Execution by firing squad , in the past sometimes called fusillading (from the French fusil , rifle ), is a method of capital punishment , particularly common in the military and in times of war . Some reasons for its use are that firearms are usually readily available and a gunshot to a vital organ , such as the brain or heart, most often will kill relatively quickly.
139-714: Helmuth Otto Ludwig Weidling (2 November 1891 – 17 November 1955) was a German general during the Second World War . He was the last commander of the Berlin Defence Area during the Battle of Berlin , led the defence of the city against Soviet forces and finally surrendered just before the end of World War II in Europe . Born in Halberstadt in 1891, Weidling entered the military in 1911 and served as
278-659: A Neutrality Pact in April 1941, and Japan adopted the doctrine of Nanshin-ron , promoted by the Navy, which took its focus southward and eventually led to war with the United States and the Western Allies. In Europe, Germany and Italy were becoming more aggressive. In March 1938, Germany annexed Austria , again provoking little response from other European powers. Encouraged, Hitler began pressing German claims on
417-526: A cautious French probe into the Saarland . The Western Allies also began a naval blockade of Germany , which aimed to damage the country's economy and war effort. Germany responded by ordering U-boat warfare against Allied merchant and warships, which would later escalate into the Battle of the Atlantic . On 8 September, German troops reached the suburbs of Warsaw . The Polish counter-offensive to
556-703: A Saudi executioner, has said that he has conducted some executions by shooting. Mishaal bint Fahd bin Mohammed Al Saud , a Saudi princess, was also executed in the same way. Two soldiers of the Bushveldt Carbineers , Breaker Morant and Peter Handcock , were executed by a British firing squad in the South African Republic on 27 February 1902 for war crimes they committed during the Second Boer War . Since
695-425: A U.S. military commission and sentenced to death. On 11 November 1944 they were shot in the garden of a farmhouse at Toul . The footage of Wende's execution as well as Kortas's is shown in these links. On 31 January 1945, U.S. Army Pvt. Edward "Eddie" Slovik was executed by firing squad for desertion near the village of Sainte-Marie-aux-Mines . He was the first American soldier executed for such offense since
834-698: A lieutenant in the First World War . He remained in the reduced army of the Weimar Republic after the war. As an artillery officer, he took part in the invasion of Poland and the Battle of France and during the early stages of Operation Barbarossa , the invasion of the Soviet Union. In January 1942, still on the Eastern Front , Weidling was appointed commander of the 86th Infantry Division . On 15 October 1943, Weidling became
973-481: A measure of plausible deniability that they, personally, did not fire a bullet at all. In practice however, firing a live round produces significant recoil, while firing a blank round does not. In more current times such as during the 2010 execution of Ronnie Lee Gardner in Utah , US, one rifleman may be given a "dummy" cartridge containing a wax bullet , which provides a more realistic recoil. Manuel Dorrego ,
1112-524: A pretext to initiate the invasion. The first German attack of the war came against the Polish defences at Westerplatte . The United Kingdom responded with an ultimatum for Germany to cease military operations, and on 3 September, after the ultimatum was ignored, Britain and France declared war on Germany. During the Phoney War period, the alliance provided no direct military support to Poland, outside of
1251-781: A pretext to worsen relations. On 29 August, Hitler demanded that a Polish plenipotentiary immediately travel to Berlin to negotiate the handover of Danzig , and to allow a plebiscite in the Polish Corridor in which the German minority would vote on secession. The Poles refused to comply with the German demands, and on the night of 30–31 August in a confrontational meeting with the British ambassador Nevile Henderson , Ribbentrop declared that Germany considered its claims rejected. On 1 September 1939, Germany invaded Poland after having staged several false flag border incidents as
1390-449: A prominent Argentine statesman and soldier who governed Buenos Aires in the 1820s, was executed by firing squad on 12 December 1828 after being defeated in battle by Juan Lavalle and later convicted of treason. On 12 October 1915 British nurse Edith Cavell was executed by a German firing squad at the Tir national shooting range at Schaerbeek , after being convicted of "conveying troops to
1529-642: A report that he had retreated in the face of advancing Soviet Army forces, which was in defiance of standing orders to the contrary. Weidling had not actually retreated, and the sentence was called off after he appeared at the Führerbunker to clear up the misunderstanding. On 23 April, Hitler appointed Weidling as the commander of the Berlin Defence Area. Weidling replaced Lieutenant General ( Generalleutnant ) Helmuth Reymann , Colonel ( Oberst ) Ernst Kaether , and Hitler himself. Reymann had held
SECTION 10
#17327915766511668-475: A secret protocol that defined German and Soviet "spheres of influence" (western Poland and Lithuania for Germany; eastern Poland , Finland, Estonia , Latvia and Bessarabia for the Soviet Union), and raised the question of continuing Polish independence. The pact neutralised the possibility of Soviet opposition to a campaign against Poland and assured that Germany would not have to face the prospect of
1807-713: A similar pact and rejected ceding part of its territory to the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union invaded Finland in November 1939, and was subsequently expelled from the League of Nations for this crime of aggression. Despite overwhelming numerical superiority, Soviet military success during the Winter War was modest, and the Finno-Soviet war ended in March 1940 with some Finnish concessions of territory . In June 1940,
1946-531: A two-front war, as it had in World War I. Immediately afterwards, Hitler ordered the attack to proceed on 26 August, but upon hearing that the United Kingdom had concluded a formal mutual assistance pact with Poland and that Italy would maintain neutrality, he decided to delay it. In response to British requests for direct negotiations to avoid war, Germany made demands on Poland, which served as
2085-422: Is distinct from other forms of execution by firearms , such as an execution by shot(s) to the back of the head or neck. However, the single shot by the squad's officer with a pistol ( coup de grâce ) is sometimes incorporated in a firing squad execution, particularly if the initial volley turns out not to be immediately fatal. Before the introduction of firearms, bows or crossbows were often used— Saint Sebastian
2224-539: Is now Rizal Park , where his remains have since been placed. While in [Cavite] there were 13 people who executed by firing squad. They are known today as 13 martyrs of Cavite. During the Marcos administration, drug trafficking was punishable by firing-squad execution, as was done to Lim Seng. Execution by firing squad was later replaced by the electric chair , then lethal injection . On 24 June 2006, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo abolished capital punishment through
2363-479: Is perfectly all right. But what is the point of it all? I have no intentions of wandering around in the woods. I am staying here and I will fall at the head of my troops. You, for your part, will carry on with your defence." By the end of the day on 27 April, the encirclement of Berlin had been completed. The Soviet Information Bureau announced that Soviet troops of the 1st Belorussian Front had broken through strong German defences around Berlin and, approaching from
