Field Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt in World War II

Field Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt in World War II Gerd von Rundstedt - Early Career: Born December 12, 1875 at Aschersleben, Germany, Gerd von Rundstedt was a member of an aristocratic Prussian family. Entering the German Army at age sixteen, he began learning his trade before being accepted into the German Armys officer training school in 1902. Graduating, von Rundstedt was promoted to captain in 1909. A skilled staff officer, he served in this capacity at the beginning of World War I in August 1914. Elevated to major that November, von Rundstedt continued to serve as a staff officer and by the end of the war in 1918 was chief of staff for his division. With the conclusion of the war, he elected to remain in the postwar Reichswehr. Gerd von Rundstedt - Interwar Years: In the 1920s, von Rundstedt rapidly advanced through the ranks of the Reichswehr and received promotions to lieutenant colonel (1920), colonel (1923), major general (1927), and lieutenant general (1929). Given command of the 3rd Infantry Division in February 1932, he supported Reich Chancellor Franz von Papens Prussian coup that July. Promoted to general of the infantry that October, he remained in that rank until being made a colonel general in March 1938. In the wake of the Munich Agreement, von Rundstedt led the 2nd Army which occupied the Sudetenland in October 1938. Despite this success, he promptly retired later in the month in protest of the Gestapos framing of Colonel General Werner von Fritsch during the Blomberg–Fritsch Affair. Leaving the army, he was given the honorary post of colonel of the 18th Infantry Regiment. Gerd von Rundstedt - World War II Begins: His retirement proved brief as he was recalled by Adolf Hitler the following year to lead Army Group South during the invasion of Poland in September 1939. Opening World War II, the campaign saw von Rundstedts troops mount the main attack of the invasion as they struck east from Silesia and Moravia. Winning the Battle of Bzura, his troops steadily drove back the Poles. With the successful completion of the conquest of Poland, von Rundstedt was given command of Army Group A in preparation for operations in the West. As planning moved forward, he supported his chief of staffs, Lieutenant General Erich von Mansteins, call for a swift armored strike toward the English Channel which he believed could lead to the strategic collapse of the enemy. Attacking on May 10, von Rundstedts forces made swift gains and opened a large gap in the Allied front. Led by General of Cavalry Heinz Guderians XIX Corps, German troops reached the English Channel on May 20. Having cut off the British Expeditionary Force from France, von Rundstedts troops turned north to capture the Channel ports and prevent its escape to Britain. Traveling to Army Group As headquarters at Charleville on May 24, Hitler urged its von Rundstedt, to press the attack. Assessing the situation, he advocated holding his armor west and south of Dunkirk, while utilizing the infantry of Army Group B to finish off the BEF. Though this allowed von Rundstedt to preserve his armor for the final campaign in France, it allowed the British to successfully conduct the Dunkirk Evacuation. Gerd von Rundstedt - On the Eastern Front: With the end of fighting in France, von Rundstedt received a promotion to field marshal on July 19. As the Battle of Britain began, he assisted in the development of Operation Sea Lion which called for the invasion of southern Britain. With the Luftwaffes failure to defeat the Royal Air Force, the invasion was called off and von Rundstedt was instructed to oversee the occupation forces in Western Europe. As Hitler began planning Operation Barbarossa, von Rundstedt was ordered east to assume command of Army Group South. On June 22, 1941, his command took part in the invasion of the Soviet Union. Driving through Ukraine, von Rundstedts forces played a key role in the encirclement of Kiev and capture of over 452,000 Soviet troops in late September. Pushing on, von Rundstedts forces succeeded in capturing Kharkov in late October and Rostov in late November. Suffering a heart attack during the advance on Rostov, he refused to leave the front and continued to direct operations. With the Russian winter setting in, von Rundstedt advocating halting the advance as his forces were becoming overextended and hampered by the severe weather. This request was vetoed by Hitler. On November 27, Soviet forces counterattacked and forced the Germans to abandon Rostov. Unwilling to surrender ground, Hitler countermanded von Rundstedts orders to fall back. Refusing to obey, von Rundstedt was sacked in favor of Field Marshal Walther von Reichenau. Gerd von Rundstedt - Return to the West: Briefly out of favor, von Rundstedt was recalled in March 1942 and given command of Oberbefehlshaber West (German Army Command in the West - OB West). Charged with defending Western Europe from the Allies, he was tasked with erecting fortifications along the coast. Largely inactive in this new role, little work occurred in 1942 or 1943. In November 1943, Field Marshal Erwin Rommel was assigned to OB West as commander of Army Group B. Under his direction, work finally began on fortifying the coastline. Over the coming months, von Rundstedt and Rommel clashed over the disposition of OB Wests reserve panzer divisions with the former believing they should located in the rear and the latter wanting them near the coast. Following the Allied landings in Normandy on June 6, 1944, von Rundstedt and Rommel worked to contain the enemy beachhead. When it became obvious to von Rundstedt that the Allies could not be pushed back into the sea, he began advocating for peace. With the failure of a counterattack near Caen on July 1, he was asked by Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel, head of the German armed forces, what should be done. To this he brusquely replied, Make peace you fools! What else can you do? For this, he was removed from command the next dayand replaced with Field Marshal Gunther von Kluge. Gerd von Rundstedt - Final Campaigns: In the wake of the July 20 Plot against Hitler, von Rundstedt agreed to serve on a Court of Honor to assess officers suspected of being opposed to the fà ¼hrer. Removing several hundred officers from the Wehrmacht, the court turned them over to Roland Freislers Volksgerichtshof (Peoples Court) for trial. Implicated in the July 20 Plot, von Kluge committed suicide on August 17 and was briefly replaced by Field Marshal Walter Model. Eighteen days later, on September 3, von Rundstedt returned to lead OB West. Later in the month, he was able to contain Allied gains made during Operation Market-Garden. Forced to give ground through the fall, von Rundstedt opposed the Ardennes offensive which was launched in December believing that insufficient troops were available for it to succeed. The campaign, which resulted in the Battle of the Bulge, represented the last major German offensive in the West. Continuing to fight a defensive campaign in early 1945, von Rundstedt was removed from command on March 11 after again arguing that Germany should make peace rather than fight a war it could not win. On May 1, von Rundstedt was captured by troops from the US 36th Infantry Division. During the course of his interrogation, he suffered another heart attack. Taken to Britain, von Rundstedt moved between camps in southern Wales and Suffolk. After the war, he was charged by the British for war crimes during the invasion of the Soviet Union. These charges were largely based on his support of von Reichenaus Severity Order which led to mass murders in occupied Soviet territory. Due to his age and failing health, von Rundstedt was never tried and he was released in July 1948. Retiring to Schloss Oppershausen, near Celle in Lower Saxony, he continued to be plagued by heart problems until his death on February 24, 1953. Selected Sources JVL: Gerd von RundstedtGeneralfeldmarschall Gerd von Rundstedt Lone Sentry: von Rundstedt Explains

