Wehrmacht

Untuk the band, lihat Wehrmacht (band).

Wehrmacht adalah nama angkatan bersenjata Nazi-Jerman sejak tahun 1935 sampai 1945. Selama Perang Dunia II, Wehrmacht terdiri dari Heer (Angkatan Darat), Kriegsmarine (Angkatan Laut), Luftwaffe (Angkatan Udara) dan Pasukan Elit Jerman saat itu Waffen-SS ("SS Bersenjata"), serta ditambah unit-unit bekas Sturmabteilung (SA).

Angkatan Pertahanan Nasional Jerman Wehrmacht
Simbol Balkenkreuz adalah lambang Wehrmacht.
Aktif	1935–46
Negara	Nazi Jerman
Cabang	Heer Kriegsmarine Luftwaffe
Peran	Angkatan Bersenjata Nazi Jerman
Jumlah personel	20,700,000 (pasukan siap tugas sejak awal) 2,200,000 (1945)
Markas	Zossen
Pelindung	Adolf Hitler
Warna seragam	Feldgrau
Pertempuran	Perang Saudara Spanyol Perang Dunia ke-2
Tokoh
Wakil komandan	Adolf Hitler
Tokoh berjasa	Adolf Hitler Hermann Göring Wilhelm Keitel Erich Raeder Karl Dönitz Robert Ritter von Greim Erwin Rommel
Insignia
Tanda pengenal	Balkenkreuz
Tanda pengenal	Swastika

Asal dan penggunaan istilah

Sebelum bangkitnya NSDAP, istilah Wehrmacht digunakan dalam arti umum untuk menyebutkan angkatan bersenjata dari bangsa manapun, yang difungsikan sebagai "pertahanan tanah air". Contohnya, istilah Britische Wehrmacht berarti menunjuk kepada angkatan bersenjata Inggris.

Pasal 47 dari Undang-undang Dasar Republik Weimar tahun 1919 menyatakan "Reichspräsident memegang kekuasaan tertinggi semua angkatan bersenjata Reich". Untuk memberi ciri khas, istilah Reichswehr digunakan untuk menyebut angkatan bersenjata Jerman.

Pada tahun 1935, atau pada saat Kaum Nazi bangkit, Reichswehr kemudian diganti menjadi Wehrmacht. Maka, istilah Wehrmacht secara tak resmi digunakan untuk merujuk kepada angkatan bersenjata Jerman selama masa Reich ke-3 dan PD II.

Pasca Perang Dunia II

Setelah Nazi Jerman menyerah tanpa syarat pada tanggal 7 Mei 1945, Jerman dilarang memiliki angkatan bersenjata. Terbelahnya Jerman pada masa Perang Dingin memicu pembentukan angkatan militer di Republik Federal Jerman (Jerman Barat) dan Republik Demokratik Jerman (Jerman Timur).

Militer Jerman Barat terbentuk pada tanggal 5 Mei 1955 dengan nama Bundeswehr yang berarti Angkatan Pertahanan Federal. Sementara militer Jerman Timur dibentuk pada 1 Maret 1956 dengan nama Tentara Rakyat Nasional (Nationale Volksarmee).

Struktur Komando

Supreme High Command of the Armed Forces (OKW)

Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces

Führer and Reichskanzler Adolf Hitler (1935–1945)

Großadmiral Karl Dönitz (1945)

Commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces

Generalfeldmarschall Paul von Hindenburg (1933–1934), President of the Reich

Führer and Reichskanzler Adolf Hitler (1934–1935)

Generaloberst Werner von Blomberg (1935–1938), Minister for War, promoted Generalfeldmarschall (1936)

vested into the Supreme Commander (theoretically) and the Chief of the Supreme High Command (practically)

Vice Commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces

General Werner von Blomberg (1933–1935), promoted Generaloberst 1933

Chief of the Armed Forces Supreme High Command—Generalfeldmarschall Wilhelm Keitel (1938–1945)

Chief of the Operations Staff (Wehrmachtführungsstab)—Generaloberst Alfred Jodl

Supreme High Command of the Army (OKH)

Army Commanders-in-Chief

Generaloberst Werner von Fritsch (1935–1938)

