wallonien - Synonyms for wallonien | Synonyms Of wallonien

Examples of "wallonien"
In June 1943 the Battalion was transferred to SS command, along with 1,600 new recruits. The unit was named the SS Volunteer Sturmbrigade "Wallonien", commanded by now SS-"Sturmbannführer" Lucien Lippert, with SS-"Hauptsturmführer" Leon Degrelle as second-in-command. In October, the "Wallonien" was redesignated 5th SS Volunteer Sturmbrigade "Wallonien", and was to be equipped as a fully motorized brigade with a complement of 250 vehicles. By November 1943, the "Wallonien" was sent to Ukraine to fight alongside the 5th SS Panzer Division "Wiking".
Gauleiter of "Reichsgau Wallonien" (Wallonia, "Wallonie" in French) and Leader of the Walloon People ("Chef du Peuple Wallon"):
The Soviet counter-offensive, launched on 1 March, pushed the "Wallonien" before it, and over the next few weeks it retreated throughout Central Pomerania until it reached the Oder near Stettin. The "Wallonien", fighting alongside the "Langemarck", was forced back across the river in early April, 1945. The Walloons held a council of war and released those volunteers who no longer wished to continue to fight. 23 officers and 625 men chose to remain, and they assembled in one last battalion, equipped with machine guns, panzerfausts, mortars, and automatic rifles. The "Langemarck", also consolidated their remaining troops into two heavily armed battalions and an artillery section and was merged with the "Wallonien".
During the battle of the Korsun-Cherkassy Pocket, the "Wallonien" was given the task of defending against Soviet attacks on the eastern side of the pocket. While General Wilhelm Stemmermann, the overall commander for the trapped forces, moved them to the west of the pocket in readiness for a breakout attempt, "Wallonien" and "Wiking" were ordered to act as a rearguard. After Lippert was killed, Degrelle took command of the Brigade and the "Wallonien" began its withdrawal under heavy fire. Of the brigade's 2,000 men, only 632 survived. For his actions, Degrelle was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross and promoted to SS-Sturmbannführer.
The "Wallonien" took part in Operation Sonnenwende, an offensive to relieve German troops encircled at Arnswalde. The offensive was launched on 15 February 1945 with limited success.
Closely affiliated with Rex was the "Légion Wallonie", a paramilitary organization which later became the "Wallonien" Division of the Waffen SS. After Operation Barbarossa started, the Légion Wallonie and its Flemish counterpart, the "Legion Flandern" sent respectively 25,000 and 15,000 volunteers to fight against the Soviet Union. Degrelle took command of the Wallonien division, where he fought on the Eastern Front. Whilst Degrelle was absent, nominal leadership of the party passed to Victor Matthys.
The "Nederland" was then pulled out of combat to act as reserve. In September, Leon Degrelle's "Kampfgruppe" (battle group) from SS Brigade "Wallonien" was placed under the command of the "Nederland".
Together with the "Langemarck", the "Wallonien" Sturmbrigade was upgraded to become the 28th SS Volunteer Grenadier Division "Wallonien" in October 1944. Its strength remained that of a reinforced brigade, around 8,000 men. Many lacked military training; about half were ready for action. Personnel from the Legion of French Volunteers Against Bolshevism and the Blue Division were added to the division. These men were formed into a "Kampfgruppe" and sent to the region near Stargard and Stettin in Pomerania, joining the XXIX Panzer Corps, a part of Felix Steiner's XI SS Panzer Army.
The remains of the "Wallonien" was sent back to Wildflecken to be reformed. In June 1944, a 440-man battalion of the "Wallonien" was sent to Estonia to assist in the defence of the Tannenberg Line. After Operation Bagration began, Army Group North began to fall back into the Kurland Pocket. The battalion left through the port of Tallinn (Reval) on the Baltic Sea. The shattered remnants of the Battalion were sent back to join the rest of the Brigade, which was located at Breslau.
The Reichsgau Wallonia (German: "Reichsgau Wallonien"; French: "Gau du Reich Wallonie") was a short-lived "Reichsgau" of Nazi Germany established in 1944. It encompassed present-day Wallonia in its old provincial borders, excluding Comines-Warneton but including Voeren. Eupen-Malmedy and Moresnet were also omitted, both of which had already been incorporated into Germany after its victory in the Battle of France in 1940.
