part_of panzer division kempf
East Prussia (; ) was a province of Prussia from 1773  1829 and from 1878  1945 . Its capital ___MASK43___ was Königsberg ( present - ___MASK50___ Kaliningrad ). East Prussia was the main part of the region of Prussia along the southeastern Baltic Coast . The ___MASK62___ (" Federal Defence ") is the unified ___MASK100___ of Germany and their civil administration and procurement authorities . The States of Germany are not allowed to maintain ___MASK100___ of their own , since the German Constitution states that matters of defense fall into the sole responsibility of the federal government . A tank is an armored fighting ___MASK42___ designed for front - line combat , with heavy firepower , strong armour , and tracks providing good battlefield manoeuvrability . The first tanks were designed to overcome the deadlock of trench warfare ; now they are a mainstay of modern ground forces and a key part of combined arms combat . William S . Lind ( born ___MASK57___ 9 , 1947 ) is an American paleoconservative author . He is the author of several books and one of the first proponents of the Fourth - generation ___MASK80___ theory . He used the pseudonym Thomas Hobbes in a column for " The American Conservative ". ___MASK38___ ( WWI or WW1 ), also known as the First World War , or the Great War , was a global war originating in ___MASK79___ that lasted from 28 July ___MASK97___ to 11 November 1918 . More than 70 million military personnel , including 60 million Europeans , were mobilised in one of the largest wars in history . Over nine million combatants and seven million civilians died as a result of the war ( including the victims of a number of genocides ), a casualty rate exacerbated by the belligerents ' technological and industrial sophistication , and the tactical stalemate caused by gruelling trench warfare . It was one of the deadliest conflicts in history , and paved the way for major political changes , including revolutions in many of the nations involved . The East Prussia Panzer Unit ( Panzerverband Ostpreußen ) was an ad hoc combined arms unit created for operations out of East Prussia during the Invasion of Poland in 1939 . It was generally called Panzer ___MASK78___ Kempf after General Werner Kempf assumed command , though it was only about half the strength of the other panzer divisions of the time . The Waffen - SS ( Armed SS ) was the armed ___MASK32___ of the Nazi Party ' s SS organisation . Its formations included men from Nazi Germany , along with volunteers and conscripts from both occupied and un - occupied lands . Königsberg ( until ___MASK3___ officially : Königsberg in Preußen ) was a ___MASK43___ in the monastic state of the Teutonic Knights , the Duchy of Prussia , the Kingdom of Prussia and Germany until ___MASK3___ . After being largely destroyed in ___MASK21___ by Allied Forces and then annexed by the Soviet Union thereafter , ___MASK64___ was renamed Kaliningrad , and few traces of the former Königsberg remain today . The literal meaning of Königsberg is ' King  s Mountain '. In the local Low German dialect , spoken by many of its German former inhabitants , the name was " Kenigsbarg ". Further names included , Old Prussian : " Kunnegsgarbs , Knigsberg ", and . The Knight ' s Cross of the Iron Cross ( ___MASK36___ ___MASK26___ : " Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes "), or simply the Knight ' s Cross (" Ritterkreuz "), and its variants were the highest awards in the ___MASK69___ and paramilitary forces of Nazi Germany during World War II . Nazi Germany is the common ___MASK1___ name for the period in German ___MASK99___ from 1933 to 1945 , when Germany was governed by a dictatorship under the control of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party ( NSDAP ). Under Hitler ' s rule , Germany was transformed into a fascist state in which the Nazi Party took totalitarian control over nearly all aspects of life . The official name of the state was " Deutsches Reich " from 1933 to ___MASK8___ and " Großdeutsches Reich " (" Greater German Reich ") from ___MASK8___ 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 . Infantry is the general branch of an ___MASK93___ that engages in ___MASK69___ combat on foot . As the troops who engage with the enemy in close - ranged combat , infantry units bear the largest brunt of warfare and typically suffer the greatest number of casualties during a ___MASK69___ campaign . Historically , as the oldest branch of the combat arms , the infantry are the tip of the spear of a modern ___MASK93___ , and continually undergo training that is typically more physically demanding and psychologically stressful than that of any other branch of the combat arms . Common representations of infantry fighting forces include the U . S . Army Infantry Branch , U . S . Marine Corps Infantry , Royal Canadian Infantry Corps , Infantry of the British Army , and the Royal Australian Corps of Infantry . The Luftwaffe was the aerial ___MASK80___ branch of the combined German ___MASK46___ military forces during World War II . Germany ' s military air arms during the First World War , the " Luftstreitkräfte " of the Army and the " Marine - Fliegerabteilung " of the Navy , had been disbanded in May 1920 as a result of the terms of the Treaty of Versailles which stated that Germany was forbidden to have any air force . Prussia was a historic ___MASK61___ originating out of the Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg , and centred on the region of Prussia . For centuries , the House of ruled Prussia , successfully expanding its size by way of an unusually well - organised and effective army . Prussia , with its capital in and from 1701 in Berlin , shaped the ___MASK99___ of Germany . In 1871 , German states united to create the ___MASK28___ under Prussian leadership . In November 1918 , the monarchies were abolished and the nobility lost its political power during the German Revolution of 1918  19 . The Kingdom of Prussia was thus abolished in favour of a republic  the Free State of Prussia , a ___MASK61___ of Germany from 1918 until 1933 . From 1933 , Prussia lost its independence as a result of the Prussian coup , when the Nazi regime was successfully establishing its ' laws in pursuit of a unitary ___MASK61___ . With the end of the Nazi regime , the division of Germany into allied - occupation zones and the separation of its territories east of the line , which were incorporated into Poland and the Soviet Union , the State of Prussia ceased to exist de facto in 1945 . Prussia existed "" until its formal liquidation by the Allied Control Council Enactment No . 