions, and the potential incentives for cooperation and collaboration among European nations? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, German public health authorities launched various infection control procedures. In line with this, anti-pandemic infection control was also implemented for German military and police deployments. The presented study assessed the impact of this increased infection control effort on deployment-associated infections in a holistic approach. To do so, the results of post-deployment assessments offered to German soldiers and police officers at the Department of Tropical Medicine and Infectious Diseases of the Bundeswehr Hospital Hamburg obtained during the pandemic period were compared to the results recorded during the pre-pandemic period in an exploratory, hypothesis-forming comparative study. In total, data from 1010 military deployments and 134 police deployments, predominantly to the African or the Eastern Mediterranean WHO regions, were included in the analyses. In the main results, a significant decrease in gastroenteritis in deployed soldiers (20.1% versus 61.3%, p < 0.0001) and at least a trend in the same direction in deployed police officers (25.7% versus 35.4%, p = 0.4026) were shown for the pandemic period, while no consistent tendency into the one or the other direction was detectable for febrile illness on deployment. In contrast to the finding of less frequently reported deployment-associated gastroenteritis, the detection rates of enteric microorganisms after deployment, including poor hygiene-related colonization with apathogenic protozoa, remained unchanged. Regarding non-enteric infections, the numbers of serologically confirmed malaria cases on deployment and as expected, due to increased airway protection, Mycobacterium tuberculosis-specific immune-conversion dropped significantly with p = 0.0037 and p = 0.009, respectively. As a side finding, soldiers and police officers with post-deployment medical assessments were more likely to be older and male during the pandemic compared to the pre-pandemic period. In summary, only minor changes in deployment-associated infection and colonization rates were seen in response to the increased infection control procedures during the pandemic period, apart from respiratory infections. In particular, the clinical finding of less gastroenteritis on deployment was not matched by a concordant decline in poor hygiene-related enteric colonization with apathogenic protozoa in the soldiers' guts, indicating that the fecal–oral transmission risk remained basically the same. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper analyses implications and challenges of Germany's upcoming military deployment in Lithuania. A permanent stationing of brigade-sized military unit on NATO's Eastern frontier represents a major change in its force posture and a significant shift in Germany's defence policy. Despite the official German position that the implementation of its military commitments is contingent on Lithuania's timely improvement of its host nation support infrastructure, the paper suggests that the speed, quantity, and structure of Germany's deployment also depends on the progress made in rearming the Bundeswehr and its defence policy priorities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Larissa Wegner's book on German occupation during World War I offers a new perspective that challenges existing interpretations. Through extensive research in German archival sources, Wegner argues that the German occupation was not solely a deliberate spiral of terror and compulsion, but rather a result of imprecise legal frameworks, self-fulfilling prophecies, and the German army prioritizing its own interests. The book is structured like a thesis, with five main chapters that examine different aspects of the occupation. While Wegner's work may not convince those firmly entrenched in opposing viewpoints, it is a valuable contribution to the scholarly discourse on German occupation. [Extracted from the article]

