military_branch paul conrath
Hiroshima is perhaps best known as the first city in history to be targeted by a nuclear weapon when the ___MASK62___ ( USAAF ) dropped an atomic bomb on the city ( and later on Nagasaki ) at 8 : 15 a . m . on August 6 , 1945 , near the end of World War II . General Paul Conrath ( 22 November 1896 -- 15 January 1979 ) was a German General der Fallschirmtruppe during World War II and a recipient of the Knight ' s Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves . Following the battle at Monte Cassino in Italy , he was honored for authorizing action , prior to the battle , that saved priceless Christian treasures . At the request of two of his division ' s officers , he authorized use of trucks , fuel , and drivers to remove books and other property from the Abbey to the Vatican and other safe locations in Rome . After a mass in the basilica , Abbot Gregorio Diamare formally presented General Conrath with signed parchment scrolls enscribed in Latin . The scrolls cited two German officers who proposed the evacuation of the treasures of the Abbey , Lt . Col . Julius Schlegel , a military lawyer , and Capt . Maximilian Becker , an ___MASK11___ surgeon , `` for rescuing the monks and treasures of the Abbey of Monte Cassino . '' ( See citations at entry for the Battle of Monte Cassino . ) Nazi Germany is the common English name for the period in German history from 1933 to 1945 , when Germany was governed by a dictatorship under the control of Adolf Hitler and the ___MASK53___ ( NSDAP ). Under Hitler ' s rule , Germany was transformed into a fascist state in which the ___MASK53___ took totalitarian control over nearly all aspects of life . The official name of the state was " Deutsches Reich " from 1933 to 1943 and " Großdeutsches Reich " (" Greater German Reich ") from 1943 to 1945 . The period is also known under the names the Third Reich and the National Socialist Period ( abbreviated as " NS - Zeit "). The Nazi regime came to an end after the Allied Powers defeated Germany in May 1945 , ending World War II in Europe . World War II ( often abbreviated to WWII or WW2 ), also known as the Second World War , was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945 , although related conflicts began earlier . It involved the vast majority of the world ' s nations  including all of the great powers  eventually forming two opposing military alliances : the Allies and the Axis . It was the most widespread war in history , and directly involved more than 100 million people from over 30 countries . In a state of " total war ", the major participants threw their entire economic , industrial , and scientific capabilities behind the war effort , erasing the distinction between civilian and military resources . Marked by mass deaths of civilians , including the Holocaust ( in which approximately 11 million people were killed ) and the strategic bombing of industrial and population centres ( in which approximately one million were killed , and which included the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki ), it resulted in an estimated 50 million to 85 million fatalities . These made World War II the deadliest conflict in human history . Strategic bombing is a military strategy used in a total war with the goal of defeating the enemy by destroying its morale or its economic ability to produce and transport materiel to the theatres of military operations , or both . It is a systematically organized and executed attack from the air which can utilize strategic bombers , long - or medium - range missiles , or nuclear - armed fighter - bomber ___MASK49___ to attack targets deemed vital to the enemy ' s war - making capability . Melitta Schenk Gräfin von Stauffenberg , born Melitta Schiller ( 9 January 1903  8 April 1945 ), was a German Aviator who served as a test pilot in the ___MASK57___ before and during World War II . The Iron Cross ( abbreviated EK ) was a military decoration in the Kingdom of Prussia , and later in the German Empire ( 1871  1918 ) and Nazi Germany ( 1933  1945 ). It was established by King Friedrich Wilhelm III of Prussia in March 1813 backdated to the birthday of his late wife Queen Louise on 10 March 1813 during the Napoleonic Wars ( EK 1813 ). Louise was the first person to receive this decoration ( posthumous ). The recommissioned Iron Cross was also awarded during the Franco - Prussian War ( EK 1870 ), World War I ( EK 1914 ), and World War II ( EK 1939 , re - introduced with a swastika added in the center ). The Iron Cross was normally a military decoration only , though there were instances of it being awarded to civilians for performing military functions . Two examples of this were civilian test pilots Hanna Reitsch who was awarded the Iron Cross 2nd Class and 1st Class and Melitta Schenk Gräfin von Stauffenberg , who was awarded the Iron Cross 2nd Class , for their actions as pilots during World War II .