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127-640: The 3rd SS Panzer Division "Totenkopf" ( German : 3. SS-Panzerdivision "Totenkopf" ) was an elite division of the Waffen-SS of Nazi Germany during World War II , formed from the Standarten of the SS-TV . Its name, Totenkopf , is German for "death's head" – the skull and crossbones symbol  – and it is thus sometimes referred to as the Death's Head Division . The division

254-652: A Panzer I chassis . and were used in the Battle of France The trend continued with older tanks and captured vehicles, which were available in large numbers for conversions to self-propelled guns when they were replaced by heavier and better-armed (and armored) tanks. Although just a makeshift solution, these initial experiments proved so successful, they spawned an entire class of new vehicles: dedicated tank destroyers . The US Army's early self-propelled anti-tank guns were 75 mm on M2 half-tracks (entering service in 1941) to complement towed artillery and M6 gun motor carriage

381-465: A de facto official language of Namibia after the end of German colonial rule alongside English and Afrikaans , and had de jure co-official status from 1984 until its independence from South Africa in 1990. However, the Namibian government perceived Afrikaans and German as symbols of apartheid and colonialism, and decided English would be the sole official language upon independence, stating that it

508-402: A second language , and 75–100   million as a foreign language . This would imply the existence of approximately 175–220   million German speakers worldwide. German sociolinguist Ulrich Ammon estimated a number of 289 million German foreign language speakers without clarifying the criteria by which he classified a speaker. As of 2012 , about 90   million people, or 16% of

635-612: A "commonly used" language and the Pan South African Language Board is obligated to promote and ensure respect for it. Cameroon was also a colony of the German Empire from the same period (1884 to 1916). However, German was replaced by French and English, the languages of the two successor colonial powers, after its loss in World War I . Nevertheless, since the 21st century, German has become

762-407: A 37 mm on 4-wheel-drive Dodge truck (1942). US tank destroyer doctrine emphasised mobility to place the tank destroyers into positions to ambush tank attacks. Tank destroyers offered some advantages over towed anti-tank guns, since a static gun emplacement sacrificed concealment and surprise after firing the first shot, but the same gun mounted on a tracked or wheeled chassis could open fire and throw

889-571: A far more viable option for arming infantry. Recoilless rifles replaced most conventional anti-tank guns in the postwar period; nevertheless, the development of new anti-tank guns exhibiting similar low-recoil performance continued until the late 1950s in France, Belgium, and the Soviet Union . A few Soviet designs saw combat well into the 1980s and 1990s. The first specialized anti-tank weaponry consisted of anti-tank rifles . These emerged from

1016-437: A few hundred pounds on average, they could also be manhandled into position. All fired high-explosive and solid armor-piercing shot effective at ranges up to roughly 500 m (1,600 ft), and an increasing number were manufactured with protective gun shields in addition to a split rail mounting. They were able to destroy tanks fielded by both sides during the first two years of the war, but soon proved impotent against

1143-559: A greater need for regularity in written conventions. While the major changes of the MHG period were socio-cultural, High German was still undergoing significant linguistic changes in syntax, phonetics, and morphology as well (e.g. diphthongization of certain vowel sounds: hus (OHG & MHG "house") → haus (regionally in later MHG)→ Haus (NHG), and weakening of unstressed short vowels to schwa [ə]: taga (OHG "days")→ tage (MHG)). A great wealth of texts survives from

1270-580: A holding action on the left flank of the offensive, in the area between Lake Velence - Székesfehérvár . Dietrich's army made "good progress" at first, but as they drew near the Danube, the combination of the muddy terrain and strong Soviet resistance ground them to a halt. As the offensive stalled, the Soviets forces counterattacked in strength on 16 March. The Germans were driven back to the positions they had held before Operation Spring Awakening began. Attacking

1397-580: A major Moroccan counter attack near Ribeauville, driving it back with its own counter attack, before crossing the Selle river and linking up with Rommel's division in the outskirts of Cambrai. Overall in the actions around the Cambrai/Sambre area the division captured 16,000 troops. Whilst subsequently trying to drive through to the coast, Totenkopf was involved in the Battle of Arras . On 21 May units of

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1524-458: A native tongue today, mostly descendants of German colonial settlers . The period of German colonialism in Namibia also led to the evolution of a Standard German-based pidgin language called " Namibian Black German ", which became a second language for parts of the indigenous population. Although it is nearly extinct today, some older Namibians still have some knowledge of it. German remained

1651-633: A number of countries began producing man-portable anti-tank weapons using this ammunition. The development of man-portable, shoulder-fired, anti-tank rocket launchers began in 1941; most could be reloaded, but a few, such as the German Panzerfaust , were fired from disposable tubes. Unlike anti-tank guns, their light weight made them easily portable by individual infantrymen on the battlefield, and they offered similar degrees of firepower whilst being quicker and cheaper to produce. Towed anti-tank guns disappeared from most Western countries, such as

1778-770: A number of influential designs proliferated, such as the Böhler gun . By the late 1930s, anti-tank guns had been manufactured by companies in Germany, Austria, France, Czechoslovakia , Belgium, Great Britain, Denmark, and Sweden. A few countries, such as the Soviet Union, also manufactured foreign designs under license. At the outbreak of World War II, most armies were fielding light anti-tank guns firing 3.7-cm (37-mm) ammunition. The guns were usually mounted on two-wheeled carriages so they could be towed into position, then withdrawn and repositioned rapidly. Since they weighed only

1905-596: A part of SS-Obergruppenführer Paul Hausser 's II SS Panzer Corps , took part in the Third Battle of Kharkov , blunting the Soviet offensive. During this campaign, Theodor Eicke was killed when his spotter aircraft was shot down. Hermann Priess succeeded Eicke as commander. The SS Panzer Corps, including the division, was then shifted north to take part in Operation Citadel , the offensive aimed at reducing