Fighting alongside men of the 11. SS-Freiwilligen-Panzergrenadier Division "Nordland", the 5th SS Volunteer Sturmbrigade Wallonien, the 20th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (1st Estonian), the 4th SS Volunteer Panzergrenadier Brigade Nederland and several German formations, the "Langemarck" was engaged in very heavy combat against the Soviets.
The East Pomeranian Offensive lasted from 24 February to 4 April, in Pomerania and West Prussia. The Waffen-SS units involved were the 11 SS "Nordland", 20 SS "Estonian", 23 SS "Nederland", 27 SS "Langemark", 28 SS "Wallonien", all in the III (Germanic) SS Panzer Corps, and the X SS Corps, which did not command any SS units.
The German regime decided to take the next step for the wartime "Flamenpolitik" in 1944 by initiating the total annexation of both the Flemish and Walloon sections of Belgium as full-fledged provinces of the German Reich: the Reichsgaue Flandern and Wallonien. The bicultural capital of Brussels was maintained as special district under the authority of a Reichskommissar.
The territory was mostly liberated by the Allies in September 1944, in the aftermath of the Normandy landings, so the existence of the territory was short. Following the liberation, the territory was retrospectively annexed directly into Germany (although no longer under "de facto" German control) as three separate "Reichsgaue": "Reichsgau Flandern", "Wallonien" and the Brussels district
The SS Division Langemarck was formed next in October 1944, from Flemish volunteers added to the 6th SS Volunteer Sturmbrigade Langemarck, but again it was nothing more than a large brigade. The 5th SS Volunteer Sturmbrigade Wallonien was also upgraded to the SS Division Wallonien, but it too was never more than a large brigade. Plans to convert the Kaminnski Brigade into the 29th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS RONA (1st Russian) were dropped after the execution of their commander, Bronislav Kaminski; instead the Waffen Grenadier Brigade of SS (Italian no. 1) became the 29th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (1st Italian). The 30th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (2nd Russian) was formed from the Schutzmannschaft-Brigade Siegling. The final new division of 1944, was the 31st SS Volunteer Grenadier Division, formed from conscripted Volksdeutsche, mainly from the Batschka region of Hungary.
However, the Flemings themselves didn't understand why they had been given a title which represented the losses suffered by German soldiers trying to take over their country in 1914. The Flemings felt a jealousy that their French speaking countrymen, the Walloons, were granted as a title their home region for the 5th SS-Volunteer Sturmbrigade Wallonien. Despite this, large numbers of Flemings continued to sign up for service with the Waffen SS.
The 101st company "Spanische-Freiwilligen Kompanie der SS 101" of 140 men, composed of four rifle platoons and one staff platoon, was attached to 28th SS Volunteer Grenadier Division "Wallonien" and fought in Pomerania and Brandenburg province. Later, as part of 11th SS Volunteer Panzergrenadier Division Nordland and under command of "Hauptsturmführer der SS" Miguel Ezquerra, it fought during the last days of the war against Soviet troops in the Battle of Berlin.
After an attempt to break through the Tannenberg Line failed, the main struggle was carried to the south of Lake Peipus, where on August 11, Petseri was taken and Võru on August 13. Near Tartu, the 3rd Baltic Front was stopped by the Kampfgruppe "Wagner" which involved military groups sent from Narva under the command of Alfons Rebane and Paul Vent and the 5th SS Volunteer Sturmbrigade Wallonien led by Léon Degrelle.
On 24 December 1943 the Soviet forces launched the Dnieper-Carpathian Offensive, an operation aimed at clearing the area west of the Dnieper. The "Wallonien" and the "Wiking", along with eleven other German divisions of 1st Panzer Army and 8th Army were positioned in a salient based on the western bank of the river and were the first target for the Soviet operations. The Soviet forces soon encircled the forces of XLII and XI Army Corps near Korsun.
The 101st Company ("Spanische-Freiwilligen Kompanie der SS 101", "Spanish Volunteer Company of the SS Number 101") of 140 men, made up of four rifle platoons and one staff platoon, was attached to 28th SS Volunteer Grenadier Division "Wallonien" and fought in Pomerania and Brandenburg as Soviet troops advanced into eastern Germany. Later, as part of 11th SS Volunteer Panzergrenadier Division Nordland and under command of "Hauptsturmführer der SS" Miguel Ezquerra, the Company fought the last days of the war against Soviet troops in the Battle in Berlin.