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93-616: The Mogilev Conference was a September 1941 Wehrmacht training event aimed at improving security in the rear of Army Group Centre during the German invasion of the Soviet Union . The event was organised by General Max von Schenckendorff , commander of Army Group Centre Rear Area , in cooperation with the officials of the security and intelligence services of Nazi Germany — SS and the Sicherheitsdienst (Security Service; SD)—operating in

186-836: A joint campaign with the Italian Army , and may be considered a separate theatre . 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, German casualties took

279-527: 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 , a close protégé of Alfred von Tirpitz ,

372-711: 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 , most of the three million Wehrmacht soldiers who invaded the USSR participated in war crimes. The German term "Wehrmacht " stems from the compound word of German : wehren , "to defend" and Macht , "power, force". It has been used to describe any nation's armed forces; for example, Britische Wehrmacht meaning "British Armed Forces". The Frankfurt Constitution of 1849 designated all German military forces as

465-408: A single Joint Chief of Staff, Hitler refused. Even after the defeat at Stalingrad, Hitler refused, stating that Göring as Reichsmarschall 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

558-740: A sudden jump with the defeat of the Sixth Army at Stalingrad in January 1943, when 180,310 soldiers were killed in one month. Among the 5.3 million Wehrmacht casualties during the Second World War, more than 80 per cent died during the last two years of the war. Approximately three-quarters of these losses occurred on the Eastern front (2.7 million) and during the final stages of the war between January and May 1945 (1.2 million). Jeffrey Herf wrote that: Whereas German deaths between 1941 and 1943 on

651-588: A time frame of 10 years for remilitarization, but soon shortened it to four years. With the remilitarization of the Rhineland and the Anschluss , the German Reich's territory increased significantly, providing a larger population pool for conscription. Recruitment for the Wehrmacht was accomplished through voluntary enlistment and conscription, with 1.3 million being drafted and 2.4 million volunteering in

744-602: A transfer of resources between the Russian front and another theatre of operations. Although both OKW and OKH were headquartered in the Maybach complex in Nazi Germany, the functional and operational independence of both establishments were not lost on the respective staff during their tenure. Personnel at the compound remarked that even if Maybach 2 (the OKW complex) was completely destroyed,

837-508: A village and distribution of leaflets. On the second day, participants travelled to the village of Knyazhitsy  [ ru ] (German: Knjaschitschi ) in the vicinity of Mogilev. There, men of the Police Battalion 322 of Police Regiment Centre conducted a demonstration of how to surround and screen a village. According to the after-action report, "suspicious strangers" ( Ortsfremde ) or "partisans" could not be found. The screening of

930-726: The Polnische Wehrmacht ('Polish Wehrmacht', 'Polish Defense Force') in German. In January 1919, after World War I ended with the signing of the armistice of 11 November 1918 , the armed forces were dubbed Friedensheer (peace army). In March 1919, the national assembly passed a law founding a 420,000-strong preliminary army, the Vorläufige Reichswehr . The terms of the Treaty of Versailles were announced in May, and in June, Germany signed

1023-513: The Reichswehr , 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 , retained only the most capable officers. The American historians Alan Millet and Williamson Murray wrote "In reducing the officers corps, Seeckt chose

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1116-584: The Army High Command and Army Group Centre . The audience also included battalion commanders and higher-level officers from both SS-Police and the Wehrmacht, including its security divisions , the 221st , the 286th , and the 403rd . In total, 61 officers participated, with 82 percent of attendees coming from Wehrmacht units. Of the attendees, 38 percent were battalion and company-level commanders. Many had already participated in mass atrocities. For example,

1209-673: The Battle of Moscow , the Siege of Leningrad , Stalingrad , Tunis in North Africa , and the Battle of Kursk . 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,

1302-633: The Higher SS and Police Leader for Army Group Centre , organised a three-day conference for security troops. Held in Mogilev, the meeting aimed to create an "exchange of experiences" for the Wehrmacht rear unit commanders. Police Colonel Max Montua  [ de ] , commander of Police Regiment Centre , was in charge of planning and logistics. The conference began on 24 September and focused on "combatting partisans" ( Bekämpfung von Partisanen , later Bandenbekämpfung ) and reflected Schenckendorff's views on