2032-696: A popular foreign language among pupils and students, with 300,000 people learning or speaking German in Cameroon in 2010 and over 230,000 in 2020. Today Cameroon is one of the African countries outside Namibia with the highest number of people learning German. In the United States, German is the fifth most spoken language in terms of native and second language speakers after English, Spanish , French , and Chinese (with figures for Cantonese and Mandarin combined), with over 1 million total speakers. In

2159-610: A postwar 90-mm anti-tank gun of its own, the Pak 50/57 , firing shells with an even lower velocity than the Mecar or DEFA guns. Apart from the T-12, which used APDS rounds, these weapons could only use HEAT shells for armor-piercing purposes. France did introduce an APFSDS shell for the DEFA D921 at some point in the 1980s. The last country known to have produced a dedicated anti-tank gun was

2286-483: A result, the surviving texts are written in highly disparate regional dialects and exhibit significant Latin influence, particularly in vocabulary. At this point monasteries, where most written works were produced, were dominated by Latin, and German saw only occasional use in official and ecclesiastical writing. While there is no complete agreement over the dates of the Middle High German (MHG) period, it

2413-706: A series of massacres of captured African soldiers in the Chasselay area, murdering about captured 100 Senegalese Tirailleurs . They are today buried in the Tata of Chasselay . The main organisation structure of this SS formation was as follows: German language German (German: Deutsch , pronounced [dɔʏtʃ] ) is a West Germanic language in the Indo-European language family , mainly spoken in Western and Central Europe . It

2540-422: A tank formation into substantial disarray before quickly withdrawing to repeat the same tactic elsewhere. The introduction of tank destroyers also put an end to the traditional tactic of suppressing anti-tank gun batteries with heavy artillery bombardments, as their crews were now well-protected under armor. They were not without their own series of disadvantages, however, namely presenting a much larger target than

2667-514: A towed gun, the added responsibilities of vehicle maintenance and logistical support, and the limited spaces in which the crew had to operate and stow all their available ammunition. By the end of the war, dedicated tank destroyers had been superseded by tanks, which were just as effective at destroying other tanks, and little incentive remained to continue their separate development. Nevertheless, much like towed anti-tank guns, they were widely exported and are still in service with some militaries in

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2794-601: Is a recognized minority language in the following countries: In France, the High German varieties of Alsatian and Moselle Franconian are identified as " regional languages ", but the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages of 1998 has not yet been ratified by the government. Namibia also was a colony of the German Empire, from 1884 to 1915. About 30,000 people still speak German as

2921-612: Is also notable for its broad spectrum of dialects , with many varieties existing in Europe and other parts of the world. Some of these non-standard varieties have become recognized and protected by regional or national governments. Since 2004, heads of state of the German-speaking countries have met every year, and the Council for German Orthography has been the main international body regulating German orthography . German

3048-558: Is an Indo-European language that belongs to the West Germanic group of the Germanic languages . The Germanic languages are traditionally subdivided into three branches: North Germanic , East Germanic , and West Germanic . The first of these branches survives in modern Danish , Swedish , Norwegian , Faroese , and Icelandic , all of which are descended from Old Norse . The East Germanic languages are now extinct, and Gothic

3175-478: Is called the "German Sprachraum ". German is the official language of the following countries: German is a co-official language of the following countries: Although expulsions and (forced) assimilation after the two World wars greatly diminished them, minority communities of mostly bilingual German native speakers exist in areas both adjacent to and detached from the Sprachraum. Within Europe, German

3302-430: Is complicated by the existence of several varieties whose status as separate "languages" or "dialects" is disputed for political and linguistic reasons, including quantitatively strong varieties like certain forms of Alemannic and Low German . With the inclusion or exclusion of certain varieties, it is estimated that approximately 90–95 million people speak German as a first language , 10–25   million speak it as

3429-535: Is generally seen as ending when the 1346–53 Black Death decimated Europe's population. Modern High German begins with the Early New High German (ENHG) period, which Wilhelm Scherer dates 1350–1650, terminating with the end of the Thirty Years' War . This period saw the further displacement of Latin by German as the primary language of courtly proceedings and, increasingly, of literature in

3556-611: Is generally seen as lasting from 1050 to 1350. This was a period of significant expansion of the geographical territory occupied by Germanic tribes, and consequently of the number of German speakers. Whereas during the Old High German period the Germanic tribes extended only as far east as the Elbe and Saale rivers, the MHG period saw a number of these tribes expanding beyond this eastern boundary into Slavic territory (known as

3683-565: Is less closely related to languages based on Low Franconian dialects (e.g., Dutch and Afrikaans), Low German or Low Saxon dialects (spoken in northern Germany and southern Denmark ), neither of which underwent the High German consonant shift. As has been noted, the former of these dialect types is Istvaeonic and the latter Ingvaeonic, whereas the High German dialects are all Irminonic; the differences between these languages and standard German are therefore considerable. Also related to German are

3810-435: Is one of the major languages of the world . German is the second-most widely spoken Germanic language , after English, both as a first and as a second language . German is also widely taught as a foreign language , especially in continental Europe (where it is the third most taught foreign language after English and French), and in the United States. Overall, German is the fourth most commonly learned second language, and

3937-597: Is one of the three biggest newspapers in Namibia and the only German-language daily in Africa. An estimated 12,000 people speak German or a German variety as a first language in South Africa, mostly originating from different waves of immigration during the 19th and 20th centuries. One of the largest communities consists of the speakers of "Nataler Deutsch", a variety of Low German concentrated in and around Wartburg . The South African constitution identifies German as

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4064-401: Is partly derived from Latin and Greek , along with fewer words borrowed from French and Modern English . English, however, is the main source of more recent loanwords . German is a pluricentric language ; the three standardized variants are German , Austrian , and Swiss Standard German . Standard German is sometimes called High German , which refers to its regional origin. German

4191-525: Is the Sachsenspiegel , the first book of laws written in Middle Low German ( c.  1220 ). The abundance and especially the secular character of the literature of the MHG period demonstrate the beginnings of a standardized written form of German, as well as the desire of poets and authors to be understood by individuals on supra-dialectal terms. The Middle High German period

