The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified
armed forces
A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. It is typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with its members identifiable by their distinct ...
of
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the
''Heer'' (army), the ''
Kriegsmarine
The (, ) was the navy of Germany from 1935 to 1945. It superseded the Imperial German Navy of the German Empire (1871–1918) and the inter-war (1919–1935) of the Weimar Republic. The was one of three official branches, along with the a ...
'' (navy) and the ''
Luftwaffe
The ''Luftwaffe'' () was the aerial-warfare branch of the German ''Wehrmacht'' before and during World War II. Germany's military air arms during World War I, the ''Luftstreitkräfte'' of the Imperial Army and the '' Marine-Fliegerabtei ...
'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmacht''" replaced the previously used term and was the manifestation of the Nazi regime's efforts to
rearm Germany to a greater extent than the
Treaty of Versailles
The Treaty of Versailles (french: Traité de Versailles; german: Versailler Vertrag, ) was the most important of the peace treaties of World War I. It ended the state of war between Germany and the Allied Powers. It was signed on 28 June ...
permitted.
After the
Nazi rise to power
Adolf Hitler's rise to power began in the newly established Weimar Republic in September 1919 when Hitler joined the '' Deutsche Arbeiterpartei'' (DAP; German Workers' Party). He rose to a place of prominence in the early years of the party. Be ...
in 1933, one of
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...
's most overt and audacious moves was to establish the ''Wehrmacht'', a modern offensively-capable armed force, fulfilling the Nazi régime's long-term goals of regaining lost territory as well as gaining new territory and dominating its neighbours. This required the reinstatement of conscription and massive investment and
defense spending
A military budget (or military expenditure), also known as a defense budget, is the amount of financial resources dedicated by a state to raising and maintaining an armed forces or other methods essential for defense purposes.
Financing militar ...
on the
arms industry
The arms industry, also known as the arms trade, is a global industry which manufactures and sells weapons and military technology. It consists of a commercial industry involved in the research and development, engineering, production, and servi ...
.
The ''Wehrmacht'' formed the heart of Germany's politico-military power. In the early part of the
Second World War, the ''Wehrmacht'' employed
combined arms
Combined arms is an approach to warfare
War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme vio ...
tactics (close-cover air-support, tanks and infantry) to devastating effect in what became known as ''
Blitzkrieg
Blitzkrieg ( , ; from 'lightning' + 'war') is a word used to describe a surprise attack using a rapid, overwhelming force concentration that may consist of armored and motorized or mechanized infantry formations, together with close air su ...
'' (lightning war). Its campaigns in
France (1940), the
Soviet Union (1941) and
North Africa (1941/42) are regarded by historians as acts of boldness. At the same time, the far-flung advances strained the ''Wehrmacht's'' capacity to the breaking point, culminating in its first major defeat in the
Battle of Moscow
The Battle of Moscow was a military campaign that consisted of two periods of strategically significant fighting on a sector of the Eastern Front (World War II), Eastern Front during World War II. It took place between September 1941 and January ...
(1941); by late 1942, Germany was losing the initiative in all theatres. The German
operational art proved no match to the war-making abilities of the Allied coalition, making the ''Wehrmacht's'' weaknesses in strategy, doctrine and logistics readily apparent.
Closely cooperating with the
''SS'' and the , the German armed forces committed numerous
war crimes (despite later denials and promotion of the
myth of the clean ''Wehrmacht''). The majority of the war crimes took place in the Soviet Union, Poland, Yugoslavia, Greece and Italy, as part of the
war of annihilation
A war of annihilation (german: Vernichtungskrieg) or war of extermination is a type of war in which the goal is the complete annihilation of a state, a people or an ethnic minority through genocide or through the destruction of their livelihood. ...
against the Soviet Union,
the Holocaust
The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; a ...
and
Nazi security warfare
Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Na ...
.
During World War II about 18 million men served in the ''Wehrmacht''. By the time the war ended in Europe in May 1945, German forces (consisting of the
''Heer'', the ''
Kriegsmarine
The (, ) was the navy of Germany from 1935 to 1945. It superseded the Imperial German Navy of the German Empire (1871–1918) and the inter-war (1919–1935) of the Weimar Republic. The was one of three official branches, along with the a ...
'', the ''
Luftwaffe
The ''Luftwaffe'' () was the aerial-warfare branch of the German ''Wehrmacht'' before and during World War II. Germany's military air arms during World War I, the ''Luftstreitkräfte'' of the Imperial Army and the '' Marine-Fliegerabtei ...
'', the ''
Waffen-SS
The (, "Armed SS") was the combat branch of the Nazi Party's ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) organisation. Its formations included men from Nazi Germany, along with Waffen-SS foreign volunteers and conscripts, volunteers and conscripts from both occup ...
'', the ''
Volkssturm
The (; "people's storm") was a levée en masse national militia established by Nazi Germany during the last months of World War II. It was not set up by the German Army, the ground component of the combined German ''Wehrmacht'' armed forces, ...
'', and
foreign collaborator units) had lost approximately 11,300,000 men, about half of whom were missing or killed during the war. Only a few of the ''Wehrmacht''s upper leadership went on trial for war crimes, despite evidence suggesting that more were involved in illegal actions. According to
Ian Kershaw
Sir Ian Kershaw (born 29 April 1943) is an English historian whose work has chiefly focused on the social history of 20th-century Germany. He is regarded by many as one of the world's leading experts on Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany, and is pa ...
, most of the three million ''Wehrmacht'' soldiers who invaded the USSR participated in committing war crimes.
Origin
Etymology
The German term ''"Wehrmacht''" stems from the compound word of german: wehren, "to defend" and , "power, force". It has been used to describe any nation's armed forces; for example, meaning "British Armed Forces". The
Frankfurt Constitution
The Frankfurt Constitution (german: Frankfurter Reichsverfassung, FRV) or Constitution of St. Paul's Church (''Paulskirchenverfassung''), officially named the Constitution of the German Empire (''Verfassung des Deutschen Reiches'') of 28 March 18 ...
of 1849 designated all German military forces as the "German ''Wehrmacht''", consisting of the (sea force) and the (land force). In 1919, the term ''Wehrmacht'' also appears in Article 47 of the
Weimar Constitution
The Constitution of the German Reich (german: Die Verfassung des Deutschen Reichs), usually known as the Weimar Constitution (''Weimarer Verfassung''), was the constitution that governed Germany during the Weimar Republic era (1919–1933). The c ...
, establishing that: "The Reich's President holds supreme command of all armed forces
.e. the ''Wehrmacht''of the Reich". From 1919, Germany's national defense force was known as the , a name that was dropped in favor of ''Wehrmacht'' on 21 May 1935.
Background
![Bundesarchiv_Bild_102-16108,_Vereidigung_von_Reichswehr-Soldaten_auf_Hitler](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4f/Bundesarchiv_Bild_102-16108%2C_Vereidigung_von_Reichswehr-Soldaten_auf_Hitler.jpg)
In January 1919, after
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
ended with the signing of the
armistice of 11 November 1918
The Armistice of 11 November 1918 was the armistice signed at Le Francport near Compiègne that ended fighting on land, sea, and air in World War I between the Entente and their last remaining opponent, Germany. Previous armistices ...
, the armed forces were dubbed (peace army). In March 1919, the national assembly passed a law founding a 420,000-strong preliminary army, the . The terms of the
Treaty of Versailles
The Treaty of Versailles (french: Traité de Versailles; german: Versailler Vertrag, ) was the most important of the peace treaties of World War I. It ended the state of war between Germany and the Allied Powers. It was signed on 28 June ...
were announced in May, and in June, Germany signed the treaty that, among other terms, imposed severe constraints on the size of Germany's armed forces. The army was limited to one hundred thousand men with an additional fifteen thousand in the navy. The fleet was to consist of at most six
battleship
A battleship is a large armored warship with a main battery consisting of large caliber guns. It dominated naval warfare in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
The term ''battleship'' came into use in the late 1880s to describe a type of ...
s, six
cruiser
A cruiser is a type of warship. Modern cruisers are generally the largest ships in a fleet after aircraft carriers and amphibious assault ships, and can usually perform several roles.
The term "cruiser", which has been in use for several hu ...
s, and twelve
destroyer
In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast, manoeuvrable, long-endurance warship intended to escort
larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against powerful short range attackers. They were originally developed in ...
s.
Submarine
A submarine (or sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability. The term is also sometimes used historically or colloquially to refer to remotely op ...
s,
tank
A tank is an armoured fighting vehicle intended as a primary offensive weapon in front-line ground combat. Tank designs are a balance of heavy firepower, strong armour, and good battlefield mobility provided by tracks and a powerful engin ...
s and heavy
artillery
Artillery is a class of heavy military ranged weapons that launch munitions far beyond the range and power of infantry firearms. Early artillery development focused on the ability to breach defensive walls and fortifications during siege ...
were forbidden and the air-force was dissolved. A new post-war military, the ''
Reichswehr
''Reichswehr'' () was the official name of the German armed forces during the Weimar Republic and the first years of the Third Reich. After Germany was defeated in World War I, the Imperial German Army () was dissolved in order to be reshaped ...
'', was established on 23 March 1921.
General conscription was abolished under another mandate of the Versailles treaty.
The ''Reichswehr'' was limited to 115,000 men, and thus the armed forces, under the leadership of
Hans von Seeckt
Johannes "Hans" Friedrich Leopold von Seeckt (22 April 1866 – 27 December 1936) was a German military officer who served as Chief of Staff to August von Mackensen and was a central figure in planning the victories Mackensen achieved for Germany ...
, retained only the most capable officers. The American historians Alan Millet and
Williamson Murray
Williamson Murray (born November 23, 1941) is an American historian and author. He has authored numerous works on history and strategic studies, and served as an editor on other projects extensively. As of 2012, he is professor emeritus of histo ...
wrote "In reducing the officers corps, Seeckt chose the new leadership from the best men of the general staff with ruthless disregard for other constituencies, such as war heroes and the nobility." Seeckt's determination that the ''Reichswehr'' be an elite cadre force that would serve as the nucleus of an expanded military when the chance for restoring conscription came essentially led to the creation of a new army, based upon, but very different from, the army that existed in World War I. In the 1920s, Seeckt and his officers developed new doctrines that emphasized speed, aggression, combined arms and initiative on the part of lower officers to take advantage of momentary opportunities. Though Seeckt retired in 1926, his influence on the army was still apparent when it went to war in 1939.
Germany was forbidden to have an air force by the Versailles treaty; nonetheless, Seeckt created a clandestine cadre of air force officers in the early 1920s. These officers saw the role of an air force as winning air superiority, strategic bombing, and close air support. That the ''Luftwaffe'' did not develop a strategic bombing force in the 1930s was not due to a lack of interest, but because of economic limitations. The leadership of the Navy led by Grand Admiral
Erich Raeder
Erich Johann Albert Raeder (24 April 1876 – 6 November 1960) was a German admiral who played a major role in the naval history of World War II. Raeder attained the highest possible naval rank, that of grand admiral, in 1939, becoming the fir ...