Learn About Using Constants in Java

Learn About Using Constants in Java There are many values in the real world which will never change. A square will always have four sides, PI to three decimal places will always be 3.142, and a day will always have 24 hours. These values remain constant. When writing a program it makes sense to represent them in the same way - as values that will not be modified once they have been assigned to a variable. These variables are known as constants. Declaring a Variable As a Constant In declaring variables we showed that it’s easy to assign a value to an  int variable: int numberOfHoursInADay 24; We know this value is never going to change in the real world so we make sure it doesn’t in the program. This is done by adding the keyword modifierfinal: final int NUMBER_OF_HOURS_IN_A_DAY 24; In addition to thefinal keyword you should have noticed that the case of the variable name has changed to be uppercase as per the standard Java naming convention. This makes it far easier to spot which variables are constants in your code. If we now try and change the value ofNUMBER_OF_HOURS_IN_A_DAY: final int NUMBER_OF_HOURS_IN_A_DAY 24;NUMBER_OF_HOURS_IN_A_DAY 36; we will get the following error from the compiler: cannot assign a value to final variable NUMBER_OF_HOURS_IN_A_DAY The same goes for any of the other primitive data type variables. To make them into constants just add thefinal keyword to their declaration. Where to Declare Constants As with normal variables you want to limit the scope of constants to where they are used. If the value of the constant is only needed in a method then declare it there: public static int calculateHoursInDays(int days) { final int NUMBER_OF_HOURS_IN_A_DAY 24; return days * NUMBER_OF_HOURS_IN_A_DAY; } If it’s used by more than one method then declare it at the top of the class definition: public class AllAboutHours{ private static final int NUMBER_OF_HOURS_IN_A_DAY 24; public int calculateHoursInDays(int days) { return days * NUMBER_OF_HOURS_IN_A_DAY; } public int calculateHoursInWeeks(int weeks) { final int NUMBER_OF_DAYS_IN_A_WEEK 7; return weeks * NUMBER_OF_DAYS_IN_A_WEEK * NUMBER_OF_HOURS_IN_A_DAY; }} Notice how I’ve also added the keyword modifiersprivate and static to the variable declaration of NUMBER_OF_HOURS_IN_A_DAY. This means that the constant can only be used by its class (hence the private scope) but you could just as easily make it a public constant if you want other classes to have access to it. The static keyword is to allow the value of the constant to be shared amongst all instances of an object. As its the same value for every object created, it only needs to have one instance. Using the Final Keyword with Objects It’s very important to realize that when it comes to objects, Java does not support constants as you might expect. If you assign a variable to an object using thefinal keyword it means the variable will only ever hold the reference to that object. It cannot be changed to reference another object. However, it does not mean that the contents of the object cannot change. A Brief Note on the Const Keyword You may have noticed in the reserved words list that there is a keyword calledconst. This is not used with constants, in fact, it’s not used at all in the Java language.