1395-505: The Junkers Ju 87 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 . Due to the Army's sway with Hitler,

1488-475: 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 ) and Germany's Defence of the Reich deliberately forced the Luftwaffe into a war of attrition. With German fighter force destroyed,

1581-742: The OKH became the de facto Eastern Theatre higher-echelon command-organization for the Wehrmacht , excluding Waffen-SS 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 and their remoteness from other theatres. The Wehrmacht fought on other fronts, sometimes three simultaneously; redeploying troops from

1674-605: The Oberkommando der Wehrmacht which, on paper, subordinated OKH to OKW. After a major crisis developed in the Battle of Moscow , von Brauchitsch was dismissed (partly because of his failing health), and Hitler appointed himself as head of the OKH. At the same time, he limited the OKH's authority to the Russian front, giving OKW direct authority over army units elsewhere. This enabled Hitler to declare that only he had complete awareness of Germany's strategic situation, should any general request

1767-468: 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 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

1860-501: 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

1953-445: The SS were stepped up as well. Following the Battle of Stalingrad 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,

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2046-461: The SS Cavalry Brigade ; and Gustav Lombard , commander of the 1st SS Cavalry Regiment. The commander of the 2nd SS Cavalry Regiment, Franz Magill , was not invited, perhaps because he was not viewed as extreme enough on the "Jewish question", as he only massacred Jewish males, and not women and children. Presentations covered the evaluation of Soviet "bandit" organisations and tactics, why it

2139-529: The Soviet Union (1941) and North Africa (1941/42) are regarded by historians as acts of boldness. At the same time, the extent of advances strained the Wehrmacht's capacity to the breaking point, culminating in its first major defeat in the Battle of Moscow (1941); by late 1942, Germany was losing the initiative in all theatres. The German operational art proved no match to that of the Allied coalition , making

2232-640: The Soviet Union , including the Caucasian Muslim Legion , Turkestan Legion , Crimean Tatars, ethnic Ukrainians and Russians, Cossacks , 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 who had left Russia after the Russian Revolution joined the ranks of the Wehrmacht and Waffen-SS , with 1,500 acting as interpreters and more than 10,000 serving in

2325-483: The Spanish Civil War . 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. As the Second World War intensified, Kriegsmarine and Luftwaffe personnel were increasingly transferred to the army, and "voluntary" enlistments in

2418-451: The Wehrmacht's weaknesses in strategy, doctrine, and logistics apparent. Closely cooperating with the SS and their Einsatzgruppen death squads, 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

2511-732: The war of annihilation against the Soviet Union, the Holocaust and Nazi security warfare . 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 Luftwaffe , the Waffen-SS , the Volkssturm , and foreign collaborator units ) had lost approximately 11,300,000 men, about 5,318,000 of whom were missing, killed or died in captivity. Only

2604-517: The " battle of annihilation ", 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 . 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

2697-665: The "German Wehrmacht ", consisting of the Seemacht (sea force) and the Landmacht (land force). In 1919, the term Wehrmacht also appears in Article 47 of the Weimar Constitution , establishing that: "The Reich's President holds supreme command of all armed forces [i.e. the Wehrmacht ] of the Reich". From 1919, Germany's national defense force was known as the Reichswehr , a name that

2790-415: The "Jewish question", with particular consideration to the anti-partisan movement. Company-grade officers gave short classes or led sand-table exercises on a variety of tactical situations that could be encountered in the field, such as securing a village. The conference included three field exercises. On the first day, the participants observed an operation by Police Regiment Centre that involved surrounding

2883-896: 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 , 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 ,

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2976-670: The British. Karl Doenitz , 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. In

