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171-583: B-Dienst was instrumental in moulding Wehrmacht operations during the Battles of Norway and France in spring 1940, primarily due to the cryptanalysis successes it had achieved against early and less secure British Naval ciphers. B-Dienst broke British Naval Combined Cypher No. 3 in October 1941, which was used to encrypt all communications between naval personnel, for Allied North Atlantic convoys . This enabled B-Dienst to provide valuable signals intelligence for

342-735: A 2016 terrorist attack linked to ISIL , a truck was deliberately driven into a Christmas market next to the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church , leaving 13 people dead and 55 others injured. In 2018, more than 200,000 protestors took to the streets in Berlin with demonstrations of solidarity against racism, in response to the emergence of far-right politics in Germany . Berlin Brandenburg Airport (BER) opened in 2020, nine years later than planned, with Terminal 1 coming into service at

513-836: A joint campaign with the Italian Army , and may be considered a separate theatre . More than 6,000,000 soldiers were wounded during the conflict, while more than 11,000,000 became prisoners. In all, approximately 5,318,000 soldiers from Germany and other nationalities fighting for the German armed forces—including the Waffen-SS , Volkssturm and foreign collaborationist units—are estimated to have been killed in action, died of wounds, died in custody or gone missing in World War II. Included in this number are 215,000 Soviet citizens conscripted by Germany. According to Frank Biess, German casualties took

684-501: A Slavic-derived name: Pankow , Steglitz-Zehlendorf , Marzahn-Hellersdorf , Treptow-Köpenick , and Spandau . Of Berlin's ninety-six neighborhoods, twenty-two bear a Slavic-derived name: Altglienicke , Alt-Treptow , Britz , Buch , Buckow , Gatow , Karow , Kladow , Köpenick , Lankwitz , Lübars , Malchow , Marzahn , Pankow , Prenzlauer Berg , Rudow , Schmöckwitz , Spandau , Stadtrandsiedlung Malchow , Steglitz , Tegel and Zehlendorf . The earliest human settlements in

855-457: A bunker outside the city, which was code-named BISMARCK. Its location was communicated to the Kriegsmarine in an Enigma key called FREYA. The bombing of Berlin in 1943 destroyed large parts of B-Dienst records, markedly reducing their operational efficiency and forcing them to move to the town of Sengwarden near Eberswalde , located about 50 km northeast of Berlin . Forced again to move in

1026-475: A camp for Sinti and Romani people (see Romani Holocaust ), and the Stalag III-D prisoner-of-war camp for Allied POWs of various nationalities. During World War II, large parts of Berlin were destroyed during 1943–45 Allied air raids and the 1945 Battle of Berlin . The Allies dropped 67,607 tons of bombs on the city, destroying 6,427 acres of the built-up area. Around 125,000 civilians were killed. After

1197-662: A center of the Enlightenment , but also, was briefly occupied during the Seven Years' War by the Russian army. Following France's victory in the War of the Fourth Coalition , Napoleon Bonaparte marched into Berlin in 1806 , but granted self-government to the city. In 1815, the city became part of the new Province of Brandenburg . The Industrial Revolution transformed Berlin during

1368-419: A cipher change. B-Dienst could read nothing until after about four weeks, but insufficient staff were not able to build on the success. At that time, B-Dienst had access to few Hollerith machines, and after four weeks could only read 10% of the intercepts received. Wehrmacht The Wehrmacht ( German pronunciation: [ˈveːɐ̯maxt] , lit.   ' defence force ' ) were

1539-753: A city district separate from Brandenburg. In the early 20th century, Berlin had become a fertile ground for the German Expressionist movement. In fields such as architecture, painting and cinema new forms of artistic styles were invented. At the end of the First World War in 1918, a republic was proclaimed by Philipp Scheidemann at the Reichstag building . In 1920, the Greater Berlin Act incorporated dozens of suburban cities, villages, and estates around Berlin into an expanded city. The act increased

1710-527: A clandestine cadre of air force officers in the early 1920s. These officers saw the role of an air force as winning air superiority, strategic bombing, and close air support. That the Luftwaffe did not develop a strategic bombing force in the 1930s was not due to a lack of interest, but because of economic limitations. The leadership of the Navy led by Grand Admiral Erich Raeder , a close protégé of Alfred von Tirpitz ,

1881-507: A combined state of Berlin and Brandenburg is different from other state fusion proposals. Normally, Article 29 of the Basic Law stipulates that a state fusion requires a federal law. However, a clause added to the Basic Law in 1994, Article 118a, allows Berlin and Brandenburg to unify without federal approval, requiring a referendum and a ratification by both state parliaments. In 1996, there

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2052-592: A complicated process that yielded the key, set the rotors on the Enigma and reversed the message encipherment to yield the message, which was passed to the captain, with the captain taking appropriate actions in accordance with the message's orders or reading to keep informed of current events. Communications between the U-boats and land based facilities, i.e. headquarters, ports, aircraft, were encoded as messages and were categorized into six types, which were as follows: The B-bar

2223-417: A microclimate, with heat stored by the city's buildings and pavement . Temperatures can be 4 °C (7 °F) higher in the city than in the surrounding areas. Annual precipitation is 570 millimeters (22 in) with moderate rainfall throughout the year. Snowfall mainly occurs from December through March. The hottest month in Berlin was July 1834, with a mean temperature of 23.0 °C (73.4 °F) and

2394-424: A monumental ensemble. The National Socialist regime embarked on monumental construction projects in Berlin as a way to express their power and authority through architecture . Adolf Hitler and Albert Speer developed architectural concepts for the conversion of the city into World Capital Germania ; these were never implemented. NSDAP rule diminished Berlin's Jewish community from 160,000 (one-third of all Jews in

2565-829: A number of captured documents from HMS  Hardy , a destroyer which was grounded in the Ofotfjord in the Battle of Narvik during the Norwegian Campaign , but when Bergen was being evacuated by the British, they left a large cache of British cryptography documents behind which were discovered in May 1940. These included a copy of the Administrative Code, a copy of the Foreign Office Interdepartmental Cypher No.1,

2736-607: A number of other sinkings. Fricke was killed on 2 May 1945 during the Battle of Berlin . Konteradmiral Ludwig Stummel (5 August 1898 in Kevelaer – 30 November 1983 in Kronberg im Taunus ) had succeeded Theodor Arps as Group Director of Naval Warfare department: Communications (4/ SKL ) from 1 January 1940 to 15 June 1941. Ludwig Stummel was a career signals officer who had joined the Navy during World War I. A fervent Nazi and Catholic during

2907-528: A rapid population increase in Berlin. 1920s Berlin was the third-largest city in the world by population. After World War II and following Berlin's occupation, the city was split into West Berlin and East Berlin , divided by the Berlin Wall . East Berlin was declared the capital of East Germany, while Bonn became the West German capital. Following German reunification in 1990, Berlin once again became

3078-408: A single Joint Chief of Staff, Hitler refused. Even after the defeat at Stalingrad, Hitler refused, stating that Göring as Reichsmarschall and Hitler's deputy, would not submit to someone else or see himself as an equal to other service commanders. However, a more likely reason was Hitler feared it would break his image of having the "Midas touch" concerning military strategy. With the creation of

3249-413: A small margin, largely based on support in former West Berlin , Brandenburg voters disapproved of the fusion by a large margin. It failed largely due to Brandenburg voters not wanting to take on Berlin's large and growing public debt and fearing losing identity and influence to the capital. Berlin is in northeastern Germany, in an area of low-lying marshy woodlands with a mainly flat topography , part of

3420-420: A submarine was surfaced, at periscope depth and even down to forty feet. The radio technician always wrote the message down, even if it was not for that sub, with message serial numbers informing the technician if he had missed any. The U-boat captain also monitored the serial numbers on a regular basis to ensure no messages were missing and to ensure the radio technician was not negligent. The technician then ran

3591-740: A sudden jump with the defeat of the Sixth Army at Stalingrad in January 1943, when 180,310 soldiers were killed in one month. Among the 5.3 million Wehrmacht casualties during the Second World War, more than 80 per cent died during the last two years of the war. Approximately three-quarters of these losses occurred on the Eastern front (2.7 million) and during the final stages of the war between January and May 1945 (1.2 million). Jeffrey Herf wrote that: Whereas German deaths between 1941 and 1943 on