2502-476: Is usually depicted as executed by a squad of Roman auxiliary archers in around AD 288; King Edmund the Martyr of East Anglia , by some accounts, was tied to a tree and executed by Viking archers on 20 November 869 or 870. The method is often the capital punishment or disciplinary means employed by military courts for crimes such as cowardice , desertion , espionage , murder , mutiny , or treason . If
2641-612: The 2002 Bali bombing — Amrozi , Imam Samudra and Ali Ghufron —were executed on the same spot in Nusakambangan. In January 2013 56-year-old British woman Lindsay Sandiford was sentenced to execution by firing squad for importing a large amount of cocaine; she lost her appeal against her sentence in April 2013. On 18 January 2015, under the new leadership of Joko Widodo , six people sentenced to death for producing and smuggling drugs into Indonesia were executed at Nusa Kambangan Penitentiary shortly after midnight. Following
2780-791: The American Civil War . On 15 October 1945 Pierre Laval , the puppet leader of Nazi-occupied Vichy France , was executed for treason at Fresnes Prison in Paris. On 11 March 1963 Jean Bastien-Thiry was the last person to be executed by firing squad for a failed attempt to assassinate French president Charles de Gaulle . Execution by firing squad is the capital punishment method used in Indonesia. The following persons were executed (reported by BBC World Service) by firing squad on 29 April 2015 following convictions for drug offences: two Australians, Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan ,
2919-604: The Anglo-German Naval Agreement and the German–Polish declaration of non-aggression . The situation became a crisis in late August as German troops continued to mobilise against the Polish border. On 23 August the Soviet Union signed a non-aggression pact with Germany, after tripartite negotiations for a military alliance between France, the United Kingdom, and Soviet Union had stalled. This pact had
SECTION 20
#17327915766513058-689: The British Empire , with fighting in the Balkans , Mediterranean, and Middle East , the aerial Battle of Britain and the Blitz , and naval Battle of the Atlantic . Through a series of campaigns and treaties, Germany took control of much of continental Europe and formed the Axis alliance with Italy , Japan , and other countries. In June 1941, Germany led the European Axis in an invasion of
3197-539: The Führerbunker and was met by Joseph Goebbels , Reichsleiter Martin Bormann and General Hans Krebs . They took him to Hitler's room, where the couple had committed suicide. They told him that their bodies had been burned and buried in a shell crater in the Reich Chancellery garden above. Weidling was forced to swear that he would not repeat this news to anybody. The only person in the outside world who
3336-581: The German Revolution of 1918–1919 , and a democratic government, later known as the Weimar Republic , was created. The interwar period saw strife between supporters of the new republic and hardline opponents on both the political right and left. Italy, as an Entente ally, had made some post-war territorial gains; however, Italian nationalists were angered that the promises made by the United Kingdom and France to secure Italian entrance into
3475-800: The German invasion of Poland and the United Kingdom and France 's declaration of war on Germany two days later on 3 September 1939. Dates for the beginning of the Pacific War include the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War on 7 July 1937, or the earlier Japanese invasion of Manchuria , on 19 September 1931. Others follow the British historian A. J. P. Taylor , who stated that the Sino-Japanese War and war in Europe and its colonies occurred simultaneously, and
3614-576: The Italian mainland , and Allied offensives in the Pacific—cost the Axis powers their initiative and forced them into strategic retreat on all fronts. In 1944, the Western Allies invaded German-occupied France at Normandy , while the Soviet Union regained its territorial losses and pushed Germany and its allies westward. At the same time, Japan suffered reversals in mainland Asia, while the Allies crippled
3753-553: The Japanese Navy and captured key islands . The war in Europe concluded with the liberation of German-occupied territories ; the invasion of Germany by the Western Allies and the Soviet Union, culminating in the fall of Berlin to Soviet troops; Hitler's suicide ; and the German unconditional surrender on 8 May 1945 . Following the refusal of Japan to surrender on the terms of the Potsdam Declaration ,
3892-685: The LVI Panzer Corps . The LVI Panzer Corps was part of Gotthard Heinrici 's Army Group Vistula . As commander of that corps, Weidling began his involvement with the Battle of Berlin . On 16 April 1945, Weidling prepared to take part in the Battle of the Seelow Heights , which was part of the broader Battle of the Oder-Neisse . Weidling's LVI Panzer Corps was in the centre, flanked by the CI Army Corps to his left and
4031-695: The League of Nations as a force to preserve peace. Both Italy and Ethiopia were member nations, but the League did little when the former clearly violated Article X of the League's Covenant . The United Kingdom and France supported imposing sanctions on Italy for the invasion, but the sanctions were not fully enforced and failed to end the Italian invasion. Italy subsequently dropped its objections to Germany's goal of absorbing Austria . When civil war broke out in Spain, Hitler and Mussolini lent military support to
4170-731: The Nationalist rebels , led by General Francisco Franco . Italy supported the Nationalists to a greater extent than the Nazis: Mussolini sent more than 70,000 ground troops, 6,000 aviation personnel, and 720 aircraft to Spain. The Soviet Union supported the existing government of the Spanish Republic . More than 30,000 foreign volunteers, known as the International Brigades , also fought against
4309-690: The Rome–Berlin Axis . A month later, Germany and Japan signed the Anti-Comintern Pact , which Italy joined the following year. The Kuomintang (KMT) party in China launched a unification campaign against regional warlords and nominally unified China in the mid-1920s, but was soon embroiled in a civil war against its former Chinese Communist Party (CCP) allies and new regional warlords . In 1931, an increasingly militaristic Empire of Japan , which had long sought influence in China as
Helmuth Weidling - Misplaced Pages Continue
4448-590: The Soviet–Japanese Neutrality Pact in April 1941. By contrast, the Germans were steadily making preparations for an attack on the Soviet Union, massing forces on the Soviet border. Hitler believed that the United Kingdom's refusal to end the war was based on the hope that the United States and the Soviet Union would enter the war against Germany sooner or later. On 31 July 1940, Hitler decided that
4587-468: The Spanish transition to democracy in 1977 the new Spanish constitution prohibits the death penalty. Previously, execution by firing squad was reserved for cases under military jurisdiction. As in the rest of Europe, the death penalty ordered by a civil court was carried out by other methods clearly different from execution. In modern times, mainly by hanging or garrote . During the decolonization of
4726-598: The Stresa Front in April 1935 in order to contain Germany, a key step towards military globalisation ; however, that June, the United Kingdom made an independent naval agreement with Germany, easing prior restrictions. The Soviet Union, concerned by Germany's goals of capturing vast areas of Eastern Europe , drafted a treaty of mutual assistance with France. Before taking effect, though, the Franco-Soviet pact