The past decade has seen the global growth of military-style reality television programming. These programmes, produced by militaries themselves or through collaboration with the entertainment sector, have proven to be an effective and increasingly powerful public relations conduit. Our article offers a theoretical treatment of reality television, both the aesthetic modes by which it invites the viewing subject as well as the political economy of its use in public relations. These dimensions are explored through two case studies. First, we focus on the genesis of military-style reality TV in the United States, where, after 9/11, the US military seized on the genre to pioneer and field-test various themes in response to public exigency as the occupations of Afghanistan and Iraq drew on. Second, we analyse the German military as both a latecomer and innovator to these new public relations endeavours. By reading the generic and aesthetic strategies in both cases, we argue that the genre's public relations function goes beyond the immediate task of recruitment to cultivate civic participation in militaristic fantasies through a mediasphere rife with invitations to 'go soldier'. Military reality TV, we argue, represents the militarization of civic identity and the gradual displacement of values from deliberative to authoritarian, cosmopolitan to nationalistic and diplomatic to combative. Jeux éliminatoires : L'essor mondial de la télé-réalité militaire et la formation du citoyen sujet [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ioannis Metaxas was born in Cephalonia in 1871. At the age of twenty, Metaxas graduated from the Athens Military Academy with the rank of lieutenant and proceeded to the German Military Academy to further his studies. Metaxas, who served in the Balkan Wars, was promoted to the position of Chief of the Military Staff in 1915. After Venizelos came to power, Metaxas, who could not reconcile with Venizelos, left his duties, and embarked on political life in 1917. He served as the Minister of War in the Demircis Cabinet formed in 1936 and was later appointed as the Prime Minister. On August 4, 1936, General Metaxas became the Head of Government with extensive authority. The present study analyzed the visit of Greek Prime Minister Ioannis Metaxas to Türkiye on October 18-22, 1937, and his meetings and contacts in İstanbul and Ankara within the scope of this visit. Metaxas' negotiations in Ankara were of great significance for the course of Turkish-Greek relations and the unity of the Balkan Entente. Metaxas met with Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, Prime Minister Ismet Inonu, and Deputy Prime Minister Celal Bayar during his visit to Ankara. Metaxas visited various sites and institutions in Ankara and was welcomed with interest, enthusiasm, and love by the people of the city. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Even after the First World War, the British and German armies remained strongly influenced by Clausewitz, for whom personality rather than mass was the best means to reduce friction. This article explores how this was reflected in their military doctrine between the two world wars. The German regulations showed a clear alignment with Clausewitz's thinking. The British tended to focus on the characteristics Clausewitz had argued were necessary for the troops, rather than for their commanders. The campaigns of 1939/40 caused the Germans to place even greater emphasis on boldness, while the British focused on steadiness and caution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The following case study clarifies how these three different functions of mission are discursively entangled with one another. Mission as a bridge-builder (between people, cultures, and religions of different origin), as a traitor (cooperating with corrupt colonial and imperial powers), and as a victim (finding misery and death on the mission field). Each of these three terms (bridge-builder, traitor, victim) is, to an extent, applicable to the events that took place during the night of 19–20 October 1896 in Akeri on the slopes of Mount Meru (former German East Africa, today Tanzania). Using the concept of entanglement history, I will analyze the death of two young German missionaries of the Lutheran Leipzig Mission, "caught in the crossfire" between the African community to be outreached and the German colonial military. We will see how various symbolic systems collide in the year 1896 at Akeri. The systems are represented by: (1) German Lutheran missions activities; (2) A German colonial and military expedition; and (3) The resistance of African Maasai societies' leadership. "Akeri 1896" (I will continue to refer to this event specifically as "Akeri 1896" throughout the article) had become in the following 100 years a complex entanglement of metaphoric meanings. The same event can be a placeholder for victory, for defeat, for disaster, for martyrdom, for Christ-centredness (of the missionaries in their own perception), as well as for evil-centredness (the Africans in their perception of the Western foreigners). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyzes the character and development of the Swedish Brigade, a small military volunteer unit in the Finnish Civil War of 1918, in the context of the European counter-revolution. Volunteers in the various civil wars following the Russian Revolution have been studied extensively before, but have largely focused on countries that participated in the First World War. This case study of the 'White' Swedish Brigade aims to highlight the importance of volunteers from neutral countries, and their specific role in the transnational counter-revolutionary movement. The Brigade was an ostensibly politically neutral unit, with a socially heterogeneous make-up. Heavily supported by the Swedish right-wing media, it was widely romanticized as a heroic effort to restore Sweden's honour by supporting the Finnish fight against the old Russian enemy, and defending the former Swedish province as a bulwark of Swedish culture, law and order against barbarism. While its political culture was steeped in a romanticized Finno-Swedish history and culture, shared by many of the volunteers, the brigadiers were quickly confronted by the realities of poor equipment and organization, political division, and above all an exceptionally brutal civil war and the morally degrading violence it entailed. Brigade archive documents and memoirs show that this quickly changed the character of the actual volunteer unit to contrast heavily with the right-wing press's romantic imagination. Additionally, through contacts with the Finnish and German military, and in the face of a Left Swedish critique of the Brigade as reactionary butchers, many of the volunteers reconceptualized their role in the civil war, not as one of heroic and historical significance for Sweden, but as part of a vicious European struggle against Bolshevism. This seems to some extent confirmed by their post-war history, which raises interesting questions about these volunteers' roles among the new Right of interwar Europe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Johnson begins with the crisis year 1918-1919 when a defeated Germany faced Bolshevik Russia in the east. Johnson argues, surely rightly, that historians have underestimated the importance of earlier collaboration with Germany in explaining who was targeted by the Stalin purges. Johnson, Ian Ona Faustian Bargain: The Soviet-German Partnership and the Origins of the Second World War, Oxford University Press: New York, NY, and Oxford, 2021; xvii + 350 pp.: 9780190675141, $29.95 hardback So much has been written about the origins, significance and consequences of the pact made between the Soviet Union and Germany in August 1939 that it is a bold historian who claims to have found anything left to say. [Extracted from the article]