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3762-639: A time frame of 10 years for remilitarization, but soon shortened it to four years. With the remilitarization of the Rhineland and the Anschluss , the German Reich's territory increased significantly, providing a larger population pool for conscription. Recruitment for the Wehrmacht was accomplished through voluntary enlistment and conscription, with 1.3 million being drafted and 2.4 million volunteering in

3933-506: A total of 240. In the year from January 1944, the staff for the Naval Code subsection dropped from 198 to 94. Tranow stated that by 1942 his core cryptanalyst staff had increased to about 275 people. He wanted to double that number, but did not succeed in doing so. In May 1945, during his TICOM interview, he bitterly remarked that the entire number of personnel in the English cryptanalysis section

4104-459: Is Germany's capital and largest city by area and by population . With over 3.85 million inhabitants, it has the highest population within its city limits of any city in the European Union . The city is also one of the states of Germany , and is the third smallest state in the country in terms of area. Berlin is surrounded by the state of Brandenburg , and Brandenburg's capital Potsdam

4275-460: Is an iconic landmark of Berlin and Germany; it stands as a symbol of eventful European history and of unity and peace. The Reichstag building is the traditional seat of the German Parliament. It was remodeled by British architect Norman Foster in the 1990s and features a glass dome over the session area, which allows free public access to the parliamentary proceedings and magnificent views of

4446-461: Is nearby. The urban area of Berlin has a population of over 4.5 million and is therefore the most populous urban area in Germany. The Berlin-Brandenburg capital region has around 6.2 million inhabitants and is Germany's second-largest metropolitan region after the Rhine-Ruhr region, and the fifth-biggest metropolitan region by GDP in the European Union . Berlin was built along the banks of

4617-643: Is the most visited zoo in Europe. Babelsberg Studio is the world's first large-scale movie studio complex and the list of films set in Berlin is long. Berlin is also home to three World Heritage Sites : Museum Island , the Palaces and Parks of Potsdam and Berlin , and the Berlin Modernism Housing Estates . Other landmarks include the Brandenburg Gate , the Reichstag building , Potsdamer Platz ,

4788-640: The Forum Fridericianum along with, the Berlin State Opera , Charlottenburg Palace , Gendarmenmarkt , Alte Kommandantur , as well as the City Palace . The tallest buildings in Berlin are spread across the urban area, with clusters at Potsdamer Platz , City West , and Alexanderplatz . Over one-third of the city's area consists of green and open-space, with the Großer Tiergarten , one of

4959-680: The Polnische Wehrmacht ('Polish Wehrmacht', 'Polish Defense Force') in German. In January 1919, after World War I ended with the signing of the armistice of 11 November 1918 , the armed forces were dubbed Friedensheer (peace army). In March 1919, the national assembly passed a law founding a 420,000-strong preliminary army, the Vorläufige Reichswehr . The terms of the Treaty of Versailles were announced in May, and in June, Germany signed

5130-513: The Reichswehr , was established on 23 March 1921. General conscription was abolished under another mandate of the Versailles treaty. The Reichswehr was limited to 115,000 men, and thus the armed forces, under the leadership of Hans von Seeckt , retained only the most capable officers. The American historians Alan Millet and Williamson Murray wrote "In reducing the officers corps, Seeckt chose

5301-609: The SS and their Einsatzgruppen death squads, the German armed forces committed numerous war crimes (despite later denials and promotion of the myth of the clean Wehrmacht ). The majority of the war crimes took place in the Soviet Union, Poland, Yugoslavia, Greece, and Italy, as part of the war of annihilation against the Soviet Union, the Holocaust and Nazi security warfare . During World War II about 18 million men served in

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5472-625: The Battle of Moscow , the Siege of Leningrad , Stalingrad , Tunis in North Africa , and the Battle of Kursk . The German Army was managed through mission-based tactics (rather than order-based tactics) which was intended to give commanders greater freedom to act on events and exploit opportunities. In public opinion, the German Army was, and sometimes still is, seen as a high-tech army. However, such modern equipment, while featured much in propaganda,

5643-506: The Berlin Wall around West Berlin, and events escalated to a tank standoff at Checkpoint Charlie . West Berlin was now de facto a part of West Germany with a unique legal status, while East Berlin was de facto a part of East Germany. John F. Kennedy gave his " Ich bin ein Berliner " speech on 26 June 1963, in front of the Schöneberg city hall, located in the city's western part, underlining

5814-676: The Burgundians followed. In the 7th century Slavic tribes, the later known Hevelli and Sprevane , reached the region. In the 12th century the region came under German rule as part of the Margraviate of Brandenburg , founded by Albert the Bear in 1157. Early evidence of middle age settlements in the area of today's Berlin are remnants of a house foundation dated 1270 to 1290, found in excavations in Berlin Mitte . The first written records of towns in

5985-505: The Junkers Ju 87 Stuka dive bomber. The planes cooperated closely with the ground forces. Overwhelming numbers of fighters assured air-supremacy, and the bombers would attack command- and supply-lines, depots, and other support targets close to the front. The Luftwaffe would also be used to transport paratroopers, as first used during Operation Weserübung . Due to the Army's sway with Hitler,

6156-715: The Karl-Marx-Allee heads east, an avenue lined by monumental residential buildings, designed in the Socialist Classicism style. Adjacent to this area is the Rotes Rathaus (City Hall), with its distinctive red-brick architecture. In front of it is the Neptunbrunnen , a fountain featuring a mythological group of Tritons , personifications of the four main Prussian rivers, and Neptune on top of it. The Brandenburg Gate

6327-475: The Luftwaffe was often subordinated to the Army, resulting in it being used as a tactical support role and losing its strategic capabilities. The Western Allies' strategic bombing campaign against German industrial targets (particularly the round-the-clock Combined Bomber Offensive ) and Germany's Defence of the Reich deliberately forced the Luftwaffe into a war of attrition. With German fighter force destroyed,

6498-928: The Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe , and the Berlin Wall Memorial . Berlin has numerous museums , galleries, and libraries. [REDACTED] Margraviate of Brandenburg 1237–1618 [REDACTED] Brandenburg-Prussia 1618–1701 [REDACTED]   Kingdom of Prussia 1701–1867 [REDACTED] North German Confederation 1867–1871 [REDACTED]   German Empire 1871–1918 [REDACTED]   Weimar Republic 1918–1933 [REDACTED]   Nazi Germany 1933–1945 [REDACTED]   Allied-occupied Germany 1945–1949 [REDACTED]   West Germany 1949–1990 [REDACTED]   East Germany 1949–1990 [REDACTED]   Germany 1990–present Berlin lies in northeastern Germany. Most of

6669-538: The Nazi rise to power in 1933, one of Adolf Hitler 's most overt and bellicose moves was to establish the Wehrmacht , a modern offensively-capable armed force, fulfilling the Nazi regime's long-term goals of regaining lost territory as well as gaining new territory and dominating its neighbours. This required the reinstatement of conscription and massive investment and defence spending on the arms industry . The Wehrmacht formed

6840-742: The OKH became the de facto Eastern Theatre higher-echelon command-organization for the Wehrmacht , excluding Waffen-SS except for operational and tactical combat purposes. The OKW conducted operations in the Western Theatre. The operations by the Kriegsmarine in the North and Mid-Atlantic can also be considered as separate theatres, considering the size of the area of operations and their remoteness from other theatres. The Wehrmacht fought on other fronts, sometimes three simultaneously; redeploying troops from

7011-468: The SS and Wehrmacht , many SS officers were former army officers, which ensured continuity and understanding between the two. Throughout the war, army and SS soldiers worked together in various combat situations, creating bonds between the two groups. Guderian noted that every day the war continued the Army and the SS became closer together. Towards the end of the war, army units would even be placed under

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7182-593: The SS was to be "procured from the Wehrmacht upon payment", however "in peacetime, no organizational connection with the Wehrmacht exists." The army was however allowed to check the budget of the SS and inspect the combat readiness of the SS troops. In the event of mobilization, the Waffen-SS field units could be placed under the operational control of the OKW or the OKH. All decisions regarding this would be at Hitler's personal discretion. Though there existed conflict between

7353-445: The SS were stepped up as well. Following the Battle of Stalingrad in 1943, fitness and physical health standards for Wehrmacht recruits were drastically lowered, with the regime going so far as to create "special diet" battalions for men with severe stomach ailments. Rear-echelon personnel were more often sent to front-line duty wherever possible, especially during the final two years of the war where, inspired by constant propaganda,