4865-709: The Sudetenland , an area of Czechoslovakia with a predominantly ethnic German population. Soon the United Kingdom and France followed the appeasement policy of British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain and conceded this territory to Germany in the Munich Agreement , which was made against the wishes of the Czechoslovak government, in exchange for a promise of no further territorial demands. Soon afterwards, Germany and Italy forced Czechoslovakia to cede additional territory to Hungary, and Poland annexed
5004-707: The Tanggu Truce was signed in 1933. Thereafter, Chinese volunteer forces continued the resistance to Japanese aggression in Manchuria , and Chahar and Suiyuan . After the 1936 Xi'an Incident , the Kuomintang and CCP forces agreed on a ceasefire to present a united front to oppose Japan. The Second Italo-Ethiopian War was a brief colonial war that began in October 1935 and ended in May 1936. The war began with
5143-579: The Trans-Olza region of Czechoslovakia. Although all of Germany's stated demands had been satisfied by the agreement, privately Hitler was furious that British interference had prevented him from seizing all of Czechoslovakia in one operation. In subsequent speeches Hitler attacked British and Jewish "war-mongers" and in January 1939 secretly ordered a major build-up of the German navy to challenge British naval supremacy. In March 1939, Germany invaded
5282-558: The Treaty of Craiova . The loss of one-third of Romania's 1939 territory caused a coup against King Carol II, turning Romania into a fascist dictatorship under Marshal Ion Antonescu , with a course set towards the Axis in the hopes of a German guarantee. Meanwhile, German-Soviet political relations and economic co-operation gradually stalled, and both states began preparations for war. In April 1940, Germany invaded Denmark and Norway to protect shipments of iron ore from Sweden , which
5421-749: The United Kingdom and France to declare war on Germany. Poland was divided between Germany and the Soviet Union under the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact , in which they had agreed on " spheres of influence " in Eastern Europe. In 1940, the Soviets annexed the Baltic states and parts of Finland and Romania . After the fall of France in June 1940, the war continued mainly between Germany and
5560-426: The Wehrmacht rapidly advanced to the Channel and cut off the Allied forces in Belgium, trapping the bulk of the Allied armies in a cauldron on the Franco-Belgian border near Lille. The United Kingdom was able to evacuate a significant number of Allied troops from the continent by early June, although they had to abandon almost all their equipment. On 10 June, Italy invaded France , declaring war on both France and
5699-451: The aftermath of World War I and the rise of fascism in Europe and militarism in Japan . Key events leading up to the war included Japan's invasion of Manchuria , the Spanish Civil War , the outbreak of the Second Sino-Japanese War , and Germany's annexations of Austria and the Sudetenland . World War II is generally considered to have begun on 1 September 1939, when Nazi Germany , under Adolf Hitler , invaded Poland , prompting
Helmuth Weidling - Misplaced Pages Continue
5838-519: The capitulation of Nazi Germany , two German Navy deserters were shot by a firing squad composed of other German prisoners kept in the Canadian -run prisoner-of-war camp . The men were lined up against the wall of an air raid shelter near an abandoned Ford Motor Company assembly plant in the presence of Canadian military. Nigeria executes criminals who committed armed robberies—such as Ishola Oyenusi , Lawrence Anini and Osisikankwu —as well as military officers convicted of plotting coups against
5977-420: The heart , sometimes aided by a paper or cloth target. The prisoner is typically blindfolded or hooded as well as restrained. Executions can be carried out with the condemned either standing or sitting. There is a tradition in some jurisdictions that such executions are carried out at first light or at sunrise, giving rise to the phrase "shot at dawn". Execution by firing squad is a specific practice that
6116-404: The reunification of East and West Germany to take place and resolved most post–World War II issues. No formal peace treaty between Japan and the Soviet Union was ever signed, although the state of war between the two countries was terminated by the Soviet–Japanese Joint Declaration of 1956 , which also restored full diplomatic relations between them. World War I had radically altered
6255-399: The 1916 Easter Rising in Ireland, 15 of the 16 leaders who were executed were shot by the Dublin Castle administration under martial law . The executions have often been cited as a reason for how the Rising managed to galvanise public support in Ireland after the failed rebellion. Following the Anglo-Irish Treaty , a split in the government and the Dail led to a Civil War during which
6394-416: The 800 men of the Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler (LSSAH) SS battalion (assigned to guard Hitler). The Soviet command later estimated the number of defenders in Berlin at 180,000, but that was based on the number of German prisoners that they captured. The prisoners included many unarmed men in uniform, such as railway officials and members of the Reich Labour Service ( Reichsarbeitsdienst ). Weidling organised
6533-409: The Allies were attempting to cut off . Denmark capitulated after six hours , and despite Allied support , Norway was conquered within two months. British discontent over the Norwegian campaign led to the resignation of Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain , who was replaced by Winston Churchill on 10 May 1940. On the same day, Germany launched an offensive against France . To circumvent
6672-404: The Americas , several heroes of the independence of the former viceroyalties were executed by firing squad, including Camilo Torres Tenorio , Antonio Baraya , Antonio Villavicencio , José María Carbonell , Francisco José de Caldas , Jorge Tadeo Lozano , Policarpa Salavarrieta , María Antonia Santos Plata , José María Morelos , Mariano Matamoros , etc. At the time of the Spanish Civil War
6811-400: The Axis war against the Soviet Union, in Romania's case partially to recapture territory ceded to the Soviet Union . In early June 1940, the Italian Regia Aeronautica attacked and besieged Malta , a British possession. From late summer to early autumn, Italy conquered British Somaliland and made an incursion into British-held Egypt . In October, Italy attacked Greece , but the attack
6950-421: The Blitz , but largely ended in May 1941 after failing to significantly disrupt the British war effort. Using newly captured French ports, the German Navy enjoyed success against an over-extended Royal Navy , using U-boats against British shipping in the Atlantic . The British Home Fleet scored a significant victory on 27 May 1941 by sinking the German battleship Bismarck . In November 1939,
7089-566: The Cerro de las Campanas after the Juaristas took control of Mexico in 1867. Manet immortalized the execution in a now-famous painting, The Execution of Emperor Maximilian ; he painted at least three versions. Firing-squad execution was the most common way to carry out a death sentence in Mexico, especially during the Mexican Revolution and the Cristero War . An example of that is in the attempted execution of Wenseslao Moguel , who survived being shot ten times—once at point-blank range—because he fought under Pancho Villa . After these events,
SECTION 50
#17327915766517228-399: The Chief Military Prosecutor's Office of the Russian Federation declared Weidling non-rehabilitative . Second World War Asia-Pacific Mediterranean and Middle East Other campaigns Coups World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies and the Axis powers . Nearly all
7367-405: The European Axis declaring war on the US. Japan conquered much of coastal China and Southeast Asia , but its advances in the Pacific were halted in mid-1942 after its defeat in the naval Battle of Midway ; Germany and Italy were defeated in North Africa and at Stalingrad in the Soviet Union. Key setbacks in 1943—including German defeats on the Eastern Front, the Allied invasions of Sicily and
