Wehrmacht refers to the
German Armed Forces under the
Third Reich. The Wehrmacht was a replacement for the
Reichswehr. The
NSDAP came to power in 1933, and by 1935 it had assumed control of most all aspects of Germany, all under
Adolf Hitler. The Wehrmacht was officially established by
Reichskanzler Hitler in May 1935 under the "
Law for the Reconstruction of the
National Defense Forces" - completely dismissing the provisions of the
Versailles treaty, which limited Germany to a defense force of only 100,000 men.
The Wehrmacht was composed of Three Branches, technically:
Many consider the misunderstood
Waffen-SS (the Armed SS) to be the fourth arm of the Wehrmacht. Even though it was a major
military force, accumulating to over 600,000 men by the end of
World War II, the control of Waffen-SS formations rested with the
Reichsführer der SS,
Heinrich Himmler, and
not under the OKW.
The command of the other three branches
did however rest under the authority of the
Oberkommando der Wehrmacht, often abbreviated as
OKW. The Chef OKW was from 1 Sep 1939 right up until 8 May 1945,
Generalfeldmarschall Wilhelm Keitel. Directly above Keitel was the
Führer, who also held the title of "Oberster Befehlshaber der Wehrmacht" (Highest Commander of the Wehrmacht). This, of course, was Adolf Hitler, up until his
suicide on April 30, 1945. After this,
Großadmiral Karl Dönitz was appointed to this position until the surrender.
The Wehrmacht was officially ended by the
unconditional surrender of Germany to the Allies on
May 8, 1945.