7524-694: The Soviet Union , including the Caucasian Muslim Legion , Turkestan Legion , Crimean Tatars, ethnic Ukrainians and Russians, Cossacks , and others who wished to fight against the Soviet regime or who were otherwise induced to join. Between 15,000 and 20,000 anti-communist White émigrés who had left Russia after the Russian Revolution joined the ranks of the Wehrmacht and Waffen-SS , with 1,500 acting as interpreters and more than 10,000 serving in

7695-424: The Spanish Civil War . The effectiveness of officer training and recruitment by the Wehrmacht has been identified as a major factor in its early victories as well as its ability to keep the war going as long as it did even as the war turned against Germany. As the Second World War intensified, Kriegsmarine and Luftwaffe personnel were increasingly transferred to the army, and "voluntary" enlistments in

7866-409: The Spree river, which flows into the Havel in the western borough of Spandau . The city incorporates lakes in the western and southeastern boroughs, the largest of which is Müggelsee . About one-third of the city's area is composed of forests, parks and gardens , rivers, canals, and lakes. First documented in the 13th century and at the crossing of two important historic trade routes , Berlin

8037-441: The Wayback Machine and still impacts urban planning decisions. Walter Momper, the mayor of West Berlin, became the first mayor of the reunified city in the interim. City-wide elections in December 1990 resulted in the first "all Berlin" mayor being elected to take office in January 1991, with the separate offices of mayors in East and West Berlin expiring by that time, and Eberhard Diepgen (a former mayor of West Berlin) became

8208-519: The Wehrmacht . By the time the war ended in Europe in May 1945, German forces (consisting of the Heer , the Kriegsmarine , the Luftwaffe , the Waffen-SS , the Volkssturm , and foreign collaborator units ) had lost approximately 11,300,000 men, about 5,318,000 of whom were missing, killed or died in captivity. Only a few of the Wehrmacht ' s upper leadership went on trial for war crimes, despite evidence suggesting that more were involved in illegal actions. According to Ian Kershaw , most of

8379-489: The end of World War II in Europe in May 1945, Berlin received large numbers of refugees from the Eastern provinces. The victorious powers divided the city into four sectors, analogous to Allied-occupied Germany the sectors of the Allies of World War II (the United States, the United Kingdom, and France) formed West Berlin , while the Soviet Union formed East Berlin . All four Allies of World War II shared administrative responsibilities for Berlin. However, in 1948, when

8550-459: The " battle of annihilation ", the Wehrmacht managed many lightning quick victories in the first year of World War II, prompting foreign journalists to create a new word for what they witnessed: Blitzkrieg . Germany's immediate military success on the field at the start of the Second World War coincides the favorable beginning they achieved during the First World War, a fact which some attribute to their superior officer corps. The Heer entered

8721-408: The "German Wehrmacht ", consisting of the Seemacht (sea force) and the Landmacht (land force). In 1919, the term Wehrmacht also appears in Article 47 of the Weimar Constitution , establishing that: "The Reich's President holds supreme command of all armed forces [i.e. the Wehrmacht ] of the Reich". From 1919, Germany's national defense force was known as the Reichswehr , a name that

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8892-456: The 1942–1943 Winter Offensive , intelligence was always concerning convoys with particular emphasis on US-UK lanes. During 1943, when U-boat operations moved to a defensive Battle of the Atlantic Campaign Climax , a distinct type of message began to be exchanged, which eventually became commonplace, i.e. Allied contact and attack reports. Defence situations reports became remarkable for their length and new editions. Reports of distant areas, like

9063-423: The 19th century; the city's economy and population expanded dramatically, and it became the main railway hub and economic center of Germany. Additional suburbs soon developed and increased the area and population of Berlin. In 1861, neighboring suburbs including Wedding , Moabit and several others were incorporated into Berlin. In 1871, Berlin became capital of the newly founded German Empire . In 1881, it became

9234-441: The 20th century. 17% of Berlin's buildings are Gründerzeit or earlier and nearly 25% are of the 1920s and 1930s, when Berlin played a part in the origin of modern architecture . Devastated by the bombing of Berlin in World War II many of the buildings that had survived in both East and West were demolished during the postwar period. After the reunification, many important heritage structures have been reconstructed , including

9405-482: The Armed Forces, retaining the position until his suicide on 30 April 1945. The title of Commander-in-Chief was given to the Minister of the Reichswehr Werner von Blomberg , who was simultaneously renamed the Reich Minister of War. Following the Blomberg-Fritsch Affair , Blomberg resigned and Hitler abolished the Ministry of War. As a replacement for the ministry, the Wehrmacht High Command Oberkommando der Wehrmacht (OKW), under Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel ,

9576-470: The British. Karl Doenitz , the U-Boat Chief, began unrestricted submarine warfare which cost the Allies 22,898 men and 1,315 ships. The U-boat war remained costly for the Allies until early spring of 1943 when the Allies began to use countermeasures against U-Boats such as the use of Hunter-Killer groups, airborne radar, torpedoes and mines like the FIDO . The submarine war cost the Kriegsmarine 757 U-boats, with more than 30,000 U-boat crewmen killed. In

9747-403: The Canadian destroyer HMCS  Athabaskan was sunk off the coast of Brittany and, while the code books were recovered, they made little difference. A Leading Telegraphist, captured from the ship, gave a detailed description of the new double conversion procedure for the Stencil Subtractor system. B-Dienst devoted intensive study to this problem, and appeared to have developed methods by which

9918-609: The Caribbean, became more common. By winter 1943–44, the resumption of an offensive war against Allied convoys ( Battle of Atlantic Final Years ) brought back convoy messages. With the difficulties of finding convoys to attack, and with the Allies now reading all communications that the Kriegsmarine sent, concurrently, with daily allied operations, new types of intelligence messages including direction finding ( Radio direction finder ) on positions of Allied units and special reports from intercept parties aboard U-boats became more prominent. Particular concerns included Allied location devices,

10089-467: The Federal Republic of Germany was founded in West Germany and eventually included all of the American, British and French zones, excluding those three countries' zones in Berlin, while the Marxist–Leninist German Democratic Republic was proclaimed in East Germany . West Berlin officially remained an occupied city, but it politically was aligned with the Federal Republic of Germany despite West Berlin's geographic isolation. Airline service to West Berlin

10260-442: The German Navy in the Battle of the Atlantic . The intelligence flow largely ended when the Admiralty introduced Naval Cipher No. 5 on 10 June 1943. The new cipher became secure in January 1944 with the introduction of the Stencil Subtractor system which was used to recipher it. The B-Dienst unit began as the German Radio Monitoring Service, or educational and news analysis service ( German : Funkhorchdienst / Horchdienst ), by

10431-423: The German armed forces prior to 1941. With the invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941, the government's positions changed. German propagandists wanted to present the war not as a purely German concern, but as a multi-national crusade against the so-called Jewish Bolshevism . Hence, the Wehrmacht and the SS began to seek out recruits from occupied and neutral countries across Europe: the Germanic populations of

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10602-418: The German army's early success. In the strategies of the Blitzkrieg , the Wehrmacht combined the mobility of light tanks with airborne assault to quickly progress through weak enemy lines, enabling the German army to quickly take over Poland and France. These tanks were used to break through enemy lines, isolating regiments from the main force so that the infantry behind the tanks could quickly kill or capture

10773-431: The German auxiliary cruiser, colloquially known as an armed raider , the Atlantis in the context of Enigma security. Fricke exculpated both Naval Enigma security and treason of senior staff of the Atlantis , at a time when Naval Enigma was undergoing extensive cryptanalysis by the British Government Code and Cypher School at Bletchley Park . Fricke also investigated the sinking of the German battleship Tirpitz and

10944-426: The Huguenot immigration. Many other immigrants came from Bohemia , Poland , and Salzburg . Since 1618, the Margraviate of Brandenburg had been in personal union with the Duchy of Prussia . In 1701, the dual state formed the Kingdom of Prussia , as Frederick III, Elector of Brandenburg , crowned himself as king Frederick I in Prussia . Berlin became the capital of the new Kingdom, replacing Königsberg . This