7506-440: The Free State Government sanctioned the executions by firing squad of 81 persons. Included in those numbers were some prominent prisoners who were executed without trial as reprisals. Italy had used the firing squad as its only form of death penalty, both for civilians and military, since the unification of the country in 1861. The death penalty was abolished completely by both Italian Houses of Parliament in 1889 but revived under
7645-584: The French period, with perhaps the most notable examples being Dun Mikiel Xerri and other patriots in 1799. The British also used the practice briefly, and for the last time in 1813, when two men were shot separately outside the courthouse after being convicted of failing to report their infection of plague to the authorities. During the Mexican Independence War , several Independentist generals (such as Miguel Hidalgo and José María Morelos ) were executed by Spanish firing squads. Also, Emperor Maximilian I of Mexico and two of his generals were executed in
7784-410: The French possessions of Syria and Lebanon , assisted by the Free French . With the situation in Europe and Asia relatively stable, Germany, Japan, and the Soviet Union made preparations for war. With the Soviets wary of mounting tensions with Germany, and the Japanese planning to take advantage of the European War by seizing resource-rich European possessions in Southeast Asia , the two powers signed
7923-400: The Führer committed suicide, and thus abandoned those who had sworn loyalty to him. According to the Führer's order, you German soldiers would have had to go on fighting for Berlin despite the fact that our ammunition has run out and despite the general situation which makes our further resistance meaningless. I order the immediate cessation of resistance. Every hour you keep on fighting prolongs
8062-426: The Germans, and the last large operational unit of the Polish Army surrendered on 6 October . Despite the military defeat, Poland never surrendered; instead, it formed the Polish government-in-exile and a clandestine state apparatus remained in occupied Poland. A significant part of Polish military personnel evacuated to Romania and Latvia; many of them later fought against the Axis in other theatres of
8201-468: The Ghanaian Martin Anderson, the Indonesian Zainal Abidin bin Mgs Mahmud Badarudin, three Nigerians: Raheem Agbaje Salami, Sylvester Obiekwe Nwolise and Okwudili Oyatanze, as well as Brazilian Rodrigo Gularte . In 2006 Fabianus Tibo , Dominggus da Silva and Marinus Riwu were executed. Nigerian drug smugglers Samuel Iwachekwu Okoye and Hansen Anthoni Nwaolisa were executed in June 2008 in Nusakambangan Island. Five months later three men convicted for
8340-580: The Italian dictatorship of Benito Mussolini in 1926. Mussolini was himself shot in the last days of World War II. On 1 December 1945 Anton Dostler , the first German general to be tried for war crimes , was executed by a U.S. firing squad in Aversa after being found guilty by a U.S. military tribunal of ordering the killing of 15 U.S. prisoners of war in Italy during World War II. The last execution took place on 4 March 1947, as Francesco La Barbera, Giovanni Puleo and Giovanni D'Ignoti, sentenced to death on multiple accounts of robbery and murder, faced
8479-450: The Nationalists. Both Germany and the Soviet Union used this proxy war as an opportunity to test in combat their most advanced weapons and tactics. The Nationalists won the civil war in April 1939; Franco, now dictator, remained officially neutral during World War II but generally favoured the Axis . His greatest collaboration with Germany was the sending of volunteers to fight on the Eastern Front . In July 1937, Japan captured
SECTION 60
#17327915766518618-452: The Royal Navy putting three Italian battleships out of commission after a carrier attack at Taranto , and neutralising several more warships at the Battle of Cape Matapan . Italian defeats prompted Germany to deploy an expeditionary force to North Africa; at the end of March 1941, Rommel 's Afrika Korps launched an offensive which drove back Commonwealth forces. In less than a month, Axis forces advanced to western Egypt and besieged
8757-569: The Second World War. The military personnel sentenced to death during World War II had their sentences reduced by the President of the Republic. Following the military overthrow of the democratically elected government of Salvador Allende in 1973, Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet initiated a series of war tribunal trials against leftist people around the country. During the first months after his coup, hundreds of people were killed by firing squads and summary executions. Cuba, as part of its penal system, still utilizes death by firing squad, although
8896-424: The Soviet Information Bureau announced that Soviet troops of the 1st Belorussian Front had captured Moabit, Anhalter Railway Station, Joachimsthal to the north of Berlin, and Neukölln , Marienwerder and Liebenwalde . Troops of the 1st Ukrainian Front occupied the southern part of Wilmersdorf , Hohenzollerndamm and Halensee Railway Station. Late in the morning of 30 April, with the Soviets less than 500 m from
9035-423: The Soviet Union occupied the entire territories of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, as well as the Romanian regions of Bessarabia, Northern Bukovina, and the Hertsa region . In August 1940, Hitler imposed the Second Vienna Award on Romania which led to the transfer of Northern Transylvania to Hungary. In September 1940, Bulgaria demanded Southern Dobruja from Romania with German and Italian support, leading to
9174-421: The Soviet Union , opening the Eastern Front and initially making large territorial gains. Japan aimed to dominate East Asia and the Asia-Pacific , and by 1937 was at war with the Republic of China . In December 1941, Japan attacked American and British territories in Southeast Asia and the Central Pacific , including Pearl Harbor in Hawaii , which resulted in the US and the UK declaring war against Japan, and
9313-418: The Soviet Union and Mongolia . The Japanese doctrine of Hokushin-ron , which emphasised Japan's expansion northward, was favoured by the Imperial Army during this time. This policy would prove difficult to maintain in light of the Japanese defeat at Khalkin Gol in 1939, the ongoing Second Sino-Japanese War and ally Nazi Germany pursuing neutrality with the Soviets. Japan and the Soviet Union eventually signed
9452-575: The Soviet Union should be eliminated and aimed for the conquest of Ukraine , the Baltic states and Byelorussia . However, other senior German officials like Ribbentrop saw an opportunity to create a Euro-Asian bloc against the British Empire by inviting the Soviet Union into the Tripartite Pact. In November 1940, negotiations took place to determine if the Soviet Union would join the pact. The Soviets showed some interest but asked for concessions from Finland, Bulgaria, Turkey, and Japan that Germany considered unacceptable. On 18 December 1940, Hitler issued
9591-402: The US dropped the first atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki on 6 and 9 August. Faced with an imminent invasion of the Japanese archipelago , the possibility of further atomic bombings, and the Soviet declaration of war against Japan and its invasion of Manchuria , Japan announced its unconditional surrender on 15 August and signed a surrender document on 2 September 1945 , marking
9730-424: The United Kingdom and France guaranteed their support for Polish independence ; when Italy conquered Albania in April 1939, the same guarantee was extended to the Kingdoms of Romania and Greece . Shortly after the Franco - British pledge to Poland, Germany and Italy formalised their own alliance with the Pact of Steel . Hitler accused the United Kingdom and Poland of trying to "encircle" Germany and renounced
