Oberkommando der Wehrmacht (OKW)

Oberkommando der Wehrmacht (OKW)
Name	Oberkommando der Wehrmacht
Founded	1938
Dissolved	1945
Country	Nazi Germany
Type	High command
Garrison	Wolfsschanze
Notable commanders	Wilhelm Keitel

Oberkommando der Wehrmacht (OKW) was the highest military command staff of Nazi Germany between 1938 and 1945, serving as the nominal central coordinating body for the Wehrmacht under Adolf Hitler. Formed during the reorganization of the Reichswehr and the consolidation of power by the Nazi Party, the OKW became a focal point for strategic direction, interservice rivalry, and political control over the German armed forces during the Second World War. Its leadership, structure, and actions intertwined with major figures and institutions of the Third Reich, influencing campaigns from the Invasion of Poland to the Battle of Berlin.

Origins and Establishment

The OKW emerged from reforms following the Blomberg–Fritsch affair and the abolition of the Ministry of War and the Reichswehrministerium when Hitler sought to centralize command across the Heer, Kriegsmarine, and Luftwaffe. The reorganization built on precedents in the Schlieffen Plan era and the post-Treaty of Versailles limitations that shaped the Wehrmacht's interwar development. Key administrative moves involved figures from the Oberkommando des Heeres and advisors to Hitler such as Wilhelm Keitel and Alfred Jodl, reflecting rivalries reminiscent of earlier disputes between officers like Werner von Blomberg and Werner von Fritsch.

Organization and Leadership

The OKW's leadership structure placed a chief of staff and a small general staff in formal proximity to Hitler, with operational chiefs for foreign military relations, intelligence liaison, and operational planning. Prominent officers included Wilhelm Keitel as Chief of the OKW and Alfred Jodl as Chief of the Operations Staff; other influential personalities involved were Ernst von Weizsäcker, Hans von Seeckt, and staff officers who had served in the German General Staff. The OKW interacted administratively with the Oberkommando des Heeres (OKH), the Oberkommando der Kriegsmarine (OKM), and the Oberkommando der Luftwaffe (OKL), while also maintaining liaison with political entities such as the Reich Chancellery, the Schutzstaffel, and ministries under figures like Hermann Göring and Heinrich Himmler.

Role in Military Strategy and Operations

Operationally, the OKW coordinated strategic direction for multi-theater planning including campaigns such as the Fall Gelb invasion of the Low Countries, the Operation Barbarossa offensive against the Soviet Union, and later defensive operations such as Operation Citadel and the Battle of Kursk. The OKW produced directives and operational orders influencing the conduct of the Afrika Korps under Erwin Rommel, the Army Group Centre under commanders like Fedor von Bock, and combined-arms actions against the Red Army during Operation Typhoon. While the OKH retained direct control over operations on the Eastern Front, the OKW issued strategic guidance, coordinated theater-level logistics with entities such as the Heeresgruppe, and worked with the Abwehr and later the Reich Main Security Office on intelligence and rear-area control.

Relations with OKH, Wehrmacht Branches, and Nazi Leadership

Relations between the OKW and the OKH were marked by organizational competition and political interference, reflecting tensions among leaders like Walther von Brauchitsch, Franz Halder, and later Hitler himself. The OKW’s authority overlapped with the OKH on the Eastern Front and with the OKL and OKM in joint operations, producing jurisdictional disputes reminiscent of prewar staff rivalries in the General Staff tradition. Politically, the OKW answered directly to Hitler and interfaced with the Reichstag-era institutions and Nazi agencies including the Foreign Office, the Propaganda Ministry, and the RSHA, placing military decision-making within the broader machinations of the Third Reich leadership circle that included Joseph Goebbels, Martin Bormann, and Rudolf Hess.

War Crimes, Legal Responsibility, and Postwar Accountability

During the war the OKW became implicated in criminal orders and policies affecting civilian populations, partisans, and prisoners, linking it to atrocities committed on the Eastern Front and in occupied territories such as during the Babi Yar massacre and the Holocaust. Documents show involvement of OKW staff in directives that contravened the Hague Conventions and the Geneva Convention norms, intersecting with actions by the Einsatzgruppen and policies of the General Government. After Germany's defeat, leading OKW officers were prosecuted at the Nuremberg Trials alongside defendants such as Hermann Göring and Joachim von Ribbentrop; prominent sentences were imposed on figures including Wilhelm Keitel and Alfred Jodl, while legal debates invoked doctrines from the International Military Tribunal concerning command responsibility and superior orders.

Dissolution and Legacy

The OKW effectively ceased functioning with the collapse of Nazi Germany in 1945 during the Battle of Berlin and the unconditional surrender signed at Lüneburg Heath and Reims. Postwar evaluations of the OKW have influenced scholarship on civil-military relations, examined in works about the Wehrmacht's complicity with the Nazi Party and the transformation of the German military in the Cold War era. Historical assessments link the OKW’s operational role and legal culpability to debates about continuity between the Reichswehr and the post-1949 Bundeswehr, and its archives have been used in studies by historians of figures such as Ian Kershaw, Richard J. Evans, and Omer Bartov.

Category:German military history Category:World War II