11115-438: The Italian naval communications intelligence (SIM, Italian : Servizio Informazioni Militari ) in conversation with the allies, informed them that even though they had worked in close collaboration with B-Dienst, they had little understanding of the workings or internal structure of B-Dienst, thereby affirming the secretive nature of the organization and its effective security. B-Dienst personnel numbered around 5000 people by

11286-422: The Jews serving in the Reichswehr given an automatic and immediate dishonorable discharge . Again, on his own initiative Blomberg had the armed forces adopt Nazi symbols into their uniforms in May 1934. In August of the same year, on Blomberg's initiative and that of the Ministeramt chief General Walther von Reichenau , the entire military took the Hitler oath , an oath of personal loyalty to Hitler. Hitler

11457-481: The Museumsinsel U-Bahn station opened in 2021, which completed all new works on the U5. A partial opening by the end of 2020 of the Humboldt Forum museum, housed in the reconstructed Berlin Palace , was postponed until March 2021. On 16 September 2022, the opening of the eastern wing, the last section of the Humboldt Forum museum, meant the Humboldt Forum museum was finally completed. It became Germany's currently most expensive cultural project. The legal basis for

11628-437: The Naval Code, and eight more were required. The other subdivision had seven men working by day but six more were needed to build up a two watch schedule. The total personnel needed for the main British systems alone was 165 people. In March 1945, personnel requirements for decryption were stated as follows: For all countries, for readable traffic 155 personnel were needed, for research on British Systems, 85 men were needed, thus

11799-441: The Netherlands and Norway were recruited largely into the SS , while "non-Germanic" people were recruited into the Wehrmacht . The "voluntary" nature of such recruitment was often dubious, especially in the later years of the war when even Poles living in the Polish Corridor were declared "ethnic Germans" and drafted. After Germany's defeat in the Battle of Stalingrad , the Wehrmacht also made substantial use of personnel from

11970-544: The North Atlantic Ocean , South Atlantic, North Sea and the Skagerrak , etc. Messages read contained wartime organization of the Royal Navy , and the effect of the sinking of HMS  Royal Oak in Scapa Flow and the effects of German battleship activity in the Channel area. After the sinking of HMS  Rawalpindi on 23 November 1939, Wilhelm Tranow read Royal Navy counter measures. Entry into Naval Cypher No 1 had been made possible through Submarine Recyphering Tables which were universally used for all British traffic. It

12141-920: The OKW, Hitler solidified his control over the Wehrmacht . Showing restraint at the beginning of the war, Hitler also became increasingly involved in military operations at every scale. Additionally, there was a clear lack of cohesion between the three High Commands and the OKW, as senior generals were unaware of the needs, capabilities and limitations of the other branches. With Hitler serving as Supreme Commander, branch commands were often forced to fight for influence with Hitler. However, influence with Hitler not only came from rank and merit but also who Hitler perceived as loyal, leading to inter-service rivalry, rather than cohesion between his military advisers. The German Army furthered concepts pioneered during World War I , combining ground ( Heer ) and air force ( Luftwaffe ) assets into combined arms teams. Coupled with traditional war fighting methods such as encirclements and

12312-717: The Royal Navy's most widely used code, the 5-digit Naval Code, in autumn of 1935. On the day the war started, B-Dienst were well aware of British merchant ship movements in the seas off Germany. On 11 September 1939, they read a message that informed them of a convoy assembling off the coast of the Bristol Channel, and dispatched U-boat U-31 which sank SS Aviemore about 220 miles (350 km) southwest of Cape Clear . During this time, B-Dienst had insufficient staff to deal with Naval Cypher, and had only made preliminary entry. The volume of traffic increased enormously. The section

12483-455: The US support for West Berlin. Berlin was completely divided. Although it was possible for Westerners to pass to the other side through strictly controlled checkpoints, for most Easterners, travel to West Berlin or West Germany was prohibited by the government of East Germany. In 1971, a Four-Power Agreement guaranteed access to and from West Berlin by car or train through East Germany. In 1989, with

12654-604: The Western Allies extended the currency reform in the Western zones of Germany to the three western sectors of Berlin, the Soviet Union imposed the Berlin Blockade on the access routes to and from West Berlin, which lay entirely inside Soviet-controlled territory. The Berlin airlift , conducted by the three western Allies, overcame this blockade by supplying food and other supplies to the city from June 1948 to May 1949. In 1949,

12825-552: The Western Allies had air supremacy over the battlefield, denying support to German forces on the ground and using its own fighter-bombers to attack and disrupt. Following the losses in Operation Bodenplatte in 1945, the Luftwaffe was no longer an effective force. The Treaty of Versailles disallowed submarines, while limiting the size of the Reichsmarine to six battleships, six cruisers, and twelve destroyers. Following

12996-542: The area of Berlin from 66 to 883 km (25 to 341 sq mi). The population almost doubled, and Berlin had a population of around four million. During the Weimar era , Berlin underwent political unrest due to economic uncertainties but also became a renowned center of the Roaring Twenties . The metropolis experienced its heyday as a major world capital and was known for its leadership roles in science, technology, arts,

13167-603: The area of modern Berlin are dated around 60,000 BC. A deer mask, dated to 9,000 BC, is attributed to the Maglemosian culture . In 2,000 BC dense human settlements along the Spree and Havel rivers gave rise to the Lusatian culture . Starting around 500 BC Germanic tribes settled in a number of villages in the higher situated areas of today's Berlin. After the Semnones left around 200 AD,

13338-419: The area of present-day Berlin date from the late 12th century. Spandau is first mentioned in 1197 and Köpenick in 1209. 1237 is considered the founding date of the city. The two towns over time formed close economic and social ties, and profited from the staple right on the two important trade routes , one was known as Via Imperii , and the other trade route reached from Bruges to Novgorod . In 1307

13509-498: The army that existed in World War I. In the 1920s, Seeckt and his officers developed new doctrines that emphasized speed, aggression, combined arms and initiative on the part of lower officers to take advantage of momentary opportunities. Though Seeckt retired in 1926, his influence on the army was still apparent when it went to war in 1939. Germany was forbidden to have an air force by the Versailles treaty; nonetheless, Seeckt created

13680-410: The beginning, there was friction between the SS and the army, as the army feared the SS would attempt to become a legitimate part of the armed forces of Nazi Germany, partly due to the fighting between the limited armaments, and the perceived fanaticism towards Nazism. However, on 17 August 1938, Hitler codified the role of the SS and the army in order to end the feud between the two. The arming of

13851-459: The capital of all of Germany. Due to its geographic location and history, Berlin has been called "the heart of Europe". The economy of Berlin is based on high tech and the service sector , encompassing a diverse range of creative industries , startup companies , research facilities, and media corporations. Berlin serves as a continental hub for air and rail traffic and has a complex public transportation network . Tourism in Berlin makes

14022-555: The cities and villages in northeastern Germany bear Slavic languages -derived names. Typical Germanization for place name suffixes of Slavic origin are -ow, -itz, -vitz, -witz, -itzsch and -in , prefixes are Windisch and Wendisch . The name Berlin has its roots in the language of the West Slavs , and may be related to the Old Polabian stem berl-/birl- ("swamp"). Of Berlin's twelve boroughs , five bear

14193-716: The city a popular global destination. Significant industries include information technology, the healthcare industry , biomedical engineering , biotechnology , the automotive industry , and electronics . Berlin is home to several universities such as the Humboldt University of Berlin , Technische Universität Berlin , the Berlin University of the Arts and the Free University of Berlin . The Berlin Zoological Garden

14364-509: The city lost half of its population. Frederick William , known as the "Great Elector", who had succeeded his father George William as ruler in 1640, initiated a policy of promoting immigration and religious tolerance. With the Edict of Potsdam in 1685, Frederick William offered asylum to the French Huguenots . By 1700, approximately 30 percent of Berlin's residents were French, because of

14535-532: The coast of Norway, which had been occupied since 1940, convoys from North America to the Soviet port of Murmansk could be intercepted though the Tirpitz spent most of her career as fleet in being . After the appointment of Karl Dönitz as Grand Admiral of the Kriegsmarine (in the aftermath of the Battle of the Barents Sea ), Germany stopped constructing battleships and cruisers in favor of U-boats. Though by 1941,