4318-776: Is the most spoken native language within the European Union . It is the most widely spoken and official (or co-official) language in Germany , Austria , Switzerland , Liechtenstein , and the Italian autonomous province of South Tyrol . It is also an official language of Luxembourg , Belgium and the Italian autonomous region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia , as well as a recognized national language in Namibia . There are also notable German-speaking communities in France ( Alsace ),

4445-578: Is the only language in this branch which survives in written texts. The West Germanic languages, however, have undergone extensive dialectal subdivision and are now represented in modern languages such as English, German, Dutch , Yiddish , Afrikaans , and others. Within the West Germanic language dialect continuum, the Benrath and Uerdingen lines (running through Düsseldorf - Benrath and Krefeld - Uerdingen , respectively) serve to distinguish

4572-485: Is understood in all areas where German is spoken. Approximate distribution of native German speakers (assuming a rounded total of 95 million) worldwide: As a result of the German diaspora , as well as the popularity of German taught as a foreign language , the geographical distribution of German speakers (or "Germanophones") spans all inhabited continents. However, an exact, global number of native German speakers

4699-689: The Ostsiedlung ). With the increasing wealth and geographic spread of the Germanic groups came greater use of German in the courts of nobles as the standard language of official proceedings and literature. A clear example of this is the mittelhochdeutsche Dichtersprache employed in the Hohenstaufen court in Swabia as a standardized supra-dialectal written language. While these efforts were still regionally bound, German began to be used in place of Latin for certain official purposes, leading to

4826-551: The Generalplan Ost colonization programme. In October 1939, these Totenkopfverbände troops formed the core of the 3 Totenkopf Division, of which Eicke became the commander. During the 1943 Warsaw Ghetto Uprising the training Battalion of the 3rd Panzer Division Totenkopf took part in the suppression of the uprising. While the Totenkopf Division committed numerous massacres of French Arab and African troops,

4953-522: The Panzerfaust and the American series of recoilless rifles . Although several large-caliber guns were developed during the war that were capable of knocking out the most heavily armored tanks, they proved expensive and difficult to conceal. The later generation of low-recoil anti-tank weapons, which allowed projectiles the size of an artillery shell to be fired from the shoulder, was considered

5080-624: The 1st Army Tank Brigade , supported by the 50th (Northumbrian) Infantry Division , overran some of Totenkopf's positions, their standard anti-tank gun , the 3.7 cm PaK 36 , being no match for the British Matilda tank although they quickly halted the British. In the following days, the unit committed several large-scale massacres of French civilians, most notable the Berles-Monchel and Aubigny-en-Artois massacres. On 27 May,

5207-639: The Alamanni , Bavarian, and Thuringian groups, all belonging to the Elbe Germanic group ( Irminones ), which had settled in what is now southern-central Germany and Austria between the second and sixth centuries, during the great migration. In general, the surviving texts of Old High German (OHG) show a wide range of dialectal diversity with very little written uniformity. The early written tradition of OHG survived mostly through monasteries and scriptoria as local translations of Latin originals; as

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5334-669: The Battle of Dunkirk . Soldiers of the 2nd Battalion, the Royal Norfolk Regiment , had become isolated from their regiment. They occupied and defended a farmhouse against an attack by Waffen-SS forces in the village of Le Paradis . After running out of ammunition, the defenders surrendered to the German troops. The Germans machine-gunned the men after they surrendered, with survivors killed with bayonets . Two men survived with injuries, and were hidden by locals until they were captured by German forces several days later. After

5461-568: The Czech Republic ( North Bohemia ), Poland ( Upper Silesia ), Slovakia ( Košice Region , Spiš , and Hauerland ), Denmark ( North Schleswig ), Romania and Hungary ( Sopron ). Overseas, sizeable communities of German-speakers are found in Brazil ( Blumenau and Pomerode ), South Africa ( Kroondal ), Namibia , among others, some communities have decidedly Austrian German or Swiss German characters (e.g. Pozuzo , Peru). German

5588-537: The Early Middle Ages . German is an inflected language , with four cases for nouns, pronouns, and adjectives (nominative, accusative, genitive, dative); three genders (masculine, feminine, neuter) and two numbers (singular, plural). It has strong and weak verbs . The majority of its vocabulary derives from the ancient Germanic branch of the Indo-European language family, while a smaller share

5715-417: The European Union 's population, spoke German as their mother tongue, making it the second most widely spoken language on the continent after Russian and the second biggest language in terms of overall speakers (after English), as well as the most spoken native language. The area in central Europe where the majority of the population speaks German as a first language and has German as a (co-)official language

5842-522: The German states . While these states were still part of the Holy Roman Empire , and far from any form of unification, the desire for a cohesive written language that would be understandable across the many German-speaking principalities and kingdoms was stronger than ever. As a spoken language German remained highly fractured throughout this period, with a vast number of often mutually incomprehensible regional dialects being spoken throughout

5969-746: The Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I , and the other being Meißner Deutsch , used in the Electorate of Saxony in the Duchy of Saxe-Wittenberg . Alongside these courtly written standards, the invention of the printing press led to the development of a number of printers' languages ( Druckersprachen ) aimed at making printed material readable and understandable across as many diverse dialects of German as possible. The greater ease of production and increased availability of written texts brought about increased standardisation in

6096-700: The Kursk salient. It was during February 1943 that the 3rd SS Panzer Regiment received a company of Tiger I heavy tanks. The attack was launched on 5 July 1943 with the II SS Panzer Corps attacking the southern flank of the salient as the spearhead for Generaloberst Hermann Hoth 's 4th Panzer Army . The division covered the advance on the left flank of the II SS Panzer Corps, with the SS Division Leibstandarte forming

6223-652: The Le Paradis and Chasselay massacres . The remnants of the division surrendered on 9 May 1945 to American forces in Czechoslovakia. The SS Division Totenkopf was formed in October 1939. The division had close ties to the camp service and its members. When it was first formed a total of 6,500 men from the SS-Totenkopfverbände (SS-TV) were transferred into the Totenkopf Division. The Totenkopf

