Wehrmacht (listen) ▶ (help·info) was the name of the armed forces of Germany from 1935 to 1945. The Wehrmacht of World War II was comprised of the army (das Heer), the navy (die Kriegsmarine), the air force (die Luftwaffe). Waffen-SS ("SS in arms") units were occasionally subordinated to the Wehrmacht. Wehrmacht - Background. The German word Wehrmacht (literally "defence force") was ...

Including:

Wehrmacht - Background Wehrmacht - History Wehrmacht - Command structure Wehrmacht - War years Wehrmacht - Rebellion Wehrmacht - War crimes Wehrmacht - Prominent members Wehrmacht - After World War II Wehrmacht - Reference

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Wehrmacht, Wehrmacht - Background, Wehrmacht - History, Wehrmacht - Command structure, Wehrmacht - War years, Wehrmacht - Rebellion, Wehrmacht - War crimes, Wehrmacht - Prominent members, Wehrmacht - After World War II, Wehrmacht - Reference

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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 and held until his suicide in late April 1945. Administration and military authority initially lay with the war ministry under Werner von Blomberg. After von Blomberg resigned in the course of the Blomberg-Fritsch Affair (1938) the ministry was dissolved and the Armed Forces High Command (Oberkommando der Wehrmacht or ...

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Wehrmacht, Wehrmacht - Background, Wehrmacht - History, Wehrmacht - Command structure, Wehrmacht - War years, Wehrmacht - Rebellion, Wehrmacht - War crimes, Wehrmacht - Prominent members, Wehrmacht - After World War II, Wehrmacht - Reference

Read more here: » Wehrmacht: Encyclopedia II - Wehrmacht - Command structure

While the predominant number of war crimes were attributed to Nazi organizations like the Schutzstaffel (SS), a number of Wehrmacht officers were charged with war crimes at the end of the war. In particular, OKW commander-in-chief Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel and chief of operations staff Alfred Jodl were indicted and tried for war crimes by the International Military Tribunal at Nuremburg in 1946. Both were convicted of all charges, sentenced to death and executed by hanging. The International Military Tribunal's judgement, however, ...

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Wehrmacht, Wehrmacht - Background, Wehrmacht - History, Wehrmacht - Command structure, Wehrmacht - War years, Wehrmacht - Rebellion, Wehrmacht - War crimes, Wehrmacht - Prominent members, Wehrmacht - After World War II, Wehrmacht - Reference

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Blitzkrieg (German, literally lightning war) is a popular name for an operational-level military doctrine which employed mobile forces attacking with speed and surprise to prevent an enemy from implementing a coherent defense. The doctrines resulting in the blitzkrieg effect were developed in the years after World War I as a method to help prevent trench warfare and linear warfare. Blitzkrieg was first used on any serious scale by the German Wehrmacht in World War II. Operations early in the war—the invasions of ...

Including:

Blitzkrieg - Etymology and modern meaning Blitzkrieg - Interwar period
Blitzkrieg - Reichswehr Blitzkrieg - Foreign influence Blitzkrieg - Guderian into the Wehrmacht Blitzkrieg - Panzertruppe and Luftwaffe Blitzkrieg - Spanish Civil War
Blitzkrieg - Methods of operations
Blitzkrieg - Schwerpunkt Blitzkrieg - Paralysis Blitzkrieg - Kesselschlacht
Blitzkrieg - Operations in the Second World War
Blitzkrieg - Poland and France 1939–40 Blitzkrieg - Soviet Union: the Eastern Front: 1941–45 Blitzkrieg - Western Front 1944–45
Blitzkrieg - Countermeasures and limitations
Blitzkrieg - Terrain Blitzkrieg - Air superiority Blitzkrieg - Counter-tactics Blitzkrieg - Logistics
Blitzkrieg - Influence

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Werwolf was a Nazi plan at the end of World War II for a force which would aid the Wehrmacht by means of guerrilla attacks against the Allies in the Allied-occupied regions of Germany. The word "Werwolf" is the German cognate of werewolf, in the sense of lycanthropy; it is also a pun on Wehrwolf, which means "military wolf". "Werwolf" was the favored name of the movement, although "Wehrwolf" was also sometimes used. In the end, the name was chosen after the title of a novel, written by Herman Lons in 1914 about the 30 Years War, a fanatical nationalist who was al ...

Including:

Werwolf - Werwolf in fiction Werwolf - Bibliography

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Battle Dress Uniform (BDU) in the United States is the military uniform worn into combat, battledress as opposed to 'display' dress uniforms worn at parades and functions. BDUs may be either plain fatigues or in camouflage colors. Battle dress uniform - History. It was the Germans, just before World War Two, who pioneered the widespread application of camouflage patterns to military uniforms. After much trial, the Oberkommando Wehrmacht (abbrev. OKW) issued Heeres-Splittermuster 31, more commo ...