14706-540: The code being worked on, but at the end was around 80 men. For Naval Code , which was used by the Royal Navy for administrative purposes, it was slightly less; for Naval Cypher which was used by the Royal Navy for operational purposes, it was slightly more. During World War II, B-Dienst was located in 72–76 Tirpitzufer in Berlin , which was later renamed Bendlerblock , until it was bombed in December 1943, when they re-located to

14877-512: The coldest was January 1709 , with a mean temperature of −13.2 °C (8.2 °F). The wettest month on record was July 1907, with 230 millimeters (9.1 in) of rainfall, whereas the driest were October 1866, November 1902, October 1908 and September 1928, all with 1 millimeter (0.039 in) of rainfall. Berlin's history has left the city with a polycentric metropolitan area and an eclectic mix of architecture. The city's appearance today has been predominantly shaped by German history during

15048-559: The command of the SS , in Italy and the Netherlands. The relationship between the Wehrmacht and the SS improved; however, the Waffen-SS was never considered "the fourth branch of the Wehrmacht ." The Wehrmacht directed combat operations during World War II (from 1 September 1939 – 8 May 1945) as the German Reich 's armed forces umbrella command-organization. After 1941

15219-458: The country) to about 80,000 due to emigration between 1933 and 1939. After Kristallnacht in 1938, thousands of the city's Jews were imprisoned in the nearby Sachsenhausen concentration camp . Starting in early 1943, many were deported to ghettos like Łódź , and to concentration and extermination camps such as Auschwitz . Berlin hosted the 1936 Summer Olympics for which the Olympic stadium

15390-402: The cover name Operation Stratford . Germany seized the initiative and invaded Norway on 9 April 1940. The code was read concurrently during the campaign. Exact data on British counter-measures such as landing fields, and the arrival of transports at Harstad were known in advance, enabling German Armed Forces to take appropriate action. When Norway surrendered in early May 1940, B-Dienst received

15561-488: The creation of the Wehrmacht , the navy was renamed the Kriegsmarine . With the signing of the Anglo-German Naval Agreement , Germany was allowed to increase its navy's size to be 35:100 tonnage of the Royal Navy, and allowed for the construction of U-boats. This was partly done to appease Germany, and because Britain believed the Kriegsmarine would not be able to reach the 35% limit until 1942. The navy

15732-625: The current Merchant Navy Code with recoding tables and the Auxiliary Code and Recoding Tables along with Call Signs and Delivery Groups. These were exploited as an aid to reading future ciphers. The Norwegian campaign enabled Tranow to rest on his laurels until August 1940, when new challenges appeared. 1940–41 in the North Atlantic and North Sea. January–August 1942 to about August By the end of 1943, B-Dienst successes were growing fewer and fewer. Naval Code, Brown edition, could still be read at

15903-554: The early stage of Operation Barbarossa in the Soviet Union (June 1941). After Hitler declared war on the United States in December 1941, the Axis powers found themselves engaged in campaigns against several major industrial powers while Germany was still in transition to a war economy. German units were then overextended, undersupplied, outmaneuvered, outnumbered and defeated by its enemies in decisive battles during 1941, 1942, and 1943 at

16074-436: The end of 1940, numbers increased again to 150. Service personnel were recruited from all areas of the armed forces, specifically those who had foreign language skills and were given a short six week training course. By December 1942, the English desk had 275 personnel employed, and around 300–360 cryptanalysts by spring 1943, which was the peak. Including clerks and evaluators, the number was around 1100. From 1942 onwards, due to

16245-560: The end of 1943, but a heavy air raid in Berlin in November 1943 destroyed large numbers of their records, reducing their operational effectiveness drastically. B-Dienst had to move to Sengwarden near Eberswalde . With the Admiralty now changing keys every day, instead of every 15 days as they had done the previous year, and the increasing use of one-time pads, effectively made the continual breaking of high level cypher impossible. On 20 April 1944,

16416-626: The end of 1944. B-Dienst originally started as the 3rd section of the 3 Naval Operations ( German : Seekriegsleitung ) (3/SKL) of the OKM , became part of the 2/SKL, stayed with 2/SKL when it rose to a division , and became in effect 4/SKL. Technically it was the Radio Reconnaissance Branch of the Naval Communications Services Division. In 1938 before the start of the war, B-Dienst had insufficient personnel to work on

16587-528: The end of October, and flights to and from Tegel Airport ending in November. Due to the fall in passenger numbers resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic , plans were announced to close BER's Terminal 5, the former Schönefeld Airport , beginning in March 2021. The connecting link of U-Bahn line U5 from Alexanderplatz to Hauptbahnhof, along with the new stations Rotes Rathaus and Unter den Linden, opened on 4 December 2020,

16758-610: The end of World War I in 1918, as part of the navy of the German Empire . A counterpart to the B service on the British side was the Y-service or Y Service . The Y was onomatopoeic for the initial syllable of the word wireless, similar to the B initial for the German service. Little was known outside about the internal organization and workings of the B-Dienst section. After the armistice of Italy ( Armistice of Cassibile ), officers of

16929-751: The end of the Cold War and pressure from the East German population, the Berlin Wall fell on 9 November and was subsequently mostly demolished. Today, the East Side Gallery preserves a large portion of the wall. On 3 October 1990, the two parts of Germany were reunified as the Federal Republic of Germany, and Berlin again became a reunified city. After the fall of the Berlin Wall, the city experienced significant urban development Archived 16 December 2023 at

17100-557: The end, hence the name "B-bar". The name was coined by the British. Bars in Morse code are more conventionally called "dashes" these days. Considerable effort was taken to ensure that U-boats on operational duty were kept informed of any intelligence which would have made their task easier, i.e. sinking allied shipping. Hundreds of messages were passed for offensive war capability describing allied convoy movements, and neutral country shipping movements. For defensive war capability included not only

17271-652: The enemy troops. Originally outlawed by the Treaty of Versailles, the Luftwaffe was officially established in 1935, under the leadership of Hermann Göring . First gaining experience in the Spanish Civil War , it was a key element in the early Blitzkrieg campaigns (Poland, France 1940, USSR 1941). The Luftwaffe concentrated production on fighters and (small) tactical bombers, like the Messerschmitt Bf 109 fighter and

17442-494: The first elected mayor of a reunited Berlin. On 18 June 1994, soldiers from the United States, France and Britain marched in a parade which was part of the ceremonies to mark the withdrawal of allied occupation troops allowing a reunified Berlin (the last Russian troops departed on 31 August, while the final departure of Western Allies forces was on 8 September 1994). On 20 June 1991, the Bundestag (German Parliament) voted to move

17613-670: The guard force of the Russian Protective Corps . In the beginning, women in Nazi Germany were not involved in the Wehrmacht , as Hitler ideologically opposed conscription for women, stating that Germany would " not form any section of women grenade throwers or any corps of women elite snipers. " However, with many men going to the front, women were placed in auxiliary positions within the Wehrmacht , called Wehrmachtshelferinnen ( lit.   ' Female Wehrmacht Helper ' ), participating in tasks as: They were placed under

17784-512: The heart of Germany's politico-military power. In the early part of the Second World War , the Wehrmacht employed combined arms tactics (close-cover air-support, tanks and infantry) to devastating effect in what became known as Blitzkrieg (lightning war). Its campaigns in France (1940) , the Soviet Union (1941) and North Africa (1941/42) are regarded by historians as acts of boldness. At

17955-465: The high demand for men at the front, B-Dienst was forced to employ women cryptographers. By the end of the war, employment was split at 50% women and 50% men. The B-Dienst organization worked over a 24-hour period from the beginning of the war to the last months. The duty cycle for each person consisted of an eight hour shift, working in the order of three days, three evenings and three nights. The number of military personnel working per watch depended on

18126-561: The humanities, city planning, film, higher education, government, and industries. Albert Einstein rose to public prominence during his years in Berlin, being awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1921. In 1933, Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party came to power . Hitler was inspired by the architecture he had experienced in Vienna , and he wished for a German Empire with a capital city that had

18297-809: The intensifying theatre in the East to the West after the Normandy landings caused tensions between the General Staffs of both the OKW and the OKH ;– as Germany lacked sufficient materiel and manpower for a two-front war of such magnitude. Major campaigns and battles in Eastern and Central Europe included: For a time, the Axis Mediterranean Theatre and the North African Campaign were conducted as