, a close protégé of
Alfred von Tirpitz
Alfred Peter Friedrich von Tirpitz (19 March 1849 – 6 March 1930) was a German grand admiral, Secretary of State of the German Imperial Naval Office, the powerful administrative branch of the German Imperial Navy from 1897 until 1916. Prussi ...
, was dedicated to the idea of reviving Tirpitz's High Seas Fleet. Officers who believed in submarine warfare led by Admiral
Karl Dönitz
Karl Dönitz (sometimes spelled Doenitz; ; 16 September 1891 24 December 1980) was a German admiral who briefly succeeded Adolf Hitler as head of state in May 1945, holding the position until the dissolution of the Flensburg Government follo ...
were in a minority before 1939.
By 1922, Germany had begun covertly circumventing the conditions of the Versailles treaty. A secret collaboration with the
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
began after the
Treaty of Rapallo Following World War I there were two Treaties of Rapallo, both named after Rapallo, a resort on the Ligurian coast of Italy:
* Treaty of Rapallo, 1920, an agreement between Italy and the Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (the later Yugoslav ...
. Major-General
Otto Hasse traveled to Moscow in 1923 to further negotiate the terms. Germany helped the Soviet Union with industrialization and Soviet officers were to be trained in Germany. German tank and air-force specialists could exercise in the Soviet Union and German chemical weapons research and manufacture would be carried out there along with other projects. In 1924 a
fighter-pilot school was established at
Lipetsk
Lipetsk ( rus, links=no, Липецк, p=ˈlʲipʲɪtsk), also romanized as Lipeck, is a city and the administrative center of Lipetsk Oblast, Russia, located on the banks of the Voronezh River in the Don basin, southeast of Moscow. Populatio ...
, where several hundred German air force personnel received instruction in operational maintenance, navigation, and aerial combat training over the next decade until the Germans finally left in September 1933. However, the arms buildup was done in secrecy, until Hitler came to power and it received broad political support.
Nazi rise to power
After the death of President
Paul von Hindenburg
Paul Ludwig Hans Anton von Beneckendorff und von Hindenburg (; abbreviated ; 2 October 1847 – 2 August 1934) was a German field marshal and statesman who led the Imperial German Army during World War I and later became President of Germany fro ...
on 2 August 1934,
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...
assumed the office of
President of Germany
The president of Germany, officially the Federal President of the Federal Republic of Germany (german: link=no, Bundespräsident der Bundesrepublik Deutschland),The official title within Germany is ', with ' being added in international corres ...
, and thus became commander in chief. In February 1934, the Defence Minister
Werner von Blomberg
Werner Eduard Fritz von Blomberg (2 September 1878 – 13 March 1946) was a German General Staff officer and the first Minister of War in Adolf Hitler's government. After serving on the Western Front in World War I, Blomberg was appointed chi ...
, acting on his own initiative, had all of the Jews serving in the ''Reichswehr'' given an automatic and immediate
dishonorable discharge
A military discharge is given when a member of the armed forces is released from their obligation to serve. Each country's military has different types of discharge. They are generally based on whether the persons completed their training and the ...
. Again, on his own initiative Blomberg had the armed forces adopt
Nazi symbols
The 20th-century German Nazi Party made extensive use of graphic symbols, especially the ''swastika'', notably in the form of the swastika flag, which became the co-national flag of Nazi Germany in 1933, and the sole national flag in 1935. A ...
into their uniforms in May 1934. In August of the same year, on Blomberg's initiative and that of the ''Ministeramt'' chief General
Walther von Reichenau
Walter Karl Ernst August von Reichenau (8 October 1884 – 17 January 1942) was a field marshal in the Wehrmacht of Nazi Germany during World War II. Reichenau commanded the 6th Army, during the invasions of Belgium and France. During Ope ...
, the entire military took the
Hitler oath
The Hitler Oath (German: or Führer Oath)—also referred in English as the Soldier's Oath—refers to the oaths of allegiance sworn by the officers and soldiers of the German Armed Forces and civil servants of Nazi Germany between the years 193 ...
, an oath of personal loyalty to Hitler. Hitler was most surprised at the offer; the popular view that Hitler imposed the oath on the military is false. The oath read: "I swear by God this sacred oath that to the Leader of the German empire and people, Adolf Hitler, supreme commander of the armed forces, I shall render unconditional obedience and that as a brave soldier I shall at all times be prepared to give my life for this oath".
By 1935, Germany was openly flouting the military restrictions set forth in the Versailles Treaty:
German rearmament
German rearmament (''Aufrüstung'', ) was a policy and practice of rearmament carried out in Germany during the interwar period (1918–1939), in violation of the Treaty of Versailles which required German disarmament after WWI to prevent Germa ...
was announced on 16 March with the "Edict for the Buildup of the ''Wehrmacht''" (german: Gesetz für den Aufbau der Wehrmacht) and the reintroduction of conscription. While the size of the standing army was to remain at about the 100,000-man mark decreed by the treaty, a new group of conscripts equal to this size would receive training each year. The conscription law introduced the name "''Wehrmacht''"; the ''Reichswehr'' was officially renamed the ''Wehrmacht'' on 21 May 1935. Hitler's proclamation of the ''Wehrmacht''s existence included a total of no less than 36 divisions in its original projection, contravening the Treaty of Versailles in grandiose fashion. In December 1935, General
Ludwig Beck
Ludwig August Theodor Beck (; 29 June 1880 – 20 July 1944) was a German general and Chief of the German General Staff during the early years of the Nazi regime in Germany before World War II. Although Beck never became a member of the Na ...
added 48 tank battalions to the planned rearmament program. Hitler originally set a time frame of 10 years for remilitarization, but soon shortened it to four years. With the
remilitarization of the Rhineland
The remilitarization of the Rhineland () began on 7 March 1936, when German military forces entered the Rhineland, which directly contravened the Treaty of Versailles and the Locarno Treaties. Neither France nor Britain was prepared for a milit ...
and the ''
Anschluss
The (, or , ), also known as the (, en, Annexation of Austria), was the annexation of the Federal State of Austria into the German Reich on 13 March 1938.
The idea of an (a united Austria and Germany that would form a " Greater Germany ...
'', the German Reich's territory increased significantly, providing a larger population pool for conscription.
Personnel and recruitment
![Bundesarchiv Bild 183-R43590, Potsdam, Musterung für die Wehrmacht](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0b/Bundesarchiv_Bild_183-R43590%2C_Potsdam%2C_Musterung_f%C3%BCr_die_Wehrmacht.jpg)
Recruitment for the ''Wehrmacht'' was accomplished through voluntary enlistment and conscription, with 1.3 million being drafted and 2.4 million volunteering in the period 1935–1939. The total number of soldiers who served in the ''Wehrmacht'' during its existence from 1935 to 1945 is believed to have approached 18.2 million. The German military leadership originally aimed at a homogeneous military, possessing traditional
Prussian military values. However, with Hitler's constant wishes to increase the ''Wehrmacht''s size, the Army was forced to accept citizens of lower class and education, decreasing internal cohesion and appointing officers who lacked real-war experience from previous conflicts, especially
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
and the
Spanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil War ( es, Guerra Civil Española)) or The Revolution ( es, La Revolución, link=no) among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War ( es, Cuarta Guerra Carlista, link=no) among Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebelión, lin ...
.
The effectiveness of officer training and recruitment by the ''Wehrmacht'' has been identified as a major factor in its early victories as well as its ability to keep the war going as long as it did even as the war turned against Germany.
![Nazi World War II poster Danzig is German](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/ce/Nazi_World_War_II_poster_Danzig_is_German.jpg)
As the Second World War intensified, ''
Kriegsmarine
The (, ) was the navy of Germany from 1935 to 1945. It superseded the Imperial German Navy of the German Empire (1871–1918) and the inter-war (1919–1935) of the Weimar Republic. The was one of three official branches, along with the a ...
'' and ''
Luftwaffe
The ''Luftwaffe'' () was the aerial-warfare branch of the German ''Wehrmacht'' before and during World War II. Germany's military air arms during World War I, the ''Luftstreitkräfte'' of the Imperial Army and the '' Marine-Fliegerabtei ...
'' personnel were increasingly transferred to the army, and "voluntary" enlistments in the ''SS'' were stepped up as well. Following the
Battle of Stalingrad
The Battle of Stalingrad (23 August 19422 February 1943) was a major battle on the Eastern Front of World War II where Nazi Germany and its allies unsuccessfully fought the Soviet Union for control of the city of Stalingrad (later re ...
in 1943, fitness and physical health standards for ''Wehrmacht'' recruits were drastically lowered, with the regime going so far as to create "special diet" battalions for men with severe stomach ailments. Rear-echelon personnel were more often sent to front-line duty wherever possible, especially during the final two years of the war where, inspired by constant propaganda, the oldest and
youngest were being recruited and driven by instilled fear and fanaticism to serve on the fronts and, often, to fight to the death, whether judged to be cannon fodder or elite troops.
![Bundesarchiv Bild 101I-177-1465-16, Griechenland, Soldaten der](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b1/Bundesarchiv_Bild_101I-177-1465-16%2C_Griechenland%2C_Soldaten_der_%22Legion_Freies_Arabien%22.jpg)
Prior to World War II, the ''Wehrmacht'' strove to remain a purely ethnic German force; as such, minorities within and outside of Germany, such as the Czechs in annexed
Czechoslovakia
, rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי,
, common_name = Czechoslovakia
, life_span = 1918–19391945–1992
, p1 = Austria-Hungary
, image_p1 ...
, were exempted from military service after Hitler's takeover in 1938. Foreign volunteers were generally not accepted in the German armed forces prior to 1941. With the
invasion of the Soviet Union
Operation Barbarossa (german: link=no, Unternehmen Barbarossa; ) was the invasion of the Soviet Union by Nazi Germany and many of its Axis allies, starting on Sunday, 22 June 1941, during the Second World War. The operation, code-named afte ...
in 1941, the government's positions changed. German propagandists wanted to present the war not as a purely German concern, but as a multi-national
crusade
The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and sometimes directed by the Latin Church in the medieval period. The best known of these Crusades are those to the Holy Land in the period between 1095 and 1291 that were i ...
against the so-called
Jewish Bolshevism
Jewish Bolshevism, also Judeo–Bolshevism, is an anti-communist and antisemitic canard, which alleges that the Jews were the originators of the Russian Revolution in 1917, and that they held primary power among the Bolsheviks who led the revo ...
. Hence, the ''Wehrmacht'' and the ''SS'' began to seek out recruits from occupied and neutral countries across Europe: the Germanic populations of the Netherlands and Norway were recruited largely into the ''SS'', while "non-Germanic" people were recruited into the ''Wehrmacht''. The "voluntary" nature of such recruitment was often dubious, especially in the later years of the war when even Poles living in the
Polish Corridor
The Polish Corridor (german: Polnischer Korridor; pl, Pomorze, Polski Korytarz), also known as the Danzig Corridor, Corridor to the Sea or Gdańsk Corridor, was a territory located in the region of Pomerelia (Pomeranian Voivodeship, eastern ...
were declared "ethnic Germans" and drafted.
