Introduction Elza Cansanção Medeiros, popularly known as Major Elza (21 October 1921 to 08 December 2009), was a Brazilian Army officer and World War II veteran. She was the highest-ranking female officer in the Brazilian Army with the rank of Major, having deployed to Italy during the war along with the Brazilian Expeditionary Force as… Read More
Introduction The Brazilian Expeditionary Force (Portuguese: Força Expedicionária Brasileira, FEB), nicknamed Cobras Fumantes (literally “the Smoking Snakes”), was a military division of the Brazilian Army and Air Force that fought with Allied forces in the Mediterranean Theatre of World War II. It numbered around 51,600 men, including a full infantry division, liaison flight, and fighter… Read More
Introduction During World War II, the Waffen-SS recruited significant numbers of non-Germans, both as volunteers and conscripts. In total some 500,000 non-Germans and ethnic Germans from outside Germany, mostly from German-occupied Europe, were recruited between 1940 and 1945. The units were under the control of the SS Führungshauptamt (SS Command Main Office) beneath Reichsführer-SS Heinrich… Read More
Introduction Among the approximately one million foreign volunteers and conscripts who served in the Wehrmacht during World War II were ethnic Belgians, Czechs, Dutch, Finns, Danes, French, Hungarians, Norwegians, Poles, Portuguese, Swedes, along with people from Great Britain, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and the Balkans. At least 47,000 Spaniards served in the Blue Division. Some estimates… Read More
Introduction Non-Germans in the German armed forces during World War II were volunteers, conscripts and those otherwise induced to join who served in Nazi Germany’s armed forces during World War II. In German war-time propaganda those who volunteered for service were referred to as Freiwillige (“volunteers”). At the same time, many non-Germans in the German… Read More
Events 1240 – Mongol invasion of Rus’: Kyiv under Daniel of Galicia and Voivode Dmytro falls to the Mongols under Batu Khan. 1492 – After exploring island of Cuba for gold, surmising it for Japan, Columbus lands on island similar to Castile, naming it Hispaniola. 1534 – The city of Quito in Ecuador is founded… Read More
Introduction Within nations occupied by the Axis powers in World War II, some citizens and organisations, prompted by antisemitism, nationalism, ethnic hatred, anti-communism and opportunism, collaborated with the Axis Powers. Collaborators committed some of the worst atrocities of the Holocaust. Collaboration has been defined as cooperation between elements of the population of a defeated state… Read More