In the book "The Bundeswehr: From its founding to the turning point", Wilfried von Bredow describes the journey of the Bundeswehr from its founding to the present. He emphasizes the importance of integrating the armed forces into society as a whole and their anchoring in multinational alliance structures. The author also describes the challenges that the Bundeswehr had to face in various phases of its development, such as the integration of the remnants of the National People's Army (NVA) of the German Democratic Republic (DDR) and the transformation from a defense and deterrent force to a "force in action". However, von Bredow criticizes the excessive bureaucracy as the main problem of the Bundeswehr. The book provides a comprehensive insight into the history and development of the Bundeswehr and includes important documents as well as further literature. [Extracted from the article]

The German Bundeswehr, like other NATO forces, seeks to recruit more women in order to improve its gender balance and to meet its personnel needs. However, previous research on military recruitment has paid little attention to women. Given that the (German) military is still a male-dominated organization, we argue that women's opinion regarding the realization of gender equality in the military may very well be the Achilles heel of recruiting women. Based on the assumption that women value gender equality in the work environment, we test the hypothesis that women are more attracted to the military as a (potential) employer, the more they think the military has achieved gender equality. A multivariate analysis of nationally representative survey data from Germany from 2019 provides empirical evidence to support this hypothesis. Practical and theoretical implications are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article "What is rarely in focus: Thoughts on the Second World War" by Wolfram Wallraf raises questions that are often neglected in the public memory of the Second World War. It argues that the war was not only a European conflict, but also had implications for East Asia, particularly China. China lost millions of soldiers and civilians and played a significant role in the defeat of the Axis powers. The article also examines the motives and relationships of the Axis powers Germany, Italy, and Japan, as well as the stance of the Western Allies towards the Soviet Union and Germany. The article describes the reactions of France and Great Britain to Germany's invasion of Poland and its impact on the Polish people. It is mentioned that the United States supported the Soviet Union with military supplies to tie down German military power in the East. The two-front war was delayed until the Soviet army successfully advanced in the East and the Allied landing in Normandy took place. The article also compares the leadership styles of Hitler and Stalin and describes their foreign policy goals. Finally, the conclusion of the Second World War is described, in which Japan unconditionally surrendered. [Extracted from the article]

The article "Czech Republic and the War against Ukraine" describes the Russian aggression against Ukraine and its impact on the relationship between the Czech Republic and Russia. The author emphasizes that Russia has violated international norms with its actions and that Putin is willing to cross almost any civilizational boundary. The claim that the West promised in 1990 that NATO would not expand to the East is seen as strange from the Czech perspective. The relationship between the Czech Republic and Russia has deteriorated due to Russian historical revisionism and the rehabilitation of Stalin. The political relations between the two countries are described, with some Czech politicians expressing sympathy for Putin. However, economic relations have halved since the annexation of Crimea. The Czech government now supports Ukraine and seeks dialogue with Russia, while the population sees Russia as guilty. The Czech Republic rejects a German military leadership role and calls on Germany to provide heavy weapons to Ukraine to defend its sovereignty. [Extracted from the article]

In this paper, we estimate the effects of mandatory military and alternative community service by exploiting the post‐cold war decrease in the need for soldiers causing a substantial number of potential conscripts not to be drafted into the German military. The study is based on retrospective survey information for 655 men from the 1970 to 1984 birth cohorts collected in 2009/10 and after, using previously unavailable information on degree of fitness in the military's medical exam as a control variable. We test for the effects of mandatory service on wages, employment, volunteer work, marriage/partnership status, and satisfaction with various aspects of life. Whilst many estimates are not statistically significant, for the younger birth cohorts 1976 to 1984, we find some evidence of a lower hourly wage due to mandatory military service, which shows a negative point estimate of −15% with a large confidence interval of between −30 and −0.2%. This interval estimate is consistent with previous findings for the United States, Denmark, and the Netherlands. However, we also find statistically significant estimates for both military and alternative community service to increase participation in volunteer work, a hitherto rarely explored effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