After Germany's defeat in the
Battle of Stalingrad
The Battle of Stalingrad (23 August 19422 February 1943) was a major battle on the Eastern Front of World War II where Nazi Germany and its allies unsuccessfully fought the Soviet Union for control of the city of Stalingrad (later re ...
, the ''Wehrmacht'' also made substantial use of personnel from the
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
, including the
Caucasian Muslim Legion
The Caucasian-Mohammedan Legion (German: ''Kaukasisch-Mohammedanische Legion'') was a volunteer unit of the German Army during World War II. The Legion was created on 13 January 1942 by order of General of the Infantry Friedrich Olbricht. The Le ...
,
Turkestan Legion
The Turkestan Legion (german: Turkistanische Legion) was the name for the military units composed of the Turkic peoples who served in the Wehrmacht during World War II. Most of these troops were Red Army POWs who formed a common cause with the G ...
, Crimean Tatars, ethnic Ukrainians and Russians,
Cossack
The Cossacks , es, cosaco , et, Kasakad, cazacii , fi, Kasakat, cazacii , french: cosaques , hu, kozákok, cazacii , it, cosacchi , orv, коза́ки, pl, Kozacy , pt, cossacos , ro, cazaci , russian: казаки́ or ...
s, and others who wished to fight against the Soviet regime or who were otherwise induced to join. Between 15,000 and 20,000 anti-communist
White émigrés
White is the lightness, lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully diffuse reflection, reflect and scattering, scatter all the ...
who had left Russia after the
Russian Revolution
The Russian Revolution was a period of Political revolution (Trotskyism), political and social revolution that took place in the former Russian Empire which began during the First World War. This period saw Russia abolish its monarchy and ad ...
joined the ranks of the ''Wehrmacht'' and ''Waffen-SS'', with 1,500 acting as
interpreters
Interpreting is a translational activity in which one produces a first and final target-language output on the basis of a one-time exposure to an expression in a source language.
The most common two modes of interpreting are simultaneous inter ...
and more than 10,000 serving in the guard force of the
Russian Protective Corps
The Russian Protective Corps (german: Russisches Schutzkorps, russian: Русский охранный корпус, sr, Руски заштитни корпус / Ruski zaštitni korpus) was an armed force composed of anti-communist White Russi ...
.
Women in the ''Wehrmacht''
![Bundesarchiv Bild 101I-768-0147-15, Paris, Wehrmachtshelferinnen](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3c/Bundesarchiv_Bild_101I-768-0147-15%2C_Paris%2C_Wehrmachtshelferinnen.jpg)
In the beginning, women in Nazi Germany were not involved in the ''Wehrmacht'', as Hitler ideologically opposed conscription for women, stating that Germany would "''not form any section of women grenade throwers or any corps of women elite snipers.''" However, with many men going to the front, women were placed in auxiliary positions within the ''Wehrmacht'', called ''Wehrmachtshelferinnen'' (), participating in tasks as:
* telephone, telegraph and transmission operators,
* administrative clerks,
typists and messengers,
* operators of listening equipment, in anti-aircraft defense, operating projectors for anti-aircraft defense, employees within
meteorology
Meteorology is a branch of the atmospheric sciences (which include atmospheric chemistry and physics) with a major focus on weather forecasting. The study of meteorology dates back millennia, though significant progress in meteorology did not ...
services, and auxiliary civil defense personnel
* volunteer nurses in military health service, as the
German Red Cross
The German Red Cross (german: Deutsches Rotes Kreuz ; DRK) is the national Red Cross Society in Germany.
With 4 million members, it is the third largest Red Cross society in the world. The German Red Cross offers a wide range of services within ...
or other voluntary organizations.
They were placed under the same authority as (
Hiwis
Hiwi (), the German abbreviation of the word ''Hilfswilliger'' or, in English, auxiliary volunteer, designated, during World War II, a member of different kinds of voluntary auxiliary forces made up of recruits indigenous to the territories of Ea ...
), auxiliary personnel of the army (german: Behelfspersonal) and they were assigned to duties within the Reich, and to a lesser extent, in the occupied territories, for example in the
general government of occupied Poland, in
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
, and later in
Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...
, in
Greece
Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...
and in
Romania
Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...
.
By 1945, 500,000 women were serving as ''Wehrmachtshelferinnen'', half of whom were volunteers, while the other half performed obligatory services connected to the war effort (german: Kriegshilfsdienst).
Command structure
![Wehrmacht structure (1939-1945)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/97/Wehrmacht_structure_%281939-1945%29.svg)
Legally, the
commander-in-chief of the ''Wehrmacht'' was Adolf Hitler in his capacity as Germany's head of state, a position he gained after the death of President
Paul von Hindenburg
Paul Ludwig Hans Anton von Beneckendorff und von Hindenburg (; abbreviated ; 2 October 1847 – 2 August 1934) was a German field marshal and statesman who led the Imperial German Army during World War I and later became President of Germany fro ...
in August 1934. With the creation of the ''Wehrmacht'' in 1935, Hitler elevated himself to Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, retaining the position until his suicide on 30 April 1945. The title of Commander-in-Chief was given to the
Minister of the ''Reichswehr'' Werner von Blomberg
Werner Eduard Fritz von Blomberg (2 September 1878 – 13 March 1946) was a German General Staff officer and the first Minister of War in Adolf Hitler's government. After serving on the Western Front in World War I, Blomberg was appointed chi ...
, who was simultaneously renamed the Reich Minister of War. Following the
Blomberg-Fritsch Affair, Blomberg resigned and Hitler abolished the Ministry of War. As a replacement for the ministry, the ''Wehrmacht'' High Command ''
Oberkommando der Wehrmacht'' (OKW), under Field Marshal
Wilhelm Keitel
Wilhelm Bodewin Johann Gustav Keitel (; 22 September 188216 October 1946) was a German field marshal and war criminal who held office as chief of the '' Oberkommando der Wehrmacht'' (OKW), the high command of Nazi Germany's Armed Forces, duri ...
, was put in its place.
Placed under the OKW were the three branch High Commands: ''
Oberkommando des Heeres
The (; abbreviated OKH) was the Command (military formation), high command of the German Army (1935–1945), Army of Nazi Germany. It was founded in 1935 as part of Adolf Hitler's German rearmament, rearmament of Germany. OKH was ''de facto'' t ...
'' (OKH), ''
Oberkommando der Marine
The (; abbreviated OKM) was the high command and the highest administrative and command authority of the ''Kriegsmarine''. It was officially formed from the ''Marineleitung'' ("Naval Command") of the ''Reichswehr'' on 11 January 1936. In 1937 ...
'' (OKM), and ''
Oberkommando der Luftwaffe
The (; abbreviated OKL) was the high command of the air force () of Nazi Germany.
History
The was organized in a large and diverse structure led by Reich minister and supreme commander of the Air force (german: Oberbefehlshaber der Luftwaf ...
'' (OKL). The OKW was intended to serve as a joint command and coordinate all military activities, with Hitler at the top. Though many senior officers, such as
von Manstein, had advocated for a real tri-service Joint Command, or appointment of a single Joint Chief of Staff, Hitler refused. Even after the defeat at Stalingrad, Hitler refused, stating that Göring as ''
Reichsmarschall
(german: Reichsmarschall des Großdeutschen Reiches; ) was a rank and the highest military office in the ''Wehrmacht'' specially created for Hermann Göring during World War II. It was senior to the rank of , which was previously the highes ...
'' and Hitler's deputy, would not submit to someone else or see himself as an equal to other service commanders. However, a more likely reason was Hitler feared it would break his image of having the "Midas touch" concerning military strategy.
With the creation of the OKW, Hitler solidified his control over the ''Wehrmacht''. Showing restraint at the beginning of the war, Hitler also became increasingly involved in military operations at every scale.
Additionally, there was a clear lack of cohesion between the three High Commands and the OKW, as senior generals were unaware of the needs, capabilities and limitations of the other branches. With Hitler serving as Supreme Commander, branch commands were often forced to fight for influence with Hitler. However, influence with Hitler not only came from rank and merit but also who Hitler perceived as loyal, leading to inter-service rivalry, rather than cohesion between his military advisers.
Branches
Army
![Bundesarchiv Bild 101I-217-0465-32A, Russland, Soldaten auf dem Marsch](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/41/Bundesarchiv_Bild_101I-217-0465-32A%2C_Russland%2C_Soldaten_auf_dem_Marsch.jpg)
The German Army furthered concepts pioneered during
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, combining ground (''Heer'') and air force (''Luftwaffe'') assets into
combined arms
Combined arms is an approach to warfare
War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme vio ...
teams. Coupled with traditional war fighting methods such as
encirclement
Encirclement is a military term for the situation when a force or target is isolated and surrounded by enemy forces. The situation is highly dangerous for the encircled force. At the strategic level, it cannot receive supplies or reinforceme ...
s and the "
battle of annihilation
Annihilation is a military strategy in which an attacking army seeks to entirely destroy the military capacity of the opposing army. This strategy can be executed in a single planned pivotal battle, called a "battle of annihilation". A succes ...
", the ''Wehrmacht'' managed many lightning quick victories in the first year of World War II, prompting foreign journalists to create a new word for what they witnessed: ''
Blitzkrieg
Blitzkrieg ( , ; from 'lightning' + 'war') is a word used to describe a surprise attack using a rapid, overwhelming force concentration that may consist of armored and motorized or mechanized infantry formations, together with close air su ...
''. Germany's immediate military success on the field at the start of the Second World War coincides the favorable beginning they achieved during the First World War, a fact which some attribute to their superior officer corps.
The ''Heer'' entered the war with a minority of its formations
motorized; infantry remained approximately 90% foot-borne throughout the war, and artillery was primarily
horse-drawn
A horse-drawn vehicle is a mechanized piece of equipment pulled by one horse or by a team of horses. These vehicles typically had two or four wheels and were used to carry passengers and/or a load. They were once common worldwide, but they have m ...
. The motorized formations received much attention in the world press in the opening years of the war, and were cited as the reason for the success of the
invasions of Poland (September 1939),
Denmark and Norway (April 1940),
Belgium, France, and Netherlands (May 1940),
Yugoslavia and Greece (April 1941) and the early stage of
Operation Barbarossa
Operation Barbarossa (german: link=no, Unternehmen Barbarossa; ) was the invasion of the Soviet Union by Nazi Germany and many of its Axis allies, starting on Sunday, 22 June 1941, during the Second World War. The operation, code-named after ...
in the Soviet Union (June 1941).