3069-678: The Byelorussian SSR. In July and August 1941, the unit carried out the Pripyat Marshes massacres resulting in the murder of over 11,000 Jewish civilians. The operation has since been considered a turning point in the transition from "selective mass murder" to the wholesale extermination of the Jewish population in occupied areas. Units of Police Regiment Centre had, by that time, also conducted mass murder of Jews. In that environment, Schenckendorff, in cooperation with Erich von dem Bach-Zelewski ,

3162-550: The Fighting of Partisans" in October 1941, one month after the conference. Underlining the importance of the event, the closing text of Schenckendorff's summary was reproduced verbatim: The constant decision between life and death for partisans and suspicious persons is difficult even for the hardest soldier. It must be done. He acts correctly who fights ruthlessly and mercilessly with complete disregard for any personal surge of emotion. In

3255-474: The German armed forces prior to 1941. With the invasion of the Soviet Union 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 against the so-called Jewish Bolshevism . Hence, the Wehrmacht and the SS began to seek out recruits from occupied and neutral countries across Europe: the Germanic populations of

3348-470: 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 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

3441-622: The Jews serving in the Reichswehr given an automatic and immediate dishonorable discharge . Again, on his own initiative Blomberg had the armed forces adopt Nazi symbols 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 , the entire military took the Hitler oath , an oath of personal loyalty to Hitler. Hitler

3534-433: The Jews", that is there were too many Jews to be killed by too few men. By August 1941, Nebe came to realize that his Einsatzgruppe ' s resources were insufficient to meet the expanded mandate of the killing operations, due to the inclusion of Jewish women and children since that month. The SS Cavalry Brigade , made up of the 1st and 2nd SS Cavalry Regiments, also participated in mass murder activities targeting Jews in

3627-552: 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 were declared "ethnic Germans" and drafted. After Germany's defeat in the Battle of Stalingrad , the Wehrmacht also made substantial use of personnel from

3720-501: The OKH managed operational matters. Each German Army also had an Army High Command ( Armeeoberkommando or AOK). The Armed Forces High Command ( Oberkommando der Wehrmacht ) then took over this function for theatres other than the Eastern front . The OKH commander held the title of Commander-in-chief of the Army ( Oberbefehlshaber des Heeres ). After the Battle of Moscow , the OKH commander Field marshal Walther von Brauchitsch

3813-598: The OKH staff in Maybach 1 would scarcely notice. These camouflaged facilities, separated physically by a fence, also maintained structurally different mindsets towards their objectives. On 28 April 1945 (two days before his suicide ), Hitler formally subordinated OKH to OKW, giving the latter command of forces on the Eastern Front. In 1944, these elements were subordinate to the OKH: The Commander-in-Chief of

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3906-920: 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. The German Army furthered concepts pioneered during World War I , combining ground ( Heer ) and air force ( Luftwaffe ) assets into combined arms teams. Coupled with traditional war fighting methods such as encirclements and

3999-475: The SS and SD troops.) The summary warned that the enemy was employing women, children and the elderly as agents. The summary proclaimed that "the enemy must be completely annihilated", while specifying that the distinction between a "partisan" and a "suspicious person" was not always possible, thus giving a carte blanche to the troops for the most brutal approach possible. The document was sent to all company-level units in

4092-609: 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 in 1945, the Luftwaffe was no longer an effective force. The Treaty of Versailles disallowed submarines, while limiting the size of the Reichsmarine to six battleships, six cruisers, and twelve destroyers. Following

4185-415: The actions; Wehrmacht reports frequently referred to targets as "stranger to the village", "wanderer", "suspect civilian", "partisan helper", "civilian without identification", and "women soldiers". The exercises during the conference put the punitive operations into military context, by breaking down the actions into something that soldiers could relate to, such as surrounding a village, guarding and escorting

4278-452: The army group's area of operations, including to units that did not send representatives to the conference. The conference marked a dramatic increase in atrocities by the Wehrmacht units against Jews and other civilians in the final three months of 1941. The summary had an impact beyond the territory under the control of Army Group Centre Rear Area. The commander of the German army, Field Marshal Walther von Brauchitsch , issued "Guidelines for