18468-507: The largest and most popular parks in Berlin, located in the centre of the city. The Fernsehturm (TV tower) at Alexanderplatz in Mitte is among the tallest structures in the European Union at 368 m (1,207 ft). Built in 1969, it is visible throughout most of the central districts of Berlin. The city can be viewed from its 204-meter-high (669 ft) observation floor. Starting here,

18639-576: The location of the target, usually a U-boat, and the specific circuit to transmit it on ( Cryptochannel , Telecommunication circuit ). Naval Command had several geographical nets, the Kriegsmarine version of the German Naval Grid System ( German : Marinequadratkarte ), which were called, Amerika A, for the northern Atlantic area, Amerika B for the southern Atlantic area, Afrika 1 and 2, Ireland and others. Two other nets were also used for submarines attacking convoys, one code-named Diana ,

18810-691: The low plateaus on both sides of the Spree Valley. Large parts of the boroughs Reinickendorf and Pankow lie on the Barnim Plateau, while most of the boroughs of Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf , Steglitz-Zehlendorf , Tempelhof-Schöneberg , and Neukölln lie on the Teltow Plateau. The borough of Spandau lies partly within the Berlin Glacial Valley and partly on the Nauen Plain, which stretches to

18981-911: The lowest is the Spektesee in Spandau, at 28.1 meters (92 ft) elevation. Berlin has an oceanic climate ( Köppen : Cfb ) bordering on a humid continental climate ( Dfb ). This type of climate features mild to very warm summer temperatures and cold, though not very severe, winters. Annual precipitation is modest. Frosts are common in winter, and there are larger temperature differences between seasons than typical for many oceanic climates . Summers are warm and sometimes humid with average high temperatures of 22–25 °C (72–77 °F) and lows of 12–14 °C (54–57 °F). Winters are cold with average high temperatures of 3 °C (37 °F) and lows of −2 to 0 °C (28 to 32 °F). Spring and autumn are generally chilly to mild. Berlin's built-up area creates

19152-720: The meanings of 800 code-groups, 400 of the general vocabulary and 450 ship names in Naval Cypher. From October 1940, the British Admiralty introduced Left and Right recyphering procedures and two additional recypher tables: one for use in the North Sea and Atlantic, the other in the Mediterranean . By the start of 1941, this had expanded to 700 ship names and 1,200 vocabulary words. At that point, B-Dienst started to assign British codes with nicknames , based on German cities. Naval Cypher

19323-566: The more complex ciphers, so instead concentrated on the Royal Navy Administrative Code , which was a 5-figure code reciphered on a subtractor table. By October 1939, B-Dienst had around 40 men working at the English desk on Naval Cypher , specifically in those areas that interested them, i.e. North Sea and the Atlantic . By the time of the British expeditionary force to Norway ( Norwegian Campaign ), personnel had almost doubled. By

19494-512: The much more powerful Sainte-Assise transmitter in France. The Sainte Assise tower would repeat the message at two, six, twelve and twenty four hours, and if critically important two days later. On any particular day, the unit would transmit twenty to thirty messages, with each message taking fifteen to thirty minutes. On the U-boat, a radio technician was always on watch. Radio messages were received when

19665-464: The name " Wehrmacht "; the Reichswehr was officially renamed the Wehrmacht on 21 May 1935. Hitler's proclamation of the Wehrmacht ' s existence included a total of no less than 36 divisions in its original projection, contravening the Treaty of Versailles in grandiose fashion. In December 1935, General Ludwig Beck added 48 tank battalions to the planned rearmament program. Hitler originally set

19836-411: The navy had already lost a number of its large surface ships, which could not be replenished during the war. The Kriegsmarine ' s most significant contribution to the German war effort was the deployment of its nearly 1,000 U-boats to strike at Allied convoys. The German naval strategy was to attack the convoys in an attempt to prevent the United States from interfering in Europe and to starve out

20007-403: The new leadership from the best men of the general staff with ruthless disregard for other constituencies, such as war heroes and the nobility." Seeckt's determination that the Reichswehr be an elite cadre force that would serve as the nucleus of an expanded military when the chance for restoring conscription came essentially led to the creation of a new army, based upon, but very different from,

20178-621: The next decade until the Germans finally left in September 1933. However, the arms buildup was done in secrecy, until Hitler came to power and it received broad political support. After the death of President Paul von Hindenburg on 2 August 1934, Adolf Hitler assumed the office of President of Germany , and thus became commander in chief. In February 1934, the Defence Minister Werner von Blomberg , acting on his own initiative, had all of

20349-443: The number and disposition of both surface and air anti-submarine units, but also tactics, armament, and anti-submarine location devices ( Anti-submarine warfare ). In addition, files were kept on board, that were updated periodically by radio transmissions. From a German Naval viewpoint, radio transmission was critical to disseminate any intelligence and indeed any scrap of information that could be gathered on allied defences. During

20520-556: The oldest and youngest were being recruited and driven by instilled fear and fanaticism to serve on the fronts and, often, to fight to the death, whether judged to be cannon fodder or elite troops. Prior to World War II, the Wehrmacht strove to remain a purely ethnic German force; as such, minorities within and outside of Germany, such as the Czechs in annexed Czechoslovakia , were exempted from military service after Hitler's takeover in 1938. Foreign volunteers were generally not accepted in

20691-650: The opening year of the war. No aircraft carrier was operational, as German leadership lost interest in the Graf Zeppelin which had been launched in 1938. Following the loss of the German battleship  Bismarck in 1941, with Allied air-superiority threatening the remaining battle-cruisers in French Atlantic harbors, the ships were ordered to make the Channel Dash back to German ports. Operating from fjords along

20862-471: The other Hubertus . Each net had three frequencies, configured at the time of day to ensure best reception. Hubertus had six different frequencies used at different times. Occasionally a Wolfpack would get its own frequency. Once the correct configuration was chosen, the message was transmitted in Morse code along a wire to a radio transmitter ( radio tower ) at Lorient . The messages were also re-transmitted by

21033-406: The other half performed obligatory services connected to the war effort ( German : Kriegshilfsdienst ). Legally, the commander-in-chief of the Wehrmacht was Adolf Hitler in his capacity as Germany's head of state, a position he gained after the death of President Paul von Hindenburg in August 1934. With the creation of the Wehrmacht in 1935, Hitler elevated himself to Supreme Commander of

21204-451: The page. To avoid uncertainty arising in the interpretation of the information presented in the bulletin, a reliability scale was included, with reliability indicated by the category words probably or approximately and presume . Sending a message to a U-boat usually began with Rear Admiral Dönitz (Commander of the Submarines, German: Befehlshaber der U-Boote , abbr. BdU) who maintained tight control on U-boat operations. The Officer of

21375-586: The period 1935–1939. The total number of soldiers who served in the Wehrmacht during its existence from 1935 to 1945 is believed to have approached 18.2 million. The German military leadership originally aimed at a homogeneous military, possessing traditional Prussian military values. However, with Hitler's constant wishes to increase the Wehrmacht ' s size, the Army was forced to accept citizens of lower class and education, decreasing internal cohesion and appointing officers who lacked real-war experience from previous conflicts, especially World War I and

21546-599: The position becoming Stummel's immediate superior. Ludwig Stummel, now promoted to rear admiral, took over the position when Erhard Maertens was sacked. Stummel was Group Director from May 1943 to 16 August 1944 and Rear Admiral Fritz Krauss was in charge from 16 August 1944 to 22 July 1945. Kapitänleutnant Heinz Bonatz (18 August 1897 in Witzenhausen – 1981) was Chief of German Naval Radio Intelligence, head of Group III (Radio Intelligence, Interception, Traffic Analysis, Cryptanalysis) of 4/SKL ( German : Marinenachrichtendienst , English: Marine Communications) of OKM, which

21717-410: The positions of U.S. Navy Escort carrier groups (in an attempt to ensure that U-boats surface safely). Attempts were made to evaluate new kinds of underwater sounds, particularity related to ASDIC , search buoys and countering devices for acoustic torpedoes . Interception station MPA Flanders ( German : Marinepeilabteilung Flandern ), which was located in the Castle of Saint Andries , Bruges ,

21888-421: The previous key setting to decipher late messages. After the officer completed setting the rotors, the radio technician configured the Plugboard and turned the rotors to the key. When the Enigma was configured, the message was enciphered and then immediately deciphered on another Enigma to ensure that it could be read. If readable, it was sent to the appropriate location. To do that, the radio technician determined

