title: Semiconductor device fabrication

text: When feature widths were far greater than about 10 micrometres, semiconductor purity was not as big of an issue as it is today in device manufacturing. As devices become more integrated, cleanrooms must become even cleaner. Today, fabrication plants are pressurized with filtered air to remove even the smallest particles, which could come to rest on the wafers and contribute to defects. The ceilings of semiconductor cleanrooms have fan filter units (FFUs) at regular intervals to constantly replace and filter the air in the cleanroom; semiconductor capital equipment may also have their own FFUs. The FFUs, combined with raised floors with grills, help ensure a laminar air flow, to ensure that particles are immediately brought down to the floor and do not stay suspended in the air due to turbulence. The workers in a semiconductor fabrication facility are required to wear cleanroom suits to protect the devices from human contamination. To prevent oxidation and to increase yield, FOUPs and semiconductor capital equipment may have a hermetically sealed pure nitrogen environment with ISO class 1 level of dust. FOUPs and SMIF pods isolate the wafers from the air in the cleanroom, increasing yield because they reduce the number of defects caused by dust particles. Also, fabs have as few people as possible in the cleanroom to make maintaining the cleanroom environment easier, since people, even when wearing cleanroom suits, shed large amounts of particles, especially when walking.


title: Semiconductor device fabrication

text: A typical wafer is made out of extremely pure silicon that is grown into mono-crystalline cylindrical ingots (boules) up to 300 mm (slightly less than 12 inches) in diameter using the Czochralski process. These ingots are then sliced into wafers about 0.75 mm thick and polished to obtain a very regular and flat surface.


title: Semiconductor device fabrication

text: In semiconductor device fabrication, the various processing steps fall into four general categories: deposition, removal, patterning, and modification of electrical properties.


title: Semiconductor device fabrication

text: Modern chips have up to eleven or more metal levels produced in over 300 or more sequenced processing steps.


title: Semiconductor device fabrication

text: FEOL processing refers to the formation of the transistors directly in the silicon. The raw wafer is engineered by the growth of an ultrapure, virtually defect-free silicon layer through epitaxy. In the most advanced logic devices, "prior" to the silicon epitaxy step, tricks are performed to improve the performance of the transistors to be built. One method involves introducing a "straining step" wherein a silicon variant such as silicon-germanium (SiGe) is deposited. Once the epitaxial silicon is deposited, the crystal lattice becomes stretched somewhat, resulting in improved electronic mobility. Another method, called "silicon on insulator" technology involves the insertion of an insulating layer between the raw silicon wafer and the thin layer of subsequent silicon epitaxy. This method results in the creation of transistors with reduced parasitic effects.


title: Semiconductor device fabrication

text: Front-end surface engineering is followed by growth of the gate dielectric (traditionally silicon dioxide), patterning of the gate, patterning of the source and drain regions, and subsequent implantation or diffusion of dopants to obtain the desired complementary electrical properties. In dynamic random-access memory (DRAM) devices, storage capacitors are also fabricated at this time, typically stacked above the access transistor (the now defunct DRAM manufacturer Qimonda implemented these capacitors with trenches etched deep into the silicon surface).


title: Semiconductor device fabrication

text: Once the various semiconductor devices have been created, they must be interconnected to form the desired electrical circuits. This occurs in a series of wafer processing steps collectively referred to as BEOL (not to be confused with "back end" of chip fabrication, which refers to the packaging and testing stages). BEOL processing involves creating metal interconnecting wires that are isolated by dielectric layers. The insulating material has traditionally been a form of SiO or a silicate glass, but recently new low dielectric constant materials are being used (such as silicon oxycarbide), typically providing dielectric constants around 2.7 (compared to 3.82 for SiO), although materials with constants as low as 2.2 are being offered to chipmakers. High-κ dielectrics may instead be used.


title: Semiconductor device fabrication

text: Historically, the metal wires have been composed of aluminum. In this approach to wiring (often called "subtractive aluminum"), blanket films of aluminum are deposited first, patterned, and then etched, leaving isolated wires. Dielectric material is then deposited over the exposed wires. The various metal layers are interconnected by etching holes (called ""vias")" in the insulating material and then depositing tungsten in them with a CVD technique using tungsten hexafluoride; this approach is still used in the fabrication of many memory chips such as dynamic random-access memory (DRAM), because the number of interconnect levels is small (currently no more than four).


title: Semiconductor device fabrication

text: More recently, as the number of interconnect levels for logic has substantially increased due to the large number of transistors that are now interconnected in a modern microprocessor, the timing delay in the wiring has become so significant as to prompt a change in wiring material (from aluminum to copper interconnect layer) and a change in dielectric material (from silicon dioxides to newer low-K insulators). This performance enhancement also comes at a reduced cost via damascene processing, which eliminates processing steps. As the number of interconnect levels increases, planarization of the previous layers is required to ensure a flat surface prior to subsequent lithography. Without it, the levels would become increasingly crooked, extending outside the depth of focus of available lithography, and thus interfering with the ability to pattern. CMP (chemical-mechanical planarization) is the primary processing method to achieve such planarization, although dry "etch back" is still sometimes employed when the number of interconnect levels is no more than three. Copper interconnects use an electrically conductive barrier layer to prevent the copper from diffusing into ("poisoning") its surroundings.


title: Semiconductor device fabrication

text: The highly serialized nature of wafer processing has increased the demand for metrology in between the various processing steps. For example, thin film metrology based on ellipsometry or reflectometry is used to tightly control the thickness of gate oxide, as well as the thickness, refractive index, and extinction coefficient of photoresist and other coatings. Wafer test metrology equipment is used to verify that the wafers haven't been damaged by previous processing steps up until testing; if too many dies on one wafer have failed, the entire wafer is scrapped to avoid the costs of further processing. Virtual metrology has been used to predict wafer properties based on statistical methods without performing the physical measurement itself.


title: Semiconductor device fabrication

text: Once the front-end process has been completed, the semiconductor devices or chips are subjected to a variety of electrical tests to determine if they function properly. The percent of devices on the wafer found to perform properly is referred to as the yield. Manufacturers are typically secretive about their yields, but it can be as low as 30%, meaning that only 30% of the chips on the wafer work as intended. Process variation is one among many reasons for low yield. Testing is carried out to prevent faulty chips from being assembled into relatively expensive packages.


title: Semiconductor device fabrication

text: The yield is often but not necessarily related to device (die or chip) size. As an example, In December 2019, TSMC announced an average yield of ~80%, with a peak yield per wafer of >90% for their 5nm test chips with a die size of 17.92 mm. The yield went down to 32.0% with an increase in die size to 100 mm.


title: Semiconductor device fabrication

text: The fab tests the chips on the wafer with an electronic tester that presses tiny probes against the chip. The machine marks each bad chip with a drop of dye. Currently, electronic dye marking is possible if wafer test data (results) are logged into a central computer database and chips are "binned" (i.e. sorted into virtual bins) according to predetermined test limits such as maximum operating frequencies/clocks, number of working (fully functional) cores per chip, etc. The resulting binning data can be graphed, or logged, on a wafer map to trace manufacturing defects and mark bad chips. This map can also be used during wafer assembly and packaging. Binning allows chips that would otherwise be rejected to be reused in lower-tier products, as is the case with GPUs and CPUs, increasing device yield, especially since very few chips are fully functional (have all cores functioning correctly, for example). eFUSEs may be used to disconnect parts of chips such as cores, either because they didn't work as intended during binning, or as part of market segmentation (using the same chip for low, mid and high-end tiers). Chips may have spare parts to allow the chip to fully pass testing even if it has several non-working parts.


title: Semiconductor device fabrication

text: Chips are also tested again after packaging, as the bond wires may be missing, or analog performance may be altered by the package. This is referred to as the "final test". Chips may also be imaged using x-rays.


title: Semiconductor device fabrication

text: Usually, the fab charges for testing time, with prices in the order of cents per second. Testing times vary from a few milliseconds to a couple of seconds, and the test software is optimized for reduced testing time. Multiple chip (multi-site) testing is also possible because many testers have the resources to perform most or all of the tests in parallel and on several chips at once.


title: Semiconductor device fabrication

text: Chips are often designed with "testability features" such as scan chains or a "built-in self-test" to speed testing and reduce testing costs. In certain designs that use specialized analog fab processes, wafers are also laser-trimmed during testing, in order to achieve tightly distributed resistance values as specified by the design.


title: Semiconductor device fabrication

text: Good designs try to test and statistically manage "corners" (extremes of silicon behavior caused by a high operating temperature combined with the extremes of fab processing steps). Most designs cope with at least 64 corners.


title: Semiconductor device fabrication

text: Device yield or die yield is the number of working chips or dies on a wafer, given in percentage since the number of chips on a wafer (Die per wafer, DPW) can vary depending on the chips' size and the wafer's diameter. Yield degradation is a reduction in yield, which historically was mainly caused by dust particles, however since the 1990s, yield degradation is mainly caused by process variation, the process itself and by the tools used in chip manufacturing, although dust still remains a problem in many older fabs. Dust particles have an increasing effect on yield as feature sizes are shrunk with newer processes. Automation and the use of mini environments inside of production equipment, FOUPs and SMIFs have enabled a reduction in defects caused by dust particles. Device yield must be kept high to reduce the selling price of the working chips since working chips have to pay for those chips that failed, and to reduce the cost of wafer processing. Yield can also be affected by the design and operation of the fab.


title: Semiconductor device fabrication

text: Tight control over contaminants and the production process are necessary to increase yield. Contaminants may be chemical contaminants or be dust particles. "Killer defects" are those caused by dust particles that cause complete failure of the device (such as a transistor). There are also harmless defects. A particle needs to be 1/5 the size of a feature to cause a killer defect. So if a feature is 100 nm across, a particle only needs to be 20 nm across to cause a killer defect. Electrostatic electricity can also affect yield adversely. Chemical contaminants or impurities include heavy metals such as iron, copper, nickel, zinc, chromium, gold, mercury and silver, alkali metals such as sodium, potassium and lithium, and elements such as aluminum, magnesium, calcium, chlorine, sulfur, carbon, and fluorine. It is important for these elements to not remain in contact with the silicon, as they could reduce yield. Chemical mixtures may be used to remove these elements from the silicon; different mixtures are effective against different elements.


title: Semiconductor device fabrication

text: Several models are used to estimate yield. They are Murphy's model, Poisson's model, the binomial model, Moore's model and Seeds' model. There is no universal model; a model has to be chosen based on actual yield distribution (the location of defective chips) For example, Murphy's model assumes that yield loss occurs more at the edges of the wafer (non-working chips are concentrated on the edges of the wafer), Poisson's model assumes that defective dies are spread relatively evenly across the wafer, and Seeds's model assumes that defective dies are clustered together.