9869-489: The United Kingdom attacked on 3 July in an attempt to prevent its seizure by Germany. The air Battle of Britain began in early July with Luftwaffe attacks on shipping and harbours . The German campaign for air superiority started in August but its failure to defeat RAF Fighter Command forced the indefinite postponement of the proposed German invasion of Britain . The German strategic bombing offensive intensified with night attacks on London and other cities in
10008-461: The United Kingdom. The Germans turned south against the weakened French army, and Paris fell to them on 14 June. Eight days later France signed an armistice with Germany ; it was divided into German and Italian occupation zones , and an unoccupied rump state under the Vichy Regime , which, though officially neutral, was generally aligned with Germany. France kept its fleet, which
10147-660: The United States was assisting China and the Western Allies, and had amended the Neutrality Act to allow "cash and carry" purchases by the Allies. In 1940, following the German capture of Paris, the size of the United States Navy was significantly increased . In September the United States further agreed to a trade of American destroyers for British bases . Still, a large majority of the American public continued to oppose any direct military intervention in
10286-558: The XI SS Panzer Corps to his right. All three corps were part of General Theodor Busse 's 9th Army , which was defending the heights above the River Oder . While all three corps were in generally good defensive positions, they were conspicuously short of tanks. Weidling's commander, Heinrici, recognised the shortage earlier in the day, as Hitler had ordered the transfer of three panzer divisions from Army Group Vistula to
10425-606: The Yellow River ; this manoeuvre bought time for the Chinese to prepare their defences at Wuhan , but the city was taken by October. Japanese military victories did not bring about the collapse of Chinese resistance that Japan had hoped to achieve; instead, the Chinese government relocated inland to Chongqing and continued the war. In the mid-to-late 1930s, Japanese forces in Manchukuo had sporadic border clashes with
10564-544: The army for executions during combat on the orders of military tribunals. In the Soviet Union, from the very earliest days, the bullet to the back of the head, in front of a ready-dug burial trench was by far the most common practice. It became especially widely used during the Great Purge . Executions in Saudi Arabia are usually carried out by beheading ; however, at times other methods have been used. Al-Beshi,
10703-588: The bunker complex looking "worn out, exhausted". The surrender of Berlin was thus delayed until Goebbels committed suicide, after which it was then left up to Weidling to negotiate with the Soviets. On 2 May, Weidling had his Chief-of-Staff, Theodor von Dufving , arrange a meeting with Chuikov. Weidling told the Soviets about the suicides of Hitler and Goebbels, and Chuikov demanded complete capitulation. Pursuant to Chuikov and Vasily Sokolovsky 's direction, Weidling put his surrender order in writing. The document, written by Weidling, read as follows: On 30 April 1945,
10842-588: The bunker, Hitler had a meeting with Weidling, who informed him that the Berlin garrison would probably run out of ammunition that night. Weidling asked Hitler for permission to break out, a request that he had earlier made unsuccessfully. Hitler did not answer at first, and Weidling went back to his headquarters in the Bendlerblock, where at about 13:00, he received Hitler's permission to try a breakout that night. After Hitler and Braun's suicides, Weidling reached
10981-517: The capital Nanking in December 1937. After the fall of Nanking, tens or hundreds of thousands of Chinese civilians and disarmed combatants were murdered by the Japanese . In March 1938, Nationalist Chinese forces won their first major victory at Taierzhuang , but then the city of Xuzhou was taken by the Japanese in May. In June 1938, Chinese forces stalled the Japanese advance by flooding
11120-544: The city. However, in the confusion, his order was never carried out. On 29 April, the Soviet Information Bureau announced that troops of the 1st Belorussian Front continued to clear the streets of Berlin, occupied the northwest sector of Charlottenburg as far as Bismarck Street, the west half of Moabit , and the eastern part of Schoeneberg. Soviet troops of the 1st Ukrainian Front occupied Friedenau and Grunewald in north and west Berlin. During
11259-601: The command of recently promoted Field Marshal Ferdinand Schörner . During the middle of the Battle of Berlin, the leader of the Hitler Youth , Artur Axmann , visited Weidling's headquarters and told him that the youngsters of the Hitler Youth were ready to fight and were even now manning the roads in the 56th rear. Weidling argued it was futile for the teenage boys to be thrown into the battle. He told Axmann that it
11398-631: The commander of the XLI Panzer Corps , a position he held until 10 April 1945 with a short break in his command from 19 June 1944 to 1 July 1944. During this break, Generalleutnant Edmund Hoffmeister took over during the first stages of Soviet Operation Bagration . Hoffmeister was in command when most of the German 9th Army , along with the XLI Panzer Corps, was encircled during the Bobruysk Offensive . While Weidling
11537-436: The commander of the 65th Soviet Army, General Pavel Batov , months later when it found itself facing the same corps in the Battle of Berlin. The XLI Panzer Corps was rebuilt as part of the German 4th Army . The 4th Army, under the command of General Friedrich Hoßbach , was given the task of holding the borders of East Prussia . On 10 April 1945, Weidling was relieved of his command. He was thereafter appointed as commander of
11676-634: The condemned prisoner is an ex-officer who is acknowledged to have shown bravery throughout their career, they may be afforded the privilege of giving the order to fire. An example of this is Marshal of France Michel Ney . As a means of insulting the condemned, however, past executions have had them shot in the back, denied blindfolds, or even tied to chairs. When Galeazzo Ciano , son-in-law of Benito Mussolini , and several other former fascists who voted to remove Mussolini from power were executed, they were tied to chairs facing away from their executioners. By some reports, Ciano managed to twist his chair around at
11815-403: The conflict well into 1941. In December 1940, Roosevelt accused Hitler of planning world conquest and ruled out any negotiations as useless, calling for the United States to become an " arsenal of democracy " and promoting Lend-Lease programmes of military and humanitarian aid to support the British war effort; Lend-Lease was later extended to the other Allies, including the Soviet Union after it
11954-526: The creation of a " New Roman Empire ". Adolf Hitler , after an unsuccessful attempt to overthrow the German government in 1923, eventually became the Chancellor of Germany in 1933 when Paul von Hindenburg and the Reichstag appointed him. Following Hindenburg's death in 1934, Hitler proclaimed himself Führer of Germany and abolished democracy, espousing a radical, racially motivated revision of
12093-514: The crimes that are subject to the death penalty. The death penalty is never the only possible sentence for a crime, and the punishment must be imposed by the military courts system. Per the norms of the Brazilian Code of Military Penal Procedure, the death penalty is carried out by firing squad. Although Brazil still permits the use of capital punishment during wartime, no convicts were actually executed during Brazil's last military conflict,