Compare the great depression and to the great recession Essay

Compare the great depression and to the great recession - Essay Example After the speculative boom of the 1920’s, Americans invested great amounts in the stock market. However, these were primarily financed through loans and almost two-third of the nominal value of stocks was represented by loans in 1929. Accelerated share prices motivated greater investment as people speculated that share prices would continue to escalate. Consequently, an economic bubble developed and the margin buying meant that investors would incur great losses if the market took a downturn. Similarly, the Great Recession resulted from speculation about mortgages and securities. It was a consequence of providing loans for homeownership to uncredit-worthy people. Mortgage loans were secured with mortgaged securities; so because of margin buying, banks were on the verge of bankruptcy when the market went into recession. Milton Friedman in his book, A Monetary History of the United States advocates that the Great depression was not a consequence of the economic cycles, tariffs o r the Wall Street Crash (Friedman and Schwartz). In fact, what thrust the country into depression was the collapse of banks and financial institutes. Apparently, the same can be said for the Great Recession. More than the actual effects of the Wall Street Crash of 1929, the psychological effects deterred investment in the capital markets. In turn, business security affects job certainty so that is why a decrease in capital investment led to a decrease in consumption. However, the Wall Street Crashes did cause bankruptcies, restriction on credit, failing businesses, rising unemployment, decreased money supply and the like. Likewise, the Great Recession led to a decline in international trade, increased unemployment, and dropping commodity prices. The chain of events from significant federal spending to tax increases only aggravated both the crises. Thus, the leaders targeted the scapegoats such as the Wall Street Bankers for the crises.

Company Profile- Ted Baker Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Company Profile- Ted Baker - Essay Example But through them it has continued the journey of its prosperity and advancement. The company has opened many outlets worldwide; also it has jumped into the online shopping market. The Ted Baker Company used high quality materials and techniques in their production. It is one of the chief reasons of its prosperity (Ellen, 2007, p. 281). In this study we will discuss deeply the company profile of the Ted Baker Company. The history of the company, its products details, marketing and advertisement strategies, recent development, competitors and customers will be the main topics of discussion. In this way we will be able to understand the growth and the impact of the market values on the development of the company. It is important to note that the Ted Baker Company has only completed two decades since its appearance in the market. The founder of the Ted Baker Company is the passionate and the capable business man Ray Kelvin. Kelvin belonged to the long line of fashion retailers. In his childhood he worked in the garment shop of his uncle and after that he developed the idea of a long chain fashion store in his peak years. The aspect which greatly contributed towards the success of his idea and the acceptance of the company among the customers is the fine taste of Ray Kelvin. He had the ability to capture the needs and tastes of the buyers. He was also awarded a CBE for his extraordinary services to the industry of fashion and clothing. He used his greater sense of marketing techniques to capture the attention of the customers. The journey of the Ted Baker Company started in the year 1988 when the company opened its first store at the Glasgow. The progress was then followed by the opening of three more stores. The places were Nottingham Exchange Arcade, Manchester and King Street. The promotional strategy was that they offered dry cleaning services with every shirt they sold. At that time the chief product was men’s dress shirt (Ellen, 2007,