title: Semiconductor device fabrication

text: Smaller dies cost less to produce (since more fit on a wafer, and wafers are processed and priced as a whole), and can help achieve higher yields since smaller dies have a lower chance of having a defect, due to their lower surface area on the wafer. However, smaller dies require smaller features to achieve the same functions of larger dies or surpass them, and smaller features require reduced process variation and increased purity (reduced contamination) to maintain high yields. Metrology tools are used to inspect the wafers during the production process and predict yield, so wafers predicted to have too many defects may be scrapped to save on processing costs.


title: Semiconductor device fabrication

text: Once tested, a wafer is typically reduced in thickness in a process also known as "backlap", "backfinish" or "wafer thinning" before the wafer is scored and then broken into individual dies, a process known as wafer dicing. Only the good, unmarked chips are packaged.


title: Semiconductor device fabrication

text: Plastic or ceramic packaging involves mounting the die, connecting the die pads to the pins on the package, and sealing the die. Tiny bondwires are used to connect the pads to the pins. In the 'old days' (1970s), wires were attached by hand, but now specialized machines perform the task. Traditionally, these wires have been composed of gold, leading to a lead frame (pronounced "leed frame") of solder-plated copper; lead is poisonous, so lead-free "lead frames" are now mandated by RoHS.


title: Semiconductor device fabrication

text: Chip scale package (CSP) is another packaging technology. A plastic dual in-line package, like most packages, is many times larger than the actual die hidden inside, whereas CSP chips are nearly the size of the die; a CSP can be constructed for each die "before" the wafer is diced.


title: Semiconductor device fabrication

text: The packaged chips are retested to ensure that they were not damaged during packaging and that the die-to-pin interconnect operation was performed correctly. A laser then etches the chip's name and numbers on the package.


title: Semiconductor device fabrication

text: It is vital that workers should not be directly exposed to these dangerous substances. The high degree of automation common in the IC fabrication industry helps to reduce the risks of exposure. Most fabrication facilities employ exhaust management systems, such as wet scrubbers, combustors, heated absorber cartridges, etc., to control the risk to workers and to the environment.


The 1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler or SS Division Leibstandarte, abbreviated as LSSAH, began as Adolf Hitler's personal bodyguard unit, responsible for guarding the Führer's person, offices, and residences. Initially the size of a regiment, the LSSAH eventually grew into an elite division-sized unit during World War II.


title: 1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler

text: The LSSAH participated in combat during the invasion of Poland, and was amalgamated into the Waffen-SS together with the "SS-Verfügungstruppe" (SS-VT) and the combat units of the "SS-Totenkopfverbände" (SS-TV) prior to Operation Barbarossa in 1941. By mid-1942 it had been increased in size from a regiment to a Panzergrenadier division and was designated SS Panzergrenadier Division "Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler". It received its final form as a Panzer division in October 1943.


text: Members of the LSSAH perpetrated numerous atrocities and war crimes, including the Malmedy massacre. They killed an estimated 5,000 prisoners of war in the period 1940–1945, mostly on the Eastern Front.


text: In the early days of the Nazi Party, the leadership realized that a bodyguard unit composed of reliable men was needed. Ernst Röhm formed a guard formation from the "19.Granatwerfer-Kompanie"; from this formation the "Sturmabteilung" (SA) soon evolved. Adolf Hitler in early 1923, ordered the formation of a small separate bodyguard dedicated to his service rather than "a suspect mass", such as the SA. Originally the unit was composed of only eight men, commanded by Julius Schreck and Joseph Berchtold. It was designated the "Stabswache" (staff guard). The "Stabswache" were issued unique badges, but at this point was still under SA control. Schreck resurrected the use of the "Totenkopf" ("death's head") as the unit's insignia, a symbol various elite forces had used in the past, including specialized assault troops of Imperial Germany in World War I who used "Hutier" infiltration tactics.


text: In May 1923, the unit was renamed "Stoßtrupp" (Shock Troop)–Hitler. The unit numbered no more than 20 members at that time. On 9 November 1923, the "Stoßtrupp", along with the SA and several other Nazi paramilitary units, took part in the abortive Beer Hall Putsch in Munich. In the aftermath, Hitler was imprisoned and his party and all associated formations, including the "Stoßtrupp", were disbanded.


text: In the mid-1920s, violence remained a large part of Bavarian politics. Hitler was a potential target. In 1925, Hitler ordered the formation of a new bodyguard unit, the "Schutzkommando" (protection command). The unit was renamed the "Sturmstaffel" (assault squadron) and in November was renamed the "Schutzstaffel", abbreviated to SS. By 1933 the SS had grown from a small bodyguard unit to a formation of over 50,000 men. The decision was made to form a new bodyguard unit, again called the "Stabswache", which was mostly made up of men from the 1st SS-Standarte. By 1933 this unit was placed under the command of Sepp Dietrich, who selected 117 men to form the "SS-Stabswache" Berlin on 17 March 1933. The unit replaced the army guards at the Reich Chancellery. Out of this initial group, three eventually became divisional commanders, at least eight would become regimental commanders, fifteen became battalion commanders, and over thirty became company commanders in the Waffen-SS. Eleven men from the first company of 117 went on to win the Knights Cross, and forty of them were awarded the German Cross in gold for bravery. Later in 1933, two further training units were formed: "SS-Sonderkommando Zossen" on 10 May, and a second unit, designated "SS-Sonderkommando Jüterbog" on 8 July. These were the only SS units to receive military training at that time. Most of the training staff came from the ranks of the army. On 3 September 1933 the two "Sonderkommando" merged into the "SS-Sonderkommando Berlin" under Dietrich's command. Most of their duties involved providing outer security for Hitler at his residences, public appearances and guard duty at the Reich Chancellery.


text: In November 1933, on the 10th anniversary of the Beer Hall Putsch, the "Sonderkommando" took part in the rally and memorial service for the Nazi Party members who had been killed during the putsch. During the ceremony, the members of the "Sonderkommando" swore personal allegiance to Hitler. At the conclusion the unit received the new title, ""Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler"" (LAH). The term "Leibstandarte" was derived partly from "Leibgarde" – a somewhat archaic German translation of "Guard of Corps" or personal bodyguard of a military leader ("Leib" = lit. "body, torso") – and "Standarte": the "Schutzstaffel" (SS) or "Sturmabteilung" (SA) term for a regiment-sized unit, also the German word for a specific type of heraldic flag (Standard).


text: On 13 April 1934, Heinrich Himmler, head of the SS, ordered the "Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler" (LAH) to be renamed ""Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler"" (LSSAH). Himmler inserted the SS initials into the name to make it clear that the unit was independent from the SA or the army. The LSSAH was designated a "National Socialist" unit, which eventually grew into an elite Panzer division of the Waffen-SS. Although nominally under Himmler, Dietrich was the real commander and handled day-to-day administration.


text: During 1934, "Stabschef-SA" Ernst Röhm continued to push for greater political influence for his already powerful SA. Hitler decided that the SA had to be eliminated as an independent political force and ordered the LSSAH to prepare for the action. The LSSAH formed two companies under the control of Jürgen Wagner and Otto Reich, these formations were moved to Munich on 30 June.


text: Hitler ordered all SA leaders to attend a meeting at the Hanselbauer Hotel in Bad Wiessee, near Munich. Hitler along with Sepp Dietrich and a unit from the LSSAH travelled to Bad Wiessee to personally oversee Röhm's arrest on 30 June. Later at around 17:00 hours, Dietrich received orders from Hitler for the LSSAH to form an "execution squad" and go to Stadelheim prison where certain SA leaders were being held. There in the prison courtyard, the LSSAH firing squad shot five SA generals and an SA colonel. Additional alleged "traitors" were shot in Berlin by a unit of the "Leibstandarte". On 1 July Hitler finally agreed with Göring and Himmler that Röhm should be executed. In what the Nazis called the Röhm Putsch, but otherwise came to be known as the Night of the Long Knives, companies of the LSSAH, together with the Gestapo and Göring's "Landespolizeigruppe", performed Death Squad actions. At least 85, but most likely no less than twice that number of people, were executed without trial over the next few days.


text: This action succeeded in effectively decapitating the SA and removing Röhm's threat to Hitler's leadership. In recognition of their actions, both the LSSAH and the "Landespolizeigruppe" "General Göring" were expanded to regimental size and motorized. In addition, the SS became an independent organization, no longer part of the SA.


text: The LSSAH provided the honor guard at many of the Nuremberg Rallies, and in 1935 took part in the reoccupation of the Saarland. On 6 June 1935, the LSSAH officially adopted a field-grey uniform to identify itself more with the army, which wore a similar uniform. The LSSAH was later in the vanguard of the march into Austria as part of the Anschluss, and in 1938 the unit took part in the occupation of the Sudetenland. By 1939, the LSSAH was a full infantry regiment with three infantry battalions, an artillery battalion, and anti-tank, reconnaissance and engineer sub-units. Soon after its involvement in the annexation of Bohemia and Moravia, the LSSAH was redesignated ""Infanterie-Regiment Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler (mot.)"". When Hitler ordered the formation of an SS division in mid-1939, the "Leibstandarte" was designated to form its own unit, unlike the other "Standarten" of the "SS-Verfügungstruppe" (SS-VT) ("SS-Standarte Deutschland", "SS-Standarte Germania", and "SS-Standarte Der Führer"). The Polish crisis of August 1939 put these plans on hold, and the LSSAH was ordered to join XIII. "Armeekorps", a part of Army Group South, which was preparing for the attack on Poland.


text: The "Leibstandarte" division's symbol was a skeleton key, in honor of its first commander, Josef "Sepp" Dietrich ("Dietrich" is German for skeleton key or lock pick); it was retained and modified to later serve as the symbol for I SS Panzer Corps.


text: During the initial stages of the invasion of Poland, the LSSAH was attached to the "17.Infanterie-Division" and tasked with providing flank protection for the southern pincer. The regiment was involved in several battles against Polish cavalry brigades attempting to hit the flanks of the German advance. At Pabianice, a town near Łódź, the LSSAH fought elements of the Polish 28th Infantry Division and the Wołyńska Cavalry Brigade in close combat. Throughout the campaign, the unit was notorious for burning villages. In addition, members of the LSSAH committed atrocities in numerous Polish towns, including the murder of 50 Jews in Błonie and the massacre of 200 civilians, including children, who were machine gunned in Złoczew. Shootings also took place in Bolesławiec, Torzeniec, Goworowo, Mława, and Włocławek.