After Hitler declared war on the United States in December 1941, the
Axis powers
The Axis powers, ; it, Potenze dell'Asse ; ja, 枢軸国 ''Sūjikukoku'', group=nb originally called the Rome–Berlin Axis, was a military coalition that initiated World War II and fought against the Allies. Its principal members were ...
found themselves engaged in campaigns against several major industrial powers while Germany was still in transition to a war economy. German units were then overextended, undersupplied, outmaneuvered, outnumbered and defeated by its enemies in decisive battles during 1941, 1942, and 1943 at the
Battle of Moscow
The Battle of Moscow was a military campaign that consisted of two periods of strategically significant fighting on a sector of the Eastern Front (World War II), Eastern Front during World War II. It took place between September 1941 and January ...
, the
Siege of Leningrad
The siege of Leningrad (russian: links=no, translit=Blokada Leningrada, Блокада Ленинграда; german: links=no, Leningrader Blockade; ) was a prolonged military blockade undertaken by the Axis powers against the Soviet city of L ...
,
Stalingrad
Volgograd ( rus, Волгогра́д, a=ru-Volgograd.ogg, p=vəɫɡɐˈɡrat), geographical renaming, formerly Tsaritsyn (russian: Цари́цын, Tsarítsyn, label=none; ) (1589–1925), and Stalingrad (russian: Сталингра́д, Stal ...
,
Tunis
''Tounsi'' french: Tunisois
, population_note =
, population_urban =
, population_metro = 2658816
, population_density_km2 =
, timezone1 = CET
, utc_offset1 ...
in
North Africa
North Africa, or Northern Africa is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region, and it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of Mauritania in ...
, and the
Battle of Kursk
The Battle of Kursk was a major World War II Eastern Front engagement between the forces of Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union near Kursk in the southwestern USSR during late summer 1943; it ultimately became the largest tank battle in history. ...
.
![Advance of the Panzerjager-Abteilung 39-AC1942](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f4/Advance_of_the_Panzerjager-Abteilung_39-AC1942.jpg)
The German Army was managed through
mission-based tactics (rather than order-based tactics) which was intended to give commanders greater freedom to act on events and exploit opportunities. In public opinion, the German Army was, and sometimes still is, seen as a high-tech army. However, such modern equipment, while featured much in propaganda, was often only available in relatively small numbers. Only 40% to 60% of all units in the
Eastern Front were motorized, baggage trains often relied on horse-drawn trailers due to poor roads and weather conditions in the Soviet Union, and for the same reasons many soldiers marched on foot or used bicycles as
bicycle infantry
Bicycle infantry are infantry soldiers who maneuver on (or, more often, between) battlefields using military bicycles. The term dates from the late 19th century, when the "safety bicycle" became popular in Europe, the United States, and Austra ...
. As the fortunes of war turned against them, the Germans were in constant retreat from 1943 and onward.
The
Panzer division
A Panzer division was one of the armored (tank) divisions in the army of Nazi Germany during World War II. Panzer divisions were the key element of German success in the blitzkrieg operations of the early years of World War II. Later the Waffe ...
s were vital to the German army's early success. In the strategies of the ''Blitzkrieg'', the ''Wehrmacht'' combined the mobility of light tanks with airborne assault to quickly progress through weak enemy lines, enabling the German army to quickly and brutally take over Poland and France. These tanks were used to break through enemy lines, isolating regiments from the main force so that the infantry behind the tanks could quickly kill or capture the enemy troops.
Air Force
![Bundesarchiv Bild 141-0864, Kreta, Landung von Fallschirmjägern](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4e/Bundesarchiv_Bild_141-0864%2C_Kreta%2C_Landung_von_Fallschirmj%C3%A4gern.jpg)
Originally outlawed by the Treaty of Versailles, the ''
Luftwaffe
The ''Luftwaffe'' () was the aerial-warfare branch of the German ''Wehrmacht'' before and during World War II. Germany's military air arms during World War I, the ''Luftstreitkräfte'' of the Imperial Army and the '' Marine-Fliegerabtei ...
'' was officially established in 1935, under the leadership of
Hermann Göring
Hermann Wilhelm Göring (or Goering; ; 12 January 1893 – 15 October 1946) was a German politician, military leader and convicted war criminal. He was one of the most powerful figures in the Nazi Party, which ruled Germany from 1933 to 1 ...
. First gaining experience in the
Spanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil War ( es, Guerra Civil Española)) or The Revolution ( es, La Revolución, link=no) among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War ( es, Cuarta Guerra Carlista, link=no) among Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebelión, lin ...
, it was a key element in the early ''Blitzkrieg'' campaigns (Poland, France 1940, USSR 1941). The ''Luftwaffe'' concentrated production on fighters and (small) tactical bombers, like the
Messerschmitt Bf 109
The Messerschmitt Bf 109 is a German World War II fighter aircraft that was, along with the Focke-Wulf Fw 190, the backbone of the Luftwaffe's fighter force. The Bf 109 first saw operational service in 1937 during the Spanish Civil War an ...
fighter and the
Junkers Ju 87
The Junkers Ju 87 or Stuka (from ''Sturzkampfflugzeug'', "dive bomber") was a German dive bomber and ground-attack aircraft. Designed by Hermann Pohlmann, it first flew in 1935. The Ju 87 made its combat debut in 1937 with the Luftwaffe's Con ...
''Stuka'' dive bomber. The planes cooperated closely with the ground forces. Overwhelming numbers of fighters assured air-supremacy, and the bombers would attack command- and supply-lines, depots, and other support targets close to the front. The ''Luftwaffe'' would also be used to transport paratroopers, as first used during
Operation Weserübung
Operation Weserübung (german: Unternehmen Weserübung , , 9 April – 10 June 1940) was Germany's assault on Denmark and Norway during the Second World War and the opening operation of the Norwegian Campaign.
In the early morning of 9 Ap ...
. Due to the Army's sway with Hitler, the ''Luftwaffe'' was often subordinated to the Army, resulting in it being used as a tactical support role and losing its strategic capabilities.
The Western Allies' strategic bombing campaign against German industrial targets, particularly the round the clock
Combined Bomber Offensive
The Combined Bomber Offensive (CBO) was an Allies of World War II, Allied offensive of strategic bombing during World War II, strategic bombing during World War II in Europe. The primary portion of the CBO was directed against Luftwaffe targets w ...
and
Defence of the Reich
The Defence of the Reich (german: Reichsverteidigung) is the name given to the military strategy, strategic defensive aerial campaign fought by the Luftwaffe of Nazi Germany over German-occupied Europe and Germany during World War II. Its aim w ...
, deliberately forced the ''Luftwaffe'' into a war of attrition. With German fighter force destroyed the Western Allies had air supremacy over the battlefield, denying support to German forces on the ground and using its own fighter-bombers to attack and disrupt. Following the losses in
Operation Bodenplatte
Operation Bodenplatte (; "Baseplate"), launched on 1 January 1945, was an attempt by the Luftwaffe to cripple Allied air forces in the Low Countries during the Second World War. The goal of ''Bodenplatte'' was to gain air superiority during th ...
in 1945, the ''Luftwaffe'' was no longer an effective force.
Navy
![Bundesarchiv Bild 101II-MW-3491-06, St](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bf/Bundesarchiv_Bild_101II-MW-3491-06%2C_St._Nazaire%2C_Uboot_U_94%2C_Karl_D%C3%B6nitz.jpg)
The Treaty of Versailles disallowed submarines, while limiting the size of the ''
Reichsmarine
The ''Reichsmarine'' ( en, Realm Navy) was the name of the German Navy during the Weimar Republic and first two years of Nazi Germany. It was the naval branch of the ''Reichswehr'', existing from 1919 to 1935. In 1935, it became known as the ''K ...
'' to six battleships, six cruisers, and twelve destroyers. Following the creation of the ''Wehrmacht'', the navy was renamed the ''Kriegsmarine''.
With the signing of the
Anglo-German Naval Agreement
The Anglo-German Naval Agreement (AGNA) of 18 June 1935 was a naval agreement between the United Kingdom and Germany regulating the size of the '' Kriegsmarine'' in relation to the Royal Navy.
The Anglo-German Naval Agreement fixed a ratio wher ...
, Germany was allowed to increase its navy's size to be 35:100 tonnage of the Royal Navy, and allowed for the construction of U-boats. This was partly done to appease Germany, and because Britain believed the ''Kriegsmarine'' would not be able to reach the 35% limit until 1942. The navy was also prioritized last in the German rearmament scheme, making it the smallest of the branches.
In the
Battle of the Atlantic
The Battle of the Atlantic, the longest continuous military campaign in World War II, ran from 1939 to the defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945, covering a major part of the naval history of World War II. At its core was the Allied naval blockade ...
, the initially successful German
U-boat
U-boats were naval submarines operated by Germany, particularly in the First and Second World Wars. Although at times they were efficient fleet weapons against enemy naval warships, they were most effectively used in an economic warfare role ...
fleet arm was eventually defeated due to Allied technological innovations like
sonar
Sonar (sound navigation and ranging or sonic navigation and ranging) is a technique that uses sound propagation (usually underwater, as in submarine navigation) to navigation, navigate, measure distances (ranging), communicate with or detect o ...
,
radar
Radar is a detection system that uses radio waves to determine the distance (''ranging''), angle, and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, w ...
, and the breaking of the
Enigma
Enigma may refer to:
*Riddle, someone or something that is mysterious or puzzling
Biology
*ENIGMA, a class of gene in the LIM domain
Computing and technology
* Enigma (company), a New York-based data-technology startup
* Enigma machine, a family ...
code.
Large surface vessels were few in number due to construction limitations by international treaties prior to 1935. The "pocket battleships" and were important as commerce raiders only in the opening year of the war. No
aircraft carrier
An aircraft carrier is a warship that serves as a seagoing airbase, equipped with a full-length flight deck and facilities for carrying, arming, deploying, and recovering aircraft. Typically, it is the capital ship of a fleet, as it allows a ...
was operational, as German leadership lost interest in the which had been launched in 1938.
Following the loss of the in 1941, with Allied air-superiority threatening the remaining battle-cruisers in French Atlantic harbors, the ships were ordered to make the
Channel Dash
The Channel Dash (german: Unternehmen Zerberus, Operation Cerberus) was a German naval operation during the Second World War. (Cerberus), a three-headed dog of Greek mythology who guards the gate to Hades. A (German Navy) squadron comprising ...
back to German ports. Operating from fjords along the coast of Norway, which had been occupied since 1940,
convoys from North America to the Soviet port of Murmansk could be intercepted though the spent most of her career as
fleet in being
In naval warfare, a "fleet in being" is a naval force that extends a controlling influence without ever leaving port. Were the fleet to leave port and face the enemy, it might lose in battle and no longer influence the enemy's actions, but while ...
. After the appointment of Karl Dönitz as Grand Admiral of the ''Kriegsmarine'' (in the aftermath of the
Battle of the Barents Sea
The Battle of the Barents Sea was a World War II naval engagement on 31 December 1942 between warships of the German Navy (''Kriegsmarine'') and British ships escorting convoy JW 51B to Kola Inlet in the USSR. The action took place in the Bare ...