Conflict between Science and Religion Essay Example for Free

Conflict between Science and Religion Essay There have been numerous dissensions between science and religion. The central belief that the earth was the center of the universe prior to the presentation of the Copernican system was held in the primacy of man in the scheme of things, as designed by the will of God. The presentation that the earth was not the center of the universe was met with criticisms. The objections were not helped when it was found that our solar system is not even at the center of the universe but rather located in a spiral arm of the Milky Way Galaxy—one in a cluster of some two dozen galaxies, an infinitesimal part of a universe composed of millions of galaxies. One can only imagine how the religious sector reacted on the principle that our own Milky Way Galaxy is not even close to the center of the vast space of the universe. Conflict between science and religion climaxed when in 1859, Charles Darwin advanced his theory of evolution from natural selection in his work â€Å"On the Origin of Species† which was met with criticisms. The idea that God has not created man and placed him in the Garden of Eden was seen as an insult to Biblical teachings. Even today, evolution is a subject vigorously debated by those who support the theory and antievolutionists, especially those who call themselves creationists. Evidences show, however, that evolution indeed exists and continue to exist. The long evolutionary journey of species has even left its imprints upon the embryo of the individual organism. Despite conflicts between science and religion and an apparent steady movement away from religion, Arnold Toynbee held that man will turn from materialism to technology back to religion and spiritual values. For some time each religion will maintain its identity and minister to its own adherents, but as they are faced with a â€Å"shrinking† world, a positive tolerance will replace their traditional fanaticism.

Evolution and Christianity Essay -- Exploratory Essays Research Papers

     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The riddle of the origin of man has been subject to many ponderings and theories for thousands of years. In America, two theories concerning this timeless question have driven a spike through the general populace. These two beliefs, Evolution and Christianity, have driven a riff through the American populace and fueled several debates and conflicts over which is the truer theory. Incidents such as the decision of the Kansas school board to ban schools from including the Evolution Theory from their curriculum are becoming a tragically frequent and threaten to escalate if not checked soon. However, there is a growing belief in America today in the possibility of believing that evolution is an inescapable fact while still prescribing to Christian faith as well. This radical theology, which seems to meld, distort and expand the theory of Evolution and traditional Christian beliefs, has been termed "Theistic Evolution" by its followers and has emerged as a very respec table alternative to choosing between Evolution and Christianity.    Much of the conflict between Traditional Christian and Evolutionary thought stems from the strict, literal interpretation of the Bible used by many individuals and Church groups. One of the fundamental beliefs that most branches of Christianity share is that God created the world and life as we know it in six days. "And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done (Genesis 2:2)." Following this chain of thought, many devout Christians go on to further speculate that according to the Bible, Earth and animal life have only existed for a few thousand years. Evolutionists have attacked this speculation relentless... .... It is for this reason that alternatives such as Theistic Evolution are becoming more and more available. As Howard Van Till put it, "Christianity and Evolution are not contradictory. They provide different answers to a different set of questions" (Sheler).       Bibliography Darwin, Charles. The Origin of Species. New York: Avenel Books, 1979. pp. 435-460.    Dorfman, Andrea and Michael D. Lemonick. "Up From the Apes." Time. August 23, 1999. pp. 50-60.    Genesis. Holy Bible: New King James Version. Tennessee: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1982. Chapter 2, Verse 2.    Sheler, Jeffrey L. (1999). "Is the Bible True?" (Online). USNews Online. November 19, 1999. Available: http://www.usnews.com/usnews/issue/991025/bible.htm    Sunderland, Luther D. Darwin's Enigma. California: Master Book Publishers, 1984. pp. 22-24.

High School Expectations Essay

Middle School isn’t over; the end is here at last. The parts of my life that seemed never ending are gone for good. I thought I could not wait until high school, but now I wish that it wasn’t here so soon, ending my year as an eight grader. I feel lost as my eight grade year comes to a close. The anticipation I once felt about high school has been replaced with not only fear but also the never ending question of what to expect when I get there. High school will definitely be different. I find myself often wondering what it will be like. Not knowing what to expect is what scares me the most. I have gone through school always being the little kid. Finally for one year I get to be the big kid and then after all of the wonderful things that have happened this year it is all taken away. Starting high school I will once again be the little kid; the one who doesn’t know how things work. I do not look forward to another three years like that. Read more: Example of persuasive speech about life essay What I look forward to is a new challenge. High school is a new challenge waiting for me. There will be so many new and exiting things to try once I get there. I also look forward to reunite with all of my old friends and to be able to drive soon!! I’m also looking forward to only have four classes a day too!! Though there are things I look forward to, I am afraid of some things too. I really worry that my friends will change and become completely different people than who they are today. I don’t want us to drift apart because I don’t know what I would do without them. Fortunately, I’m confident that all of them will stay true to whom they are and that I will as well. Aside from all of my doubts and fears I think high school will be a good thing. It will open my eyes to new experiences and provide me with new knowledge. I hope high school will take me places. I never knew I would make it this far in life. Ten years from now, with the help of a good high school education, I see myself as a successful 23 year old. I think high school will prepare me for my future and whatever it may bring. No matter where I go after high school I hope I am happy and doing something I love.