text: After the success at Pabianice, the LSSAH was sent to the area near Warsaw and attached to the "4.Panzer-Division" under then "Generalmajor" (brigadier general) Georg-Hans Reinhardt. The unit saw action preventing encircled Polish units from escaping, and repelling several attempts by other Polish troops to break through. In spite of the swift military victory over Poland, the regular army had reservations about the performance of the LSSAH and SS-VT units due to their higher casualty rate than the army units.


text: In early 1940 the LSSAH was expanded into a full independent motorized infantry regiment and a "Sturmgeschütz" (Assault Gun) battery was added to their establishment. The regiment was shifted to the Dutch border for the launch of Fall Gelb. It was to form the vanguard of the ground advance into the Netherlands, tasked with capturing a vital bridge over the IJssel, attacking the main line of defense at the "Grebbeberg" (the Grebbeline), and linking up with the "Fallschirmjäger" of "Generaloberst" Kurt Student's airborne forces, the "7.Flieger-Division" and the "22.Luftlande-Infanterie-Division".


text: "Fall Gelb"—the invasion of France and the Low Countries—was launched on 10 May 1940. On that day, the LSSAH crossed the Dutch border, covered over , and secured a crossing over the IJssel near Zutphen after discovering that their target bridge had been destroyed. Over the next four days, the LSSAH covered over , and upon entering Rotterdam, several of its soldiers accidentally shot at and seriously wounded General Student. After the surrender of Rotterdam, the LSSAH left for The Hague, which they reached on 15 May, after capturing 3,500 Dutch soldiers as prisoners of war. After the surrender of the Netherlands on 15 May, the regiment was then moved south to France.


text: After the British counterattack at Arras, the LSSAH, along with the "SS-Verfügungs-Division", were moved to hold the perimeter around Dunkirk and reduce the size of the pocket containing the encircled British Expeditionary Force and French forces. The LSSAH took up a position 15 miles south west of Dunkirk along the line of the Aa Canal, facing the Allied defensive line near Watten. That night the OKW ordered the advance to halt, with the British Expeditionary Force trapped. The LSSAH paused for the night. However, on the following day of 25 May, in defiance of Hitler's orders, Dietrich ordered his 3rd battalion to cross the canal and take the Wattenberg Heights beyond, where British artillery observers were putting the regiment at risk. They assaulted the heights and drove the observers off. Instead of being censured for his act of defiance, Dietrich was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross.


text: On 26 May the German advance resumed. By 28 May the LSSAH had taken the village of Wormhout, only ten miles from Dunkirk. After their surrender, soldiers from the 2nd Battalion, Royal Warwickshire Regiment, along with some other units (including French soldiers) were taken to a barn in "La Plaine au Bois" near Wormhout and Esquelbecq. It was there that troops of the LSSAH 2nd battalion, under the command of SS-"Hauptsturmführer" Wilhelm Mohnke committed the Wormhoudt massacre, where 80 British and French prisoners of war were killed. Although it is unarguable that the massacre occurred, Mohnke's level of involvement is impossible to know; he was never formally charged and brought to trial.


text: After the conclusion of the Western campaign on 22 June 1940, the LSSAH spent six months in Metz (Moselle). It was expanded to brigade size (6,500 men). A 'Flak battalion' and a StuG "Batterie" were among the units added to the LSSAH. A new flag was presented by Heinrich Himmler in September 1940. During the later months of 1940, the regiment trained in amphibious assaults on the Moselle River in preparation for Operation Seelöwe, the invasion of England. After the Luftwaffe's failure in the Battle of Britain and the cancellation of the planned invasion, the LSSAH was shifted to Bulgaria in February 1941 in preparation for Operation Marita, part of the planned invasion of Greece and Yugoslavia.


text: The operation was launched on 6 April 1941 by aerial bombings of central-southern Yugoslavia, specially over Belgrade causing enormous destructions and thousands of victims and wounded. After the LSSAH entered on 12 April into the Yugoslavian capital, then to follow the route of the 9.Panzer-Division, part of "General der Panzertruppe" Georg Stumme's XL Panzer Corps. The LSSAH crossed the border near Bitola and was soon deep in Greek territory.


text: The LSSAH captured Vevi on 10 April. SS-"Sturmbannführer" Kurt Meyer's reinforced "Aufklärungs-Abteilung" (reconnaissance battalion), LSSAH was tasked with clearing resistance from the Kleisoura Pass south-west of Vevi and driving through to the Kastoria area to cut off retreating Greek and British Commonwealth forces. Despite stiff resistance, Meyer's unit captured the pass.


text: The brigade participated in the clearing the Klidi Pass just south of Vevi, which was defended by a "scratch force" of Greek, Australian, British and New Zealand troops. An Australian artillery officer wrote of the Germans' "insolence" in driving "trucks down the main road – to within of our infantry" and there unloading the troops. The Germans were forced off the road by artillery fire and faced fierce resistance for more than two days. On the morning of 12 April the Germans renewed their attack, and by late afternoon the pass was cleared.


text: With the fall of the two passes the main line of resistance of the Greek Epirus army was broken, and the campaign became a battle to prevent the escape of the enemy. On 20 April, following a pitched battle in the Metsovon Pass in the Pindus Mountains, the commander of the Greek Epirus army surrendered the entire force to Dietrich. British Commonwealth troops were now the only Allied forces remaining in Greece, and they were falling back across the Corinth Canal to the Peloponnesos. By 26 April the LSSAH had reached the Gulf of Patras, and in an effort to cut off the retreating British Commonwealth forces, Dietrich ordered that his regiment cross the Gulf and secure the town of Patras in the Peloponnesos. Since no transport vessels were available, the LSSAH commandeered fishing boats and successfully completed the crossing, but were forced to leave much of their heavy equipment behind. By 30 April the last British Commonwealth troops had either been captured or escaped. The LSSAH occupied a position of honor in the victory parade through Athens. After Operation Marita, the LSSAH was ordered north to join the forces of Army Group South massing for the launch of Operation Barbarossa.


text: Following LSSAH's outstanding performance during Marita, Himmler ordered that it should be upgraded to divisional status. The regiment, already the size of a reinforced brigade, was to be given motorized transport and redesignated ""SS-Division (mot.) Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler"". It was moved to Czechoslovakia in mid May for reorganization until being ordered to assemble in Poland for "Operation Barbarossa", as part of Gerd von Rundstedt's Army Group South. There was not enough time to deliver all its equipment and refit it to full divisional status before the launch of the invasion of the Soviet Union, so the new "division" remained the size of a reinforced brigade, even though its expansion and development was of concern at the very highest ranks of command. Franz Halder, chief of the OKH General Staff noted on 20 June that "SS 'Adolf Hitler' will not be ready in time. Tracked components leave on 22 June, others not before 25 June," then more hopefully the next day; "Materiel position of SS 'Adolf Hitler' has improved, Div. may yet get ready in time."


text: Despite Halder's hopes, LSSAH was held in reserve attached to XIV Panzer Corps as part of "Generalfeldmarschall" Ewald von Kleist's 1st Panzer Group during the opening stages of the attack. Through July it was attached to III Panzer Corps before finishing August as part of XLVIII Panzer Corps. During this time, the LSSAH was involved in the Battle of Uman and the subsequent capture of Kiev. According to a postwar report by Waffen-SS journalist Erich Kern, the division murdered 4,000 Soviet prisoners in reprisal on 18 August, after finding the mutilated bodies of six dead divisional members who had been executed at Nowo Danzig, north of Kherson. These allegations have been researched using local units' war diaries; no mention of executed German soldiers during those dates has been found. For want of reliable evidence, not even accusations by the Soviet authorities, the allegations remained unproven.


text: In early September, the division was shifted to LIV Army Corps, as part of the 11th Army under Eugen Ritter von Schobert during the advance east after the fall of Kiev. Hoping to capitalize on the collapse of the Red Army defense on the Dnepr River the reconnaissance battalion of LSSAH was tasked with making a speedy advance to capture the strategically vital choke point of the Perekop Isthmus through a ""coup de main"" but were rebuffed by entrenched defenders at the town of Perekop. That same day, 12 September, 11th Army's commander was killed in an aircraft accident, and Hitler appointed Erich von Manstein to command. It took five days for Manstein to take matters in hand, and the operation to clear the Crimean Peninsula was not launched until 17 September. Manstein deployed LSSAH to create diversions while preparing for the main assault, intending to employ it to exploit an eventual breakthrough, but was forced to throw pioneers into the attack on the "Tatar Ditch" in the face of a furious counterattacks and did not break the Soviet defense for ten days.


text: In October, the LSSAH was transferred back north to help solidify the Axis line against fresh Soviet attacks against the Romanian 3rd Army and later took part in the heavy fighting for the city of Rostov-on-Don, which was captured in late November; there, the LSSAH took over 10,000 Red Army prisoners. However by the end of the year, the German advance faltered as Soviet resistance grew stronger.


text: Under pressure from heavy Soviet counterattacks during the winter, the LSSAH and Army Group South retreated from Rostov to defensive lines on the river Mius. After the spring rasputitsa (seasonal mud) had cleared, the division joined in "Fall Blau", participating in the fighting to retake Rostov-on-Don, which fell in late July 1942. Severely understrength, the LSSAH was transferred to the Normandy region of occupied France to join the newly formed SS Panzer Corps and to be reformed as a Panzergrenadier division.


text: The LSSAH spent the remainder of 1942 refitting as a "panzergrenadier" division. Thanks to the efforts of Himmler, along with SS-"Obergruppenführer" Paul Hausser, the SS Panzer Corps commander, the three "SS Panzergrenadier" divisions, LSSAH, Das Reich and Totenkopf, were to be formed with a full regiment of tanks rather than only a battalion. This meant that the "SS Panzergrenadier" divisions were full-strength Panzer divisions in all but name. The division also received nine Tiger 1 tanks, and these were formed into the 13th ("schwere") Company/1st SS Panzer Regiment.


text: The collapse of the front around Stalingrad and the encirclement of the 6th Army created a threat to Field Marshal Erich von Manstein's Army Group Don. Manstein requested reinforcements to halt the Soviet attack near Kharkov. The SS Panzer Corps was then ordered east to join Manstein's forces.