6350-806: The Modlin Fortress . After the Soviet Operation Bagration and the destruction of Army Group Centre the German lines had been pushed back over 480 kilometres, to the outskirts of the Polish capital. The division arrived at the Warsaw front in late July 1944. After the collapse of the German Army Group Centre , the IV SS Panzer Corps was one of the few functioning formations on the central section of

6477-439: The Old High German language in several Elder Futhark inscriptions from as early as the sixth century AD (such as the Pforzen buckle ), the Old High German period is generally seen as beginning with the Abrogans (written c.  765–775 ), a Latin-German glossary supplying over 3,000 Old High German words with their Latin equivalents. After the Abrogans , the first coherent works written in Old High German appear in

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6604-401: The SS-Verfügungstruppe ( SS-VT ), of whom many had already seen action in Poland. The division was commanded by SS- Obergruppenführer Theodor Eicke . At the time of the Battle of France, the division was equipped with ex-Czech weapons. Totenkopf was initially held in reserve during the Battle of France and invasion of the Low Countries in May 1940. The division was committed on 16 May to

6731-427: The Sprachraum in Europe. German is used in a wide variety of spheres throughout the country, especially in business, tourism, and public signage, as well as in education, churches (most notably the German-speaking Evangelical Lutheran Church in Namibia (GELK) ), other cultural spheres such as music, and media (such as German language radio programs by the Namibian Broadcasting Corporation ). The Allgemeine Zeitung

6858-422: The Standard German language in its written form, and the Duden Handbook was declared its standard definition. Punctuation and compound spelling (joined or isolated compounds) were not standardized in the process. The Deutsche Bühnensprache ( lit.   ' German stage language ' ) by Theodor Siebs had established conventions for German pronunciation in theatres , three years earlier; however, this

6985-418: The Tenth Army in Upper Silesia ; the Brandenburg (EG III) followed the Eight Army across Warthegau . His Totenkopfverbände troops were called on to carry out "police and security measures" in the rear areas. What these measures involved is demonstrated by the record of SS Totenkopf Standarte "Brandenburg". It arrived in Włocławek on 22 September 1939 and embarked on a four-day "Jewish action" that included

7112-421: The Tiger II being fitted with armor over 100 mm (3.9 in) in thickness, as compared to 15 mm (0.59 in) which was more typical in 1939. This prompted the development of a third generation of anti-tank guns, large-caliber pieces in the 57- to 100-mm range. The British Army adopted the Ordnance QF 6-pounder and Ordnance QF 17-pounder , which were then considered great advances in firepower, and

7239-400: The Upper German dialects spoken in the southern German-speaking countries , such as Swiss German ( Alemannic dialects ) and the various Germanic dialects spoken in the French region of Grand Est , such as Alsatian (mainly Alemannic, but also Central–and   Upper Franconian dialects) and Lorraine Franconian (Central Franconian). After these High German dialects, standard German

7366-532: The Wehrmacht fielded the even larger 7.5 cm Pak 41 and 8.8 cm Pak 43 . While the early 37-mm anti-tank guns were easily concealed and moved, the large-caliber weapons available late in the war required equally large vehicles to tow them into place, and were difficult to conceal, dig in, withdraw, or reposition. By 1945, large anti-tank guns had become almost impractical in their role, and their size and weight were considered liabilities. They were also expensive to produce and although they were capable of defeating

7493-408: The pagan Germanic tradition. Of particular interest to scholars, however, has been the Hildebrandslied , a secular epic poem telling the tale of an estranged father and son unknowingly meeting each other in battle. Linguistically, this text is highly interesting due to the mixed use of Old Saxon and Old High German dialects in its composition. The written works of this period stem mainly from

7620-416: The 4 Company of the Totenkopf under the command of Hauptsturmführer Fritz Knöchlein , committed the Le Paradis massacre , where 97 soldiers of the 2nd Battalion, Royal Norfolk Regiment were machine-gunned after surrendering, with survivors killed with bayonets . Only two men survived. In April 1941, the division was ordered East to join Field Marshal Wilhelm von Leeb 's Army Group North . Leeb's force

7747-429: The American forces on 9 May. With the invasion of Poland, Theodor Eicke – who was the commandant of the Dachau concentration camp , inspector of the camps, and murderer of Ernst Röhm – joined the fray with one cavalry and four infantry regiments. Three of his regiments, "Oberbayern", "Brandenburg" and "Thuringen", formed the basis of the first Einsatzgruppen ; the Oberbayern and Thuringen (EG II and EG z. B.V) followed

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7874-415: The Eastern Front. On 1 August 1944, the Armia Krajowa (the Polish Home Army) launched the Warsaw Uprising . A column of Totenkopf Tiger tanks were caught up in the fighting, and several were lost. The Totenkopf itself was not involved in the suppression of the uprising, instead guarding the front lines, and fighting off several Red Army probe attacks into the city's eastern suburbs. In several battles near

8001-614: The Empire. Its use indicated that the speaker was a merchant or someone from an urban area, regardless of nationality. Prague (German: Prag ) and Budapest ( Buda , German: Ofen ), to name two examples, were gradually Germanized in the years after their incorporation into the Habsburg domain; others, like Pressburg ( Pozsony , now Bratislava), were originally settled during the Habsburg period and were primarily German at that time. Prague, Budapest, Bratislava, and cities like Zagreb (German: Agram ) or Ljubljana (German: Laibach ), contained significant German minorities. In

8128-414: The Frisian languages— North Frisian (spoken in Nordfriesland ), Saterland Frisian (spoken in Saterland ), and West Frisian (spoken in Friesland )—as well as the Anglic languages of English and Scots. These Anglo-Frisian dialects did not take part in the High German consonant shift, and the Anglic languages also adopted much vocabulary from both Old Norse and the Norman language . The history of