), Germany stopped constructing battleships and cruisers in favor of U-boats. Though by 1941, the navy had already lost a number of its large surface ships, which could not be replenished during the war.
The ''Kriegsmarine''s most significant contribution to the German war effort was the deployment of its nearly 1,000 U-boats to strike at Allied convoys. The German naval strategy was to attack the convoys in an attempt to prevent the United States from interfering in Europe and to starve out the British.
Karl Doenitz Karl may refer to:
People
* Karl (given name), including a list of people and characters with the name
* Karl der Große, commonly known in English as Charlemagne
* Karl Marx, German philosopher and political writer
* Karl of Austria, last Austri ...
, the U-Boat Chief, began unrestricted submarine warfare which cost the Allies 22,898 men and 1,315 ships. The U-boat war remained costly for the Allies until early spring of 1943 when the Allies began to use countermeasures against U-Boats such as the use of Hunter-Killer groups, airborne radar, torpedoes and mines like the
FIDO. The submarine war cost the ''Kriegsmarine'' 757 U-boats, with more than 30,000 U-boat crewmen killed.
Coexistence with the Waffen-SS
![Bundesarchiv Bild 101I-712-0475-03, Litauisch-lettische Grenze, Lagebesprechung](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a8/Bundesarchiv_Bild_101I-712-0475-03%2C_Litauisch-lettische_Grenze%2C_Lagebesprechung.jpg)
In the beginning, there was friction between the ''SS'' and the army, as the army feared the ''SS'' would attempt to become a legitimate part of the armed forces of Nazi Germany, partly due to the fighting between the limited armaments, and the perceived fanaticism towards Nazism. However, on 17 August 1938, Hitler codified the role of the ''SS'' and the army in order to end the feud between the two. The arming of the ''SS'' was to be "procured from the ''Wehrmacht'' upon payment", however "in peacetime, no organizational connection with the ''Wehrmacht'' exists." The army was however allowed to check the budget of the ''SS'' and inspect the combat readiness of the ''SS'' troops. In the event of mobilization, the ''Waffen-SS'' field units could be placed under the operational control of the OKW or the OKH. All decisions regarding this would be at Hitler's personal discretion.
Though there existed conflict between the ''SS'' and ''Wehrmacht'', many ''SS'' officers were former army officers, which ensured continuity and understanding between the two. Throughout the war, army and ''SS'' soldiers worked together in various combat situations, creating bonds between the two groups.
Guderian Guderian is a German surname. Other spellings are ''Guderjahn'' and ''Guderjan''. It is present in Greater Poland and Mazovia in the 19th century. Notable people with the surname include:
*Heinz Guderian, Heinz Wilhelm Guderian (1888–1954), Germa ...
noted that every day the war continued the Army and the ''SS'' became closer together. Towards the end of the war, army units would even be placed under the command of the ''SS'', in Italy and the Netherlands. The relationship between the ''Wehrmacht'' and the ''SS'' improved; however, the ''Waffen-SS'' was never considered "the fourth branch of the ''Wehrmacht''.”
Theatres and campaigns
The ''Wehrmacht'' directed combat operations during World War II (from 1 September 19398 May 1945) as the
German Reich
German ''Reich'' (lit. German Realm, German Empire, from german: Deutsches Reich, ) was the constitutional name for the German nation state that existed from 1871 to 1945. The ''Reich'' became understood as deriving its authority and sovereignty ...
's armed forces umbrella command-organization. After 1941 the
OKH
The (; abbreviated OKH) was the high command of the Army of Nazi Germany. It was founded in 1935 as part of Adolf Hitler's rearmament of Germany. OKH was ''de facto'' the most important unit within the German war planning until the defeat at ...
became the ''de facto'' Eastern Theatre higher-echelon command-organization for the ''Wehrmacht'', excluding ''
Waffen-SS
The (, "Armed SS") was the combat branch of the Nazi Party's ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) organisation. Its formations included men from Nazi Germany, along with Waffen-SS foreign volunteers and conscripts, volunteers and conscripts from both occup ...
'' except for operational and tactical combat purposes. The
OKW conducted operations in the Western Theatre. The operations by the ''Kriegsmarine'' in the North and Mid-Atlantic can also be considered as separate theatres, considering the size of the
area of operations In U.S. armed forces parlance, an area of operations (AO) is an operational area defined by the force commander for land, air, and naval forces conduct of combat and non-combat activities. Areas of operations do not typically encompass the entire op ...
and their remoteness from other theatres.
The ''Wehrmacht'' fought on other fronts, sometimes three simultaneously; redeploying troops from the intensifying theatre in the East to the West after the
Normandy landings
The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on Tuesday, 6 June 1944 of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during World War II. Codenamed Operation Neptune and often referred to as ...
caused tensions between the General Staffs of both the OKW and the OKHas Germany lacked sufficient materiel and manpower for a two-front war of such magnitude.
Eastern theatre
![Bundesarchiv Bild 146-1989-030-27, Russland, Infanterie vor brennendem Haus](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/79/Bundesarchiv_Bild_146-1989-030-27%2C_Russland%2C_Infanterie_vor_brennendem_Haus.jpg)
Major campaigns and battles in Eastern and Central Europe included:
*
Czechoslovakian campaign (1938–1945)
*
Invasion of Poland
The invasion of Poland (1 September – 6 October 1939) was a joint attack on the Republic of Poland by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union which marked the beginning of World War II. The German invasion began on 1 September 1939, one week aft ...
(''Fall Weiss'')
*
Operation Barbarossa
Operation Barbarossa (german: link=no, Unternehmen Barbarossa; ) was the invasion of the Soviet Union by Nazi Germany and many of its Axis allies, starting on Sunday, 22 June 1941, during the Second World War. The operation, code-named after ...
(1941), conducted by
Army Group North
Army Group North (german: Heeresgruppe Nord) was a German strategic formation, commanding a grouping of field armies during World War II. The German Army Group was subordinated to the ''Oberkommando des Heeres'' (OKH), the German army high comma ...
,
Army Group Centre
Army Group Centre (german: Heeresgruppe Mitte) was the name of two distinct strategic German Army Groups that fought on the Eastern Front in World War II. The first Army Group Centre was created on 22 June 1941, as one of three German Army fo ...
, and
Army Group South
Army Group South (german: Heeresgruppe Süd) was the name of three German Army Groups during World War II.
It was first used in the 1939 September Campaign, along with Army Group North to invade Poland. In the invasion of Poland Army Group Sou ...
*
Battle of Moscow
The Battle of Moscow was a military campaign that consisted of two periods of strategically significant fighting on a sector of the Eastern Front (World War II), Eastern Front during World War II. It took place between September 1941 and January ...
(1941)
*
Battles of Rzhev
The Battles of Rzhev (russian: Ржевская битва, Rzhevskaya bitva) were a series of Red Army offensives against the Wehrmacht between January 8, 1942, and March 31, 1943, on the Eastern Front of World War II. The battles took place ...
(1942–1943)
*
Battle of Stalingrad
The Battle of Stalingrad (23 August 19422 February 1943) was a major battle on the Eastern Front of World War II where Nazi Germany and its allies unsuccessfully fought the Soviet Union for control of the city of Stalingrad (later re ...
(1942–1943)
*
Battle of the Caucasus
The Battle of the Caucasus is a name given to a series of Axis and Soviet operations in the Caucasus area on the Eastern Front of World War II. On 25 July 1942, German troops captured Rostov-on-Don, Russia, opening the Caucasus region of t ...
(1942–1943)
*
Battle of Kursk
The Battle of Kursk was a major World War II Eastern Front engagement between the forces of Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union near Kursk in the southwestern USSR during late summer 1943; it ultimately became the largest tank battle in history. ...
(Operation Citadel) (1943)
*
Battle of Kiev (1943)
*
Operation Bagration
Operation Bagration (; russian: Операция Багратио́н, Operatsiya Bagration) was the codename for the 1944 Soviet Byelorussian strategic offensive operation (russian: Белорусская наступательная оп ...
(1944)
*
Nazi security warfare
Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Na ...
– largely carried out by
security divisions of the ''Wehrmacht'', by
Order Police
The ''Ordnungspolizei'' (), abbreviated ''Orpo'', meaning "Order Police", were the uniformed police force in Nazi Germany from 1936 to 1945. The Orpo organisation was absorbed into the Nazi monopoly on power after regional police jurisdiction w ...
and by ''Waffen-SS'' units in the occupied territories behind Axis front-lines.
Western theatre
![Bundesarchiv Bild 146-1994-036-09A, Paris, Parade auf der Champs Elysée](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2f/Bundesarchiv_Bild_146-1994-036-09A%2C_Paris%2C_Parade_auf_der_Champs_Elys%C3%A9e.jpg)
*
Phoney War
The Phoney War (french: Drôle de guerre; german: Sitzkrieg) was an eight-month period at the start of World War II, during which there was only one limited military land operation on the Western Front, when French troops invaded Germ ...
(''Sitzkrieg'', September 1939 to May 1940) between the invasion of Poland and the Battle of France
*
Operation Weserübung
Operation Weserübung (german: Unternehmen Weserübung , , 9 April – 10 June 1940) was Germany's assault on Denmark and Norway during the Second World War and the opening operation of the Norwegian Campaign.
In the early morning of 9 Ap ...
**
German invasion of Denmark
The German invasion of Denmark (german: Operation Weserübung – Süd), was the German attack on Denmark on 9 April 1940, during the Second World War. The attack was a prelude to the invasion of Norway (german: Weserübung Nord, 9 April – 10 ...
– 9 April 1940
** The
Norwegian Campaign – 9 April to 10 June 1940
* ''Fall Gelb''
**
Battle of Belgium
The invasion of Belgium or Belgian campaign (10–28 May 1940), often referred to within Belgium as the 18 Days' Campaign (french: Campagne des 18 jours, nl, Achttiendaagse Veldtocht), formed part of the greater Battle of France, an Military o ...
10 to 28 May 1940
**
German invasion of Luxembourg
The German invasion of Luxembourg was part of Case Yellow (german: Fall Gelb), the German invasion of the Low Countries—Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands—and France during World War II. The battle began on 10 May 1940 and lasted just ...
10 May 1940
**
Battle of the Netherlands
The German invasion of the Netherlands ( nl, Duitse aanval op Nederland), otherwise known as the Battle of the Netherlands ( nl, Slag om Nederland), was a military campaign part of Battle of France, Case Yellow (german: Fall Gelb), the Nazi Ge ...
– 10 to 17 May 1940
**
Battle of France
The Battle of France (french: bataille de France) (10 May – 25 June 1940), also known as the Western Campaign ('), the French Campaign (german: Frankreichfeldzug, ) and the Fall of France, was the Nazi Germany, German invasion of French Third Rep ...