text: Arriving at the front in late January 1943, the LSSAH was engaged in fighting in and around Kharkov as a part of Hausser's "SS Panzer" Corps. In March 1943 the division participated in the recapture of Kharkov. On 12 March 1943, the LSSAH made progress into the city's center by breaking through the Soviet defenses in the northern suburbs. By the end of the day, the division had reached a position just two blocks north of Dzerzhinsky Square. The 2nd Panzergrenadier Regiment's 2nd Battalion was able to surround the square, after taking heavy casualties from Soviet snipers and other defenders, by evening. When taken, the square was renamed ""Platz der Leibstandarte"". Despite the declaration that the city had fallen, fighting continued on 15 and 16 March, as German units cleared the remnants of resistance in the tractor works factory complex, in the southern outskirts of the city. The city was taken on 17 March. While in Kharkov, troops of the LSSAH engaged in the murder of wounded Soviet soldiers that were located in the city's military hospital; several hundred were killed. Additionally, captured Soviet officers and commissars were routinely executed.


text: The division was pulled back to rest and refit. Division commander Sepp Dietrich was promoted to form a new Corps, the 1st "SS Panzer Corps Leibstandarte", and the LSSAH was to supply all the senior officers for the new headquarters. At the same time a new SS division would be formed from members of the Hitler Youth and the LSSAH would supply all of the regimental, battalion and most of the company commanders. This new division would become the 12th SS Panzer Division ("Hitlerjugend").


text: During the fighting around Kharkov, a unit under the command of Joachim Peiper gained a nickname "Blowtorch Battalion", after the inhabitants of two Soviet villages were shot or burned. Ukrainian sources, including surviving witness Ivan Kiselev, who was 14 at the time of the massacre, described the killings at the villages of Yefremovka and Semyonovka on 17 February 1943. On 12 February Waffen-SS troops of the LSSAH occupied the two villages, where retreating Soviet forces had wounded two SS officers. In retaliation, five days later LSSAH troops killed 872 men, women and children. Some 240 of these were burned alive in the church of Yefremovka.


text: The reputation of the "Blowtorch Battalion" was confirmed in August 1944, when "Sturmbannführer" Jacob Hanreich was captured south of Falaise in France and interrogated by the Allies. He stated that Peiper was "particularly eager to execute the order to burn villages". Hanreich had previously served with "Leibstandarte" but was with SS Division "Hitlerjugend" at the time of his capture.


text: Additional sources support the division's reputation for brutality. The following statement, taken from the surreptitious recording of POWs' conversations by the Allies, describes the atrocities on the Eastern Front. SS-"Untersturmführer" Krämer (captured on the Western Front during his service with the SS Division "Hitlerjugend") recounted the following from his time with the LSSAH:


text: I have experienced it in Russia at Orel. An MG 42 was set up in the main aisle of a church, [...] and the Russian men, women and children were taken into the church, without knowing at all what was happening. Then they were shot immediately with the MG 42 and petrol was poured on them and the whole place was set on fire.


text: Elements of LSSAH took part in Fabrikaktion "factory action" a/k/a/ "Großaktion Juden" "Major Action (on) Jews", an operation to capture remaining German Jews that worked in the arms industry. Men of the LSSAH helped the Gestapo round up Jews in Berlin; people were taken from their jobs and herded in to cattle wagons on 27–28 February 1943. Most of the captured perished either in Auschwitz or other camps in the East. In May 1943, Hans Frank shipped 500 watches collected from Auschwitz prisoners to soldiers of the 3rd SS Panzer Division "Totenkopf".


text: The spring "rasputitsa" halted offensive operations, giving the LSSAH time to rest and refit. By early June 1943, the division had been fully refitted and was now under the command of SS-"Brigadeführer", Theodor Wisch. Its armor strength was 12 Tiger Is, 72 Panzer IVs, 16 Panzer III and Panzer IIs, and 31 StuGs. In late June 1943, the formation of I SS Panzer Corps meant that Hausser's "SS Panzer" Corps was renamed II SS Panzer Corps.


text: The II SS Panzer Corps was moved north to Belgorod in preparation for the upcoming summer offensive Operation Citadel. The LSSAH, along with the SS Divisions Totenkopf and Das Reich, was to form the spearhead of General Hermann Hoth's 4th Panzer Army, tasked with breaching the southern flank of the Kursk salient. Field Marshal Walter Model's 9th Army was to breach the northern flank, and the two forces were to meet near the city of Kursk, to the east, thereby encircling a large Soviet force.


text: The attack commenced on 5 July. The LSSAH's panzers, advancing in "Panzerkeil"s (wedges), soon ran into the elaborate defenses of the Red Army, which slowed the advance. Untersturmführer Michael Wittman, a Tiger commander in Leibstandarte's heavy company, destroyed eight enemy tanks and seven anti-tank guns on the first day of battle.


text: On 08 July, "Unterscharführer" Franz Staudegger, another Tiger commander, became separated from his company in the town of Teterevino, having halted for mechanical repairs. He became aware of a nearby Soviet armored counterattack developing, and rushed the repairs on his tank to meet the threat. Staudegger and his crew spotted the enemy vanguard and took out seventeen T-34s in two hours. The Russian attack was now faltering, so Staudegger pressed his Tiger forward into the retreating enemy flanks, switching to high-explosive shells after exhausting his armor-piercing ammmunition. By day's end, Staudegger's Tiger had destroyed twenty-two T-34s, for which he won the Knight's Cross.


text: By 9 July, the II SS Panzer Corps had advanced north, and were nearing the small town of Prokhorovka. The LSSAH again took the lead; by now its strength was reduced to just 77 armored vehicles. The 2nd SS Panzergrenadier Regiment, supported by several tanks, advanced up the road to Prokhorovka against heavy resistance. By midday, the infantry had cleared the Komsomolets State Farm and begun the attack on Hill 241.6, which they secured shortly after nightfall on 10 July.


text: The next day the advance resumed, with the division capturing Oktiabr'skii State Farm and Hill 252.2 in heavy fighting against Soviet Paratroops of the 9th Guards Airborne Division. On 12 July, the Soviets threw the 5th Guards Tank Army into a counterattack near Prokhorovka. Two tank corps faced the LSSAH, hitting the Germans around Oktiabr'skii State Farm and Hill 252.2. In the ensuing fighting, the Germans inflicted heavy casualties on the Soviets. The Soviet counterattack had stalled the German advance, and the division was forced to fall back to Oktiabr'skii. Fighting continued the next day, but the focus of the Soviet attack had then shifted to the Totenkopf, on the left of the LSSAH.


text: With the battle at Prokhorovka still in the balance, Soviet High Command launched an offensive of their own, Operation Kutuzov, near Orel causing Hitler to order the cessation of Citadel. The II SS Panzer Corps was pulled back. The LSSAH was ordered out of the line, having suffered 2,753 casualties including 474 killed. Eleven tanks were also lost during Citadel. The division was sent to Italy to help stabilize the situation there caused by the deposal of Benito Mussolini by the Badoglio government and the Allied invasion of Sicily which began on the night of 9–10 July 1943. The division left behind its heavy equipment, which was given to Das Reich and Totenkopf.


text: The division, re-equipped with vehicles, arrived on the Po River Plain on 8 August 1943. The LSSAH was given the task of guarding several vital road and rail junctions in the area of Trento-Verona. After several weeks, the division was moved to the Parma-Reggio area. During this period, the "Leibstandarte" was involved in several skirmishes with partisans. With Italy having announced an armistice with the Allies of 8 September 1943, the division was ordered to begin disarming nearby Italian units. This went smoothly, with the exception of brief, bloody fights with Italian troops stationed in Parma, Cremona and Piacenza on 9 September. By 19 September, all Italian forces in the Po River Plain had been disarmed.


text: While on rear security duties in Italy, LSSAH men murdered 49 Jewish refugees near Lake Maggiore, in the Lake Maggiore massacres, who had fled there after the German takeover. The murders happened between 15 and 24 September. Some of the victims had their feet and hands tied and were drowned.


text: The LSSAH was sent to the Istria Peninsula and was engaged in several anti-partisan operations as part of Nazi security warfare. During its period in Italy, the LSSAH was reformed as a full panzer division, and redesignated 1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler. In early November, the division was ordered back to the Eastern Front, arriving in the Zhitomir area in mid-November.


text: The division was assigned to XLVIII Panzer Corps, a part of 4th Panzer Army, which was struggling to hold the line near Zhitomir. The division was transferred to the Cherkassy area at the end of January, where it was assigned to the III Panzer Corps, part of 1st Panzer Army. As part of the corps, the division took part in the relief attempt of German forces of Army Group South encircled in the Korsun Pocket in January–February 1944.


text: The majority of the LSSAH, which amounted to 41 officers and 1,188 men, were withdrawn to Belgium for rest and refit, however a "Kampfgruppe" was left behind. On 25 March, the 1st Panzer Army was encircled in the Kamenets-Podolsky pocket. The battle group took part in the fighting to escape the encirclement, forming a part of the spearhead which linked up with the II SS Panzer Corps near Buczacz on 6 April. The LSSAH Division was reformed in Belgium and was at full strength by 25 April 1944.


text: The division was transferred again as part of the I SS Panzer Corps which at this time consisted of the 101 SS Heavy Panzer Battalion, SS Division Hitlerjugend, SS Division Götz von Berlichingen and the Panzer Lehr Division. The LSSAH had been positioned north of the River Seine to counter any possible landing in the area of the Pas de Calais so the first units did not arrive in Normandy until after the Allied invasion there on 6 June 1944; part of it arrived on the night of 27–28 June with the whole division taking another week. By 4 July the I SS Panzer Corps was reformed, and now consisted of the LSSAH and the Hitlerjugend. The first action they were involved in was the defense of Carpiquet village and airfield in the Allied Operation Windsor. There then followed a number of Allied attacks – Operations Charnwood and Jupiter. On 12 July the LSSAH was holding the Caen south sector from Maltot in the west to the Caen – Falaise road in the east. During the night of 14–15 July, LSSAH was relieved by the 272nd Infantry Division and pulled back to an assembly area astride the Caen – Falaise road between Ifs and Cintheaux.


text: The British Operation Goodwood took place between 18 and 20 July 1944. British VIII Corps, with three armored divisions, launched the attack aiming to seize the German-held Bourguébus Ridge, along with the area between Bretteville-sur-Laize and Vimont. The operation was preceded by a three-hour bombing by 2,500 aircraft. The Division strength prior to Goodwood was reported as 59 Panzer IVs, 46 Panthers and 35 StuG IIIs.


text: II/1st SS Panzer Regiment, located near Garcelles, received orders to attack the British at Soliers. While moving its 13 Panthers towards Bourguébus, the unit engaged 60 British tanks, destroying 20 of them and capturing Soliers. Around 12:00, the Panther Battalion, I/1st SS Panzer regiment, was engaged in combat with the British 29th Armoured Brigade of the British 11th Armoured Division. The body of the LSSAH was rushed to the front from Falaise, where it was being held in reserve. It counterattacked at 17:00, together with the 21st Panzer Division, and halted the British offensive on the left front.