22059-433: The process could be broken down. In the month before the Normandy Landings , B-Dienst was asked in an order from Hitler what English cyphers it was reading, and could only reply that both main high security English cyphers could no longer be read, Naval Cypher from start of June 1943 and Naval Code from January 1944. B-Dienst's status continued until 20 August 1940, when Naval Cypher No. 1, which had been in use since 1934,

22230-490: The run-up to the war, he increasingly became disaffected with the regime as the excesses of the regime offended his religion. As well as running the B-Dienst cipher bureau, one of the responsibilities of group heads was to investigate situations in which the Naval Enigma and keying procedures could be compromised and take appropriate action. Between 16 June 1941 and May 1943, Vice Admiral Erhard Maertens (26 February 1891 in Glogau – 5 May 1945 in Berlin ) took responsibility for

22401-433: The same authority as ( Hiwis ), auxiliary personnel of the army ( German : Behelfspersonal ) and they were assigned to duties within the Reich, and to a lesser extent, in the occupied territories, for example in the general government of occupied Poland , in France , and later in Yugoslavia , in Greece and in Romania . By 1945, 500,000 women were serving as Wehrmachtshelferinnen , half of whom were volunteers, while

22572-424: The same time, the extent of advances strained the Wehrmacht's capacity to the breaking point, culminating in its first major defeat in the Battle of Moscow (1941); by late 1942, Germany was losing the initiative in all theatres. The German operational art proved no match to that of the Allied coalition , making the Wehrmacht's weaknesses in strategy, doctrine, and logistics apparent. Closely cooperating with

22743-401: The seat of the German capital from Bonn to Berlin, which was completed in 1999, during the chancellorship of Gerhard Schröder . Berlin's 2001 administrative reform merged several boroughs, reducing their number from 23 to 12. In 2006, the FIFA World Cup Final was held in Berlin. Construction of the "Berlin Wall Trail" (Berliner Mauerweg) began in 2002 and was completed in 2006. In

22914-411: The spring of 1945, due to the Russian advance, they first moved to Aurich , a town in Lower Saxony , then to the Intercept Station at Neumünster and finally moved to the Signals School at Flensburg . TICOM located them on 17 May 1945. Admiral Kurt Fricke (8 November 1889 – 2 May 1945) was Chief of Operations of Naval War Command. Kurt Fricke ran the major enquiry which investigated the sinking of

23085-509: The start of World War II , Germany already had an established naval intelligence service. Established in 1899, it had grown in size and effectiveness, professionalized and by the end of the interwar period (1918–1939) had become a highly effective signal intelligence agency, regularly breaking British Cyphers . The output of B-Dienst was a weekly bulletin called X-B Berichte , similar to the OKW/CHI Reliable Reports ( German : Verlässliche Nachrichten ) ( OKW/Chi Linguistic output ) Little

23256-502: The terms. Germany helped the Soviet Union with industrialization and Soviet officers were to be trained in Germany. German tank and air-force specialists could exercise in the Soviet Union and German chemical weapons research and manufacture would be carried out there along with other projects. In 1924 a fighter-pilot school was established at Lipetsk , where several hundred German air force personnel received instruction in operational maintenance, navigation, and aerial combat training over

23427-423: The three million Wehrmacht soldiers who invaded the USSR participated in war crimes. The German term "Wehrmacht " stems from the compound word of German : wehren , "to defend" and Macht , "power, force". It has been used to describe any nation's armed forces; for example, Britische Wehrmacht meaning "British Armed Forces". The Frankfurt Constitution of 1849 designated all German military forces as

23598-539: The town citizens against the building culminated in 1448, in the "Berlin Indignation" ("Berliner Unwille"). Officially, the Berlin-Cölln palace became permanent residence of the Brandenburg electors of the Hohenzollerns from 1486, when John Cicero came to power. Berlin-Cölln, however, had to give up its status as a free Hanseatic League city. In 1539, the electors and the city officially became Lutheran . The Thirty Years' War between 1618 and 1648 devastated Berlin. One third of its houses were damaged or destroyed, and

23769-412: The treaty that, among other terms, imposed severe constraints on the size of Germany's armed forces. The army was limited to one hundred thousand men with an additional fifteen thousand in the navy. The fleet was to consist of at most six battleships , six cruisers , and twelve destroyers . Submarines , tanks and heavy artillery were forbidden and the air-force was dissolved. A new post-war military,

23940-414: The two towns formed an alliance with a common external policy, their internal administrations still being separated. Members of the Hohenzollern family ruled in Berlin until 1918, first as electors of Brandenburg, then as kings of Prussia , and eventually as German emperors . In 1443, Frederick II Irontooth started the construction of a new royal palace in the twin city Berlin-Cölln. The protests of

24111-409: The unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the Heer (army), the Kriegsmarine (navy) and the Luftwaffe (air force). The designation " Wehrmacht " replaced the previously used term Reichswehr ( Reich Defence ) and was the manifestation of the Nazi regime's efforts to rearm Germany to a greater extent than the Treaty of Versailles permitted. After

24282-403: The vast Northern European Plain which stretches all the way from northern France to western Russia. The Berliner Urstromtal (an ice age glacial valley ), between the low Barnim Plateau to the north and the Teltow plateau to the south, was formed by meltwater flowing from ice sheets at the end of the last Weichselian glaciation . The Spree follows this valley now. In Spandau, a borough in

24453-480: The war with a minority of its formations motorized ; infantry remained approximately 90% foot-borne throughout the war, and artillery was primarily horse-drawn . The motorized formations received much attention in the world press in the opening years of the war, and were cited as the reason for the success of the invasions of Poland (September 1939), Denmark and Norway (April 1940), Belgium, France, and Netherlands (May 1940), Yugoslavia and Greece (April 1941) and

24624-434: The watch would take the message, timestamp it, and hand it to the duty radio technician watch officer for encryption. Fifteen to twenty radiomen worked per shift enciphering and deciphering messages. As only officers could set the rotor positions , which remained in force for two days, the watch officer set every Enigma with a new inner key, bar one, just before midnight every second day. One Enigma cipher machine remained on

24795-400: The west of Berlin, the Spree empties into the river Havel , which flows from north to south through western Berlin. The course of the Havel is more like a chain of lakes, the largest being the Tegeler See and the Großer Wannsee . A series of lakes also feeds into the upper Spree, which flows through the Großer Müggelsee in eastern Berlin. Substantial parts of present-day Berlin extend onto

24966-411: The west of Berlin. Since 2015, the Arkenberge hills in Pankow at 122 meters (400 ft) elevation, have been the highest point in Berlin. Through the disposal of construction debris they surpassed Teufelsberg (120.1 m or 394 ft), which itself was made up of rubble from the ruins of the Second World War. The Müggelberge at 114.7 meters (376 ft) elevation is the highest natural point and

25137-445: The western front had not exceeded three per cent of the total from all fronts, in 1944 the figure jumped to about 14 per cent. Yet even in the months following D-day, about 68.5 per cent of all German battlefield deaths occurred on the eastern front, as a Soviet blitzkrieg in response devastated the retreating Wehrmacht. Berlin Berlin ( / b ɜːr ˈ l ɪ n / , bur- LIN ; German: [bɛʁˈliːn] )

25308-413: Was Cologne , and Naval Code, which was crumbling, was called Munich with two variants Brown and Blue . On 20 January 1940, the Admiralty introduced disguised Starting-point Indicators , eliciting a serious crisis in naval headquarters. Achim Teubner , Head of Communications Intelligence ordered a directive sent to all ships that the position and movements of all British ships would not be known due to

25479-703: Was 275. At the start of the World War II in 1939, Germany already had an established naval intelligence service. Founded in 1899, it had grown in size and effectiveness, professionalized and by end of the interwar period had become a highly effective signal intelligence agency, regularly breaking British cyphers. The British Royal Navy was B-Dienst's main adversary during world War II. Britain's main high grade naval cyphers in use at that time were: Naval Cypher superencipherment tables at that time were limited to five; Commander in Chiefs Table, Flag Officers Table, General Table held by all ships below destroyers , Small Ships Tables and China Gunboats Tables. Wilhelm Tranow broke

25650-403: Was a Morse code type sequence that was used by German military submarines ( U-boats ) during World War 2 at the beginning of all their radio transmissions. It was a bar, followed by three dots, then another bar ( − ⋅ ⋅ ⋅ − {\displaystyle -\cdot \cdot \cdot -} ). It was the Morse code for the letter B but with an extra bar at