David A. Harrisville: The Virtuous Wehrmacht: Crafting the Myth of the German Soldier on the Eastern Front, 1941-1944 The Virtuous Wehrmacht: Crafting the Myth of the German Soldier on the Eastern Front, 1941-1944. Harrisville does more than just illuminate the views of ordinary soldiers on the Eastern Front. [Extracted from the article]

Military sociology in Germany showed itself in the studies after the Second World War, and as in most countries of the world, American sociological models formed the basis of early German Military Sociology. In particular, the work of Janowitz and Huntington has had a significant impact on German Military Sociology. In addition, research centers funded by the German Armed Forces and publicly-funded foundations, often affiliated with a German political party, carried out military sociological research at certain times. The studies carried out in these centers were not limited to applied research on urgent military problems, but also basic, theory-oriented research on the relationship between the army and society. In this article, the foundational motives, academic institutionalization adventure and basic methodological and theoretical orientation of German Military Sociology are examined. In addition, compared to its Anglo-Saxon counterpart, inadequacies of German Military Sociology through the eyes of German military sociologists are discussed. This study aims to contribute to military sociology studies, which are few in number in Turkish literature. It is also evaluated that along with the American Military Sociology, German Military Sociology can also offer an alternative for research in Turkey. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dennis Showalter's influence on the scholarship of the First World War is unmatched among American historians. His work is especially important for two reasons. First, it studies the German Army using primary sources and original research, a particularly valuable contribution given the mythic and just plain false associations that many amateur scholars place on the German military. Second, Dennis's career involved long stretches of teaching cadets and military officers. His work thus combined an appreciation of the problems of the past with the challenges of the present day. The second half of this essay renders homage to that tradition by examining patterns in Dennis's writings of the First World War that remain relevant to an understanding of war in our own time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Second, it shows that the violence in these German military brothels existed within a broader framework of pervasive and ongoing sexualized violence that accompanied German occupation, which impacted all aspects of the German occupation regime in Rostov-on-Don. After this, soldiers waited in the main floor hall until a woman was available, at which point they would accompany them upstairs to the woman's assigned "cabinet."[24] Voronina reported that there were sometimes brawls involving soldiers in the downstairs hall, but that the commandant quickly calmed the men down.[25] As soon as one soldier left, a woman would immediately proceed to her next client. "In her work at the casino", Voronina explained, "she saw the only hope of escape from physical torture and begged [that I] help her get a job as a 'waitress.'" Knowing how the "waitresses" at the "casino" were treated, Voronina worked hard to calm the girl down and convince her not to work in the brothel.[69] Fear of deportation for forced labor seems to have been the animating motivation for many Rostov residents to volunteer to work in the city. On Christmas Eve 1942, in the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don, a soldiers' brothel opened its doors for business.[2] Set up and run by the occupying German army (the Wehrmacht), this establishment provided military men a place to pay for a brief sexual encounter with a local woman. [Extracted from the article]

During the Second World War, in 1941–1944, Nazi German troops held the frontal responsibility of the Arctic front in Finnish Lapland. In this paper, we present the first zooarchaeological study of the wartime faunal remains from German military camps in Lapland. This illustrates the supply situation of both the German soldiers and their multinational prisoners. The official military supply was substantially supplemented with local food sources, namely, with the local semi‐domesticated reindeer that dominates the bone assemblage. Bones of cattle, ovicaprines, and pig occur in lower numbers and appear to represent the German long‐distance supply chain stretching from the Mediterranean to the Arctic Ocean. The remains of reindeer and wild species remind of the close interactions with locals and of the prisoners' hunting activities to supplement their meager diet. Even if the reindeer bones dominate both the soldiers' and prisoners' faunal assemblages, there are notable differences in the body parts, with bones from meatier portions always found in the soldiers' food waste. Besides highlighting a tension between the military supply and everyday demands, the faunal remains can draw attention to wider anthropological questions that reach beyond the information available in historical documents, such as adaptations into an alien northern environment. This emphasizes the importance of zooarchaeological analyses of recent past faunal materials from superficially familiar contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Political claims about the real world are abundant in video games, and the medium persuades uniquely through procedural rhetoric, the rules of behavior contained in computational code. The transnational scope of the video game industry makes it productive ground for interrogating how a game's persuasion might influence international audiences with nationally situated politics. The 2012 third-person shooter Spec Ops: The Line, produced by the German studio Yager Development, depicts the international concern of a fictional conflict in the Middle East and the atrocities of failed military intervention. The game's core procedural rhetoric, which tasks players to push ahead at all costs, cautions an international audience about the futility of deploying military power abroad, a warning that mirrors particularly German political anxieties. The game's depiction of extreme violence—and the player's participation in it—raises further questions about the cultural status of the medium in the country and abroad. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Of particular interest to Kamphoefner are German military and political roles in both the Civil War and World War I. His in-depth research and numerous publications have solidified his reputation as the foremost scholar on the subject. Walter Kamphoefner has devoted his professional life to researching the subject and has emerged as one of the preeminent scholars in the field. [Extracted from the article]