text: The British resumed their assault at around 13:00 on 19 July, having brought up reinforcements to continue the attack. They overran some of the forward German units and approached Bourguébus Ridge at 16:00. They came under fire from Panthers of the "Leibstandarte", who had taken up positions on the ridge. Reinforcements of the 12th SS Panzer Division arrived at the right flank at around 15:00. The Canadians attacked next in the Battle of Verrières Ridge and Operation Spring (see map), where the LSSAH came up against a number of Allied divisions, including the Guards Armoured Division, 7th Armoured, 2nd and 3rd Canadian Divisions.


text: On 25 July 1944, US forces under General Omar Bradley succeeded in breaking through the German defenses as part of Operation Cobra and entered Brittany. Hitler forbade any retreat, and ordered a counteroffensive, codenamed Operation Lüttich, by the XLVII Panzer Corps, consisting of the 2nd Panzer Division, part of the LSSAH, the SS Division Das Reich and the 116th Panzer Division. The plan for the attack was to hit the 30th Infantry Division east of Mortain, then cut through American defenses to reach the coast. The US response was aided by Ultra intelligence, which had revealed the plans for Operation Lüttich by 4 August. As a result, Bradley was able to obtain air support from both the US 9th Air Force and the RAF.


text: The LSSAH and other divisions went on the attack on 7 August. The 1st SS Panzer Regiment, along with two battalions of motorized infantry, one combat engineer company, and the division's flak battalion, were used for the attack. The weather was not suitable for flying that morning, which disadvantaged the Allies. The SS Division Das Reich recaptured Mortain, and an armored battle group under Joachim Peiper reached Bourlopin, but had to halt due to US counterattacks and air strikes.


text: The much-reduced division was encircled in the Falaise pocket by US, Canadian, and Polish forces. Some LSSAH units broke out of the pocket on 22 August, leaving behind all their tanks and artillery. The division sustained 5,000 casualties during the Normandy campaign. During their retreat from France, members of the LSSAH and the SS Division Hitlerjugend division murdered 34 French civilians in the towns of Tavaux and Plomion.


text: The Ardennes Offensive (16 December 1944 – 25 January 1945) was a major German offensive launched through the forested Ardennes Mountains region of Belgium, France and Luxembourg. The offensive was called "Unternehmen Wacht am Rhein" (Operation "Watch on the Rhine") by the Germans. The 'bulge' was the initial incursion the Germans put into the Allies' line of advance, as seen in maps presented in contemporary newspapers.


text: Wilhelm Mohnke, now in command of the LSSAH, attached to the I SS Panzer Corps, was the spearhead of the operation. The fuel crisis in Nazi Germany meant that the LSSAH had insufficient amounts of fuel for its vehicles. On 16 December the operation began, with then SS-"Obersturmbannführer" Joachim Peiper's "Kampfgruppe" leading the push to the Meuse.


text: Peiper was supposed to reach the Meuse River on the first day of the offensive. Instead, it was delayed by almost an entire day by a recon platoon at Lanzerath Ridge. Then, unable to dislodge the 99th Infantry Division from Elsenborn Ridge, it diverted to an alternative road to the south. At 07:00 on 17 December, the unit seized a US fuel depot at Büllingen, and refueled before continuing westward. At 12:30, near the hamlet of Baugnez, on the height halfway between the town of Malmedy and Ligneuville, Peiper's Kampfgruppe encountered a convoy of the 285th Field Artillery Observation Battalion, US 7th Armored Division.


text: After a brief battle the Americans surrendered. Along with other Americans captured earlier (127 men total), they were disarmed and sent to stand in a field near the crossroads, where the Germans shot them en masse with machine guns and pistols. Of the 84 men killed, 41 were killed by a pistol shot to the head at close range and six were killed by having their skulls bashed in. After feigning death in the field for several hours while the Germans moved among them shooting survivors, a group of about 30 men escaped. Researcher Danny S. Parker believe that Peiper or one of his subordinates made the decision to kill the prisoners. There is no record of an SS officer giving an execution order. News of the killings raced through the Allied lines. Captured SS men who were part of "Kampfgruppe Peiper" were tried during the Malmedy massacre trial following the war for this massacre and several others in the area. Many of the perpetrators were sentenced to hang, but the sentences were commuted. Peiper himself was imprisoned for eleven years for his role in the killings.


text: Peiper entered Stavelot on 18 December but encountered fierce resistance from the American defenders. Unable to defeat them, he left a smaller support force in town and headed for the bridge at Trois-Ponts with the bulk of his strength, but by the time he reached it, retreating US engineers had already destroyed it. Peiper then headed for the village of La Gleize and from there on to Stoumont. There, as Peiper approached, engineers blew up the bridge. US defenders were entrenched and ready. Peiper's men were cut off from the main German force and supplies when the Americans recaptured the poorly defended Stavelot on 19 December. As their situation in Stoumont was becoming hopeless, Peiper decided to pull back to La Gleize where he set up his defenses, waiting for the German relief force. Since no such force was able to penetrate the US line, Peiper decided to break out back to the German lines on 23 December. The men of the "Kampfgruppe" abandoned their vehicles and heavy equipment, although most of the men were able to escape.


text: With each passing day, enemy resistance stiffened and the advance was eventually halted on all fronts. The German High Command ordered that a renewed attack begin on 1 January 1945. Yet by this time, the Allies had regrouped their forces and were ready to repulse any attack launched by the Germans. The operation formally ended on 27 January 1945, and three days later Mohnke was promoted to SS-"Brigadeführer". LSSAH and the I SS Panzer Corps were then transferred to Hungary to bolster the crumbling situation there. Mohnke was wounded in an air raid. In his place, SS-"Brigadeführer" Otto Kumm was appointed the new Division Commander as of 15 February 1945.


text: During Battle of the Bulge, troops from "3./SS-PzAA1 LSSAH" captured eleven African-American soldiers from the 333rd Artillery Battalion in the hamlet of Wereth. Subsequently the prisoners were shot and their remains found by Allied troops two months later. The soldiers had their fingers cut off, legs broken, and at least one was shot while trying to bandage a comrade's wounds.


text: Operation Spring Awakening (6 March 1945 – 16 March 1945) was the last major German offensive launched during World War II. It began in great secrecy on 6 March 1945. The German forces launched attacks in Hungary near Lake Balaton. This area included some of the last oil reserves still available to the Axis. The operation involved many German units withdrawn from the failed Ardennes Offensive on the Western Front, including the 6th SS Panzer Army and the LSSAH. Operation Spring Awakening was a failure for the German side. Within a week, the early gains were halted by massive counter-attacks by Soviet forces. The overwhelming numerical superiority of the Red Army made any defense impossible, yet Hitler somehow had believed victory was attainable.


text: After the failure of Operation Spring Awakening, Sepp Dietrich's 6th SS Panzer Army retreated in stages to the Vienna area. The Germans prepared defensive positions in an attempt to hold the city against the fast arriving Red Army, in what become known as the Vienna Offensive. The Germans could not hold Vienna, which fell to the Soviet forces on 13 April.


text: This defeat resulted in the "Ärmelstreifen" (Cuff Titles Order) or "armband order", which was issued by Hitler to the commander of the 6th SS Panzer Army, Sepp Dietrich. Hitler claimed that the troops "did not fight as the situation demanded." As a mark of disgrace, Hitler ordered the Waffen-SS units involved to remove their cuff titles (German: "Ärmelstreifen"). Dietrich refused to carry out the order and did not relay the message to the troops. According to Heinz Guderian, most cuff titles had already been removed; he later wrote that the removal of unit cuffs from the "Leibstandarte", "Totenkopf", "Hohenstaufen", and the "Das Reich" Divisions was accomplished for security reasons.


text: Part of the LSSAH ended the war fighting in Berlin. On 23 April 1945, Hitler appointed "Brigadeführer" Mohnke the commander for the central government district (Zitadelle sector) that included the Reich Chancellery and "Führerbunker". Mohnke's command post was under the Reich Chancellery in the bunkers therein. He formed "Kampfgruppe" Mohnke which was divided into two weak regiments made up of approximately 2,000 men. The core group were the 800 of the "Leibstandarte" Guard Battalion (assigned to guard the Führer). After Hitler's suicide, they received orders to break out. Prior to the attempt, Mohnke briefed all commanders who could be reached within the Zitadelle sector about Hitler's death and the planned break out. It started at 2300 hours on 1 May. Mohnke led the first of ten small groups. Several very small groups managed to reach the Americans at the Elbe's west bank, but most, including Mohnke's group, could not get through the Soviet lines. Many were taken prisoner and some committed suicide. On 2 May hostilities officially ended by order of Helmuth Weidling, Commandant of the Berlin Defense Area.


text: After Vienna was captured, the LSSAH had fewer than 1,600 men and 16 tanks. Apart from the remains of Berlin Guard Battalion, the LSSAH surrendered to US forces in the Steyr area on 8 May 1945. On 4 July (Independence Day) 1945, the United States flag was raised over Berlin for the first time at the "Leibstandarte" barracks.


title: Wildcat

text: The wildcat is a species complex comprising two small wild cat species: the European wildcat ("Felis silvestris") and the African wildcat ("F. lybica"). The European wildcat inhabits forests in Europe, Anatolia and the Caucasus, while the African wildcat inhabits semi-arid landscapes and steppes in Africa, the Arabian Peninsula, Central Asia, into western India and western China.


title: Wildcat

text: The wildcat species differ in fur pattern, tail, and size: the European wildcat has long fur and a bushy tail with a rounded tip; the smaller African wildcat is more faintly striped, has short sandy-gray fur and a tapering tail; the Asiatic wildcat ("F. lybica ornata") is spotted.


title: Wildcat

text: The wildcat and the other members of the cat family had a common ancestor about 10–15 million years ago. The European wildcat evolved during the Cromerian Stage about 866,000 to 478,000 years ago; its direct ancestor was "Felis lunensis". The "silvestris" and "lybica" lineages probably diverged about 173,000 years ago.


title: Wildcat

text: The wildcat has been categorized as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List since 2002, since it is widely distributed, and the global population is considered stable and exceeding 20,000 mature individuals. However, in some range countries both wildcat species are considered threatened by introgressive hybridisation with the domestic cat ("F. catus") and transmission of diseases. Localized threats include being hit by vehicles, and persecution.


title: Wildcat

text: The association of African wildcats and humans appears to have developed along with the establishment of settlements during the Neolithic Revolution, when rodents in grain stores of early farmers attracted wildcats. This association ultimately led to it being tamed and domesticated: the domestic cat is the direct descendant of the African wildcat. It was one of the revered cats in ancient Egypt. The European wildcat has been the subject of mythology and literature.