8255-540: The German invasion of France concentrated tanks in select divisions at up to 100 per kilometer. Introducing improved ammunition and increasing muzzle velocity initially helped compensate for their mediocre performance, but small-caliber anti-tank guns clearly would soon be overtaken by yet more heavily armored tanks. Medium-caliber guns in the 40- to 50-mm range began to appear, some of which simply used rebored 37-mm barrels. Although they, too, were soon approaching obsolescence, most remained in use with infantry units until

8382-417: The German language begins with the High German consonant shift during the Migration Period , which separated Old High German dialects from Old Saxon . This sound shift involved a drastic change in the pronunciation of both voiced and voiceless stop consonants ( b , d , g , and p , t , k , respectively). The primary effects of the shift were the following below. While there is written evidence of

8509-399: The German states; the invention of the printing press c.  1440 and the publication of Luther's vernacular translation of the Bible in 1534, however, had an immense effect on standardizing German as a supra-dialectal written language. The ENHG period saw the rise of several important cross-regional forms of chancery German, one being gemeine tiutsch , used in the court of

8636-623: The Germanic dialects that were affected by the High German consonant shift (south of Benrath) from those that were not (north of Uerdingen). The various regional dialects spoken south of these lines are grouped as High German dialects, while those spoken to the north comprise the Low German and Low Franconian dialects. As members of the West Germanic language family, High German, Low German, and Low Franconian have been proposed to be further distinguished historically as Irminonic , Ingvaeonic , and Istvaeonic , respectively. This classification indicates their historical descent from dialects spoken by

8763-427: The Großdeutschland, managed to halt an armoured assault by the Red Army. The assault, which in many aspects bore similarities to those of the later British Operation Goodwood , was carried out by approximately 500 tanks. In early July, the division was ordered to the area near Grodno in Poland, where it formed a part of SS-Obergruppenführer Herbert Gille 's IV SS Panzer Corps , covering the approaches to Warsaw near

8890-403: The II SS Panzer Corps had halted the Soviet counteroffensive, it had exhausted itself. Citadel was called off on 14 July. Along with the SS Division Das Reich , the division was reassigned to General Karl-Adolf Hollidt 's reformed 6th Army in southern Ukraine. The 6th Army was tasked with eliminating the Soviet bridgehead over the Mius River . The division was involved in heavy fighting over

9017-547: The Irminones (also known as the Elbe group), Ingvaeones (or North Sea Germanic group), and Istvaeones (or Weser–Rhine group). Standard German is based on a combination of Thuringian - Upper Saxon and Upper Franconian dialects, which are Central German and Upper German dialects belonging to the High German dialect group. German is therefore closely related to the other languages based on High German dialects, such as Luxembourgish (based on Central Franconian dialects ) and Yiddish . Also closely related to Standard German are

9144-518: The MHG period. Significantly, these texts include a number of impressive secular works, such as the Nibelungenlied , an epic poem telling the story of the dragon -slayer Siegfried ( c.  thirteenth century ), and the Iwein , an Arthurian verse poem by Hartmann von Aue ( c.  1203 ), lyric poems , and courtly romances such as Parzival and Tristan . Also noteworthy

9271-952: The People's Republic of China in 1988. The Chinese gun was known as the Norinco Type 86 and was probably manufactured as a replacement for the aging Soviet-sourced T-12. Anti-tank guns continued to be used in a number of conflicts around the world, such as the Six-Day War and the South African Border War . Soviet anti-tank guns in particular were exported to at least 18 other countries after being retired from service, and have continued to see action. Although still being drawn by horses or towed by trucks, towed anti-tank guns were initially much lighter and more portable than field guns, making them well-suited to infantry maneuvers. As their size and caliber increased, though,

9398-451: The Psel, the Soviet forces launched a major counterattack against Regiment Thule and the division's battalion of assault guns during the Battle of Prokhorovka . Elements of the division engaged lead units of the 5th Guards Tank Army , halting the Soviet advance and inflicting severe damage to the Soviet forces, but at the cost of the majority of the division's remaining operational tanks. While

9525-507: The T-34's armor. Anti-tank gunners began aiming at tank tracks, or vulnerable margins on the turret ring and gun mantlet , rather than testing their lighter cannon against bow and turret armor. These difficulties resulted in new types of ammunition being issued, namely high-explosive anti-tank (HEAT) and armor-piercing discarding sabot (APDS) projectiles. Towards the end of World War II, armor plating became still thicker, with tanks such as

9652-852: The T-34s. The efforts of the Totenkopf, "Wiking" and "Hermann Göring" divisions allowed the Germans to hold the Vistula line and establish Army Group Vistula . In December 1944, the IX SS Mountain Corps (Alpine Corps-Croatia) was encircled in Budapest . Hitler ordered the IV SS Panzer Corps to redeploy south to relieve the 95,000 Germans and Hungarians trapped in the city. The corps arrived just before New Year's Eve. The relief attempts were to be codenamed Operation Konrad . The first attack

9779-546: The Totenkopf and Wiking was almost complete. The 9th SS Panzer Division Hohenstaufen held open a route which could be used to withdraw – the Berhida Corridor – and Gille's corps escaped the encirclement. The Red Army then launched the Vienna Offensive which destroyed any resemblance of an organised German line of defence. The remnants of the division retreated into Czechoslovakia where it surrendered to

9906-414: The United States, after World War II, to be replaced by shoulder-fired rocket launchers, recoilless rifles, and eventually, guided anti-tank missiles. At the end of the war, German engineers had proposed a new, large-caliber anti-tank gun that used less propellant than a rocket or recoilless weapon, yet fired similar compact hollow-charge shells. German forces subsequently fielded the 8 cm PAW 600 , which

10033-476: The afternoon. This meant that the northern advance slowed and the majority of the division was still south of the Psel, where elements of 5th SS Motorised Regiment 5 Thule continued to advance towards Prokhorovka and cover the flank of the Leibstandarte. By 11 July, elements of the division crossed the Psel and secured Kliuchi. In the afternoon of 12 July, near the village of Andreyevka on the south bank of