Generaloberst Walther von Brauchitsch (1938–1941), promoted to Generalfeldmarschall 1940

Führer and Reichskanzler Adolf Hitler (1941–1945)

Generalfeldmarschall Ferdinand Schörner (1945)

Chiefs of Staff of the German Army

General Ludwig Beck (1935–1938)

General Franz Halder (1938–1942)

General Kurt Zeitzler (1942–1944)

Generaloberst Heinz Guderian (1944–1945)

General Hans Krebs (1945, committed suicide in the Führerbunker)

Supreme High Command of the Navy (OKM)

War Navy Commanders-in-Chief

Admiral Erich Raeder (1928–1943), promoted to Generaladmiral 1936, Großadmiral 1940

Großadmiral Karl Dönitz (1943–1945)

Generaladmiral Hans-Georg von Friedeburg (1945)

"Admiral Inspector": Großadmiral Erich Raeder (1943–1945) (sinecure)

Supreme High Command of the Air-Force (OKL)

Air-Force Commanders-in-Chief

General Hermann Göring (1935–1945), promoted Generaloberst 1936, Generalfeldmarschall 1938 (!), Reichsmarschall (singularily) 1940

Generalfeldmarschall Robert Ritter von Greim (1945)

Perwira Terkemuka

Ludwig Beck—Chief of the General Staff of the Heer from 1933 to 1938

Fedor von Bock—Commander of the failed Operation Typhoon

Walther von Brauchitsch—Commander-in-Chief of the Heer from 1938 to 1941

Wilhelm Franz Canaris—Head of the Abwehr, a Wehrmacht intelligence service

Karl Dönitz—Grand Admiral of the Kriegsmarine and architect of the U-boat force; last President of the Third Reich following Hitler's suicide

Reinhard Gehlen—Chief of military intelligence on the Eastern Front; first head of the postwar Federal Intelligence Service (BND)

Heinz Guderian—Panzer commander

Franz Halder—Chief of the General Staff of the Heer from 1938 to 1942

Kurt von Hammerstein-Equord—Commander-in-Chief of the Reichswehr and opponent of Hitler

Hermann Hoth—Panzer commander on the Eastern Front

Alfred Jodl—Chief of the Operations Staff of the OKW

Wilhelm Keitel—Commander-in-Chief of the OKW

Albert Kesselring—An Air-Marshal of the Luftwaffe; overall commander of the Mediterranean theater

Ewald von Kleist—A Field Marshal of the Heer

Hans Günther von Kluge—Field Marshal and Commander of Oberbefehlshaber West

Siegfried Knemeyer—Chief Luftwaffe aviation technologist under air force C-in-C Hermann Goering

Wilhelm Ritter von Leeb—Commander of Army Group C during the Battle of France

Günther Lütjens—Admiral and Fleet Commander of the Bismarck flotilla

Erich von Manstein—Field Marshal, military strategist, and prominent proponent of the Blitzkrieg

Walter Model—Field Marshal, Commanded the defence of the Eastern Front from the Soviet counterattack

Friedrich Paulus—Commander of German forces at Stalingrad

Erich Raeder—Grand Admiral of the Kriegsmarine, credited with building the Kriegsmarine

Walther von Reichenau—Commander of the 6th Army

Wolfram Freiherr von Richthofen—Field Marshal in command of the Stuka forces of the Luftwaffe for a time during the war, relative of The Red Baron of World War I

Robert Ritter von Greim—Field Marshal, Commander-in-Chief of the Luftwaffe in the last days of the war

Erwin Rommel—Field Marshal, commander of the Afrika Korps

Gerd von Rundstedt—Generalfeldmarschall, held amongst the highest commands throughout World War II

Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg—one of the leading participants in the 20 July plot

Kurt Student—founder and commander of Germany's Fallschirmjäger airborne troops

Erwin von Witzleben—prominent conspirator of the 20 July plot

Catatan

• Adalah tidak tepat jika menyamakan Wehrmacht hanya dengan angktan darat (Heer). Kendaraan Wehrmacht yang digunakan oleh Heer, Luftwaffe atau angkatan laut memiliki plat nomor dengan WH, WL, WM.