title: Wildcat

text: "Felis (catus) silvestris" was the scientific name used in 1777 by Johann von Schreber when he described the European wildcat based on descriptions and names proposed by earlier naturalists such as Mathurin Jacques Brisson, Ulisse Aldrovandi and Conrad Gessner.


title: Wildcat

text: "Felis lybica" was the name proposed in 1780 by Georg Forster, who described an African wildcat from Gafsa on the Barbary Coast.


title: Wildcat

text: In subsequent decades, several naturalists and explorers described 40 wildcat specimens collected in European, African and Asian range countries. In the 1940s, the taxonomist Reginald Innes Pocock reviewed the collection of wildcat skins and skulls in the Natural History Museum, London, and designated seven "F. silvestris" subspecies from Europe to Asia Minor, and 25 "F. lybica" subspecies from Africa, and West to Central Asia. Pocock differentiated the:


title: Wildcat

text: In 2005, 22 subspecies were recognized by the authors of "Mammal Species of the World", who allocated subspecies largely in line with Pocock's assessment.


title: Wildcat

text: In 2017, the Cat Classification Task Force revised the taxonomy of the Felidae, and recognized the following as valid taxa:


title: Wildcat

text: The wildcat is a member of the Felidae, a family that had a common ancestor about 10–15 million years ago. "Felis" species diverged from the Felidae around 6–7 million years ago. The European wildcat diverged from "Felis" about 1.09 to 1.4 million years ago.


title: Wildcat

text: The European wildcat's direct ancestor was "Felis lunensis", which lived in Europe in the late Pliocene and Villafranchian periods. Fossil remains indicate that the transition from "lunensis" to "silvestris" was completed by the Holstein interglacial about 340,000 to 325,000 years ago.


title: Wildcat

text: Craniological differences between the European and African wildcats indicate that the wildcat probably migrated during the Late Pleistocene from Europe into the Middle East, giving rise to the steppe wildcat phenotype.


title: Wildcat

text: Phylogenetic research revealed that the "lybica" lineage probably diverged from the "silvestris" lineage about 173,000 years ago.


title: Wildcat

text: Its whiskers are white, number 7 to 16 on each side and reach in length on the muzzle. Whiskers are also present on the inner surface of the paw and measure .


title: Wildcat

text: Its eyes are large, with vertical pupils and yellowish-green irises. The eyelashes range from in length, and can number six to eight per side.


title: Wildcat

text: The European wildcat has a greater skull volume than the domestic cat, a ratio known as Schauenberg's index. Further, its skull is more spherical in shape than that of the jungle cat ("F. chaus") and leopard cat ("Prionailurus bengalensis"). Its dentition is relatively smaller and weaker than the jungle cat's.


title: Wildcat

text: Both wildcat species are larger than the domestic cat. The European wildcat has relatively longer legs and a more robust build compared to the domestic cat. The tail is long, and usually slightly exceeds one-half of the animal's body length. The species size varies according to Bergmann's rule, with the largest specimens occurring in cool, northern areas of Europe and Asia such as Mongolia, Manchuria and Siberia. Males measure in head to body length, in tail length, and normally weigh . Females are slightly smaller, measuring in body length and in tail length, and weighing .


title: Wildcat

text: Both sexes have two thoracic and two abdominal teats. Both sexes have pre-anal glands, consisting of moderately sized sweat and sebaceous glands around the anal opening. Large-sized sebaceous and scent glands extend along the full length of the tail on the dorsal side. Male wildcats have pre-anal pockets on the tail, activated upon reaching sexual maturity, play a significant role in reproduction and territorial marking.


title: Wildcat

text: The European wildcat inhabits temperate broadleaf and mixed forests in Europe, Turkey and the Caucasus. In the Iberian peninsula, it occurs from sea level to in the Pyrenees. Between the late 17th and mid 20th centuries, its European range became fragmented due to large-scale hunting and regional extirpation. It is possibly extinct in the Czech Republic, and considered regionally extinct in Austria, though vagrants from Italy are spreading into Austria. It has never inhabited Fennoscandia or Estonia. Sicily is the only island in the Mediterranean Sea with a native wildcat population.


title: Wildcat

text: The African wildcat lives in a wide range of habitats except rainforest, but throughout the savannahs of Africa from Mauritania on the Atlantic coast eastwards to the Horn of Africa up to altitudes of . Small populations live in the Sahara and Nubian Deserts, Karoo region, Kalahari and Namib Deserts. It occurs around the Arabian Peninsula's periphery to the Caspian Sea, encompassing Mesopotamia, Israel and Palestine region. In Central Asia, it ranges into Xinjiang and southern Mongolia, and in South Asia into the Thar Desert and arid regions in India.


title: Wildcat

text: Both wildcat species are largely nocturnal and solitary, except during the breeding period and when females have young. The size of home ranges of females and males varies according to terrain, the availability of food, habitat quality and the age structure of the population. Male and female home ranges overlap, though core areas within territories are avoided by other cats. Females tend to be more sedentary than males, as they require an exclusive hunting area when raising kittens. Wildcats usually spend the day in a hollow tree, a rock crevice or in dense thickets.


title: Wildcat

text: It is also reported to shelter in abandoned burrows of other species such as of red fox ("Vulpes vulpes") and in European badger ("Meles meles") setts in Europe, and of fennec ("Vulpes zerda") in Africa.


title: Wildcat

text: When threatened, it retreats into a burrow, rather than climb trees. When taking residence in a tree hollow, it selects one low to the ground. Dens in rocks or burrows are lined with dry grasses and bird feathers. Dens in tree hollows usually contain enough sawdust to make lining unnecessary. If the den becomes infested with fleas, the wildcat shifts to another den. During winter, when snowfall prevents the European wildcat from travelling long distances, it remains within its den until travel conditions improve.


title: Wildcat

text: Territorial marking consists of spraying urine on trees, vegetation and rocks, depositing faeces in conspicuous places, and leaving scent marks through glands in its paws. It also leaves visual marks by scratching trees.


title: Wildcat

text: It lies in wait for prey, then catches it by executing a few leaps, which can span three metres. When hunting near water courses, it waits on trees overhanging the water. It kills small prey by grabbing it in its claws, and piercing the neck or occiput with its fangs. When attacking large prey, it leaps upon the animal's back, and attempts to bite the neck or carotid. It does not persist in attacking if prey manages to escape.


title: Wildcat

text: The European wildcat primarily preys on small mammals such as European rabbit ("Oryctolagus cuniculus") and rodents.


title: Wildcat

text: It also preys on dormice, hares, nutria ("Myocastor coypus") and birds, especially ducks and other waterfowl, galliformes, pigeons and passerines. It can consume large bone fragments. Although it kills insectivores such as moles and shrews, it rarely eats them. When living close to human settlements, it preys on poultry. In the wild, it consumes up to of food daily.


title: Wildcat

text: The African wildcat preys foremost on murids, to a lesser extent also on birds, small reptiles and invertebrates.


title: Wildcat

text: The wildcat has two estrus periods, one in December–February and another in May–July. Estrus lasts 5–9 days, with a gestation period lasting 60–68 days. Ovulation is induced through copulation. Spermatogenesis occurs throughout the year. During the mating season, males fight viciously, and may congregate around a single female. There are records of male and female wildcats becoming temporarily monogamous. Kittens are usually born between April and May, and up to August. Litter size ranges from 1–7 kittens.


title: Wildcat

text: Kittens are born with closed eyes and are covered in a fuzzy coat. They weigh at birth, and kittens under usually do not survive. They are born with pink paw pads, which blacken at the age of three months, and blue eyes, which turn amber after five months. Their eyes open after 9–12 days, and their incisors erupt after 14–30 days. The kittens' milk teeth are replaced by their permanent dentition at the age of 160–240 days. The kittens start hunting with their mother at the age of 60 days, and start moving independently after 140–150 days. Lactation lasts 3–4 months, though the kittens eat meat as early as 1.5 months of age. Sexual maturity is attained at the age of 300 days. Similarly to the domestic cat, the physical development of African wildcat kittens over the first two weeks of their lives is much faster than that of European wildcats. The kittens are largely fully grown by 10 months, though skeletal growth continues for over 18–19 months. The family dissolves after roughly five months, and the kittens disperse to establish their own territories. Their maximum life span is 21 years, though they usually live up to 13–14 years.


title: Wildcat

text: Because of its habit of living in areas with rocks and tall trees for refuge, dense thickets and abandoned burrows, wildcats have few natural predators. In Central Europe, many kittens are killed by European pine marten ("Martes martes"), and there is at least one account of an adult wildcat being killed and eaten. Competitors include the golden jackal ("Canis aureus"), red fox, marten, and other predators. In the steppe regions of Europe and Asia, village dogs constitute serious enemies of wildcats, along with the much larger Eurasian lynx, one of the rare habitual predators of healthy adult wildcats. In Tajikistan, the grey wolf ("Canis lupus") is the most serious competitor, having been observed to destroy cat burrows. Birds of prey, including Eurasian eagle-owl ("Bubo bubo") and saker falcon ("Falco cherrug"), have been recorded to kill wildcat kittens. Golden eagle ("Aquila chrysaetos") are known to hunt both adults and kittens. Seton Gordon recorded an instance where a wildcat fought a golden eagle, resulting in the deaths of both combatants.


title: Wildcat

text: In Africa, wildcats are occasionally killed and eaten by African rock python ("Python sebae") and martial eagle ("Polemaetus bellicosus").


title: Wildcat

text: Wildcat populations are foremost threatened by hybridization with the domestic cat. Mortality due to traffic accidents is a threat especially in Europe. The wildcat population in Scotland has declined since the turn of the 20th century due to habitat loss and persecution by landowners.


title: Wildcat

text: In the former Soviet Union, wildcats were caught accidentally in traps set for European pine marten. In modern times, they are caught in unbaited traps on pathways or at abandoned trails of red fox, European badger, European hare or pheasant. One method of catching wildcats consists of using a modified muskrat trap with a spring placed in a concealed pit. A scent trail of pheasant viscera leads the cat to the pit. Wildcat skins were of little commercial value and sometimes converted into imitation sealskin; the fur usually fetched between 50 and 60 kopecks.


title: Wildcat

text: Wildcat species are protected in most range countries and listed in CITES Appendix II. The European wildcat is also listed in Appendix II of the Berne Convention on the Conservation of European Wildlife and Natural Habitats and in the European Union's Habitats and Species Directive.