10160-650: The burning of synagogues and the execution en masse of the leaders of the Jewish community. On 29 September the Standarte travelled to Bydgoszcz to conduct an " intelligentsia action ". The German Intelligenzaktion resulting in the mass murder of approximately 100,000 Poles, was a major step in the implementation of Sonderaktion Tannenberg (Operation Tannenberg a.k.a. Unternehmen Tannenberg ) of installing Nazi officials from SiPo , Kripo , Gestapo and SD to head an administrative machine in occupied Poland, leading to

10287-544: The crew, or disable the tank. A number of infantry support guns designed to defeat hard targets such as fortified machine gun emplacements were used as makeshift anti-tank weapons, including the French Canon d'Infanterie de 37 modèle 1916 TRP . The 3.7 cm Tankabwehrkanone 1918 im starrer Räder–lafette was probably the first dedicated anti-tank gun in service. However, its gun barrel was based on an earlier Hotchkiss 5-barrelled rotary-cannon . The 3.7 cm TAK 1918

10414-482: The development of non-local forms of language and exposed all speakers to forms of German from outside their own area. With Luther's rendering of the Bible in the vernacular, German asserted itself against the dominance of Latin as a legitimate language for courtly, literary, and now ecclesiastical subject-matter. His Bible was ubiquitous in the German states: nearly every household possessed a copy. Nevertheless, even with

10541-456: The dialect so as to make the work as natural and accessible to German speakers as possible. Copies of Luther's Bible featured a long list of glosses for each region, translating words which were unknown in the region into the regional dialect. Luther said the following concerning his translation method: One who would talk German does not ask the Latin how he shall do it; he must ask the mother in

10668-647: The division took part in Case Anton , the takeover of Vichy France in November 1942. For this operation, the division was supplied with a tank battalion and redesignated 3rd SS Panzergrenadier Division Totenkopf. The division remained in France until February 1943, when its previous commander, Theodor Eicke, resumed control. In February 1943 the division was moved back to the Eastern Front as part of Erich von Manstein 's Army Group South . The division, as

10795-483: The division was encircled for several months near Demyansk in what became known as the Demyansk Pocket . During the fighting in the pocket, it was re-designated "Kampfgruppe Eicke" due to its reduced size. In April 1942, the division broke out of the pocket. At Demyansk, about 80% of its men were killed, wounded or missing in action. The division was sent to France to be refitted in late October 1942. While there,

10922-519: The eastern provinces of Banat , Bukovina , and Transylvania (German: Banat, Buchenland, Siebenbürgen ), German was the predominant language not only in the larger towns—like Temeschburg ( Timișoara ), Hermannstadt ( Sibiu ), and Kronstadt ( Brașov )—but also in many smaller localities in the surrounding areas. In 1901, the Second Orthographic Conference ended with a (nearly) complete standardization of

11049-556: The end of the war. Anti-tank guns remained ineffective against sloped armor , as demonstrated by an incident in 1941 when a single Soviet T-34 tank was hit more than 30 times by a battalion-sized contingent of German 37 and 50-mm anti-tank guns. The tank survived intact and was driven back to its own lines a few hours later. This helped earn the Pak 36 the moniker of Panzeranklopfgerät ("tank door knocker") because its crew simply revealed their presence and wasted their shells without damaging

11176-528: The failure of the first operation, Totenkopf and Wiking launched an assault aimed at reaching the city centre. Named Operation Konrad II , the attack was launched on 7 January from just south of Esztergom . It reached as far as Budapest's northern suburbs, by 12 January motorised infantry of the Wiking division spotted the Hungarian capital's skyline. However, Gille's corps was overextended and vulnerable, so it

11303-471: The first week of April, the division received replacements and new equipment, including Panther tanks . In the second week of April, Totenkopf took part in fighting against a heavy Soviet Army attacks towards Second Battle of Târgu Frumos . By 7 May, the front had quieted and Totenkopf resumed its reorganizing. In the Second Battle of Târgu Frumos , elements of the division, together with elements of

11430-797: The front in Belgium. Later, it was decided that Totenkopf would reinforce the breakthrough of Erwin Rommel 's 7th Panzer Division in the Cambrai area. Reaching the Bazuel area straddling both sides of the river it arrived on the front on 19 May, facing elements of the French 1st Moroccan Infantry Division , 5th North African Infantry Division , and 9th Motorized Division . Totenkopf suffered 16 dead and 53 wounded while killing 200 Moroccan soldiers in its first day in action. In its first major battle it captured

11557-482: The guns likewise became increasingly heavy and cumbersome, restricting their role to static defense. In consequence, during World War II, both sides were compelled to make anti-tank guns self-propelled, which greatly increased their mobility. The first self-propelled anti-tank guns were merely belated attempts to make use of obsolete tanks, such as the Panzerjäger I , which was a Czech 4.7-cm Pak (t) gun mated to

11684-436: The heavier tank armor that debuted in 1940. French doctrine was for their infantry to let enemy tanks pass through then stop the accompanying enemy infantry leaving the unsupported tanks to be engaged by anti-tank guns deployed in three echelons. The issue of 58 guns per division provided 10 guns per kilometre of front which was expected to be able to deal with enemy tanks at a concentration of 50 tanks per kilometer. In practice

11811-435: The home, the children on the streets, the common man in the market-place and note carefully how they talk, then translate accordingly. They will then understand what is said to them because it is German. When Christ says ' ex abundantia cordis os loquitur ,' I would translate, if I followed the papists, aus dem Überflusz des Herzens redet der Mund . But tell me is this talking German? What German understands such stuff? No,

11938-481: The influence of Luther's Bible as an unofficial written standard, a widely accepted standard for written German did not appear until the middle of the eighteenth century. German was the language of commerce and government in the Habsburg Empire , which encompassed a large area of Central and Eastern Europe . Until the mid-nineteenth century, it was essentially the language of townspeople throughout most of