12232-728: The death sentence was imposed for fewer types of crimes in Article 22 of the Mexican Constitution ; however, in 2005 capital punishment was constitutionally prohibited, and there has not been a judicial execution since 1961. During the Nazi occupation in World War II some 3,000 persons were executed by German firing squads. The victims were sometimes sentenced by a military court; in other cases they were hostages or arbitrary pedestrians who were executed publicly to intimidate
12371-502: The defences into eight sectors designated "A" through to "H". Each sector was commanded by a colonel or a general, but most of the colonels and generals had no combat experience. To the west of the city was the 20th Panzergrenadier Division . To the north was the 9th Fallschirmjäger Division , to the north-east the Panzer Division Müncheberg . To the south-east of the city and to the east of Tempelhof Airport
12510-528: The depths of the Bendlerblock, Weidling's staff did not know whether it was day or night. Around noon on 26 April, Weidling relieved Colonel Hans-Oscar Wöhlermann of command, and Major General Werner Mummert was reinstated as commander of the Müncheberg Panzer Division. Later that evening, Weidling presented Hitler with a detailed proposal for a breakout from Berlin. When Weidling finished, Hitler shook his head and said: "Your proposal
12649-427: The directive to prepare for an invasion of the Soviet Union. Firing squad A firing squad is normally composed of at least several soldiers, all of whom are usually instructed to fire simultaneously, thus preventing both disruption of the process by one member and identification of who fired the lethal shot. To avoid disfigurement due to multiple shots to the head, the shooters are typically instructed to aim at
12788-757: The dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian, Ottoman, and Russian Empires. To prevent a future world war, the League of Nations was established in 1920 by the Paris Peace Conference . The organisation's primary goals were to prevent armed conflict through collective security, military, and naval disarmament , as well as settling international disputes through peaceful negotiations and arbitration. Despite strong pacifist sentiment after World War I , irredentist and revanchist nationalism had emerged in several European states. These sentiments were especially marked in Germany because of
12927-490: The east and from the south, had linked up in Berlin and northwest of Potsdam and that the troops of the 1st Belorussian Front took Gartenstadt, Siemenstadt and the Goerlitzer Railway Station in eastern Berlin. When Weidling discovered that a major part of the last line of the German defences in Berlin were manned by Hitler Youth , he ordered Artur Axmann to disband the Hitler Youth combat formations in
13066-581: The enactment of Republic Act No. 9346. Existing death row inmates, who numbered in the thousands, were eventually given life sentences or reclusion perpetua instead. Nicolae Ceaușescu was executed by firing squad alongside his wife while singing the Communist Internationale following a show trial, bringing an end to the Romanian Revolution , on Christmas Day, 1989. In Imperial Russia, firing squads were used in
13205-712: The end of May completed the German conquest of the Balkans. Partisan warfare subsequently broke out against the Axis occupation of Yugoslavia , which continued until the end of the war. In the Middle East in May, Commonwealth forces quashed an uprising in Iraq which had been supported by German aircraft from bases within Vichy-controlled Syria . Between June and July, British-led forces invaded and occupied
13344-511: The end of the war. World War II changed the political alignment and social structure of the world, and it set the foundation of international relations for the rest of the 20th century and into the 21st century. The United Nations was established to foster international cooperation and prevent conflicts, with the victorious great powers—China, France, the Soviet Union, the UK, and the US—becoming
13483-999: The enemy" during the First World War. On 1 April 1916 a Belgian woman, Gabrielle Petit , was executed by a German firing squad at Schaerbeek after being convicted of spying for the British Secret Service during World War I. During the Battle of the Bulge in World War II, three captured German spies were tried and executed by a U.S. firing squad at Henri-Chapelle on 23 December 1944. Thirteen other Germans were also tried and shot at either Henri-Chapelle or Huy . These executed spies took part in Waffen-SS commando Otto Skorzeny 's Operation Greif , in which English-speaking German commandos operated behind U.S. lines, masquerading in U.S. uniforms and equipment. The Brazilian Constitution of 1988 expressly prohibits
13622-495: The evening of 29 April, Weidling's headquarters in the Bendlerblock was now within metres of the front line. Weidling discussed with his divisional commanders the possibility of breaking out to the southwest to link up with General Walther Wenck 's 12th Army. Wenck's spearhead had reached the village of Ferch on the banks of the Schwielowsee near Potsdam. The breakout was planned to start the next night at 22:00. On 30 April,
13761-480: The executions were carried out by the regimental military police platoon, or by the local military police in the case of spies. One Finn, Toivo Koljonen , was executed for a civilian crime (six murders). Most executions occurred in 1941 and during the Soviet Summer Offensive in 1944. The last death sentences were given in 1945 for murder, but later commuted to life imprisonment. The death penalty
13900-662: The firing squad at the range of Basse di Stura, near Turin . Soon after the Constitution of the newly proclaimed Republic prohibited the death penalty except for some crimes, like high treason, during wartime; no one was sentenced to death after 1947. In 2007 the Constitution was amended to ban the death penalty altogether. Firing squads were used during the periods of French and British control in Malta . Ringleaders of rebellions were often shot dead by firing squad during
14039-575: The first step of what its government saw as the country's right to rule Asia , staged the Mukden incident as a pretext to invade Manchuria and establish the puppet state of Manchukuo . China appealed to the League of Nations to stop the Japanese invasion of Manchuria. Japan withdrew from the League of Nations after being condemned for its incursion into Manchuria. The two nations then fought several battles, in Shanghai , Rehe and Hebei , until
14178-864: The former Chinese imperial capital of Peking after instigating the Marco Polo Bridge incident , which culminated in the Japanese campaign to invade all of China. The Soviets quickly signed a non-aggression pact with China to lend materiel support, effectively ending China's prior cooperation with Germany . From September to November, the Japanese attacked Taiyuan , engaged the Kuomintang Army around Xinkou , and fought Communist forces in Pingxingguan . Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek deployed his best army to defend Shanghai , but after three months of fighting, Shanghai fell. The Japanese continued to push Chinese forces back, capturing
14317-718: The future". During the months following the triumph of the Cuban Revolution in 1959, soldiers of the Batista government and political opponents to the revolution were executed by firing squad. The death penalty was widely used during and after the Finnish Civil War (January–May 1918); some 9,700 Finns and an unknown number of Russian volunteers on the Red side were executed during the war or in its aftermath. Most executions were carried out by firing squads after
14456-503: The government, such as Buka Suka Dimka and Maj. Gideon Orkar , by firing squad. Vidkun Quisling , the leader of the collaborationist Nasjonal Samling Party and president of Norway during the German occupation in World War II, was sentenced to death for treason and executed by firing squad on 24 October 1945 at the Akershus Fortress . Jose Rizal was executed by firing squad on the morning of 30 December 1896, in what
