Artur Phleps (1881–1944) was an Austro-Hungarian, Romanian and German officer who held the rank of SS-Obergruppenführer und General der Waffen-SS (lieutenant general) in the Waffen-SS during World War II. He was an Austro-Hungarian Army officer before and during World War I, specialising in mountain warfare and logistics. During the interwar period, he joined the Romanian Army and became an adviser to King Carol. After he spoke out against the government, he was sidelined and forcibly retired from the army. In 1941 he left Romania and joined the Waffen-SS. He saw action on the Eastern Front before raising two Waffen-SS mountain divisions and one corps in occupied Yugoslavia. Units under his command committed many crimes against the civilian population of the Independent State of Croatia. This was the subject of international controversy when Kurt Waldheim's service as Phleps' translator became public in the mid- 1980s, during his successful bid for the Austrian presidency. In addition to the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross, Phleps was awarded the German Cross in Gold, and after he was killed in September 1944, he was awarded the Oak Leaves to his Knight's Cross.
Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artur_Phleps
_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:
1549:
After the death of Pope Paul III, a papal conclave with an unprecedented number of cardinal electors convened to determine his successor. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Papal_conclave,_1549%E2%80%9350
1777:
El Pueblo de San José de Guadalupe, the first civil settlement in the Spanish colony of Alta California, was founded as a farming community. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Jose,_California
1890:
The Diet of Japan (pictured in session), a bicameral legislature modelled after both the German Reichstag and the British Westminster system, first met after the Meiji Constitution went into effect. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Diet
1963:
Five minutes after takeoff from Montreal, Trans-Canada Air Lines Flight 831 crashed, killing all 118 people aboard. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trans-Canada_Air_Lines_Flight_831
2007:
Philippine soldiers led by Senator Antonio Trillanes, on trial for the 2003 Oakwood mutiny, staged a mutiny and temporarily seized a conference room in The Peninsula Manila hotel. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manila_Peninsula_rebellion
_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:
capacious: Having a lot of space inside; roomy. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/capacious
___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:
Simple, sincere people seldom speak much of their piety. It shows itself in acts rather than in words, and has more influence than homilies or protestations. --Louisa May Alcott https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Louisa_May_Alcott