4371-498: 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

4464-492: The attendees included the commander of the 3rd Battalion in the 354th Infantry Regiment, 286th Security Division. A week prior to the conference, the battalion assisted Einsatzkommando 8 and directly participated in the murder of 1,000 Jews in the town of Krupki . The speakers included: Arthur Nebe, commander of Einsatzgruppe B ; Erich von dem Bach-Zelewski, as the representative of Heinrich Himmler ; Max Montua, commander of Police Regiment Centre; Hermann Fegelein , commander of

4557-410: 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

4650-411: The city in August and already begun murdering Jews. A ghetto was later established in September; in October 1941, most of the inmates had been murdered as part of two operations. The Wehrmacht's aggressive security doctrine—and the use of the "security threat" to disguise genocidal policies—resulted in close cooperation between the army and the security apparatus behind the front lines. Einsatzgruppe B

4743-430: 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 Tirpitz spent most of her career as fleet in being . After the appointment of Karl Dönitz as Grand Admiral of the Kriegsmarine (in the aftermath of the Battle of the Barents Sea ), Germany stopped constructing battleships and cruisers in favor of U-boats. Though by 1941,

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4836-403: 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 ." The Wehrmacht directed combat operations during World War II (from 1 September 1939 – 8 May 1945) as the German Reich 's armed forces umbrella command-organization. After 1941

4929-417: The conference, under Schenckendorff's signature, was distributed to Wehrmacht troops and police units in the rear area. The document focused on tactics of security warfare, while also prescribing harsh measures, such as "the streets should be kept clear of 'wanderers ' " who should be handed over to the Secret Field Police or sent to filtration camps for further screening. (Many sent to these camps were killed by

5022-418: The creation of the Wehrmacht , the navy was renamed the Kriegsmarine . With the signing of the Anglo-German Naval Agreement , 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

5115-452: The early stage of Operation Barbarossa in the Soviet Union (June 1941). After Hitler declared war on the United States in December 1941, the Axis powers 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

5208-424: The east". Wehrmacht The Wehrmacht ( German pronunciation: [ˈveːɐ̯maxt] , lit.   ' defence force ' ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the Heer (army), the Kriegsmarine (navy) and the Luftwaffe (air force). The designation " Wehrmacht " replaced the previously used term Reichswehr ( Reich Defence ) and

5301-436: The enemy troops. Originally outlawed by the Treaty of Versailles, the Luftwaffe was officially established in 1935, under the leadership of Hermann Göring . First gaining experience in the Spanish Civil War , 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 fighter and

5394-549: The guard force of the Russian Protective Corps . 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 ( lit.   ' Female Wehrmacht Helper ' ), participating in tasks as: They were placed under

5487-454: The guise of anti-partisan warfare where Jews were targeted as Bolsheviks and thus partisan supporters. Consequently, the division between the Holocaust and the anti-partisan war still prevalent in historiography is a false one. Beorn concludes that "the Mogilev conference shows that these two were never separate, but intentionally connected in an effort to include the combat power of the Wehrmacht more efficiently in Hitler's genocidal projects in

5580-425: The intensifying theatre in the East to the West after the Normandy landings caused tensions between the General Staffs of both the OKW and the OKH – as Germany lacked sufficient materiel and manpower for a two-front war of such magnitude. Major campaigns and battles in Eastern and Central Europe included: For a time, the Axis Mediterranean Theatre and the North African Campaign were conducted as

5673-502: The murder of Jews in the territory under Schenckendorff's command. Jewish civilians were added to an approved list of enemies that the army's rear units would then destroy on their own initiative and without the participation of the SS Police or SD. Although the conference summary did not mention Jews, the field exercises demonstrated that the Wehrmacht was to target Jews in its anti-partisan actions. Beorn concludes that verbal instructions to this effect were, most likely, communicated during

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5766-412: 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 added 48 tank battalions to the planned rearmament program. Hitler originally set

