The Ministry of the Reichswehr ( German : Reichswehrministerium ) was the defence ministry of the Weimar Republic and the early Third Reich . Based in the Bendlerblock building in Berlin, it was established in October 1919 under the leadership of a defence minister and staffed mostly from the existing Prussian Ministry of War . Its longest serving Weimar era ministers were the civilian Otto Gessler (almost 8 years) and the former general Wilhelm Groener (4 years).
17-826: Under the Nazi government , the Ministry of the Reichswehr was renamed the Reich Ministry of War . It was led by Minister of War General Werner von Blomberg , who had also been the last defence minister. The Ministry was abolished in 1938 and replaced with the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht (Armed Forces High Command) under the direct command of Adolf Hitler . On 6 March 1919, the Weimar National Assembly – Germany's post-war interim parliament, which
34-621: A transfer of resources between the Russian front and another theatre of operations. Although both OKW and OKH were headquartered in the Maybach complex in Nazi Germany, the functional and operational independence of both establishments were not lost on the respective staff during their tenure. Personnel at the compound remarked that even if Maybach 2 (the OKW complex) was completely destroyed,
51-669: The Oberkommando der Marine (OKM). The Minister's Office was renamed the Wehrmacht Office. The Defence Act ( Wehrgesetz ) of 21 May 1935 made the Führer and chancellor (Hitler) supreme commander of the Wehrmacht . Under him, the renamed minister of war ( Reichskriegsminister ) became commander-in-chief of the Wehrmacht (§ 3). As a result of the Blomberg–Fritsch affair , Hitler took over as commander-in-chief of
68-666: The Oberkommando der Wehrmacht which, on paper, subordinated OKH to OKW. After a major crisis developed in the Battle of Moscow , von Brauchitsch was dismissed (partly because of his failing health), and Hitler appointed himself as head of the OKH. At the same time, he limited the OKH's authority to the Russian front, giving OKW direct authority over army units elsewhere. This enabled Hitler to declare that only he had complete awareness of Germany's strategic situation, should any general request
85-659: The Reichswehr in compliance with the limits set in the Treaty of Versailles. In § 8 [2], it stated that: "the Reich President is the supreme commander of the entire Armed Forces. Under him, the Armed Forces minister exercises command over the entire Armed Forces." Paragraph 10 also provided that: [1] An Army Board ( Kammer ) and a Navy Board, whose members are elected by secret ballot, are to be established at
102-852: The Treaty of Versailles (Article 160), the Truppenamt was formed within the Reichswehr Ministry in October 1919. General Hans von Seeckt was its first head. The Reich law to create a new Armed Forces, which had been referred to in the 1919 Law on the Formation of a Provisional National Defence Force, was promulgated as the Defence Act ( Wehrgesetz ) on 23 March 1921 by the Weimar Reichstag . It formally established
119-877: The Wehrmacht by decree on 4 February 1938. Under the same decree, the functions of the Ministry of War were taken over by the High Command of the Wehrmacht ( Oberkommando der Wehrmacht , OKW). The Ministry of War ceased to exist at that point. Nazi government Too Many Requests If you report this error to the Wikimedia System Administrators, please include the details below. Request from 172.68.168.133 via cp1102 cp1102, Varnish XID 545710181 Upstream caches: cp1102 int Error: 429, Too Many Requests at Thu, 28 Nov 2024 05:39:07 GMT Oberkommando des Heeres The Oberkommando des Heeres ( lit. ' Upper Command of
136-621: The Army ' ; abbreviated OKH ) was the high command of the Army of Nazi Germany . It was founded in 1935 as part of Adolf Hitler 's rearmament of Germany . OKH was de facto the most important unit within the German war planning until the defeat at Moscow in December 1941. During World War II , OKH had the responsibility of strategic planning of Armies and Army Groups . The General Staff of
153-506: The OKH managed operational matters. Each German Army also had an Army High Command ( Armeeoberkommando or AOK). The Armed Forces High Command ( Oberkommando der Wehrmacht ) then took over this function for theatres other than the Eastern front . The OKH commander held the title of Commander-in-chief of the Army ( Oberbefehlshaber des Heeres ). After the Battle of Moscow , the OKH commander Field marshal Walther von Brauchitsch
170-621: The OKH staff in Maybach 1 would scarcely notice. These camouflaged facilities, separated physically by a fence, also maintained structurally different mindsets towards their objectives. On 28 April 1945 (two days before his suicide ), Hitler formally subordinated OKH to OKW, giving the latter command of forces on the Eastern Front. In 1944, these elements were subordinate to the OKH: The Commander-in-Chief of
187-482: The Reich government and maintain peace and order within the Reich until the new Armed Forces ( Wehrmacht ), which is to be organized by Reich law, is created. The position of defence minister was established early in 1919 and filled by Gustav Noske on 13 February. On 20 August, President Friedrich Ebert ordered that the Reichswehr Ministry take over from the federal states ' war ministries on 1 October, although it
SECTION 10
#1732772347208204-399: The Reichswehr Ministry as advisory and expert bodies. [2] The Army and Navy Boards are directly subordinate to the defence minister. In § 12, the war ministries of Bavaria , Saxony and Württemberg were dissolved, and command authority was concentrated in the hand of the defence minister. A Minister's Office ( Ministeramt ), which served as a top military authority between the minister and
221-710: The army and navy leadership, was set up on 1 March 1929. Just over two years after Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party rose to power, the Proclamation of Military Sovereignty ( Verkündung der Wehrhoheit ) of 16 March 1935 created a new Oberkommando der Luftwaffe (OKL) under the Air Ministry and turned the Heeresleitung into the Oberkommando des Heeres (OKH) and the Marineleitung into
238-768: The command of General Walther Reinhardt , the Prussian Minister of War , until the Ministry was disbanded on 30 September 1919. Reinhardt sat on the first two cabinets of the Weimar Republic as a non-voting member until 30 September, as did Admiral Adolf von Trotha in a similar capacity for the Admiralty until 27 March 1920, when the Bauer cabinet resigned. As a covert replacement for the German Empire 's General Staff (OHL) , which had been banned by
255-509: Was not until 8 November 1919 that the new ministry was officially opened. The heads of Army Command ( Heeresleitung ) and the Admiralty – which became Navy Command ( Marineleitung ) on 15 July 1920 – were subordinate to the defence minister. The Ministry was for the most part made up of members from the states' war ministries, with the majority coming from the Prussian Ministry of War . The Prussian armed forces remained under
272-471: Was removed from office, and Hitler appointed himself as Commander-in-Chief of the Army. From 1938, OKH was, together with Oberkommando der Luftwaffe ( transl. Air Force High Command ) and Oberkommando der Marine ( transl. Naval High Command ) formally subordinated to the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht . OKH had been independent until February 1938, when Hitler created
289-504: Was tasked with passing necessary laws while it drafted a constitution for the Republic – enacted the Law on the Formation of a Provisional National Defence Force ( Gesetz über die Bildung einer vorläufigen Reichswehr ). It authorized the president of Germany to: disband the existing Army and to form a provisional Reichswehr , which will protect the Reich's borders, enforce the orders of
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