– 10 May to 25 June 1940
*
Battle of Britain
The Battle of Britain, also known as the Air Battle for England (german: die Luftschlacht um England), was a military campaign of the Second World War, in which the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the Fleet Air Arm (FAA) of the Royal Navy defende ...
(1940)
*
Battle of the Atlantic
The Battle of the Atlantic, the longest continuous military campaign in World War II, ran from 1939 to the defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945, covering a major part of the naval history of World War II. At its core was the Allied naval blockade ...
(1939–1945)
*
Battle of Normandy
Operation Overlord was the codename for the Battle of Normandy, the Allied operation that launched the successful invasion of German-occupied Western Europe during World War II. The operation was launched on 6 June 1944 (D-Day) with the Norma ...
(1944)
*
Allied invasion of southern France (1944)
*
Ardennes Offensive
The Battle of the Bulge, also known as the Ardennes Offensive, was the last major German offensive campaign on the Western Front during World War II. The battle lasted from 16 December 1944 to 28 January 1945, towards the end of the war in ...
(1944–1945)
*
Defense of the Reich
The Defence of the Reich (german: Reichsverteidigung) is the name given to the strategic defensive aerial campaign fought by the Luftwaffe of Nazi Germany over German-occupied Europe and Germany during World War II. Its aim was to prevent the ...
air-campaign, 1939 to 1945
Mediterranean theatre
![Bundesarchiv Bild 146-1976-091-06, Nordafrika, Panzer III](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1d/Bundesarchiv_Bild_146-1976-091-06%2C_Nordafrika%2C_Panzer_III.jpg)
For a time, the
Axis Mediterranean Theatre and the
North African Campaign were conducted as a
joint campaign with the
Italian Army
"The safeguard of the republic shall be the supreme law"
, colors =
, colors_labels =
, march = ''Parata d'Eroi'' ("Heroes's parade") by Francesco Pellegrino, ''4 Maggio'' (May 4) ...
, and may be considered a separate
theatre
Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The perform ...
.
*
Invasion of the Balkans and Greece (Operation Marita) (1940–1941)
*
Battle of Crete
The Battle of Crete (german: Luftlandeschlacht um Kreta, el, Μάχη της Κρήτης), codenamed Operation Mercury (german: Unternehmen Merkur), was a major Axis airborne and amphibious operation during World War II to capture the island ...
(1941)
* The
North African Campaign in Libya, Tunisia and Egypt between the UK and Commonwealth (and later, U.S.) forces and the Axis forces
* The
Italian Theatre
The theatre of Italy originates from the Middle Ages, with its background dating back to the times of the ancient Greek colonies of Magna Graecia, in Southern Italy, the theatre of the Italic peoples and the theatre of ancient Rome. It can th ...
was a continuation of the Axis defeat in North Africa, and was a campaign for defence of Italy
Casualties
![Cemetery of German soldiers in Toila 24](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fa/Cemetery_of_German_soldiers_in_Toila_24.jpg)
More than 6,000,000 soldiers were wounded during the conflict, while more than 11,000,000 became prisoners. In all, approximately 5,318,000 soldiers from Germany and other nationalities fighting for the German armed forces—including the ''Waffen-SS'', ''Volkssturm'' and foreign collaborationist units—are estimated to have been killed in action, died of wounds, died in custody or gone missing in World War II. Included in this number are 215,000 Soviet citizens conscripted by Germany.
According to Frank Biess,
Jeffrey Herf
Jeffrey C. Herf (born April 24, 1947) is an American historian of Modern European, in particular, modern German history. He is Distinguished University Professor of modern European at the University of Maryland, College Park.
Biography
He was born ...
wrote that:
In addition to the losses, at the hands of the elements and enemy fighting, at least 20,000 soldiers were executed as sentences by the military court. In comparison, the Red Army executed 135,000, France 102, the US 146 and the UK 40.
War crimes
Nazi propaganda had told ''Wehrmacht'' soldiers to wipe out what were variously called Jewish Bolshevik subhumans, the Mongol hordes, the Asiatic flood and the red beast. While the principal perpetrators of the civil suppression behind the front lines amongst German armed forces were the Nazi German "political" armies (the ''
SS-Totenkopfverbände
''SS-Totenkopfverbände'' (SS-TV; ) was the ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) organization responsible for administering the Nazi concentration camps and extermination camps for Nazi Germany, among similar duties. While the ''Totenkopf'' was the univer ...
'', the ''
Waffen-SS
The (, "Armed SS") was the combat branch of the Nazi Party's ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) organisation. Its formations included men from Nazi Germany, along with Waffen-SS foreign volunteers and conscripts, volunteers and conscripts from both occup ...
'', and the ''
Einsatzgruppen
(, ; also ' task forces') were (SS) paramilitary death squads of Nazi Germany that were responsible for mass murder, primarily by shooting, during World War II (1939–1945) in German-occupied Europe. The had an integral role in the im ...
'', which were responsible for mass-murders, primarily by implementation of the so-called
Final Solution of the Jewish Question
The Final Solution (german: die Endlösung, ) or the Final Solution to the Jewish Question (german: Endlösung der Judenfrage, ) was a Nazi Germany, Nazi plan for the genocide of individuals they defined as Jews during World War II. The "Final ...
in occupied territories), the traditional armed forces represented by the ''Wehrmacht'' committed and ordered war crimes of their own (e.g. the
Commissar Order
The Commissar Order (german: Kommissarbefehl) was an order issued by the German High Command (Oberkommando der Wehrmacht, OKW) on 6 June 1941 before Operation Barbarossa. Its official name was Guidelines for the Treatment of Political Commissars ...
), particularly during the
invasion of Poland in 1939 and later in the
war against the Soviet Union.
Cooperation with the ''SS''
Prior to the outbreak of war, Hitler informed senior ''Wehrmacht'' officers that actions "which would not be in the taste of German generals", would take place in occupied areas and ordered them that they "should not interfere in such matters but restrict themselves to their military duties". Some ''Wehrmacht'' officers initially showed a strong dislike for the ''SS'' and objected to the army committing war crimes with the ''SS'', though these objections were not against the idea of the atrocities themselves. Later during the war, relations between the ''SS'' and ''Wehrmacht'' improved significantly. The common soldier had no qualms with the ''SS'', and often assisted them in rounding up civilians for executions.
The Army's Chief of Staff General
Franz Halder
Franz Halder (30 June 1884 – 2 April 1972) was a German general and the chief of staff of the Oberkommando des Heeres, Army High Command (OKH) in Nazi Germany from 1938 until September 1942. During World War II, he directed the planning and i ...
in a directive declared that in the event of guerrilla attacks, German troops were to impose "collective measures of force" by massacring entire villages. Cooperation between the ''SS Einsatzgruppen'' and the ''Wehrmacht'' involved supplying the death squads with weapons, ammunition, equipment, transport, and even housing. Partisan fighters, Jews, and Communists became synonymous enemies of the Nazi regime and were hunted down and exterminated by the ''Einsatzgruppen'' and ''Wehrmacht'' alike, something revealed in numerous field journal entries from German soldiers. With the implementation of the
Hunger Plan
The Hunger Plan (german: der Hungerplan; der Backe-Plan) was a partially implemented plan developed by Nazi bureaucrats during World War II to seize food from the Soviet Union and give it to German soldiers and civilians. The plan entailed the gen ...
, hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions, of Soviet civilians were deliberately
starved to death
Starvation is a severe deficiency in caloric energy intake, below the level needed to maintain an organism's life. It is the most extreme form of malnutrition. In humans, prolonged starvation can cause permanent organ damage and eventually, dea ...
, as the Germans seized food for their armies and fodder for their draft horses. According to
Thomas Kühne
Thomas Kühne (born 13 March 1958, in Cologne) is a German historian. He holds the Strassler Chair for the Study of Holocaust History and is the Director of the 'Strassler Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies' at Clark University, Massachusett ...
: "an estimated 300,000–500,000 people were killed during the ''Wehrmacht''s
Nazi security warfare
Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Na ...
in the Soviet Union."
While secretly listening to conversations of captured German generals, British officials became aware that the German Army had taken part in the atrocities and mass-murder of Jews and were guilty of war crimes. American officials learned of the ''Wehrmacht''s atrocities in much the same way. Taped conversations of soldiers detained as POWs revealed how some of them voluntarily participated in mass executions.
Crimes against civilians
![Germans take civilians to execution](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a2/Germans_take_civilians_to_execution.jpg)
During the war, the ''Wehrmacht'' committed numerous war crimes against the civilian population in occupied countries. This includes massacres of civilians and running forced
brothels
A brothel, bordello, ranch, or whorehouse is a place where people engage in sexual activity with prostitutes. However, for legal or cultural reasons, establishments often describe themselves as massage parlors, bars, strip clubs, body rub pa ...
in occupied areas.
Massacres would in many cases come as reprisals for acts of resistance. With these reprisals, the ''Wehrmacht''s response would vary in severity and method, depending on the scale of resistance and whether it was in East or West Europe. Often, the number of hostages to be shot was calculated based on a ratio of 100 hostages executed for every German soldier killed and 50 hostages executed for every German soldier wounded. Other times civilians would be rounded up and shot with machine guns.
To combat German officials' fear of
venereal disease
Sexually transmitted infections (STIs), also referred to as sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) and the older term venereal diseases, are infections that are spread by sexual activity, especially vaginal intercourse, anal sex, and oral se ...
and
masturbation
Masturbation is the sexual stimulation of one's own genitals for sexual arousal or other sexual pleasure, usually to the point of orgasm. The stimulation may involve hands, fingers, everyday objects, sex toys such as vibrators, or combinatio ...
, the ''Wehrmacht'' established numerous brothels throughout Nazi Germany and its occupied territories. Women would often be kidnapped off the streets and forced to work in the brothels, with an estimated minimum of 34,140 women being forced to serve as prostitutes.
Crimes against POWs
![Partisan youth execution](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/54/Partisan_youth_execution.jpg)
While the ''Wehrmacht''s prisoner-of-war camps for inmates from the west generally satisfied the humanitarian requirement prescribed by international law, prisoners from Poland and the USSR were incarcerated under significantly worse conditions. Between the launching of Operation Barbarossa in the summer of 1941 and the following spring, 2.8 million of the 3.2 million
Soviet prisoners taken died while in German hands.
Criminal and genocidal organization
Among German historians, the view that the ''Wehrmacht'' had participated in wartime atrocities, particularly on the
Eastern Front, grew in the late 1970s and the 1980s. In the 1990s, public conception in Germany was influenced by controversial reactions and debates about the
exhibition of war crime issues.
The Israeli historian
Omer Bartov
Omer Bartov (Hebrew: עֹמֶר בַּרְטוֹב; pronounced .html" ;"title="oˈmer ˈbartov/nowiki>">oˈmer ˈbartov/nowiki>; born 1954) is the John P. Birkelund Distinguished Professor of European History and Professor of History and Profe ...