5859-411: 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

5952-489: The need for total eradication of the resistance to German forces as the only way to secure the occupied territories. The minutes of the conference, if they had been taken, did not survive. What is known of the conference is based on the agenda, the list of attendees, after-action reports, and the summary distributed by Schenckendorff after the event. Invited officers were selected on the basis of their previous participation in security operations, and included representatives of

6045-403: 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,

6138-453: 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. After the death of President Paul von Hindenburg on 2 August 1934, Adolf Hitler assumed the office of President of Germany , and thus became commander in chief. In February 1934, the Defence Minister Werner von Blomberg , acting on his own initiative, had all of

6231-507: 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. 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 , were exempted from military service after Hitler's takeover in 1938. Foreign volunteers were generally not accepted in

6324-436: The opening year of the war. No aircraft carrier was operational, as German leadership lost interest in the Graf Zeppelin which had been launched in 1938. Following the loss of the German battleship  Bismarck in 1941, with Allied air-superiority threatening the remaining battle-cruisers in French Atlantic harbors, the ships were ordered to make the Channel Dash back to German ports. Operating from fjords along

6417-469: The opinion of historian Waitman Wade Beorn , the Mogilev Conference was a key event that, in the Army Group Center Rear Area, helped incorporate the Wehrmacht into the Nazi genocide as part of "the anti-partisan war and the Jew-Bolshevik-partisan construct". Since the conference, the Wehrmacht rear units were instructed to cooperate fully with the SD detachments beyond simply providing logistical support. The Wehrmacht units also assumed direct responsibility for

6510-406: The other half performed obligatory services connected to the war effort ( German : Kriegshilfsdienst ). 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 in August 1934. With the creation of the Wehrmacht in 1935, Hitler elevated himself to Supreme Commander of

6603-586: 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 and

6696-484: The population revealed 51 Jewish civilians, 32 of whom were shot by the police and SD troops. At dawn on the last day of the conference, participants observed another operation conducted by police troops. The goal was to "practically experience" the combing of the town for suspects who were identified as "partisans, commissars, and communists". After the roundup, the participants observed the interrogations then rejoined their respective units. A 16-page executive summary of

6789-535: The reinstatement of conscription and massive investment and defence spending on the arms industry . 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 tactics (close-cover air-support, tanks and infantry) to devastating effect in what became known as Blitzkrieg (lightning war). Its campaigns in France (1940) ,

6882-608: The same area. Ostensibly an " anti-partisan " training conference, the event marked an escalation of violence against Jews and other civilians in the areas under Schenckendorff's command. In June 1941, the Axis Powers launched Operation Barbarossa , the invasion of the Soviet Union and by 26 July 1941, Mogilev , Byelorussian SSR , had been occupied by the Wehrmacht. Army Group Centre Rear Area , commanded by General Max von Schenckendorff , established its headquarters there on 7 September, but members of Einsatzgruppe B had entered

6975-582: The same authority as ( Hiwis ), 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 , and later in Yugoslavia , in Greece and in Romania . By 1945, 500,000 women were serving as Wehrmachtshelferinnen , half of whom were volunteers, while

7068-486: The sessions, given the speaker lineup, which included experienced mass murderers such as Bach-Zalewski, Nebe, Lombard, and Fegelein. The anti-Jewish policy had changed radically the month before, with the addition of women and children to the list of targets. This strained the limited resources of the SD and SS organisations. In addition, the German forces had to make room for Jews newly deported from elsewhere in occupied Europe, which

7161-413: The suspects, interrogations, etc. In explaining the Wehrmacht's willingness to participate in the genocide, Beorn opines that the Wehrmacht's long history of harsh treatment of civilians, paranoia about a not-yet-existent partisan threat, institutional and individual racism, and its own criminal actions against Red Army commissars all predisposed the army towards accepting mass murder. This was done under

7254-552: 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 , where several hundred German air force personnel received instruction in operational maintenance, navigation, and aerial combat training over

7347-412: 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 battleships , six cruisers , and twelve destroyers . Submarines , tanks and heavy artillery were forbidden and the air-force was dissolved. A new post-war military,

