What was the name of the military operation where on June 26, 1941, the leader of the 2nd tank division was killed?
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Yegor Solyankin Yegor Nikolaevich Solyankin (Russian: Егор Николаевич Солянкин ; 1901– 26 June 1941) was a Red Army major general. Solyankin led the 2nd Tank Division during the Battle of Raseiniai, a Soviet counterattack after the German invasion of the Soviet Union. He was killed in action during the defeat of his division.
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Battle of Raseiniai The Battle of Raseiniai (23–27 June 1941) was a large tank battle that took place in the early stages of Operation Barbarossa, the German invasion of the Soviet Union. The battle was fought between the elements of the German 4th Panzer Group (General Erich Hoepner) and the Soviet 3rd Mechanized Corps (Major General Alexey Kurkin) with the 12th Mechanised Corps (Major General Nikolai Shestapolov), in Lithuania, 75 km north-west of Kaunas. The commander of the Soviet Northwestern Front, Colonel General Fyodor Kuznetsov, tried to contain and destroy the German troops that had crossed the Neman River (Nemunas) but was unable to prevent them from advancing. The result of the battle was the destruction of most of the Soviet armoured forces of the Northwestern Front, which cleared the way for the Germans to attack towards the crossings of the Daugava River (Western Dvina). The fighting around Raseiniai was one of the main battles of the initial phase of Operation Barbarossa, referred to in Soviet historiography as the Border Defensive Battles (22–27 June 1941) and formed part of the larger Soviet Baltic Strategic Defensive Operation.
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Maximilian von Weichs Maximilian von Weichs (12 November 1881 – 27 September 1954) was a field marshal in the Wehrmacht of Nazi Germany during World War II. He commanded several armies and army groups, including the 2nd Army during Operation Barbarossa and Army Group B during the Battle of Stalingrad in 1943.
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2nd Panzer Army The 2nd Panzer Army (German: "2. Panzerarmee" ) was a German armoured formation during World War II, formed from the 2nd Panzer Group on October 5, 1941.
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Battle of Alam el Halfa The Battle of Alam el Halfa took place between 30 August and 5 September 1942 south of El Alamein during the Western Desert Campaign of the Second World War. "Panzerarmee Afrika"—a German–Italian force commanded by "Generalfeldmarschall" Erwin Rommel—attempted an envelopment of the British Eighth Army, commanded by Lieutenant-General Bernard Montgomery. In the last major Axis offensive (Operation Brandung/"Unternehmung Brandung") of the Western Desert Campaign, Rommel had planned to defeat the Eighth Army before Allied reinforcements made an Axis victory in Africa impossible.
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Operation Reinhard Operation Reinhard or Operation Reinhardt (German: "Aktion Reinhard "or" Aktion Reinhardt "also" Einsatz Reinhard "or" Einsatz Reinhardt" ) was the codename given to the secretive German Nazi plan to massacre the majority of Polish Jews in the General Government district of German-occupied Poland, during World War II. The operation marked the deadliest phase of the Holocaust and the introduction of extermination camps.
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Kampfgeschwader 26 "Kampfgeschwader" 26 (KG 26) "Löwengeschwader" (in English "Bomber Wing 26" aka ""Lions' Wing"" by virtue of its insignia) was a German air force Luftwaffe bomber wing unit during World War II.
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South German Offensive The South German Offensive is the general name of one of the final offensives of World War II in Europe. The offensive was led by the Seventh and Third armies of the United States along with the First Army of France. Soviet troops linked up with American forces in Czechoslovakia notably in the Battle of Slivice. The offensive was made by the US 6th Army Group to protect the US 12th Army Group's right flank and to prevent a German last stand in the Alps. However German resistance was much more fierce than in the north, which slowed the 6th Army Group's progress. However, by the end of April, many German divisions surrendered without a fight to the advancing American forces to avoid the inevitable destruction. The VI Corps of the Seventh Army linked up with the US Fifth Army, which fought through Italy, in the Alps as the Third Army advanced into Austria and Czechoslovakia, where it linked up with Soviet forces advancing from the east. Fighting continued a few days after the Surrender of Germany on 8 May, due to German forces fighting west to surrender to the Americans instead of the Soviets.
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Operation Barbarossa Operation Barbarossa (German: "Unternehmen Barbarossa") was the code name for the Axis invasion of the Soviet Union, starting Sunday, 22 June 1941, during World War II.
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1st Panzer Division (Wehrmacht) The 1st Panzer Division (English: 1st Tank Division ) was an elite armoured division in the German Army, the Wehrmacht, during World War II.
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Operation Lüttich Operation Lüttich was a codename given to a German counter-attack during the Battle of Normandy, which took place around the American positions near Mortain from 7 August to 13 August 1944. ("Lüttich" is the German name for the city of Liège in Belgium, where the Germans had won a victory in the early days of August 1914 during World War I.) The offensive is also referred to in American and British histories of the Battle of Normandy as the Mortain counter-offensive.