25821-425: Was a successful attempt to centralise the capital in the very far-flung state, and it was the first time the city began to grow. In 1709, Berlin merged with the four cities of Cölln, Friedrichswerder, Friedrichstadt and Dorotheenstadt under the name Berlin, "Haupt- und Residenzstadt Berlin". In 1740, Frederick II, known as Frederick the Great (1740–1786), came to power. Under the rule of Frederick II, Berlin became

25992-542: Was also prioritized last in the German rearmament scheme, making it the smallest of the branches. In the Battle of the Atlantic , the initially successful German U-boat fleet arm was eventually defeated due to Allied technological innovations like sonar , radar , and the breaking of the Enigma code. Large surface vessels were few in number due to construction limitations by international treaties prior to 1935. The "pocket battleships" Admiral Graf Spee and Admiral Scheer were important as commerce raiders only in

26163-411: Was an unsuccessful attempt of unifying the states of Berlin and Brandenburg. Both share a common history, dialect and culture and in 2020, there are over 225,000 residents of Brandenburg that commute to Berlin. The fusion had the near-unanimous support by a broad coalition of both state governments, political parties, media, business associations, trade unions and churches. Though Berlin voted in favor by

26334-425: Was built. During World War II , Berlin was the location of multiple Nazi prisons, forced labour camps, 17 subcamps of the Sachsenhausen concentration camp for men and women, including teenagers, of various nationalities, including Polish, Jewish, French, Belgian, Czechoslovak, Russian, Ukrainian, Romani, Dutch, Greek, Norwegian, Spanish, Luxembourgish, German, Austrian, Italian, Yugoslavian, Bulgarian, Hungarian,

26505-477: Was commanded by Konteradmiral Krauss between 16 August 1944 and 22 July 1945. 4/SKL was subdivided as follows: Central Office. Commanded by Korvettenkapitän z. V. Jensen, Central Office has three subsections. The central sections function was one of administration. Radio, Visual Signal, and Recognition Signal Service Division. Commanded by Kapt. z. S. Lucan Communications Intelligence ( German : Funkaufklärung ) Division. Commanded by Kapt. z. S. Kupfer. At

26676-422: Was dedicated to the idea of reviving Tirpitz's High Seas Fleet. Officers who believed in submarine warfare led by Admiral Karl Dönitz were in a minority before 1939. By 1922, Germany had begun covertly circumventing the conditions of the Versailles treaty. A secret collaboration with the Soviet Union began after the Treaty of Rapallo . Major-General Otto Hasse traveled to Moscow in 1923 to further negotiate

26847-440: Was designated the capital of the Margraviate of Brandenburg (1417–1701), Kingdom of Prussia (1701–1918), German Empire (1871–1918), Weimar Republic (1919–1933), and Nazi Germany (1933–1945). Berlin served as a scientific, artistic, and philosophical hub during the Age of Enlightenment , Neoclassicism , and the German revolutions of 1848–1849 . During the Gründerzeit , an industrialization-induced economic boom triggered

27018-420: Was dropped in favor of Wehrmacht on 21 May 1935. While the term Wehrmacht has been associated, both in the German and English languages, with the German armed forces of 1935–45 since the Second World War, before 1945 the term was used in the German language in a more general sense for a national defense force. For instance, the German-aligned formations of Poles raised during the First World War were known as

27189-440: Was granted only to American, British and French airlines. The founding of the two German states increased Cold War tensions. West Berlin was surrounded by East German territory, and East Germany proclaimed the Eastern part as its capital, a move the western powers did not recognize. East Berlin included most of the city's historic center. The West German government established itself in Bonn . In 1961, East Germany began to build

27360-434: Was in charge of section IIIF of group III of 4/SKL of OKM, which was the English desk, and was responsible for the interception of enemy radio communications, the evaluation of those enemy crypts, and the deciphering of enemy crypts. The organization of the German radio security processes was another important responsibility. Two other important individuals at B-Dienst, who were successful cryptologists, were Lothar Franke, who

27531-593: Was known about these, until a bulletin, dated 23 June 1944, was captured in Italy in September 1944. The information was known to be correlated, highly cogent, carefully organized with a fixed form. 25 copies were thought to be made, with 22 copies distributed, and 3 held for archive purposes. The distribution list was considerably bigger than was customary for the US Bulletin distribution. The distribution list: Two grades of intelligence were produced according to their source: The captured bulletin contained both B and X-B with XB information being framed in black boxes on

27702-412: Was most surprised at the offer; the popular view that Hitler imposed the oath on the military is false. The oath read: "I swear by God this sacred oath that to the Leader of the German empire and people, Adolf Hitler, supreme commander of the armed forces, I shall render unconditional obedience and that as a brave soldier I shall at all times be prepared to give my life for this oath". By 1935, Germany

27873-422: Was not until May 1940 that special tables were set aside for submarines and by 20 August, British submarines had ceased to use Naval Cypher and instead moved to Naval Code. In April 1940, Naval Code was again penetrated. Perhaps B-Dienst's biggest success was in mid-March–April 1940, when a version of Naval Cypher No.1 was penetrated and messages revealed plans for an Anglo-French expedition against Norway under

28044-477: Was often only available in relatively small numbers. Only 40% to 60% of all units in the Eastern Front were motorized, baggage trains often relied on horse-drawn trailers due to poor roads and weather conditions in the Soviet Union, and for the same reasons many soldiers marched on foot or used bicycles as bicycle infantry . As the fortunes of war turned against them, the Germans were in constant retreat from 1943 and onward. The Panzer divisions were vital to

28215-487: Was openly flouting the military restrictions set forth in the Versailles Treaty: German rearmament was announced on 16 March with the "Edict for the Buildup of the Wehrmacht " ( German : Gesetz für den Aufbau der Wehrmacht ) and the reintroduction of conscription. While the size of the standing army was to remain at about the 100,000-man mark decreed by the treaty, a new group of conscripts equal to this size would receive training each year. The conscription law introduced

28386-431: Was put in its place. Placed under the OKW were the three branch High Commands: Oberkommando des Heeres (OKH), Oberkommando der Marine (OKM), and Oberkommando der Luftwaffe (OKL). The OKW was intended to serve as a joint command and coordinate all military activities, with Hitler at the top. Though many senior officers, such as von Manstein , had advocated for a real tri-service Joint Command, or appointment of

28557-421: Was replaced with Naval Cypher No. 2. The general Recyphering Tables were also introduced around the same time, with the Naval Code becoming a 4-digit code instead of a 5-digit code. This change resulted in a setback for B-Dienst because both Naval Code and Naval Cypher were externally identical, but by September 1940, they were again reading a small proportion of Naval Cypher. Within seven weeks they had discovered

28728-412: Was responsible for cryptanalysis of enemy signals. An energetic man, he joined B-Dienst in February 1934. The most important individual at B-Dienst was former radio man and energetic cryptologist Oberregierungsrat (Senior Civil Service Councillor) Captain Wilhelm Tranow , head of the English language cryptanalysts . The American military historian of cryptography David Kahn stated: Wilhelm Tranow

28899-448: Was responsible for the French desk, and Paul August for the Italian desk. By August 1944, B-Dienst as an organization with OKM had enough personnel to qualify as a division, and the Order of battle within 4/SKL (Communication) of OKM was as follows: All high-grade traffic was forwarded to 4/SKL in Berlin, together with direction finding results, traffic analysis and low-grade decoding results. The Office of Naval Communications (4/SKL)

29070-475: Was temporarily snowed under, not only by the sheer quantity of material but also because a setback had begun before the war on 25–26 August 1939, when the Britain changed the Commander in Chief and Flag Officers Recyphering Tables All work on Naval Cypher was temporarily ceased, Naval Code was being read about 35% of the time. By October 1939, they were again reading a small proportion of Naval Cypher messages with work concentrated on messages concerning traffic in

29241-428: Was used to train the radio and cryptographic operators of German submarine U-664 . During the whole period of the World War II, B-Dienst struggled to retain personnel and indeed had a continual chronic shortage of personnel. In April 1941, a total of 64 personnel were assigned to the Naval Cipher, on a 4-watch basis. Four additional personnel were needed per watch. A total of forty men were assigned to one subdivision of

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