Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force was the headquarters of the Commander of Allied forces in north west Europe, from late 1943 until the end of World War II. U.S. General Dwight D. Eisenhower was the commander in SHAEF throughout its existence. The position itself shares a common lineage with Supreme Allied Commander Europe and Atlantic, but they are different titles.
The 90th Infantry Division was a unit of the United States Army that served in World War I and World War II. Its lineage is carried on by the 90th Sustainment Brigade.
Nazi gold is gold allegedly transferred by Germany to overseas banks during World War II; it is believed to have executed a policy of looting the assets of its victims to finance the war by collecting the looted assets in central depositories. The occasional transfer of gold in return for currency took place in collusion with many individual collaborative institutions. The precise identities of those institutions, as well as the exact extent of the transactions, remain unclear.
Heringen (Werra) is a small town in Hersfeld-Rotenburg district in eastern Hesse, Germany lying right at the boundary with Thuringia.
Bad Frankenhausen is a spa town in the German state of Thuringia. It is located at the southern slope of the Kyffhäuser mountain range, on an artificial arm of the Wipper river, a tributary of the Unstrut. Because of the nearby Kyffhäuser monument dedicated to Emperor Frederick Barbarossa, it is nicknamed Barbarossastadt. The municipality includes the villages of Seehausen, Udersleben, Esperstedt and Ichstedt and Ringleben.
The Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives program under the Civil Affairs and Military Government Sections of the Allied armies was established in 1943 to help protect cultural property in war areas during and after World War II. The group of approximately 400 service members and civilians worked with military forces to safeguard historic and cultural monuments from war damage, and as the conflict came to a close, to find and return works of art and other items of cultural importance that had been stolen by the Nazis or hidden for safekeeping.
Völkershausen is a village and a former municipality in the Wartburgkreis district of Thuringia, Germany. Since 31 December 2013, it is part of the town Vacha.
The 773rd Tank Destroyer Battalion was a tank destroyer battalion of the United States Army active during the Second World War.
The Uniform of the Union Army was widely varied and, due to limitations on supply of wool and other materials, based on availability and cost of materials during the United States Civil War.
T-Force was the operational arm of a joint US Army-British Army mission to secure designated German scientific and industrial technology targets before they could be destroyed by retreating enemy forces or looters during the final stages of World War II and its immediate aftermath. Key personnel were also to be seized, and targets of opportunity exploited when encountered. The effort was a business and technology-oriented parallel of sorts to the Monuments Men pursuit of art and financial treasure.
The 35th Infantry Division was a German Army infantry division in World War II.
The Battle of Wadi Akarit was an Allied attack from 6–7 April 1943, to dislodge Axis forces from positions along the Wadi Akarit in Tunisia during the Tunisia Campaign of the Second World War. The Gabès Gap, north of the towns of Gabès and El Hamma, is a passage between the sea and impassable salt marshes. The 51st (Highland) Infantry Division breached the defences and held a bridgehead, allowing the passage of their main force to roll up the Axis defences. After several determined counter-attacks, the Axis forces withdrew and the Eighth Army, under General Bernard Montgomery, pursued toward Tunis, until reaching Axis defensive positions at Enfidaville.
John A. Busterud was a Republican Assemblyman in the California legislature for the 22nd District. During World War II he served in the United States Army. He became a Lieutenant Colonel. He was also Chair of the Council on Environmental Quality, was married to Anne Witwer and had three children: John, James and Mary. He is the author of "Below The Salt," an account of the 90th Infantry Division and its capture of the German gold reserves at Merkers Mine in World War II.
The 99th Infantry Battalion (separate) was a battalion of Norwegian-speaking soldiers in the US Army. Created in July 1942 at Camp Ripley, Minnesota, the battalion originally consisted of 1,001 soldiers. The battalion was attached to the First Army; however, it was labeled "Separate" because it was not attached to a specific regiment.
Joel Hilton Fisher was a Lieutenant Commander of the US Coast Guard and member of the G-5 Intelligence Division of the US Army in World War II.
Merkers Adventure Mines are a visitor attraction in Krayenberggemeinde in the Wartburgkreis district of Thuringia, Germany, owned and operated by K+S AG of Kassel. They lie near the village of Merkel. The mines have a long history of salt extraction, and hold the record for concealing large amounts of Nazi gold during World War II. A hundred tons of gold and many works of art presumed to be stolen were discovered by the liberating United States Army in 1945.
The German Nazi Party protected art, gold and other objects that had been either plundered or moved for safekeeping at various storage sites during World War II. These sites included salt mines at Altaussee, Merkers, and a copper mine at Siegen.
The Rhön Cycleway is a cycle path in Germany that runs for 180 kilometres from Bad Salzungen to Hammelburg. Its route takes it through 3 states: from Thuringia via Hesse to Bavaria.
Jürgen Möller is a German former officer, and a military historian, focused on the exploration of the end of World War II in Germany in 1944/45, especially the American occupation of Central Germany.