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Battle dress uniform - History Battle dress uniform - Replacements

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The Armenian quote is a paragraph allegedly included in a speech by Adolf Hitler to Wehrmacht commanders at his Obersalzberg home on August 22, 1939, a week before the German invasion of Poland. The authenticity of the quote has been disputed. The key area of contention regarding the "Armenian quote" is its last sentence, which contains a reference to the Armenian genocide, an episode during World War I in the Ottoman Empire, during which, according to many estimates, approximately 1.5 million ethnic Armenians were killed. The authent ...

Including:

Armenian quote - External link

Read more here: » Armenian quote: Encyclopedia - Armenian quote

Vasily Grigoryevich Zaitsev (Russian: Васи́лий Григо́рьевич За́йцев) (23 March 1915 – 15 December 1991) was a Soviet sniper during World War II who between 10 November and 17 December 1942 during the Battle of Stalingrad killed 225 soldiers and officers of the Wehrmacht and other Axis armies, including 11 snipers (in Junior Lieutenant military rank). Prior to 10 November he had already killed 32 Axis soldiers with the ordinary Mosin rifle ("tryokhlineyka", three line rifle) [1]. It is estimated that ...

Including:

Vasily Grigoryevich Zaitsev - Awards and honors

Read more here: » Vasily Grigoryevich Zaitsev: Encyclopedia - Vasily Grigoryevich Zaitsev

Alfred Jodl (May 10, 1890 - October 16, 1946) was a Wehrmacht officer. During WWII he was Chief of the Operations Staff and deputy to Wilhelm Keitel. He was born in Würzburg, Germany. Educated at Cadet School in Munich, he graduated in 1910 and joined the bavarian army as an artillery officer. During World War I he was a battery officer and served on the Western Front 1914-1916, twice being wounded. In 1917 he served briefly on the Eastern Front before returning to the west as a staff officer. After the war Jodl remained in the armed fo ...

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Walter Ernsting (13 June 1920 - 15 January 2005) was a German science fiction and fantasy author who mainly published under the pseudonym Clark Darlton. Walter Ernsting - Biography. After growing up in Koblenz, Ernsting was drafted into the German Wehrmacht shortly after the beginning of World War II. He served in an intelligence unit in Norway and on the Eastern Front where he was captured and spent several years as a prisoner of war in Siberia. After returning to Germany, Ernsting started to ...

Including:

Walter Ernsting - Biography Walter Ernsting - Utopia and Terra Walter Ernsting - Perry Rhodan

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Wound Badge (Das Verwundetenabzeichen) is a German military award for wounded or frost-bitten soldiers of Wehrmacht, SS and the auxiliary service organisations (after March 1943 due to the increasing number of allied bombings — also for civilians). First instituted during the first world war it existed in three versions: black for one or two times wounded by hostile action or air raid, or frost-bite in the line of duty, silver for three or four times wounded, loss of a hand, foot or eye via hostile action (also partial loss o ...

Including:

Wound Badge - Wound Badge of 20 July 1944
Wound Badge - Notes

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The Abwehr was a German intelligence organization from 1921 to 1944. The verb abwehren means "to ward off", implying counterespionage; this term was used as a concession to Allied demands that Germany's post-World War I intelligence activities be for "defensive" purposes only. After February 4, 1938, its name in full was Amt Ausland/Abwehr im Oberkommando der Wehrmacht (Foreign Bure ...

Including:

Abwehr - The Abwehr before Canaris Abwehr - The Abwehr under Canaris
Abwehr - Before the War Abwehr - The Abwehr During World War II Abwehr - The Frau Solf Tea Party and the End of the Abwehr
Abwehr - Chiefs of the Abwehr

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After World War I, in the German Reichswehr and Wehrmacht, the Feldwebel was divided into several NCO-Ranks above Unteroffizier (as Squad-Leader): Unterfeldwebel (a Junior NCO, Squad-Leader or Vice-Platoon-Leader) Feldwebel Oberfeldwebel (Senior NCO, Platoon-Leader) Stabsfeldwebel (long-service Senior NCO, acting as CSM, Platoon-Leader etc.) In World War II the Oberscharführer of ...