Und wenn dem einen oder anderen Leser das von den Autoren gezeichnete Bild jener Zeit u. U. im Einzelfall widersprüchlich erscheinen sollte, vielleicht mal zu "negativ" oder mal "zu positiv" (Stichwort: Normalität), so sei das nicht kritisch angemerkt, sondern hierin würden sich nur die Widersprüchlichkeit der Epoche und die Unterschiedlichkeit der agierenden Personen widerspiegeln. Im Rahmen der Vorstellung der Ergebnisse der Untersuchung werden in einem weiteren Abschnitt die "für die Bewertung richterlichen Handelns maßgeblichen Aspekte" genannt: So betonen die Autoren hier erneut, dass den Richtern dauerhafter I offener i Widerstand nicht möglich gewesen sei, ihnen aber aufgrund ihres erlernten "Handwerks" Spielräume verblieben seien, etwa unter Berufung auf die an sich fortbestehende, wenn auch, wie schon zuvor angemerkt, von den "rechtswissenschaftlichen" Wortführern des Systems infrage gestellten Gesetzesbindung; der ihnen ihre Unabhängigkeit gewährleistenden Weimarer Verfassung hätten sie jedoch weitgehend ablehnend gegenübergestanden. Auf jenem, von Klein veranstalteten "Festakt" wurde folgerichtig, soweit bekannt, von keinem der eingeladenen "hervorragenden Vertreter" der Rechtswissenschaft die Frage der Wiedergutmachung oder gar die Aufhebung der auf den "Finanztod" der Opfer zielenden Rechtsprechung des RFH angesprochen - von einer evtl. noch möglichen Einladung an diese, soweit noch lebend, ganz abgesehen. [...] Wir kennen die Gröse unsers Berufs, wir wissen, dass wir hier, auf der Welt, neben Euer Hochfürstlichen Durchleucht auch Höchstdero Land und Kaiser und Reich für die Verwaltung der Justiz Rechenschaft geben müssen und dass nach dem Tod ein Richter auf uns wartet, der unparteyisch richten, und (eine) Entschuldigung [...]nicht annehmen wird. [Extracted from the article]

On 27 June 1941 Hungary entered the war against the Soviet Union, fielding a 90,000-man strong force (consisting of the 'Carpathian Group' and the 'Rapid Corps') that was attached to Army Group South. This study examines two issues related to the participation of Hungarian troops in 1941. First it establishes how the subordination to Germany determined the use of Hungarian formations. A close Hungarian-German military cooperation developed prior to Operation Barbarossa, especially during the campaign against Yugoslavia in April 1941. The Rapid Corps and the Carpathian Group were placed under German subordination in July-August 1941. It led to friction as Hungary, which in the interwar period had prepared for a war against small and medium-sized neighbouring powers, was pressured to conduct operations against the much more advanced Red Army. Satisfying German demands provoked constant controversy about the extent of the Hungarian involvement in the operations on the Eastern Front, also within the Hungarian military elite. Due to these differences of opinion, the pro-German general Henrik Werth was relieved as the Chief of the General Staff in September 1941, and Lieutenant General Ferenc Szombathelyi was appointed in his place. The study then examines the first months of the Hungarian occupation of Soviet territories. In the summer of 1941, a unique opportunity presented itself to establish an independent Hungarian occupation administration. The Hungarian government tried to use this opportunity to implement its anti-Semitic plans and to enforce its economic interests. However, the Carpathian Group, which from August 1941 was incorporated into the German military command structure, increasingly became the executor of German occupation policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Yet the fact that the defeat of Nazi Germany could only be achieved at the expense of millions of anonymous workers from east of the Urals has been all but ignored not only by Western audiences but even in the official Soviet (and later Russian) narrative of the war. Operation I Barbarossa i , Nazi Germany's attack on the Soviet Union on 22 June 1941, is without a doubt one of the most momentous events of the 20th century. They considered the war they fought a continuation of the 1939/40 Winter War, rather than a new war that was fully in line with Germany's aims. [Extracted from the article]