title: Wildcat

text: An African wildcat skeleton excavated in a 9,500-year-old Neolithic grave in Cyprus is the earliest known indication for a close relationship between a human and a possibly tamed cat. As no cat species is native to Cyprus, this discovery indicates that Neolithic farmers may have brought cats to Cyprus from the Near East. Results of genetics and morphological research corroborated that the African wildcat is the ancestor of the domestic cat. The first individuals were probably domesticated in the Fertile Crescent around the time of the introduction of agriculture. Murals and statuettes depicting cats as well mummified cats indicate that it was commonly kept by ancient Egyptians since at least the Twelfth Dynasty of Egypt.


title: Wildcat

text: Fables of the Cat Sìth, a fairy creature described as resembling a large white-chested black cat, are thought to have been inspired by the Kellas cat, itself thought to be a free-ranging crossbreed between a European wildcat and a domestic cat. In 1693, William Salmon mentioned how body parts of the wildcat were used for medicinal purposes; its flesh for treating gout, its fat for dissolving tumours and easing pain, its blood for curing "falling sickness", and its excrement for treating baldness.


title: Wildcat

text: The Picts venerated wildcats, having probably named Caithness (Land of the Cats) after them. According to the foundation myth of the Catti tribe, their ancestors were attacked by wildcats upon landing in Scotland. Their ferocity impressed the Catti so much, that the wildcat became their symbol. The progenitors of Clan Sutherland use the wildcat as symbol on their family crest. The clan's chief bears the title "Morair Chat" (Great Man of the Cats).


title: Wildcat

text: The wildcat is considered an icon of Scottish wilderness, and has been used in clan heraldry since the 13th century. The Clan Chattan Association (also known as the Clan of Cats) comprises 12 clans, the majority of which display the wildcat on their badges.


title: Vox (website)

text: Vox () is an American news and opinion website owned by Vox Media. The website was founded in April 2014 by Ezra Klein, Matt Yglesias, and Melissa Bell, and is noted for its concept of explanatory journalism. Vox's media presence also includes a YouTube channel, several podcasts, and a show presented on Netflix. "Vox" has been described as left-of-center and progressive.


title: Vox (website)

text: Prior to founding "Vox", Ezra Klein worked for "The Washington Post" as the head of Wonkblog, a public policy blog. When Klein attempted to launch a new site using funding from the newspaper's editors, his proposal was turned down and Klein subsequently left "The Washington Post" for a position with Vox Media, another communications company, in January 2014.


title: Vox (website)

text: "The New York Times" David Carr associated Klein's exit for "Vox" with other "big-name journalists" leaving newspapers for digital start-ups, such as Walter Mossberg and Kara Swisher (of "Recode", which was later acquired by and integrated into Vox), David Pogue, and Nate Silver. He described Vox Media as "a technology company that produces media" rather than its inverse, associated with "Old Media". From his new position, Klein worked towards establishing "Vox", including hiring new journalists for the site. Klein expected to "improve the technology of news" and build an online platform better equipped for making news understandable. The new site's 20-person staff was chosen for their expertise in topic areas and included "Slate" Matthew Yglesias, Melissa Bell, and Klein's colleagues from "The Washington Post". "Vox" was launched on April 6, 2014, with Klein serving as editor-in-chief.


title: Vox (website)

text: Klein's opening editorial essay, "How politics makes us stupid", explained his distress about political polarization in the context of Yale Law School professor Dan Kahan's theories on how people protect themselves from information that conflicts with their core beliefs.


title: Vox (website)

text: In June 2016, "Vox" suspended contributor Emmett Rensin for a series of tweets calling for anti-Trump riots, including one on June 3, 2016, that urged, "If Trump comes to your town, start a riot." The tweets drew attention after violent anti-Trump protests took place in San Jose, California, on the day of Rensin's tweet. Elizabeth Plank was hired in 2016 as a political correspondent, and in 2017 launched her own series with Vox Media, called "Divided States of Women".


title: Vox (website)

text: In September 2017, Klein published a post on "Vox" announcing that he was taking on a new role as editor-at-large, and that Lauren Williams, who joined "Vox" a few months after its founding, was the new editor-in-chief. In late 2020, Klein, Williams, and Yglesias left the site. While "Vox" had been founded with prominent journalists, Vox Media CEO Jim Bankoff said that their brands had mature, mainstream audiences that no longer relied on personalities.


title: Vox (website)

text: Swati Sharma was named editor-in-chief in February 2021. A managing editor of "The Atlantic" at the time of her appointment, she was expected to assume the position in March 2021.


title: Vox (website)

text: According to "Vox" founding editors, the site seeks to explain news by providing additional contextual information not usually found in traditional news sources. To reuse work from authors prior to the relaunch in 2014, "Vox" creates "card stacks" in bright canary yellow that provide context and define terms within an article. The cards are perpetually maintained as a form of "wiki page written by one person with a little attitude". As an example, a card about the term "insurance exchange" may be reused on stories about the Affordable Care Act.


title: Vox (website)

text: "Vox" uses Vox Media's Chorus content management system, which enables journalists to easily create articles with complex visual effects and transitions, such as photos that change as the reader scrolls. Vox Media's properties target educated households with six-figure incomes and a head of house less than 35 years old.


title: Vox (website)

text: "Vox"'s "Future Perfect", a reporting project that examines the world through philanthropy and effective altruism, is funded by the Rockefeller Foundation.


title: Vox (website)

text: "Vox" has a YouTube channel by the same name where they have regularly posted videos on news and informational subjects since 2014. These videos are accompanied by an article on their website. The themes covered in the videos are usually similar to the themes covered in the regular, written articles on the website. The channel has over 10 million subscribers and over 2.6 billion views . Content surrounds current affairs, timeline of certain events, and interesting facts.


title: Vox (website)

text: "Vox" distributes numerous podcasts, all hosted by "Vox" staff, as part of the "Vox Media Podcast Network":


title: Vox (website)

text: In March 2014, before it had officially launched, "Vox" was criticized by conservative media commentators, including Erick Erickson, for a video it had published arguing the U.S. public debt "isn't a problem right now".


title: Vox (website)

text: The website's launch received significant media attention. Websites noted that the launch came around the same time as other data and explainer websites like "FiveThirtyEight" and the "New York Times" The Upshot. "Vox" was described as trying to act as a "Wikipedia for ongoing news stories".


title: Vox (website)

text: Pascal-Emmanuel Gobry at "The Week" argued that the website produced "partisan commentary in question-and-answer disguise" and criticized the site for having a "starting lineup [that] was mostly made up of ideological liberals". "The Week"s Ryu Spaeth described the site's operations as "...essentially tak[ing] the news (in other words, what is happening in the world at any given moment in time) and fram[ing] it in a way that appeals to its young, liberal audience."


title: Vox (website)

text: "The Economist", commenting on Klein's launching essay "How politics makes us stupid", said the website was "bright and promising" and site's premise of "more, better, and more lucidly presented information" was "profoundly honourable", and positively compared the site's mission to John Keats's negative capability. In an opinion piece in "The Washington Times", Christopher J. Harper criticized the site for numerous reporting mistakes.


title: Vox (website)

text: In November 2022, it was reported by "Reason" magazine that Sam Bankman-Fried—founder of bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange FTX—had issued major grants to a number of predominantly left-leaning political media outlets including "Vox".


title: Vox (website)

text: In 2015, the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry presented Julia Belluz the Robert B. Balles Prize for Critical Thinking for her work on "Vox".


title: Vox (website)

text: Original programming by "Vox" has been recognized by the News & Documentary Emmy Awards, which are presented by the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. In 2017, the documentary "2016 Olympics: What Rio Doesn't Want the World to See" was nominated in the "Outstanding News Special" category, "Vox Pop" was nominated in the "Outstanding Arts, Culture and Entertainment Report" and "Outstanding Graphic Design and Art Direction" categories, and "The Secret Life of Muslims" was nominated in the "Outstanding Short Documentary" category. In 2018, "Borders" was nominated in the "Outstanding Video Journalism: News" category, and "Earworm" received nominations in the "Outstanding Graphic Design and Art Direction" and "Outstanding New Approaches: Arts, Lifestyle and Culture" categories.


title: Vox (website)

text: "Vox" received 8.2 million unique visitors in July 2014. In October 2021, readership was estimated to be 19.7 million visitors.


title: Vox (website)

text: In a 2017 interview on Nieman Lab, Klein stated: "We watch our audience data pretty closely, and our audience data does not show or suggest to us that we are overwhelmingly read on one side or the other of the political sphere, which is good.


title: John Boorman

text: Sir John Boorman (; born 18 January 1933) is a British film director, best known for feature films such as "Point Blank" (1967), "Hell in the Pacific" (1968), "Deliverance" (1972), "Zardoz" (1974), "" (1977), "Excalibur" (1981), "The Emerald Forest" (1985), "Hope and Glory" (1987), "The General" (1998), "The Tailor of Panama" (2001) and "Queen and Country" (2014).


title: John Boorman

text: Boorman has directed 22 films and received five Academy Award nominations, twice for Best Director (for "Deliverance", and "Hope and Glory"). He is also credited with creating the first Academy Award screeners to promote "The Emerald Forest". In 2004, Boorman received the BAFTA Fellowship for lifetime achievement from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts. In January 2022, Boorman received a knighthood.


title: John Boorman

text: Boorman was born in Shepperton, Middlesex, England, the son of pub landlord George Boorman and his wife Ivy (née Chapman). George Boorman was of Dutch parentage. He was educated at the Salesian School in Chertsey, Surrey.


title: John Boorman

text: Boorman was conscripted for military service when he became a clerical instructor in the British Army. Boorman did not serve in the Korean War, but once faced court-martial for "seducing a soldier from the course of his duty" by criticising the war to his trainees; this was abandoned when Boorman showed "The Times" was the source of all his comments. After army service he worked as a drycleaner and journalist in the late 1950s. He ran the newsrooms at Southern Television in Southampton and Dover before moving into television documentary filmmaking, eventually becoming head of the BBC's Bristol-based Documentary Unit. In 1963 he wrote and directed a documentary about professional football, "Six Days to Saturday" which focused on a week in the life of Swindon Town, who were then in England's second division.


title: John Boorman

text: Capturing the interest of producer David Deutsch, he was offered the chance to direct a film aimed at repeating the success of "A Hard Day's Night" (directed by Richard Lester in 1964): "Catch Us If You Can" (1965) is about competing pop group Dave Clark Five. While not as successful commercially as Lester's film, it drew good reviews from distinguished critics such as Pauline Kael and Dilys Powell and smoothed Boorman's way into the film industry. Boorman was drawn to Hollywood for the opportunity to make larger-scale cinema and in "Point Blank" (1967), based on a Richard Stark novel, brought a stranger's vision to the decaying fortress of Alcatraz and the proto-hippy world of west coast America. Lee Marvin gave the then-unknown director his full support, telling MGM he deferred all his approvals on the project to Boorman.


