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Question
#94064. author
asks:
What was the 'Ober Ost'?
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BRY2K
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“Ober Ost” (was named after the title of the Supreme Commander in the East, Oberbefehlshaber Ost).
Ober Ost was created in 1914, and its first leader was Paul von Hindenburg, a Prussian military hero. When Chief of the General Staff Erich von Falkenhayn was dismissed from office in 1916 von Hindenburg replaced him, and Prince Leopold of Bavaria was given control of the Ober Ost.
It is a German term meaning "Supreme Command of All German Forces in the East". During World War I Ober Ost was in command of the Eastern front, most notably in Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, parts of Poland, and Courland.
Upon Ober Ost's inception in 1915, Erich Ludendorff, von Hindenburg's second in command, immediately set up a system of managing the large area under Ober Ost’s jurisdiction. There were ten staff members, each with a specialty (finance, agriculture, etc.), and the area itself was divided into Courland, Lithuania, and Bialystok-Grodno, each overseen by a district commander.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ober_Ost
http://depts.washington.edu/baltic/papers/worldwar1.htm
Mar 28 08, 9:36 PM
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