, a leading expert on the ''Wehrmacht'' wrote in 2003 that the ''Wehrmacht'' was a willing instrument of genocide, and that it is untrue that the ''Wehrmacht'' was an apolitical, professional fighting force that had only a few "bad apples". Bartov argues that far from being the "untarnished shield", as successive German apologists stated after the war, the ''Wehrmacht'' was a criminal organization. Likewise, the historian
Richard J. Evans
Sir Richard John Evans (born 29 September 1947) is a British historian of 19th- and 20th-century Europe with a focus on Germany. He is the author of eighteen books, including his three-volume ''The Third Reich Trilogy'' (2003–2008). Evans was ...
, a leading expert on modern German history, wrote that the ''Wehrmacht'' was a genocidal organization. The historian
Ben H. Shepherd
Ben H. Shepherd is a British historian and author who specialises in German military history of World War II. He has authored several books on the German Army of 1935–1945. Shepherd holds the position of reader in history at the Glasgow Caled ...
writes that "There is now clear agreement amongst historians that the German ''Wehrmacht'' ... identified strongly with National Socialism and embroiled itself in the criminality of the Third Reich." British historian
Ian Kershaw
Sir Ian Kershaw (born 29 April 1943) is an English historian whose work has chiefly focused on the social history of 20th-century Germany. He is regarded by many as one of the world's leading experts on Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany, and is pa ...
concludes that the ''Wehrmacht''s duty was to ensure that the people who met Hitler's requirements of being part of the
Aryan
Aryan or Arya (, Indo-Iranian *''arya'') is a term originally used as an ethnocultural self-designation by Indo-Iranians in ancient times, in contrast to the nearby outsiders known as 'non-Aryan' (*''an-arya''). In Ancient India, the term ' ...
''
Herrenvolk
The master race (german: Herrenrasse) is a pseudoscientific concept in Nazi ideology in which the putative "Aryan race" is deemed the pinnacle of human racial hierarchy. Members were referred to as "''Herrenmenschen''" ("master humans").
Th ...
'' ("Aryan master race") had living space. He wrote that:
Several high-ranking ''Wehrmacht'' officers, including
Hermann Hoth
Hermann Hoth (12 April 1885 – 25 January 1971) was a German army commander, war criminal, and author. He served as a high-ranking panzer commander in the Wehrmacht during World War II, playing a prominent role in the Battle of France and on t ...
,
Georg von Küchler
Georg Carl Wilhelm Friedrich von Küchler (30 May 1881 – 25 May 1968) was a German field marshal and war criminal during World War II. He commanded the 18th Army and Army Group North during the Soviet-German war of 1941–1945.
After the end ...
,
Georg-Hans Reinhardt
Georg-Hans Reinhardt (1 March 1887 – 23 November 1963) was a German general and war criminal during World War II. He commanded the 3rd Panzer Army from 1941 to 1944, and Army Group Centre in 1944 and 1945, reaching the rank of colonel genera ...
,
Karl von Roques
Karl von Roques (7 May 1880 – 24 December 1949) was a German general and war criminal during the Second World War, who commanded the Army Group Rear Area behind Army Group South. Following the war, Roques was sentenced to 20 years imprisonment ...
,
Walter Warlimont
Walter Warlimont (3 October 1894 – 9 October 1976) was a German staff officer during World War II. He served as deputy chief of the Operations Staff, one of departments in the ''Oberkommando der Wehrmacht'' (OKW), the Armed Forces High Comman ...
and others, were convicted of war crimes and
crimes against humanity
Crimes against humanity are widespread or systemic acts committed by or on behalf of a ''de facto'' authority, usually a state, that grossly violate human rights. Unlike war crimes, crimes against humanity do not have to take place within the ...
at the
High Command Trial given sentences ranging from time served to life.
Resistance to the Nazi regime
![Bundesarchiv Bild 146-1972-025-10, Hitler-Attentat, 20](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/77/Bundesarchiv_Bild_146-1972-025-10%2C_Hitler-Attentat%2C_20._Juli_1944.jpg)
Originally, there was little
resistance within the ''Wehrmacht'', as Hitler actively went against the Treaty of Versailles and attempted to recover the army's honor. The first major resistance began in 1938 with the
Oster conspiracy
The Oster Conspiracy (german: Septemberverschwörung, lit=September Conspiracy) of 1938 was a proposed plan to overthrow German ''Führer'' Adolf Hitler and the Nazi regime if Germany went to war with Czechoslovakia over the Sudetenland. It was led ...
, where several members of the military wanted to remove Hitler from power, as they feared a war with
Czechoslovakia
, rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי,
, common_name = Czechoslovakia
, life_span = 1918–19391945–1992
, p1 = Austria-Hungary
, image_p1 ...
would ruin Germany. However, following the success of the early campaigns in Poland, Scandinavia and France, belief in Hitler was restored. With the defeat in
Stalingrad
Volgograd ( rus, Волгогра́д, a=ru-Volgograd.ogg, p=vəɫɡɐˈɡrat), geographical renaming, formerly Tsaritsyn (russian: Цари́цын, Tsarítsyn, label=none; ) (1589–1925), and Stalingrad (russian: Сталингра́д, Stal ...
, trust in Hitler's leadership began to wane. This caused an increase in resistance within the military. The resistance culminated in the
20 July plot
On 20 July 1944, Claus von Stauffenberg and other conspirators attempted to assassinate Adolf Hitler, Führer of Nazi Germany, inside his Wolf's Lair field headquarters near Rastenburg, East Prussia, now Kętrzyn, in present-day Poland. The ...
(1944), when a group of officers led by
Claus von Stauffenberg
Colonel Claus Philipp Maria Justinian Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg (; 15 November 1907 – 21 July 1944) was a German army officer best known for his failed attempt on 20 July 1944 to assassinate Adolf Hitler at the Wolf's Lair.
Despite ...
attempted to assassinate Hitler. The attempt failed, resulting in the execution of 4,980 people and the standard military salute being replaced with the
Hitler salute
The Nazi salute, also known as the Hitler salute (german: link=no, Hitlergruß, , Hitler greeting, ; also called by the Nazi Party , 'German greeting', ), or the ''Sieg Heil'' salute, is a gesture that was used as a greeting in Nazi Germany. Th ...
.
Some members of the ''Wehrmacht'' did save Jews and non-Jews from the
concentration camp
Internment is the imprisonment of people, commonly in large groups, without charges or intent to file charges. The term is especially used for the confinement "of enemy citizens in wartime or of terrorism suspects". Thus, while it can simply ...
s and/or mass murder.
Anton Schmid
Anton Schmid (9 January 1900 – 13 April 1942) was an Austrian recruit in the ''Wehrmacht'' who saved Jews during the Holocaust in Lithuania. A devout but apolitical Roman Catholic and an electrician by profession, Schmid was conscripted int ...
a sergeant in the armyhelped between 250 and 300 Jewish men, women, and children escape from the
Vilna Ghetto
The Vilna Ghetto was a World War II Jewish ghetto established and operated by Nazi Germany in the city of Vilnius in the modern country of Lithuania, at the time part of the Nazi-administered Reichskommissariat Ostland.
During the approximatel ...
in
Lithuania
Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublika, links=no ), is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. Lithuania ...
. He was court-martialed and executed as a consequence.
Albert Battel
Albert Battel (; 21 January 1891 – 1952) was a German Army lieutenant and lawyer recognized for his resistance during World War II to the Nazi plans for the 1942 liquidation of the Przemyśl Jewish ghetto. He was posthumously recognized a ...
, a reserve officer stationed near the Przemysl ghetto, blocked an ''SS'' detachment from entering it. He then evacuated up to 100 Jews and their families to the barracks of the local military command, and placed them under his protection.
Wilm Hosenfeld
Wilhelm Adalbert Hosenfeld (; 2 May 1895 – 13 August 1952), originally a school teacher, was a German Army officer who by the end of the Second World War had risen to the rank of ''Hauptmann'' (Captain). He helped to hide or rescue several Poli ...
an army captain in Warsawhelped, hid, or rescued several Poles, including Jews, in occupied Poland. He helped the Polish-Jewish composer
Władysław Szpilman
Władysław Szpilman (; 5 December 1911 – 6 July 2000) was a Polish pianist and classical composer of Jewish descent. Szpilman is widely known as the central figure in the 2002 Roman Polanski film '' The Pianist'', which was based on Szpilman ...
, who was hiding among the city's ruins, by supplying him with food and water.
According to
Wolfram Wette
Wolfram Wette (born 11 November 1940) is a German military historian and peace researcher. He is an author or editor of over 40 books on the history of Nazi Germany, including the seminal ''Germany and the Second World War'' series from the Ge ...
, only three ''Wehrmacht'' soldiers are known for being executed for rescuing Jews:
Anton Schmid
Anton Schmid (9 January 1900 – 13 April 1942) was an Austrian recruit in the ''Wehrmacht'' who saved Jews during the Holocaust in Lithuania. A devout but apolitical Roman Catholic and an electrician by profession, Schmid was conscripted int ...
, Friedrich Rath and Friedrich Winking.
After World War II
![Kapitulationserklaerung der Deutschen Wehrmacht, 8 Mai 1945](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bb/Kapitulationserklaerung_der_Deutschen_Wehrmacht%2C_8_Mai_1945.jpg)
Following the
unconditional surrender
An unconditional surrender is a surrender in which no guarantees are given to the surrendering party. It is often demanded with the threat of complete destruction, extermination or annihilation.
In modern times, unconditional surrenders most ofte ...
of the ''Wehrmacht'', which went into effect on 8 May 1945, some ''Wehrmacht'' units remained active, either independently (e.g. in
Norway
Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...
), or under Allied command as police forces. The last ''Wehrmacht'' unit to come under Allied control was an isolated weather station in
Svalbard
Svalbard ( , ), also known as Spitsbergen, or Spitzbergen, is a Norwegian archipelago in the Arctic Ocean. North of mainland Europe, it is about midway between the northern coast of Norway and the North Pole. The islands of the group range ...
, which formally surrendered to a Norwegian relief ship on 4 September.
On 20 September 1945, with Proclamation No. 2 of the
Allied Control Council
The Allied Control Council or Allied Control Authority (german: Alliierter Kontrollrat) and also referred to as the Four Powers (), was the governing body of the Allied Occupation Zones in Germany and Allied-occupied Austria after the end of Wo ...
(ACC), "
l German land, naval and air forces, the S.S., S.A., S.D. and Gestapo, with all their organizations, staffs and institution, including the General Staff, the Officers' corps, the Reserve Corps, military schools, war veterans' organizations, and all other military and quasi-military organizations, together with all clubs and associations which serve to keep alive the military tradition in Germany, shall be completely and finally abolished in accordance with the methods and procedures to be laid down by the Allied Representatives." The ''Wehrmacht'' was officially dissolved by the ACC Law 34 on 20 August 1946, which proclaimed the OKW, OKH, the
Ministry of Aviation
The Ministry of Aviation was a department of the United Kingdom government established in 1959. Its responsibilities included the regulation of civil aviation and the supply of military aircraft, which it took on from the Ministry of Supply.