14595-525: The invasion of the Ethiopian Empire (also known as Abyssinia ) by the armed forces of the Kingdom of Italy ( Regno d'Italia ), which was launched from Italian Somaliland and Eritrea . The war resulted in the military occupation of Ethiopia and its annexation into the newly created colony of Italian East Africa ( Africa Orientale Italiana , or AOI); in addition it exposed the weakness of
14734-518: The last recorded execution was in 2003. In January 1992 a Cuban exile convicted of "terrorism, sabotage and enemy propaganda" was executed by firing squad. The Council of the State noted that the punishment served as a deterrent and stated that the death penalty "fulfills a goal of overall prevention, especially when the idea is to stop such loathsome actions from being repeated, to deter others and so to prevent innocent human lives from being endangered in
14873-415: The last second to face them, but this is unconfirmed. Sometimes, one or more soldiers of the firing squad may be issued a rifle containing a blank cartridge . In such cases, soldiers of the firing squad are not told beforehand whether they are using live or blank ammunition. This is believed to reinforce the sense of diffusion of responsibility among the firing squad members. It provides each member with
15012-502: The permanent members of its security council . The Soviet Union and the United States emerged as rival superpowers , setting the stage for the Cold War . In the wake of European devastation, the influence of its great powers waned, triggering the decolonisation of Africa and Asia . Most countries whose industries had been damaged moved towards economic recovery and expansion . World War II began in Europe on 1 September 1939 with
15151-549: The phrase " ¡Al paredón! " ("To the wall!") to express the death threat to whom certain blame is attributed to be summarily executed. " Dar un paseo " (Going for a walk) is the euphemism of a series of violent episodes and political repression that occurred during the Spanish Civil War, which took place on both the Republican and the Nationalist factions , looking for victims with the excuse of taking them for
15290-589: The political European map with the defeat of the Central Powers —including Austria-Hungary , Germany , Bulgaria , and the Ottoman Empire —and the 1917 Bolshevik seizure of power in Russia , which led to the founding of the Soviet Union. Meanwhile, the victorious Allies of World War I , such as France, Belgium, Italy, Romania, and Greece, gained territory, and new nation-states were created out of
15429-589: The population. After the attack on high-ranking German officer Hanns Albin Rauter , about 300 people were executed publicly as reprisal against resistance movements. Rauter himself was executed near Scheveningen on 12 January 1949, following his conviction for war crimes. Anton Mussert , a Dutch Nazi leader, was sentenced to death by firing squad and executed in the dunes near The Hague on 7 May 1946. While under Allied guard in Amsterdam, and five days after
15568-599: The port of Tobruk . By late March 1941, Bulgaria and Yugoslavia signed the Tripartite Pact ; however, the Yugoslav government was overthrown two days later by pro-British nationalists. Germany and Italy responded with simultaneous invasions of both Yugoslavia and Greece , commencing on 6 April 1941; both nations were forced to surrender within the month. The airborne invasion of the Greek island of Crete at
15707-605: The position only since March. The forces available to Weidling for the city's defence included roughly 45,000 soldiers in several severely-depleted German Army and Waffen-SS divisions. These divisions were supplemented by the police force, boys in the compulsory Hitler Youth , and 40,000 men of the Volkssturm (militia). The commander of the central government district was SS- Brigadeführer Wilhelm Mohnke . Mohnke had been appointed to his position by Hitler and had over 2,000 men under his direct command. His core group were
15846-722: The remainder of Czechoslovakia and subsequently split it into the German Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia and a pro-German client state , the Slovak Republic . Hitler also delivered an ultimatum to Lithuania on 20 March 1939, forcing the concession of the Klaipėda Region , formerly the German Memelland . Greatly alarmed and with Hitler making further demands on the Free City of Danzig ,
15985-497: The sentences were given by illegal or semi-legal courts martial . Only some 250 persons were sentenced to death in courts acting on legal authority. During World War II some 500 persons were executed, half of them condemned spies. The usual causes for death penalty for Finnish citizens were treason and high treason (and to a lesser extent cowardice and disobedience , applicable for military personnel). Almost all cases of capital punishment were tried by court-martial. Usually
16124-410: The significant territorial, colonial, and financial losses imposed by the Treaty of Versailles . Under the treaty, Germany lost around 13 percent of its home territory and all its overseas possessions , while German annexation of other states was prohibited, reparations were imposed, and limits were placed on the size and capability of the country's armed forces . The German Empire was dissolved in
16263-498: The start or prelude to World War II. The exact date of the war's end also is not universally agreed upon. It was generally accepted at the time that the war ended with the armistice of 15 August 1945 ( V-J Day ), rather than with the formal surrender of Japan on 2 September 1945, which officially ended the war in Asia . A peace treaty between Japan and the Allies was signed in 1951. A 1990 treaty regarding Germany's future allowed
16402-593: The strong Maginot Line fortifications on the Franco-German border, Germany directed its attack at the neutral nations of Belgium , the Netherlands , and Luxembourg . The Germans carried out a flanking manoeuvre through the Ardennes region, which was mistakenly perceived by the Allies as an impenetrable natural barrier against armoured vehicles. By successfully implementing new Blitzkrieg tactics,
16541-466: The suffering of the civilians in Berlin and of our wounded. Together with the commander-in-chief of the Soviet forces I order you to stop fighting immediately. WEIDLING, General of Artillery, former District Commandant in the defence of Berlin The meeting between Weidling and Chuikov ended at 8:23 am on 2 May 1945. The Soviet forces took Weidling into custody and flew him to the Soviet Union. Initially, he
16680-591: The town of Vincennes after being convicted of spying for Germany during World War I. During World War II, on 24 September 1944, Josef Wende and Stephan Kortas, two Poles drafted into the German army, crossed the Moselle Rivers behind U.S. lines in civilian clothes to observe Allied strength and were to rejoin their own army on the same day. However, they were discovered by the Americans and arrested. On 18 October 1944 they were found guilty of espionage by
16819-585: The two wars became World War II in 1941. Other proposed starting dates for World War II include the Italian invasion of Abyssinia on 3 October 1935. The British historian Antony Beevor views the beginning of World War II as the Battles of Khalkhin Gol fought between Japan and the forces of Mongolia and the Soviet Union from May to September 1939. Others view the Spanish Civil War as
16958-548: The usage of capital punishment in peacetime, but authorizes the use of the death penalty for military crimes committed during wartime. War must be declared formally, in accordance with international law and article 84, item 19 of the Federal Constitution, with due authorization from the Brazilian Congress. The Brazilian Code of Military Penal Law, in its chapter dealing with wartime offences, specifies