Introduction: A wide variety of different types of wearable sensors are being developed around the world and introduced into the armed forces for military purposes. Competing states must rapidly develop ready-to-use systems that are robust, functional, valid, and practical. There appears to be potential for optimizing the successful and effective introduction of wearable sensors into the German armed forces (Bundeswehr) for military medical applications. The purpose of this study was to identify specific options for improving and optimizing the introduction of modern technologies such as wearable sensors into the structures of the German armed forces.Materials and Methods: Nine stakeholders were identified who could provide a qualified statement on the introduction of wearable sensors, of which six agreed to participate in an expert interview. The six qualitative expert interviews, which were conducted for a master's thesis at the Bundeswehr University in Hamburg, were selected on the basis of their thematic involvement and readiness for an interview and provided the basis for exploring processes that can possibly optimize the introduction of wearable sensors into modern armed forces such as the Bundeswehr. These interviews were carried out and analyzed using the Lamnek's method.Results: Six expert interviews were analyzed and the most relevant statements were summarized and presented. Thirteen options for optimization were identified and included, for example, interdisciplinary networking, optimization of information flow, and strategic weighting.Conclusions: Several potential options have been identified that can optimize the introduction of wearable sensors into the German armed forces to a greater or lesser extent. Bundeswehr experts agree that above all structurally relevant improvements such as "development of data analysis standards," "legal requirements," "interdisciplinarity," "acceleration of development," and "centralization and structured cooperation" should play an important role in the implementation of wearable sensors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction A wide variety of different types of wearable sensors are being developed around the world and introduced into the armed forces for military purposes. Competing states must rapidly develop ready-to-use systems that are robust, functional, valid, and practical. There appears to be potential for optimizing the successful and effective introduction of wearable sensors into the German armed forces (Bundeswehr) for military medical applications. The purpose of this study was to identify specific options for improving and optimizing the introduction of modern technologies such as wearable sensors into the structures of the German armed forces. Materials and Methods Nine stakeholders were identified who could provide a qualified statement on the introduction of wearable sensors, of which six agreed to participate in an expert interview. The six qualitative expert interviews, which were conducted for a master's thesis at the Bundeswehr University in Hamburg, were selected on the basis of their thematic involvement and readiness for an interview and provided the basis for exploring processes that can possibly optimize the introduction of wearable sensors into modern armed forces such as the Bundeswehr. These interviews were carried out and analyzed using the Lamnek's method. Results Six expert interviews were analyzed and the most relevant statements were summarized and presented. Thirteen options for optimization were identified and included, for example, interdisciplinary networking, optimization of information flow, and strategic weighting. Conclusions Several potential options have been identified that can optimize the introduction of wearable sensors into the German armed forces to a greater or lesser extent. Bundeswehr experts agree that above all structurally relevant improvements such as "development of data analysis standards," "legal requirements," "interdisciplinarity," "acceleration of development," and "centralization and structured cooperation" should play an important role in the implementation of wearable sensors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies identified service members of the United States (US) Armed Forces as a high-risk group for suicide. A significant increase in the suicide rate in the US Armed Forces was found in recent years. To date, there is no military suicide statistic available for the German Armed Forces. This study examined attempted and completed suicides in active service members of the German Armed Forces between 2010 and 2016 retrospectively, on the basis of archived personal and medical records in the central archives of the Medical Service of German Armed Forces. The primary goal was to establish a suicide-statistic for the German Armed Forces and to calculate and compare the suicides rates with the German population. Secondary every case's data was analysed the groups of attempted and completed suicides were compared. 262 attempted suicides and 148 completed suicides were included in this study (N = 410). The suicide rates of the German Armed Forces peaked over the years 2014–2015 with a suicide rate of 15–16/100.000 active military service members and exceeded the civilian suicide rate in Germany of around 12/100.000 people during those years, although no general trend could be determined. These service members were mostly young men (attempted suicide 81.7%, completed suicide 99.3%), at the age of 17 - <35 years old (87% attempted suicide, 68,3% completed suicide), and were employed less than 6 years in the German Armed Forces (attempted suicide 72.9%, completed suicide 46.3%). Service members with attempted suicides belonged mostly to the military North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)-rank-group for other ranks (lowermost military professionals) OR-1 –OR-4 (48.1%) or to the rank-group OR-6 –OR-9 in the group of completed suicides (34.5%). Only in about one third of cases a psychiatric diagnosis could be found in the records. Most frequent diagnoses were neurotic, stress-related and somatoform disorders (International Classification of Diseases Tenth Revision^ICD-10: F4) in 46.8%, and affective disorders (ICD-10: F3) in 43.3% of all cases. In the majority of cases there were signs for potential stressors in the private sector (attempted suicide 90.6%, completed suicide 82.6%). No typical risk factors which would enable a specific prevention could be identified in this analysis. Therefore, should preventive strategies be aiming at a multi-level intervention program. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bastiaan Willems' impressive new study examines the Wehrmacht's contribution to the suffering of civilians in Germany itself during the war's final months. Yet Wehrmacht forces in East Prussia in 1945, from senior command levels down to the rank and file, were dismissive of civilian needs and subordinated them to the dictates of "military necessity". Willems begins by examining East Prussia's broader experience under the Third Reich, emphasizing, among other things, the region's long tradition of animosity towards "the East". [Extracted from the article]