See also:

Feldwebel, Feldwebel - 19th Century and German Kaiserreich, Feldwebel - Reichswehr and Wehrmacht, Feldwebel - Bundeswehr

Read more here: » Feldwebel: Encyclopedia II - Feldwebel - Reichswehr and Wehrmacht

Feldwebel gained its widest usage under the German military beginning from the early 19th century. The highest ranking Non-Commissioned Officer until 1918, the Feldwebel acted as Company Sergeant Major or Regimental Sergeant Major). From 1877 veteran NCOs could be promoted to the rank of Feldwebel-Leutnant. This Army Reserve Officer ranked with the Commissioned Officers, but was always inferior to the youngest Second Lieutenant. Since 1887 the Offizierstellvertreter (Deputy Officer) ranked as kind of Warrant Officer First Class (more NCO than ...

See also:

Feldwebel, Feldwebel - 19th Century and German Kaiserreich, Feldwebel - Reichswehr and Wehrmacht, Feldwebel - Bundeswehr

Read more here: » Feldwebel: Encyclopedia II - Feldwebel - 19th Century and German Kaiserreich

Battle of the Caucasus - Red Army. Northern Caucasian Front (Marshal Semyon Budenny) - until September 1942 Transcaucasian Front (General of the Army Ivan Tyulenev) Black Sea Fleet (Vice-Admiral Filipp Oktyabrsky) Azov Sea Flotilla (Counter-Admiral Sergey Gorshkov) Battle of the Caucasus - Wehrmacht. to be added ...

See also:

Battle of the Caucasus, Battle of the Caucasus - Forces and commanders, Battle of the Caucasus - Red Army, Battle of the Caucasus - Wehrmacht, Battle of the Caucasus - German offensives 1942, Battle of the Caucasus - Soviet offensives 1943

Read more here: » Battle of the Caucasus: Encyclopedia II - Battle of the Caucasus - Forces and commanders

Throughout its existence this headquarters controlled the well-known Afrika Korps, and for most of its life it controlled a number of other German and Italian units as well. The following overview of its assets is taken from lexikon-der-wehrmacht.de, with dates corrected (see references). Panzer Group Africa (Rommel) As of September 1941: (during Rommel's first push into the Western Desert) German Afrika Korps Italian XXI CorpsSee also:

German Panzer Army Africa, German Panzer Army Africa - Assets

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Triumph of the Will has been described as "by Nazis, for Nazis, and about Nazis".[2] The film begins with a prologue, the only commentary in the film. On a stone wall, the following text appears: On September 5, 1934, ... 20 years after the outbreak of the World War ... 16 years after the beginning of our suffering ... 19 months after the beginning of the German renaissance ... Adolf Hitler flew again to Nuremberg to review ...

See also:

Triumph of the Will, Triumph of the Will - Plot, Triumph of the Will - Origins, Triumph of the Will - Filmmaking, Triumph of the Will - Response, Triumph of the Will - Themes, Triumph of the Will - Controversy, Triumph of the Will - Wehrmacht objections, Triumph of the Will - Influences and legacy, Triumph of the Will - Footnotes

Read more here: » Triumph of the Will: Encyclopedia II - Triumph of the Will - Plot

Unlike Der Sieg des Glaubens, Riefenstahl shot Triumph of the Will with a bigger budget, extensive preparations, and vital help from high-ranking Nazis like Joseph Goebbels. As Susan Sontag observed, "The Rally was planned not only as a spectacular mass meeting, but as a spectacular propaganda film."[5] Albert Speer, Hitler's personal architect, designed the set in Nuremberg and did most of the coordination for the event.[3] ...

See also:

Triumph of the Will, Triumph of the Will - Plot, Triumph of the Will - Origins, Triumph of the Will - Filmmaking, Triumph of the Will - Response, Triumph of the Will - Themes, Triumph of the Will - Controversy, Triumph of the Will - Wehrmacht objections, Triumph of the Will - Influences and legacy, Triumph of the Will - Footnotes

Read more here: » Triumph of the Will: Encyclopedia II - Triumph of the Will - Filmmaking

Triumph of the Will has been described as "by Nazis, for Nazis, and about Nazis".[2] The film begins with a prologue, the only commentary in the film. On a stone wall, the following text appears: On September 5, 1934, ... 20 years after the outbreak of the World War ... 16 years after the beginning of our suffering ... 19 months after the beginning of the German renaissance ... Adolf Hitler flew again to Nuremberg to review ...

See also:

Triumph of the Will, Triumph of the Will - Plot, Triumph of the Will - Origins, Triumph of the Will - Filmmaking, Triumph of the Will - Themes, Triumph of the Will - Response, Triumph of the Will - Controversy, Triumph of the Will - Wehrmacht objections, Triumph of the Will - Influences and legacy, Triumph of the Will - Gallery, Triumph of the Will - Footnotes, Triumph of the Will - Copyright Status

Read more here: » Triumph of the Will: Encyclopedia II - Triumph of the Will - Plot