17097-513: The war were not fulfilled in the peace settlement. From 1922 to 1925, the Fascist movement led by Benito Mussolini seized power in Italy with a nationalist, totalitarian , and class collaborationist agenda that abolished representative democracy, repressed socialist, left-wing, and liberal forces, and pursued an aggressive expansionist foreign policy aimed at making Italy a world power, promising
17236-475: The war. Germany annexed western Poland and occupied central Poland ; the Soviet Union annexed eastern Poland ; small shares of Polish territory were transferred to Lithuania and Slovakia . On 6 October, Hitler made a public peace overture to the United Kingdom and France but said that the future of Poland was to be determined exclusively by Germany and the Soviet Union. The proposal was rejected and Hitler ordered an immediate offensive against France, which
17375-512: The west halted the German advance for several days, but it was outflanked and encircled by the Wehrmacht . Remnants of the Polish army broke through to besieged Warsaw . On 17 September 1939, two days after signing a cease-fire with Japan , the Soviet Union invaded Poland under the supposed pretext that the Polish state had ceased to exist. On 27 September, the Warsaw garrison surrendered to
17514-707: The world order , and soon began a massive rearmament campaign . France, seeking to secure its alliance with Italy, allowed Italy a free hand in Ethiopia , which Italy desired as a colonial possession. The situation was aggravated in early 1935 when the Territory of the Saar Basin was legally reunited with Germany, and Hitler repudiated the Treaty of Versailles, accelerated his rearmament programme, and introduced conscription. The United Kingdom, France and Italy formed
17653-439: The world's countries —including all the great powers —participated, with many investing all available economic, industrial, and scientific capabilities in pursuit of total war , blurring the distinction between military and civilian resources. Tanks and aircraft played major roles , with the latter enabling the strategic bombing of population centres and delivery of the only two nuclear weapons ever used in war. World War II
17792-554: Was invaded by Germany. The United States started strategic planning to prepare for a full-scale offensive against Germany. At the end of September 1940, the Tripartite Pact formally united Japan, Italy, and Germany as the Axis powers . The Tripartite Pact stipulated that any country—with the exception of the Soviet Union—that attacked any Axis Power would be forced to go to war against all three. The Axis expanded in November 1940 when Hungary , Slovakia , and Romania joined. Romania and Hungary later made major contributions to
17931-418: Was "the sacrifice of children for an already doomed cause". Axmann did not withdraw them from the battle. By 19 April, with Schörner's Army Group Centre collapsing, Weidling's corps was forced to retreat west into Berlin. The German forces's retreat from Seelow Heights during the 19th and 20th left no front line remaining. On 22 April, Hitler ordered for Weidling to be executed by firing squad on receiving
18070-477: Was abolished by Finnish law in 1949 for crimes committed during peacetime, and in 1972 for all crimes. Finland is party to the Optional protocol of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights , forbidding the use of the death penalty in all circumstances. Pte. Thomas Highgate was the first British soldier to be convicted of desertion and executed by firing squad in September 1914 at Tournan-en-Brie during World War I. In October 1916 Pte. Harry Farr
18209-426: Was held in the Butyrka and Lefortovo Prisons in Moscow . On 27 February 1952, the Military Collegium of the Supreme Court of the Soviet Union sentenced him to 25 years' imprisonment for war crimes committed in the occupied Soviet Union. Weidling died on 17 November 1955 in the custody of the KGB in Vladimir of an apparent heart attack. He was buried in an unmarked grave at the prison cemetery. On 16 April 1996,
18348-405: Was in command, XLI Panzer Corps was responsible for an atrocity committed by the Wehrmacht in the Soviet Union during the war. Up to 50,000 civilians were deliberately infected with typhus, and placed in a "typhus camp" in the area of Parichi , Belorussia, in the path of oncoming Red Army forces, in the hopes that would cause a massive outbreak of typhus among the Red Army soldiers. That was noted by
18487-403: Was postponed until the spring of 1940 due to bad weather. After the outbreak of war in Poland, Stalin threatened Estonia , Latvia , and Lithuania with military invasion, forcing the three Baltic countries to sign pacts allowing the creation of Soviet military bases in these countries; in October 1939, significant Soviet military contingents were moved there. Finland refused to sign
18626-657: Was repulsed with heavy Italian casualties; the campaign ended within months with minor territorial changes. To assist Italy and prevent Britain from gaining a foothold, Germany prepared to invade the Balkans, which would threaten Romanian oil fields and strike against British dominance of the Mediterranean. In December 1940, British Empire forces began counter-offensives against Italian forces in Egypt and Italian East Africa . The offensives were successful; by early February 1941, Italy had lost control of eastern Libya, and large numbers of Italian troops had been taken prisoner. The Italian Navy also suffered significant defeats, with
18765-441: Was required to go through the bureaucracy of the League of Nations, which rendered it essentially toothless. The United States, concerned with events in Europe and Asia, passed the Neutrality Act in August of the same year. Hitler defied the Versailles and Locarno Treaties by remilitarising the Rhineland in March 1936, encountering little opposition due to the policy of appeasement . In October 1936, Germany and Italy formed
18904-402: Was shot for cowardice at Carnoy , which was later suspected to be acoustic shock . Highgate and Farr, along with 304 other British and Imperial troops who were executed for similar offenses, were listed at the Shot at Dawn Memorial which was erected to honor them. On 15 October 1917 Dutch exotic dancer Mata Hari was executed by a French firing squad at Château de Vincennes castle in
19043-411: Was the SS- Nordland Panzergrenadier Division composed mainly of foreign volunteers. Weidling's reserve, the 18th Panzergrenadier Division was in Berlin's central district. Sometime around 26 April, Weidling chose as his base of operations the old army headquarters on the Bendlerstrasse, the Bendlerblock . The location had well-equipped air-raid shelters and was close to the Reich Chancellery . In
19182-480: Was the deadliest conflict in history, resulting in 70 to 85 million deaths , more than half being civilians. Millions died in genocides , including the Holocaust of European Jews, as well as from massacres, starvation, and disease. Following the Allied powers' victory, Germany , Austria , Japan , and Korea were occupied, and war crimes tribunals were conducted against German and Japanese leaders . The causes of World War II included unresolved tensions in
19321-724: Was to be informed was Joseph Stalin . An attempt would be made that night to arrange an armistice, and General Krebs would inform the Soviet commander so that he could inform the Kremlin . Weidling soon rang Colonel Hans Refior , his civil chief-of-staff, in the Bendlerblock headquarters soon afterward. Weidling said that he could not tell him what had happened, but he needed various members of his staff to join him immediately, including Colonel Theodor von Dufving , his military chief-of-staff. The meeting on 1 May between Krebs, who had been sent by Goebbels, and Soviet Lieutenant General Vasily Chuikov ended with no agreement. According to Hitler's personal secretary Traudl Junge , Krebs returned to
#650349