46 of 25 February 1947 . The ___MASK69___ , also called the ___MASK100___ , are forces authorized to use deadly force , and weapons , to support the interests of the state and some or all of its citizens . The task of the ___MASK69___ is usually defined as defense of the state and its citizens , and the prosecution of war against another state . The ___MASK69___ may also have additional sanctioned and non - sanctioned functions within a society , including , the promotion of a political agenda , protecting corporate economic interests , internal population control , construction , emergency services , social ceremonies , and guarding important areas . The ___MASK69___ can also function as a discrete subculture within a larger civil society , through the development of separate infrastructures , which may include housing , schools , utilities , food production and banking . The term panzer ___MASK78___ as commonly used in ___MASK1___ ___MASK26___ refers almost exclusively to the armored ( tank ) ___MASK78___ in the army branch of the ___MASK46___ and of Nazi Germany during World War II . The panzer divisions were the key element of German success in the Blitzkrieg operations of the early years of the war . Later the Waffen - SS formed panzer divisions , and even the Luftwaffe fielded a panzer ___MASK78___ , the Herman Goring Division . The term " Panzerdivision " is still used in today ' s Heer of the Bundeswehr ( for example 1 . Panzerdivision ). In German speaking countries the term is not immediately associated with the ___MASK46___ as it is in ___MASK1___ speaking nations , as the word simply means ' armored ___MASK78___ ' and has no additional connotation . The Iron Cross ( abbreviated EK ) was a ___MASK69___ decoration in the Kingdom of Prussia , and later in the ___MASK28___ ( 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 ___MASK69___ decoration only , though there were instances of it being awarded to civilians for performing ___MASK69___ 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 . Blitzkrieg ( ___MASK36___ , " lightning ___MASK6___ ") is a method of ___MASK80___ whereby an attacking force , spearheaded by a dense concentration of armoured and motorised or mechanised infantry formations with close air support , breaks through the opponent ' s line of defence by short , fast , powerful attacks and then dislocates the defenders , using speed and surprise to encircle them . Through the employment of combined arms in manoeuvre ___MASK80___ , blitzkrieg attempts to unbalance the enemy by making it difficult for it to respond to the continuously changing front and defeating it in a decisive (" battle of annihilation "). The ___MASK46___ ( lit . " defence force ") was the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1946 . It consisted of the " Heer " ( army ), the " Kriegsmarine " ( navy ) and the " Luftwaffe " ( air force ). The designation " ___MASK46___ " for Nazi Germany ' s military replaced the previously used term , " Reichswehr " ( 1919  35 ), and was the manifestation of Nazi Germany ' s efforts to rearm the nation to a greater extent than the Treaty of Versailles permitted . </ div > ___MASK6___ is a ___MASK61___ of armed conflict between societies . It is generally characterized by extreme aggression , destruction , and mortality , using regular or irregular ___MASK69___ forces . An absence of war is usually called " peace ". Warfare refers to the common activities and characteristics of types of war , or of wars in general . Total war is warfare that is not restricted to purely legitimate ___MASK69___ targets , and can result in massive civilian or other non - combatant casualties . Combined arms is an approach to ___MASK80___ which seeks to integrate different combat arms of a ___MASK69___ to achieve mutually complementary effects ( for example , using infantry and armor in an urban environment , where one supports the other , or both support each other ). According to strategist William S . Lind , combined arms can be distinguished from the concept of " supporting arms " as follows : Combined arms hits the enemy with two or more arms simultaneously in such a manner that the actions he must take to defend himself from one make him more vulnerable to another . In contrast , supporting arms is hitting the enemy with two or more arms in sequence , or if simultaneously , then in such combination that the actions the enemy must take to defend himself from one also defends himself from the other ( s ). ___MASK21___ ( often abbreviated to WWII or WW2 ), also known as the Second World ___MASK6___ , was a global ___MASK6___ 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 ___MASK69___ alliances : the Allies and the Axis . It was the most widespread ___MASK6___ in ___MASK99___ , and directly involved more than 100 million people from over 30 countries . In a state of " total ___MASK6___ ", the major participants threw their entire economic , industrial , and scientific capabilities behind the ___MASK6___ effort , erasing the distinction between civilian and ___MASK69___ 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 ___MASK21___ the deadliest conflict in human ___MASK99___ . Panzer is a ___MASK36___ ___MASK71___ that means armour . It is also used by the Germans as an abbreviation meaning "" armoured fighting ___MASK42___ "" or tank ( the military ___MASK42___ ). The full ___MASK36___ ___MASK71___ for " armoured combat ___MASK42___ " is " Panzerkampfwagen ". The ___MASK71___ " Panzer " is occasionally used in English and some other languages as a loanword in the contexts of ___MASK36___ military . General Werner Kempf ( 9 ___MASK35___ 1886  6 ___MASK41___ 1964 ) was a Panzer general in the ___MASK46___ of Nazi Germany during World War II . He was awarded the Knight ' s Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves . Combat arms ( or fighting arms in non - American parlance ) is a collective ___MASK65___ in a ___MASK9___ of administrative ___MASK69___ reference to those troops within national ___MASK100___ which participate in direct tactical ground combat . In general they include units that carry or employ a weapon ___MASK9___ such as infantry , cavalry , and artillery units . The use of multiple combat arms in mutually supporting ways is known as combined arms .