The German armed forces were organized into three services: the Army (Heer), the Air Force (Luftwaffe), and the Navy (Kriegsmarine).

OKH (Oberkommando des Heeres, Army High Command) held command over the Army and was in charge of most ground operations. It did not control all German ground forces, as the Luftwaffe, Navy, and SS all had some ground forces. The Army was divided into two pieces: the field army (Feldheer), responsible for combat operations, and the replacement army (Ersatzheer), responsible for raising new formations and training recruits and replacements. The German General Staff, a corps of specially picked and trained officers, controlled the Army, with General Walter von Brauchitsch as commander in chief of the Army until December 1941, when Hitler assumed that position.

OKL (Oberkommando der Luftwaffe, Air Force High Command) held supreme command over the air units and over almost anything that pertained to air operations, such as antiaircraft units and parachute troops. In addition, the OKL controlled its own regular ground troops, growing from a guard battalion in 1939 to a panzer corps in 1945. Reichsmarschalall Hermann Goring was commander in chief of the Luftwaffe.

Germany's surface and submarine fleets were controlled by the OKM (Oberkommando der Kriegsmarine, Navy High Command). The OKM also had a few ground troops, mainly antiaircraft and coastal artillery units. Admiral Erich Raeder was commander-in- chief of the Navy, until he resigned in December 1942.

These three services comprised the armed forces, the Wehrmacht. The OKW (Oberkommando der Wehrmacht, Wehrmacht High Command) in theory coordinated and controlled OKH, OKL, and OKM. In practice, the three services jealously guarded their prerogatives and sought to remain as independent as possible-with OKL and OKM achieving some success here. The OKW in effect became an alternative headquarters to the OKH. The two competed, forming rival plans and sniping at one another. In a showdown, the OKH had to give way to the OKW, as Hitler was supreme commander of the Wehrmacht and thus head of OKW. (Day-to-day supervision of the OKW was the responsibility of General Wilhelm Keitel, chief of the OKW; he also served as Hitler's deputy to the OKH.) The OKW encompassed many departments, being in charge of many military-related matters, and some of these departments had their own ground troops independent of the OKH. For example, German intelligence (the Abwehr) had its Brandenburger contingent for special operations.

Adolf Hitler was not only supreme commander of the Wehrmacht, he was the Fuhrer. Head of the National Socialist Party, he legally became Chancellor of Germany in 1933 and later abolished the office of President of Germany, concentrating in his person the powers of Germany's top two governmental positions. Through any means, legal or illegal, he converted Germany from a parliamentary democracy to a totalitarian state under control of the Nazi Party.

The Nazi Party dominated German politics and sought to permeate all aspects of German society and culture with its ideology. In addition to its political aspect, the Nazi Party also was heavily militarized and had its own ground troops. Actually, it had two ground organizations: the SA and SS.

The SA (for Sturm Abteilung, Assault Detachment) were the brownshirt storm troopers of the party. At one time, the large SA rivaled and threatened to absorb the Army. However, Hitler sold out the SA to gain the favor of the Army. In the "Night of the Long Knives" in 1934, the SS murdered the leaders of the SA and disbanded many SA units. The SA, greatly reduced in power, did remain in existence (and actually started a comeback in 1943).

The SS (originally for Schutzstaffel, Defense Squadron; later a name in itself) originally was a branch of the SA, charged with guarding Hitler. Under the control of Reichsfuhrer Heinrich Himmler, the SS gradually grew in power and eclipsed the SA. The SS became a vast Nazi Party organization, working parallel to (or often in place of) official government agencies and was one of the chief promulgators of Nazi racism. The SS High Command (the Reichsfuhrer-SS) controlled three main departments:

The General SS (Allgemeine-SS) was the party-wide paramilitary organization of part-time volunteers throughout Germany.

The Special Purposes SS (Verfugungs-SS) comprised the field combat forces of the SS. These forces became renown and feared during the war as the Waffen-SS (Armed SS).

The Death's Head SS (Totenkopf-SS) consisted of the concentration camp guards. Thousands of these SS men participated in gruesome crimes against humanity and war atrocities.

In addition to the SS, Himmler was head of the German Ministry of the Interior and was commander in chief of the German police. This ensured close cooperation between the SS and police, leading to the absorption of the police into the SS. The SS Police had many branches, of which the Gestapo (the secret state police) was the most infamous.

Other Organizations

The Nazi Party encompassed several other organizations, including the following:

The Reich Labor Service (Reichsarbeitsdienst, RAD) was a Party organization set up in 1931 to counter unemployment. In 1935, it was transferred from the party to the government and made a compulsory service. Young German men would serve for six months in the RAD before being drafted into the military. In late 1939, the RAD became part of the Army.

The Todt Organization (Organisation Todt, OT) was formed in 1938 by Dr. Todt to help build the Westwall. In wartime, its scope enlarged to include rear-area military construction projects in Germany and the occupied lands, including the Atlantic Wall. Manned by Germans in 1939, it increasingly relied on slave labor as the war progressed.

The Hitler Youth (Hitler-Jugend) enrolled all German youth aged 10-18 for political indoctrination and, for males, pre-military training. Graduates of the Hitler Youth provided members for the Nazi Party and soldiers for the Wehrmacht and SS. (Late in the war, many Hitler Youth members fought in their own battalions in the last-ditch defense of Germany.)

One institution, with overlapping party and government elements, was the German Resettlement Commission. Dominated by the SS, it was concerned with evacuating the Volksdeutsch (ethnic Germans living in foreign lands), mostly from eastern Europe to Greater Germany. This effort began in earnest in 1939 following the outbreak of war, and continued until 1942.

The combination of the armed forces high commands, government agencies, and Nazi Party organizations paints a picture of a determined Germany, ruthless and efficient- Germans united under the Nazi Party, looking after German minorities throughout Europe, and building a war machine to assert German national power.

While elements of this picture are true to some degree, the reality was somewhat different. While Hitler had come to power legally in Germany, he and his Nazis thereafter subverted the German constitution and attempted to crush all political resistance. Many Germans opposed the Nazis on moral or political grounds--even in rigged elections following Hitler's rise to power the Nazi Party failed to gain an outright majority in the German parliament. The Nazis never fully overcame this opposition, which expressed itself in covert resistance, conspiracies, and leaked secrets throughout the war. The Nazis also hesitated to take measures that might increase anti-Nazi sentiment among the general population, such as diverting resources from the consumer economy to the military.

Furthermore, the Nazis imposed an inefficient and corrupt government on Germany. Hitler deliberately kept government agencies inefficient-they often had unclear responsibilities and competed with one another for prestige and authority. This ensured that the agencies would remain weak and unable to oppose the Nazi Party. Corruption pervaded the entire system, with Nazi officials often abusing their positions to enrich themselves, instead of discharging their responsibilities.

When war came, therefore, the Nazis did not mobilize the economy for war production--first for fear of provoking a rebellion by the German people and second for not wanting to have to sacrifice their own ill-gotten luxuries.

Inside Europa First to Fight Designer's Notes Part II, Section A Germany

Introduction
Army Re-armament and Manpower
Strategic Situation
Germany-Allies Strength Comparison
German High Command and the Government
Volksdeutsch Resettlement 1939-1942
The Wehrkreis System
Frontier Defenses and Border Regt Commands