Wehrmacht
German Armed Forces of the Third Reich

Wehrmacht

On 16 March 1935 Adolf Hitler re-introduced conscription and announced to the world the formation of a German air force. Needless to say this brought the restrictions imposed on the size and the strength of the German armed forces to an abrupt end. The next four years saw the rapid expansion of the German Army; a transformation from General Seeckt's Reichswehr into Hitler's Wehrmacht.

In September 1939 the German Army went to war with forces which, although well trained in the latest concepts of mechanised warfare, had gained little combat experience except in the Spanish Civil War; and that had been very limited. Much of the specialised motorised equipment had yet to reach the field armies and so all the non-panzer and non-motorised divisions still travelled on foot and relied mainly on horses to haul their equipment and artillery.

Whatever the shortcomings in quantity and quality of equipment, German human material was of the best. The Versailles Treaty, which had limited the Reichswehr to one hundred thousand men, was turned to advantage, in that only the best personnel were retained in a completely professional army. There was even a surplus of soldiers to man the armed police forces of the various German states (Landespolizei), and these were later to be incorporated in the Army when conscription was re-introduced. There was, in addition, a vast pool of semi-trained manpower in the para-military formations of the Nazi Party.

Apart from the conscripts the German Army needed to attract volunteers who would make a career in the Army. To achieve this, terms of service were made more attractive, smart new uniforms introduced and well-equipped modern barracks constructed. At the same time attempts were made to break down much of the traditional petty authoritarianism of the Army, while retaining and even elevating the privileged position of the German soldier in society. The soldiers of the Wehrmacht set themselves very high professional standards so that when they went to war in 1939, they did so with enthusiasm and the strong conviction that they were the finest soldiers in the world.

Hitler's main problem with the Army came from certain senior officers who opposed his aggressive foreign policy and held conservative views on the conduct of war, but these men had little influence. Their opposition was always hesitant, and affected by their approval of Hitler's modernisation programme, while they would always be bypassed or replaced if they proved too troublesome. The German Army of World War II was in general a loyal, obedient and confident instrument of the Nazi dictator.

Organisation of the Wehrmacht

In March 1939 the operational control of the Armed Forces was unified under the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht (OKW) whose chief was Generaloberst (Colonel-General) Keitel.
The management of the Army was the responsibility of the Army High Command, the Oberkommando des Heeres (OKH), which included the General Staflf although it was the Supreme Commander, Adolf Hitler, who was increasingly to take over the day-to-day running of the war. During the crisis of the Battle of Moscow in December 1941 he took over the command of the Army from CinC von Brauchitsch.

Fuhrer (Reich Chancellor, President and Minister of War): Hitler
OKW (Armed Forces, Wehrmacht) : Hitler Chief of Staff: Keitel Chief of Operation Staff: Jodl Chief of Plans: Warlimont Chief of Freign and Counter-Intelligence: Canaris (to February 1944)			Reich Ministries:	State Functionaries:	Party Offices:
OKH (Army, Heer): von Brauchitsch to December 1941, Hitler Chief of Staff: Halder to September 1942, Zeitzler to July 1944, Guderian to March 1945, Krebs	OKL (Air Force, Luftwaffe): Goring to April 1945, von Greim Chief of Staff: Jeschonnek to August 1943, Korten to July 1944, Kreipe to October 1944, Koller	OKM (Navy, Kriegsmarine): Raeder to January 1943, Donitz to May 1945, von Friedeburg	Foreign: von Ribbentrop to May 1945, von Krosigk Interior: Frick to August 1943, Himmler Munitions: Todt to February 1942, Speer Transport: Dorpmüller Propaganda: Goebbels to May 1945, Naumann Eastern Occupied Territories: Rosenberg	Inspectorate Road System: Todt DAF (German workers organisation): Ley Labour Mobilisation (including slave workers): Sauckel Four-Year-Plans: Goring	Chancellery: Hess to May 1941, Bormann Treasurer: Schwarz Organisation: Ley Youth: von Schirach to August 1940, Axmann Press: Dietrich to March 1945 Foreign: Rosenberg SS: Himmler RSHA with Gestapo, SD and Police: Heydrich to June 1942, Kaltenbrunner

Force balance of the Wehrmacht

It is not certain what percentage of each age group of conscripts were actually called up ever year to the Wehrmacht. It was fixed for planning purposes at 75%, but it must have be more in the course of the war because of the reducing of the demands. From September 1939 to April 1945 17,893,200 men were serving in the Wehrmacht and Waffen-SS. By a population base of 90 million people (including Austria, Sudetenland, Alsace and parts of Poland) this requires that about 3.6 percent of the total population went every year through the German Armed Forces. At the time of the peak strength in 1943 the share of military power was more than 10% from this population base.

Numbers in 1000 men:

Balance of the Wehrmacht and civilian workers of Greater Germany 1939-1944 (in millions of people):