12065-575: The largest concentrations of German speakers are in the states of Rio Grande do Sul (where Riograndenser Hunsrückisch developed), Santa Catarina , and Espírito Santo . Anti-tank gun Anti-tank guns deployed during World War II were often manned by specialist infantry rather than artillery crews, and issued to light infantry units accordingly. The anti-tank guns of the 1920s and 1930s were of small caliber; nearly all major armies possessing them used 37 mm ammunition (the British Army used

12192-455: The lightly rifled French DEFA D921 anti-tank gun, which fired fin-stabilized shells and was available on a towed carriage or as a vehicle mount. It was later mated to the AML-90 and EBR series of French armored cars. The Soviet Union also adopted a similar design around the same time, the 100-mm T-12 anti-tank gun , which was smoothbore and fired fin-stabilized shells. Switzerland developed

12319-537: The line between the Totenkopf and the Hungarian 2nd Armoured Division , contact was lost between the two formations. The 6th Army commander, General der Panzertruppe Hermann Balck , recommended moving the I SS Panzer Corps north to plug the gap and prevent the encirclement of the IV SS Panzer Corps, however, by the time the divisions finally began moving, it was too late. On 22 March, the Red Army encirclement of

12446-468: The mixed results of deploying field artillery against tanks during World War I, and the need to produce a more economical weapon to destroy them. Most anti-tank rifles were over 1.3 m (4 ft 3 in) in length, however, and difficult for infantrymen to operate in the confines of their trenches. They could penetrate a tank's armor at long range, but without explosive firepower, often failed to cause catastrophic damage, kill, or even seriously injure

12573-409: The most formidable of opponents, most tank units still consisted of less heavily armoured models that remained vulnerable to less expensive and more practical guns, as well. Many heavy anti-tank guns were issued, at least initially, on the divisional level, but gradually made their way to individual infantry battalions. Meanwhile, the effect of very compact hollow charge warheads was being noted, and

12700-546: The most infamous remains the murders at Le Paradis. The Le Paradis massacre was a war crime committed by members of the 14th Company, SS Division Totenkopf, under the command of Hauptsturmführer Fritz Knöchlein . It took place on 27 May 1940, during the Battle of France , at a time when the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) was attempting to retreat through the Pas-de-Calais region during

12827-402: The mother in the home and the plain man would say, Wesz das Herz voll ist, des gehet der Mund über . Luther's translation of the Bible into High German was also decisive for the German language and its evolution from Early New High German to modern Standard German. The publication of Luther's Bible was a decisive moment in the spread of literacy in early modern Germany , and promoted

12954-567: The next several weeks. During the July–August battles for Hill 213 and the town of Stepanovka , the division suffered heavy losses, and over the course of the campaign on the Mius-Front , it suffered more casualties than it had during Operation Citadel. By the time the Soviet bridgehead was eliminated, the division had lost 1,500 troops; the Panzer regiment was reduced to 20 tanks. The division

13081-653: The ninth century, chief among them being the Muspilli , Merseburg charms , and Hildebrandslied , and other religious texts (the Georgslied , Ludwigslied , Evangelienbuch , and translated hymns and prayers). The Muspilli is a Christian poem written in a Bavarian dialect offering an account of the soul after the Last Judgment , and the Merseburg charms are transcriptions of spells and charms from

13208-462: The pronunciation of the ending -ig as [ɪk] instead of [ɪç]. In Northern Germany, High German was a foreign language to most inhabitants, whose native dialects were subsets of Low German. It was usually encountered only in writing or formal speech; in fact, most of High German was a written language, not identical to any spoken dialect, throughout the German-speaking area until well into the 19th century. However, wider standardization of pronunciation

13335-788: The relief attempt of German troops encircled in the Korsun Pocket . In the second week of March, after a fierce battle near Kirovograd , Totenkopf fell back behind the Bug River . Totenkopf took up new defensive positions. After two weeks of heavy fighting, again alongside the Panzer-Grenadier-Division Grossdeutschland , the Axis forces retreated to the Dniestr on the Romanian border near Iaşi . In

13462-466: The slightly larger 40 mm 2-pounder gun ). As World War II progressed, the appearance of heavier tanks rendered these weapons obsolete, and anti-tank guns likewise began firing larger and more effective armor-piercing shot. The development of the compact hollow charge projectile permanently altered anti-tank warfare, since this type of ammunition did not depend on a high muzzle velocity and could be fired from low-recoil, man-portable light weapons, such as

13589-475: The spearhead. With the advance slower than had been planned, Hausser ordered his II SS Panzer Corps to split in two, with the Totenkopf crossing the Psel River northwards and then continuing on towards the town of Prokhorovka . In the early morning of 9 July, 6th SS Motorised Regiment Theodor Eicke attacked northwards, crossing the Psel and attempted to seize the strategic Hill 226.6, but failed to do so until

13716-546: The states of North Dakota and South Dakota , German is the most common language spoken at home after English. As a legacy of significant German immigration to the country , German geographical names can be found throughout the Midwest region , such as New Ulm and Bismarck (North Dakota's state capital), plus many other regions. A number of German varieties have developed in the country and are still spoken today, such as Pennsylvania Dutch and Texas German . In Brazil,

13843-500: The third most commonly learned second language in the United States in K-12 education. The language has been influential in the fields of philosophy, theology, science, and technology. It is the second most commonly used language in science and the third most widely used language on websites . The German-speaking countries are ranked fifth in terms of annual publication of new books, with one-tenth of all books (including e-books) in

13970-548: The titles "Theodor Eicke" and "Totenkopf". The division, along with other Axis formations, continued its retreat towards the Romanian border. By November, the division was engaged in fighting against Red Army 's attacks over the vital town of Krivoi Rog to the west of the Dniepr. In January 1944, Totenkopf was still engaged in heavy defensive fighting east of the Dniepr near Krivoi Rog . In February 1944, Totenkopf took part in

14097-464: The town of Catillon-sur-Sambre and its associated canal in fierce house-to-house fighting, blocking the exits of the town and trapping the Moroccan force in the center around the market square, eventually captured thousands of remaining troops. Soldiers from Totenkopf executed many captured Moroccans, due to Arabs being considered "racially inferior". On the morning of the next day, May 20 it contained