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7th Panzer Division (Wehrmacht) The 7th Panzer Division was an armored formation of the German Army in World War II. It participated in the Battle of France, the invasion of the Soviet Union, the occupation of Vichy France, and on the Eastern Front until the end of the war. The Seventh Panzer Division is sometimes known by its nickname, Ghost Division.
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Operation Compass Operation Compass was the first large Allied military operation of the Western Desert Campaign (1940–1943) during the Second World War. British and other Commonwealth forces attacked Italian forces in western Egypt and Cyrenaica, the eastern province of Libya, from December 1940 to February 1941, with great success. The Western Desert Force (Lieutenant-General Richard O'Connor) with about 30,000 men, advanced from Mersa Matruh in Egypt on a five-day raid against the Italian positions of the 10th Army (Marshal Rodolfo Graziani), which had about 150,000 men in fortified posts around Sidi Barrani and in Cyrenaica.
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Operation Crusader Operation Crusader was a military operation during the Second World War by the British Eighth Army against the Axis forces in North Africa between 18 November and 30 December 1941. The operation was intended to relieve the 1941 Siege of Tobruk; the Eighth Army tried to destroy the Axis armoured force before advancing its infantry. The plan failed when, after a number of inconclusive engagements, the British 7th Armoured Division was defeated by the "Afrika Korps" at Sidi Rezegh.
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The Hardest Day The Hardest Day is a name given to a Second World War air battle fought during the Battle of Britain on 18 August 1940 between the German Luftwaffe and British Royal Air Force (RAF). By June 1940, the Allies had been defeated in Western Europe and Scandinavia. Britain rejected overtures for a negotiated peace. Consequently, Adolf Hitler issued the German armed forces ("Wehrmacht") Directive No. 16 ordering the invasion of the United Kingdom.
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Heinrich von Prittwitz und Gaffron Heinrich von Prittwitz und Gaffron (4 September 1889 – 10 April 1941) was a general officer in the "Heer" (Army) branch of the "Wehrmacht" of Nazi Germany during World War II. He was commander of the 14th and 15th Panzer Divisions and was killed in action in the early stages of the Siege of Tobruk.
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Battle of Sidi Bou Zid The Battle of Sidi Bou Zid ("Unternehmen Frühlingswind" /Operation Spring Breeze) took place during the Tunisia Campaign from 14–17 February 1943, in World War II. The battle was fought around Sidi Bou Zid, where a large number of American units were mauled by German and Italian forces. It resulted in the Axis recapturing the strategically important town of Sbeitla in central Tunisia. The success at Sidi Bou Zid was reversed by April by counter-attacks by British and American forces. The battle was planned by the Germans to be a two-part offensive-defensive operation against US positions in western Tunisia.
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Otto Schünemann Otto Schünemann (6 October 1891 – 29 June 1944) was a German general during World War II. He was a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves. Schünemann was killed on 29 June 1944 near Mogilev in Belarus during the Soviet 1944 summer offensive, Operation Bagration.
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Operation Battleaxe Operation Battleaxe was a British Army operation during the Second World War in June 1941, to clear eastern Cyrenaica of German and Italian forces and raise the Siege of Tobruk. It was the first time during the war that a significant German force fought on the defensive but the operation failed as British forces attacked strong defensive positions created by German General Erwin Rommel. The British lost over half of their tanks on the first day and only one of the three attacks succeeded.
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Friedrich-Carl Cranz Friedrich-Carl Cranz (14 November 1886 – 24 March 1941) was a German general during World War II who commanded 18th Infantry Division. He was a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross. Cranz was killed 24 March 1941 in a training accident by friendly artillery fire. He is buried in the Invalid's Cemetery in Berlin.
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Operation Wikinger Operation "Wikinger" (German: "Viking" ) was a sortie into the North Sea by German World War II destroyers (1st Destroyer Flotilla) of the "Kriegsmarine", in February 1940. During this operation, poor inter-service communication and cooperation between the "Kriegsmarine" and the "Luftwaffe" and inexperience resulted in the loss of two German ships through friendly fire bombing and German or British mines. No Allied forces were involved.
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Operation Flipper Operation Flipper (also called the Rommel Raid) was a British commando raid during the Second World War, carried out mainly by men from No. 11 (Scottish) Commando. The operation included among its objectives an attack on the headquarters of Erwin Rommel, the commander of the "Afrika Korps" in North Africa. It was timed for the night of 17/18 November 1941, just before the start of Operation Crusader. The operation failed as Rommel had left the target house weeks earlier and all but two of the commandos who landed were killed or captured. One member of the Special Boat Section team, who had secured the beach for the commando party, also escaped.