...
and the OKM to be "disbanded, completely liquidated and declared illegal".
Military operational legacy
Immediately following the end of the war, many were quick to dismiss the ''Wehrmacht'' due to its failures and claim allied superiority. However, historians have since reevaluated the ''Wehrmacht'' in terms of fighting power and tactics, giving it a more favorable assessment, with some calling it one of the best in the world, partly due to its ability to regularly inflict higher losses than it received, while it fought outnumbered and outgunned.
Israeli military historian
Martin van Creveld
Martin Levi van Creveld ( he, מרטין ון קרפלד; born 5 March 1946) is an Israeli military historian and theorist.
Life and career
Van Creveld was born in the Netherlands in the city of Rotterdam to a Jewish family. His parents, Leon a ...
, who attempted to examine the military force of the ''Wehrmacht'' in a purely military context, concluded: "The German army was a superb fighting organization. In point of morale,
elan, troop cohesion and resilience, it probably had no equal among twentieth century armies." German historian
Rolf-Dieter Müller
__NOTOC__
Rolf-Dieter Müller (born 9 December 1948) is a German military historian and political scientist, who has served as Scientific Director of the German Armed Forces Military History Research Office since 1999. Rolf-Dieter Müller, is also ...
comes to the following conclusion: "In the purely military sense
..you can indeed say that the impression of a superior fighting force rightly exists. The proverbial efficiency was even greater than previously thought, because the superiority of the opponent was much higher than at that time German officers suspected. The analysis of Russian archive files finally gives us a clear picture in this regard." Strategic thinker and professor
Colin S. Gray
Colin S. Gray (December 29, 1943 – February 27, 2020) was a British-American writer on geopolitics and professor of International Relations and Strategic Studies at the University of Reading, where he was the director of the Centre for Strategi ...
believed that the ''Wehrmacht'' possessed outstanding tactical and operational capabilities. However, following a number of successful campaigns, German policy began to have
victory disease
Victory disease occurs in military history when Wiktionary:complacency#English, complacency or hubris, arrogance, brought on by a victory or a series of victories, makes an engagement (military), engagement end List of military disasters, disa ...
, asking the ''Wehrmacht'' to do the impossible. The continued use of the ''Blitzkrieg'' also led to Soviets learning the tactic and using it against the ''Wehrmacht''.
Historical negationism
Soon after the war ended, former ''Wehrmacht'' officers, veterans' groups and various far-right authors began to state that the ''Wehrmacht'' was an apolitical organization which was largely innocent of Nazi Germany's war crimes and crimes against humanity. Attempting to benefit from the clean ''Wehrmacht'' myth, veterans of the ''
Waffen-SS
The (, "Armed SS") was the combat branch of the Nazi Party's ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) organisation. Its formations included men from Nazi Germany, along with Waffen-SS foreign volunteers and conscripts, volunteers and conscripts from both occup ...
'' declared that the organisation had virtually been a branch of the ''Wehrmacht'' and therefore had fought as "honourably" as it. Its veterans organisation,
HIAG
HIAG (german: Hilfsgemeinschaft auf Gegenseitigkeit der Angehörigen der ehemaligen Waffen-SS, lit=Mutual aid association of former Waffen-SS members) was a lobby group and a denialist veterans' organisation founded by former high-ranking Waffen ...
, attempted to cultivate a myth of their soldiers having been "Soldiers like any other".
Post-war militaries
![Bundesarchiv Bild 183-34150-0001, Bonn, Theodor Blank, Bundeswehrfreiwillige](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b3/Bundesarchiv_Bild_183-34150-0001%2C_Bonn%2C_Theodor_Blank%2C_Bundeswehrfreiwillige.jpg)
Following the division of Germany, many former ''Wehrmacht'' and ''SS'' officers in West Germany feared a Soviet invasion of the country. To combat this, several prominent officers created a
secret army, unknown to the general public and without mandate from the
Allied Control Authority
The Allied Control Council or Allied Control Authority (german: Alliierter Kontrollrat) and also referred to as the Four Powers (), was the governing body of the Allied Occupation Zones in Germany and Allied-occupied Austria after the end of ...
or the West German government.
By the mid-1950s, tensions of the
Cold War
The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...
led to the creation of separate military forces in the
Federal Republic of Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated between ...
and the socialist
German Democratic Republic
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
**Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ger ...
. The West German military, officially created on 5 May 1955, took the name ''
Bundeswehr
The ''Bundeswehr'' (, meaning literally: ''Federal Defence'') is the armed forces of the Federal Republic of Germany. The ''Bundeswehr'' is divided into a military part (armed forces or ''Streitkräfte'') and a civil part, the military part con ...
'' (). Its East German counterpart—created on 1 March 1956—took the name
National People's Army
The National People's Army (german: Nationale Volksarmee, ; NVA ) were the armed forces of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) from 1956 to 1990.
The NVA was organized into four branches: the (Ground Forces), the (Navy), the (Air Force) an ...
(german: Nationale Volksarmee). Both organizations employed many former ''Wehrmacht'' members, particularly in their formative years, though neither organization considered themselves successors to the ''Wehrmacht''. However, according to historian
Hannes Heer
Hans Georg Heer (known as ''Hannes'') (born 16 March 1941) is a German historian, chiefly known for the ''Wehrmachtsausstellung'' (German: "Wehrmacht Exhibition") in the 1990s. While controversial at that time, the exhibition is nowadays widely c ...
"Germans still have a hard time, when it comes to openly dealing with their Nazi past", as such of the 50 military bases named after ''Wehrmacht'' soldiers, only 16 bases have changed names.
''Wehrmacht'' veterans in West Germany have received pensions through the ''War Victims' Assistance Act'' (german: Bundesversorgungsgesetz) from the government. According to ''
The Times of Israel
''The Times of Israel'' is an Israeli multi-language online newspaper that was launched in 2012. It was co-founded by Israeli journalist David Horovitz, who is also the founding editor, and American billionaire investor Seth Klarman. '', "The benefits come through the Federal Pension Act, which was passed in 1950 to support war victims, whether civilians or veterans of the ''Wehrmacht'' or ''Waffen-SS''."
See also
*
Bribery of senior Wehrmacht officers
Bribery is the Offer and acceptance, offering, Gift, giving, Offer and acceptance, receiving, or Solicitation, soliciting of any item of value to influence the actions of an official, or other person, in charge of a public or legal duty. With reg ...
*
German resistance to Nazism
Many individuals and groups in Germany that were opposed to the Nazi Germany, Nazi regime engaged in active resistance, including assassination attempts on Adolf Hitler, attempts to remove Adolf Hitler from power by assassination or by overthro ...
*
Glossary of German military terms
This is a list of words, terms, concepts, and slogans that have been or are used by the German military. Ranks and translations of nicknames for vehicles are included. Also included are some general terms from the German language found frequently i ...
*
Glossary of Nazi Germany
This is a list of words, terms, concepts and slogans of Nazi Germany used in the historiography covering the Nazi regime.
Some words were coined by Adolf Hitler and other Nazi Party members. Other words and concepts were borrowed and appropriated, ...
*
Nazism and the Wehrmacht
The relationship between the Wehrmacht (from 1935 to 1945 the regular combined armed forces of Nazi Germany) and the Nazi Party which ruled Germany has been the subject of a extensive historiography , historiographical debate. Broadly speaking, ...
*
Wehrmacht Propaganda Troops
Propaganda Troops (german: Wehrmachtpropaganda, abbreviated as ') was a branch of service of the and the of Nazi Germany during World War II. Subordinated to the High Command of the (the '), its function was to produce and disseminate propagan ...
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External links
''The Wehrmacht: A Criminal Organization?''Review of
Hannes Heer
Hans Georg Heer (known as ''Hannes'') (born 16 March 1941) is a German historian, chiefly known for the ''Wehrmachtsausstellung'' (German: "Wehrmacht Exhibition") in the 1990s. While controversial at that time, the exhibition is nowadays widely c ...
and
Klaus Naumann
Klaus Naumann (born 25 May 1939 in Munich) is a retired German General, who served as Chief of Staff of the Bundeswehr, the German armed forces, from 1991 to 1996, and as Chairman of the NATO Military Committee from 1996 to 1999, succeeding the ...
's 1995 work ''Vernichtungskrieg – Verbrechen der Wehrmacht 1941–1944'' by Jörg Bottger
''Wehrmacht Propaganda Troops and the Jews''– an article by
Daniel Uziel
The Nazi German Army 1935–1945
Videos
* "How the Red Army Defeated Germany: The Three Alibis": —lecture by
Jonathan M. House of the
U.S. Army Command and General Staff College
The United States Army Command and General Staff College (CGSC or, obsolete, USACGSC) at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, is a graduate school for United States Army and sister service officers, interagency representatives, and international military ...
, via the official channel of
Dole Institute of Politics
The Robert J. Dole Institute of Politics, often shortened to the Dole Institute, is a nonpartisan political institution located at the University of Kansas and founded by the former U.S. Senator from Kansas and 1996 Republican presidential cand ...
.
* "Fighting a Lost War: The German Army in 1943": —lecture by
Robert Citino
Robert M. Citino (born June 19, 1958) is an American military historian and the Samuel Zemurray Stone Senior Historian at the National WWII Museum. He is a leading authority on modern German military history, with an emphasis upon World War I ...
, via the official channel of the
U.S. Army Heritage and Education Center.
* "Mindset of WWII German Soldiers": —interview with the historian
Sönke Neitzel
Sönke Neitzel (born 26 June 1968) is a German historian who has written extensively about the Second World War. He is editor of the journal ''German History in the 20th Century'' and has written several books such as ''Soldaten: On Fighting, Ki ...
discussing his book ''Soldaten: On Fighting, Killing and Dying'', via the official channel of
The Agenda
''The Agenda with Steve Paikin'', or simply ''The Agenda'', is the flagship current affairs television program of TVOntario (TVO), Ontario's public broadcaster. Anchor Steve Paikin states that the show practices long-form journalism. Each hour- ...
, a programme of
TVOntario
TVO Media Education Group (often abbreviated as TVO and stylized on-air as tvo) is a publicly funded English-language educational television network and media organization serving the Canadian province of Ontario. It is operated by the Ontario ...
, a Canadian public television station.
"A Blind Eye and Dirty Hands: The Wehrmacht's Crimes"– lecture by the historian
Geoffrey P. Megargee, via the YouTube channel of the
Wiener Library for the Study of the Holocaust and Genocide
The Wiener Holocaust Library () is the world's oldest institution devoted to the study of the Holocaust, its causes and legacies. Founded in 1933 as an information bureau that informed Jewish communities and governments worldwide about the pe ...
{{Authority control
Disbanded armed forces
1935 establishments in Germany
1946 disestablishments in Germany
Military of Nazi Germany
Military units and formations established in 1935
Military units and formations disestablished in 1946