7440-480: The war with a minority of its formations motorized ; infantry remained approximately 90% foot-borne throughout the war, and artillery was primarily horse-drawn . 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

7533-482: The western front had not exceeded three per cent of the total from all fronts, in 1944 the figure jumped to about 14 per cent. Yet even in the months following D-day, about 68.5 per cent of all German battlefield deaths occurred on the eastern front, as a Soviet blitzkrieg in response devastated the retreating Wehrmacht. Oberkommando des Heeres During World War II , OKH had the responsibility of strategic planning of Armies and Army Groups . The General Staff of

7626-425: Was achieved by killing Soviet Jews already concentrated in ghettos. The size of territories under German control increased as well, which limited the activities of these units even further to major population centres. The conference led to a further conflation of more legitimate anti-partisan warfare against irregular fighters with genocide by identifying civilians as enemy combatants. Euphemistic language helped couch

7719-641: Was also prioritized last in the German rearmament scheme, making it the smallest of the branches. In the Battle of the Atlantic , the initially successful German U-boat fleet arm was eventually defeated due to Allied technological innovations like sonar , radar , and the breaking of the Enigma code. Large surface vessels were few in number due to construction limitations by international treaties prior to 1935. The "pocket battleships" Admiral Graf Spee and Admiral Scheer were important as commerce raiders only in

7812-422: Was dedicated to the idea of reviving Tirpitz's High Seas Fleet. Officers who believed in submarine warfare led by Admiral Karl Dönitz 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 began after the Treaty of Rapallo . Major-General Otto Hasse traveled to Moscow in 1923 to further negotiate

7905-477: Was dropped in favor of Wehrmacht on 21 May 1935. While the term Wehrmacht has been associated, both in the German and English languages, with the German armed forces of 1935–45 since the Second World War, before 1945 the term was used in the German language in a more general sense for a national defense force. For instance, the German-aligned formations of Poles raised during the First World War were known as

7998-461: 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

8091-529: Was necessary to kill political commissars immediately upon capture, and gaining intelligence from local collaborators. Bach-Zelewski's session was entitled "The Capture of Kommissars and Partisans in 'Scouring-Actions'", referring to the activities of the SS Cavalry Brigade in the Pripyat Marshes massacres . Nebe's talk focused on the role of the SD in the fight against "partisans" and "plunderers". He also covered

8184-582: 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 . As the fortunes of war turned against them, the Germans were in constant retreat from 1943 and onward. The Panzer divisions were vital to

8277-605: Was openly flouting the military restrictions set forth in the Versailles Treaty: German rearmament 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

8370-431: Was put in its place. Placed under the OKW were the three branch High Commands: Oberkommando des Heeres (OKH), Oberkommando der Marine (OKM), and Oberkommando der Luftwaffe (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

8463-465: Was removed from office, and Hitler appointed himself as Commander-in-Chief of the Army. From 1938, OKH was, together with Oberkommando der Luftwaffe ( transl.  Air Force High Command ) and Oberkommando der Marine ( transl.  Naval High Command ) formally subordinated to the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht . OKH had been independent until February 1938, when Hitler created

8556-459: Was the key killing unit that operated in the territory of Army Group Centre Rear Area, killing thousands of Jews, Communists and Soviet POWs handed over by the army for execution as well as other "undesirables", such as Roma ("Gypsies"), "Asiatics", and the mentally disabled. In July, Einsatzgruppe B commander Arthur Nebe reported that a "solution to the Jewish problem" was "impractical" in his region of operation due to "the overwhelming number of

8649-550: Was the manifestation of the Nazi regime's efforts to rearm Germany to a greater extent than the Treaty of Versailles permitted. After the Nazi rise to power in 1933, one of Adolf Hitler 's most overt and bellicose moves was to establish the Wehrmacht , a modern offensively-capable armed force, fulfilling the Nazi regime's long-term goals of regaining lost territory as well as gaining new territory and dominating its neighbours. This required

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