title: John Boorman

text: After "Point Blank", Boorman re-teamed with Lee Marvin and Toshiro Mifune for the robinsonade of "Hell in the Pacific" (1968), which tells a fable story of two representative soldiers stranded together on an island.


title: John Boorman

text: Returning to the United Kingdom, he made "Leo the Last" (US/UK, 1970). This film exhibited the influence of Federico Fellini and even starred Fellini regular Marcello Mastroianni, and won him a Best Director award at Cannes.


title: John Boorman

text: Boorman achieved much greater resonance with "Deliverance" (US, 1972, adapted from a novel by James Dickey), the ordeal of four urban men, played by Jon Voight, Burt Reynolds, Ronny Cox and Ned Beatty, who encounter danger from an unexpected quarter while whitewater rafting through the Appalachian backwoods. The film became Boorman's first true box office success, earning him several award nominations.


title: John Boorman

text: At the beginning of the 1970s, Boorman was planning to film "The Lord of the Rings" and corresponded about his plans with the author, J. R. R. Tolkien. Ultimately the production proved too costly, though some elements and themes can be seen in "Excalibur" (1981).


title: John Boorman

text: A wide variety of films followed. "Zardoz" (1974), starring Sean Connery, was a post-apocalyptic science fiction piece, set in the 23rd century where sex is divided into two worlds. According to the director's film commentary, the "Zardoz world" was on a collision course with an "effete" eternal society, which it accomplished, and in the story must reconcile with a more natural human nature.


title: John Boorman

text: Boorman was selected as director for "" (USA, 1977), a move that surprised the industry given his dislike of the original film. Boorman declared: "Not only did I not want to do the original film, I told the head of Warner Brothers John Calley I'd be happy if he didn't produce the film too." The original script by Broadway playwright William Goodhart was intellectual and ambitious, based around the metaphysical nature of the battle between good and evil, and specifically the writings of Catholic theologian Pierre Teilhard De Chardin, <nowiki>"I found It extremely compelling. It was based on Chardin's intoxicating Idea that biological evolution was the first step In God's plan, starting with inert rock, and culminating In humankind."</nowiki> Despite Boorman's continued rewriting throughout shooting, the film was rendered incomprehensible. The film, released in June 1977, was a critical disaster, but was a moderate box office success. Boorman was denounced by author William Peter Blatty, the author of the original novel "The Exorcist", and William Friedkin, director of the first "Exorcist film". Boorman later admitted that his approach to the film was a mistake. "The Heretic" is often considered not just the worst film of "The Exorcist" series, but one of the worst films of all time.


title: John Boorman

text: "Excalibur", a long-held dream project of Boorman's, is a retelling of the Arthurian legend, based on "Le Morte D'Arthur". Boorman cast actors Nicol Williamson and Helen Mirren against their protests, as the two disliked each other intensely, but Boorman felt their mutual antagonism would enhance their characterizations of the characters they were playing. The production was based in the Republic of Ireland, where Boorman had relocated. For the film he employed all of his children as actors and crew and several of Boorman's later films have been 'family business' productions. The film, one of the first to be produced by Orion Films, was a moderate success.


title: John Boorman

text: "The Emerald Forest" (1985) saw Boorman cast his actor son Charley Boorman as an eco-warrior, in a rainforest adventure that included commercially required elements – action and near-nudity – with authentic anthropological detail. Rospo Pallenberg's original screenplay was adapted into a book of the same name by award-winning author Robert Holdstock. Because the film's distributor faced business troubles that year, the film did not receive a traditional "For Your Consideration" advertising campaign for the 1985 Academy Awards, despite positive critical reviews. Boorman took the initiative to promote the film himself by making VHS copies available for no charge to Academy members at several Los Angeles-area video rental stores. Boorman's idea later became ubiquitous during Hollywood's award season, and by the 2010s, more than a million Oscar screeners were mailed to Academy members each year. However, "Emerald Forest" itself received no nominations from Boorman's strategy.


title: John Boorman

text: "Hope and Glory" (1987, UK) is his most autobiographical movie to date, a retelling of his childhood in London during The Blitz. Produced by Goldcrest Films, with Hollywood financing the film, it proved a box office hit in the US, receiving numerous Oscar, BAFTA and Golden Globe nominations. However, his 1990 US-produced comedy about a dysfunctional family, "Where the Heart Is", was a major flop.


title: John Boorman

text: When his friend David Lean died in 1991, Boorman was announced to be taking over direction of Lean's long-planned adaptation of "Nostromo", though the production collapsed. "Beyond Rangoon" (US, 1995) and "The Tailor of Panama" (US/Ireland, 2000) both explore unique worlds with alien characters stranded and desperate.


title: John Boorman

text: Boorman won the Best Director Award at the 1998 Cannes Film Festival for "The General", his biopic of Martin Cahill. The film is about a glamorous, yet mysterious, criminal in Dublin who was killed, apparently by the Provisional Irish Republican Army. Boorman himself had been one of Cahill's burglary victims, having the gold record awarded for the score to "Deliverance" stolen from his home.


title: John Boorman

text: He was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 1994 Birthday Honours for services to the film industry. In 2004, Boorman was also made a Fellow of BAFTA.


title: John Boorman

text: Released in 2006, his "The Tiger's Tail" was a thriller set against the tableau of early 21st century capitalism in Ireland. At the same time, Boorman began work on a long-time pet project of his, a fictional account of the life of Roman Emperor Hadrian (entitled "Memoirs of Hadrian"), written in the form of a letter from a dying Hadrian to his successor. In the meantime, a re-make/re-interpretation of the classic "The Wonderful Wizard Of Oz" with Boorman at the helm was announced in August 2009.


title: John Boorman

text: In 2007 and 2009 he took part in a series of events and discussions as part of the Arts in Marrakech Festival along with his daughter Katrine Boorman including an event with Kim Cattrall called 'Being Directed'.


title: John Boorman

text: In November 2012 he was selected as a President of the main competition jury at the 2012 International Film Festival of Marrakech.


title: John Boorman

text: In Autumn 2013 Boorman began shooting "Queen and Country", the sequel to his 1987 Oscar-nominated "Hope and Glory", using locations in Shepperton and Romania. The film was selected to be screened as part of the Directors' Fortnight section of the 2014 Cannes Film Festival.


title: John Boorman

text: John Boorman's debut novel, "Crime of Passion", was published in 2016 (by Liberties Press, Dublin), with a French-language edition published by Marest in 2017.


title: John Boorman

text: Boorman has been a longtime resident of Ireland and lives in Annamoe, County Wicklow, close to the Glendalough twin lakes. According to a 2012 interview, he was recently divorced. By 2020, he was married to his third wife.


title: John Boorman

text: He has seven children: Katrine (b. 1958), Telsche (1960-1996), Charles (b. 1966), and Daisy (b. 1966) with his first wife, Christel Kruse, to whom he was married until 1990; and Lola, Lee, and Lily Mae with his second wife, Isabella Weibrecht, whom he married in 1995.


title: John Boorman

text: His son Charley Boorman has a career as an actor but reached a wider audience when he and actor Ewan McGregor made a televised motorbike trip across Europe, Central Asia, Siberia, Alaska, Canada, and the Midwest US during 2004. His daughter Katrine Boorman (Igrayne in "Excalibur") works as an actress in France. His daughter Telsche wrote the screenplay for "Where the Heart Is". She died of ovarian cancer in 1996 at the age of 36. She was married to the journalist Lionel Rotcage, the son of French singer Régine, which produced a daughter.


title: Xiomara Castro

text: Iris Xiomara Castro Sarmiento (; born 30 September 1959), also known as Xiomara Castro de Zelaya, is a Honduran politician who is the 56th president of Honduras, in office since January 2022. She is the country's first female president, having earlier served as first lady during the presidency of her husband Manuel Zelaya.


title: Xiomara Castro

text: Castro grew up in Tegucigalpa and studied business administration. She married Manuel Zelaya in 1976 and became active in the women's section of the Liberal Party of Honduras. She became the country's first lady in 2006 following her husband's victory in the 2005 presidential election. Castro became involved in the National Popular Resistance Front after the 2009 coup d'état which resulted in the end of her husband's presidency. She was nominated as the presidential candidate of the left-wing Liberty and Refoundation (LIBRE) party at the 2013 election, finishing runner-up to National Party candidate Juan Orlando Hernández and outpolling Liberal candidate Mauricio Villeda. At the 2017 election she was Salvador Nasralla's running mate, with the ticket narrowly losing to Hernández amidst allegations of irregularities. Castro was ultimately elected to the presidency in 2021, defeating National candidate Nasry Asfura with Nasralla as her running mate. She is the first president from outside the country's two-party system since democracy was restored in 1982.


title: Xiomara Castro

text: The second of five children, Castro attended primary and secondary school in Tegucigalpa at the San José del Carmen Institute and the María Auxiliadora Institute. Following, she earned a degree in business administration without attending university.


title: Xiomara Castro

text: In January 1976, Castro married Manuel Zelaya. Immediately after the wedding, they made their home in Catacamas, Olancho.


title: Xiomara Castro

text: Castro played an active part in the Association of Spouses of Members of the Rotary Club of Catacamas, as well as the activities developed within the group to take care of children in need in the Olancho department. She took part in the creation of the Centro de Cuidado Diurno para Niños en Catacamas (Children's Daily Care Center in Catacamas), with the aim of offering assistance to single-parent families led by women, including through the creation of projects of basic cleaning, sowing of vegetables, and floriculture as important projects of job development.


title: Xiomara Castro

text: In Catacamas, Castro organized the women's branch of the Liberal Party of Honduras and conducted a strong campaign in favor of her husband in the internal elections of February 2005, an occasion in which she was in charge of sub-political coordination of Catacamas.


title: Xiomara Castro

text: As First Lady of Honduras, she was in charge of social development programs, and she worked with the United Nations in coalition with other first ladies to address issues faced by women with HIV.


title: Xiomara Castro

text: Following the removal of her husband in the 28 June 2009 coup d'état, she led the movement resisting the coup d'état, repeatedly joining thousands of Hondurans in the streets calling for Zelaya's return. This movement became known as the National Front of Popular Resistance (FNRP) and formed the basis for the political party Libre. She joined her husband in the Brazilian embassy, where he had taken refuge after returning to Honduras before reaching a negotiation with the de facto regime.