14224-672: The town of Modlin in mid-August, the Totenkopf, fighting alongside the SS Division Wiking and the Hermann Göring Division destroyed the Soviet 3rd Tank Corps . The terrain around Modlin is excellent for armour, and Totenkopf's panzers exploited this to their advantage, engaging Soviet tanks from a range where the superiority of the German optics and the 75 mm high-velocity gun gave the Panthers an edge over

14351-589: The war, Knöchlein was tried for war crimes by a British military court. He was found guilty, sentenced to death, and executed in 1949. Thereafter, the division worked together with Großdeutschland Division to carry out racially motivated murders of hundreds of captured black African members of the French Army. They murdered captured black soldiers on account of their race, which they believed to merit their separation and execution. For example, on 19 and 20 June 1940, Totenkopf and Großdeutschland together carried out

14478-426: The west, executing a fighting withdrawal from Budapest to the area near Lake Balaton , where the 6th SS Panzer Army under SS-Oberstgruppenführer Josef Dietrich was massing for the upcoming Operation Spring Awakening . Gille's corps was too depleted to take part in the assault, instead it provided flank support to assaulting divisions during the beginning of the operation. Totenkopf, together with Wiking, performed

14605-555: The world being published in German. German is most closely related to other West Germanic languages, namely Afrikaans , Dutch , English , the Frisian languages , and Scots . It also contains close similarities in vocabulary to some languages in the North Germanic group , such as Danish , Norwegian , and Swedish . Modern German gradually developed from Old High German , which in turn developed from Proto-Germanic during

14732-600: The written form of German. One of the central events in the development of ENHG was the publication of Luther's translation of the Bible into High German (the New Testament was published in 1522; the Old Testament was published in parts and completed in 1534). Luther based his translation primarily on the Meißner Deutsch of Saxony , spending much time among the population of Saxony researching

14859-519: Was Konrad I . The plan was for a joint attack by the Wiking and Totenkopf from the town of Tata attacking along the Bicske -Budapest line. The attack was launched on New Year's Day, 1945. Despite initial gains, Konrad I ran into heavy Red Army opposition near Bicske and during the battle the 1st Battalion, 3rd SS Panzer Regiment's commander, SS- Sturmbannführer Erwin Meierdress was killed. After

14986-429: Was a "neutral" language as there were virtually no English native speakers in Namibia at that time. German, Afrikaans, and several indigenous languages thus became "national languages" by law, identifying them as elements of the cultural heritage of the nation and ensuring that the state acknowledged and supported their presence in the country. Today, Namibia is considered to be the only German-speaking country outside of

15113-547: Was an artificial standard that did not correspond to any traditional spoken dialect. Rather, it was based on the pronunciation of German in Northern Germany, although it was subsequently regarded often as a general prescriptive norm, despite differing pronunciation traditions especially in the Upper-German-speaking regions that still characterise the dialect of the area today – especially

15240-468: Was an extremely lightweight, low-pressure weapon still able to fire the same ammunition types as higher-velocity anti-tank guns. In the 1950s, this idea was revived by a Belgian firm, Mecar , which subsequently improved on the concept and developed a low-pressure, smoothbore, 90-mm anti-tank gun. Because of its low recoil forces and light construction, the gun was particularly useful for being mounted on armored cars or small gun carriages. Its design inspired

15367-481: Was designed and built for the Imperial German Army in 1918. The 3.7 cm Pak 36 which first appeared in 1928 was probably the first purpose-built anti-tank gun. Weighing some 160 kg, the Pak 36 could inflict a catastrophic kill on a tank rather than merely penetrating its armor plate. Towed guns similar to the Pak 36 were the only anti-tank weapon issued to European armies during the 1930s, and

15494-492: Was established on the basis of public speaking in theatres and the media during the 20th century and documented in pronouncing dictionaries. Official revisions of some of the rules from 1901 were not issued until the controversial German orthography reform of 1996 was made the official standard by governments of all German-speaking countries. Media and written works are now almost all produced in Standard German which

15621-611: Was formed through the expansion of Kampfgruppe Eicke , a battle group named – in keeping with German military practice – after its commander, Theodor Eicke . Most of the battle group's personnel had been transferred to the Waffen-SS from concentration camp guard units, which were known collectively as SS-Totenkopfverbände ; others were former members of Selbstschutz : ethnic German militias that had committed war crimes in Poland. The division became notorious for its brutality, and committed numerous war crimes, including

15748-579: Was initially formed from concentration camp guards of the 1st ("Oberbayern"), 2nd ("Brandenburg") and 3rd ("Thüringen") Standarten (regiments) of the SS-Totenkopfverbände and men from the SS Heimwehr Danzig . Members of other SS militias were also transferred into the division in early 1940; these units had been involved in multiple massacres of Polish civilians, political leaders and prisoners of war. The division had officers from

15875-408: Was ordered to fall back. Operation Konrad III got underway on 20 January 1945. Attacking from the south of Budapest, it aimed at encircling 10 Red Army divisions. However, the relief forces could not achieve their goal, despite making a 24-kilometre bulge in the Soviet forces line and destroying the 135th Rifle Corps . The encircled troops capitulated in mid-February. The division was pulled back to

16002-559: Was tasked with advancing on Leningrad and formed the northern wing of Operation Barbarossa . She soon moved into a staging area near Insterburg and was assigned to Panzer Group 4 . Totenkopf took part in the advance through Lithuania and Latvia , and by July had breached the Stalin Line . The division then advanced past Demyansk to Leningrad where it was involved in heavy fighting in August. During Soviet winter counter-offensive,

16129-418: Was then moved north, back to Kharkov. Along with Das Reich, Totenkopf took part in the battles to halt Operation Rumyantsev and to prevent the Soviet capture of the city. The city was abandoned on 23 August due to the threats on the German flanks. In October 1943, the division was reformed as a Panzer division. The Panzer battalion was officially upgraded to a regiment, and the two motorised regiments were given

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