As early as 1931, Gustave Bertrand of the French intelligence services received from the traitor Hans Thilo Schmidt documents concerning the Enigma cipher machine. This machine was intended to equip all the German military forces. This is the beginning of an epic that has probably changed the History. The main documents collected by Bertrand have not been destroyed and are available in the archives of the French Army (SHD). This article describes and analyzes each of these documents, including the evolution of the Enigma and its procedures related in these documents. In conclusion, the article lists the findings that come from reading these originals and first and foremost the impact of having a cipher message with its plaintext on the British attempt to recover Enigma rotors wiring. Oddly enough, it seems that this message was not used by the Poles to break the Enigma. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Anlässlich der Frage, ob Soldaten der Luftwaffe einem Zivilsportverein angehören dürften, hielt der Autor, ein Feldwebel namens Becker, zunächst im Einklang mit entsprechenden Rechtsbestimmungen ein flammendes Plädoyer, dass alle Soldaten der Luftwaffe unbedingt ihre Zivilsportvereine verlassen und sich den Luftwaffensportvereinen anschließen müssten. Die Integration der Wehrmacht in die nationalsozialistische Volksgemeinschaft als Volksheer fand nach Jürgen Förster ihren Höhepunkt im Sommer 1940: "Es war der überraschend schnelle Sieg über Frankreich, der eine bis dahin nicht gekannte Übereinstimmung zwischen Regime, Bevölkerung und Wehrmacht schuf." Statt "leibliche und charakterliche Erziehung der Mitglieder im Geiste des Nationalsozialismus I " i , wie es im NSRL-Vordruck heißt, ist in der Großenhainer Satzung "körperliche und charakterliche Erziehung der Mitglieder und die Vertiefung der Kameradschaft" zu lesen. 64 Als bekanntester Vertreter erreichte der LSV Hamburg in der Saison 1942/43 das Finale des Tschammerpokals und in der Saison 1943/44 das Endspiel um die Deutsche Meisterschaft, verlor aber beide Partien, vgl. I Werner Skrentny i , Luftwaffen-SV Groß-Hamburg. [Extracted from the article]

The Prussian tradition in Ottoman military modernization began with Captain Helmuth von Moltke. Approximately a century after the activities of the delegation headed by Helmuth von Moltke in the Ottoman army, advisors from Germany were re-assigned by the Republic of Turkey at various levels of the army. Compared to previous military delegations, German consultants, whose duties were limited to lecturing at military academies on paper, resigned from their official duties in Germany. They have signed special agreements with the Turkish Armed Forces that do not bind their own countries and military institutions, and have served in Turkey for a wage higher than the salary they earned in their country. Between 1925 and 1939, apart from the military attachés in the German embassies in Turkey, 36 German served in Turkish Military and Naval War Schools. Among these, Hilmar von Mittelberger is the most prominent name with his works that he left behind in a short period of 7 years, with his last position in Germany with the rank of lieutenant general. The German general, who returned to his country with the beginning of the Second World War, attended the talks about Turkey at the headquarters of his country's general staff, where he informed the generals of the German army about Turkey's defense power. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]