Thomas Edward Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia)
One of the 20th century's most iconic characters was Thomas Edward Lawrence (1888–1935),…
- Military History
- Units & Divisions
Military, Para-military, Special Forces, Police, Volunteer and Civilian Units/Divisions
Warfare has been conducted for millennia before the first recorded battle took place at Megiddo (Armageddon), during the late 15th century BC. The battle was fought by specialized military units fighting in formation, with a command structure to control them. How warfare developed from that first hunter's clash into recognizable armies remains unknown.
By the time of the Pharaohs, warfare had become an instrument for gaining power, not just resources. Better organized political structures used military force to conquer their neighbors.
8 results - showing 1 - 8
Gestapo - Germany's Secret State Police (1933)
German Units
The Gestapo was the Nazi-instituted German secret police organization which, together with the SA (Sturmabteilung) and the SS (Schutzstaffel) formed the basic apparatus of repression in the Third Reich. Unlike the SA and the SS, the Gestapo was not created until the Nazis had come to power. Originally operating in the state of Prussia, it receiv...
Air Transport Command (1937)
American Units
This wartime airline, operated by U.S. Army Air Force, had its origin in a 1931 attempt to distribute supplies by air within the United States. The following year, the Air Corps established a provisional air transport group with one squadron at each of four major supply depots. This arrangement became permanent in 1937 and was undergoing tremend...
OKW - Oberkommando der Wehrmacht (1939)
German Units
For some time prior to his resignation in January 1938, Field Marshal Werner von Blomberg, the Reich Defense Minister and Commander-in-Chief of the German Armed Forces, had been attempting to create an armed forces high command. In this effort he had the full backing of Adolf Hitler and of his own subordinates in the Defense Ministry, General Wi...
Beginnings of Air-Sea Rescue (1940)
Combined Units - Multiple Countries
In 1940, both the British and the Germans began using aircraft and motor vessels to rescue airmen shot down offshore. The Luftwaffe used some older float planes for rescue work. After each engagement in the Battle of Britain, the Royal Air Force Fighter Command sent Westland Lysander liaison planes with fighter escort to drop rubber rafts to air...
The Spanish Blue Division (1941-45)
Spanish Units
The Blue Division was a unit of Spanish soldiers that fought alongside German forces on the Eastern Front during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, the Soviet Union captured just over 300 Spaniards on the Eastern Front.
American Volunteer Group - "Flying Tigers" (1941)
American Units
On the 20th of December in 1941, at an icebound airfield outside the city of Kunming in China's Yunnan province, were scattered some 50 American Curtiss P-40 Warhawk fighters, marked with the blue and white star of China and a row of vicious looking shark's teeth painted under their noses.
British Army Aid Group (BAAG) 1942 - 1945
British Units
The British Army Aid Group was a para-military group for British and Allied forces in southern free China during World War II (from 1942 to 1945). The BAAG was classified in the British Army as an MI9 (British Directorate of Military Intelligence Section 9) unit that assisted prisoners of war to assist with escapes from Japanese Army's POW camps.
The British Free Corps (BFC) 1943 - 1945
German Units
The British Free Corps (BFC - German: Britisches Freikorps) was a German army formation made up of British Commonwealth POWs who had been recruited to serve the Nazi war effort during World War II. The British traitor John Amery conceived of the idea early in the war, envisioning a unit that would be used largely for propaganda.
8 results - showing 1 - 8
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