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Statistics for German World War II military casualties are divergent. The wartime military casualty figures compiled by the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht (the German High Command, abbreviated as OKW) through January 31, 1945 are often cited by military historians in accounts of individual campaigns in the war.
The Wehrmacht directed combat operations during World War II (from 1 September 1939 – 8 May 1945) as the German Reich's armed forces umbrella command-organization. After 1941 the OKH became the de facto Eastern Theatre higher-echelon command-organization for the Wehrmacht , excluding Waffen-SS except for operational and tactical combat purposes.
The 1st Army was activated on 26 August 1939, in Wehrkreis XII with General Erwin von Witzleben in command. Its primary mission was to take defensive positions and guard the western defences of Germany against Allied forces along the Maginot Line during the attack on Poland, [1] making it the principal German combatant during the short-lived French Saar Offensive.
Otherwise notable people killed serving with the German military during World War II.Note: This category is intended solely for those members of the German armed forces killed as a result of their military service and not those executed during internal purges, or those who died in Allied custody post-war.
The German Army (German: Heer, German: ⓘ; lit. ' army ' ) was the land forces component of the Wehrmacht , [ b ] the regular armed forces of Nazi Germany , from 1935 until it effectively ceased to exist in 1945 and then was formally dissolved in August 1946. [ 4 ]
Since the end of the Cold War, the Volksbund has access to Eastern Europe, where most World War II German casualties occurred. [2] Since 1991, 188 World War I cemeteries and 330 World War II cemeteries in eastern, central and south-eastern Europe have been reconstructed or rebuilt and about 764,524 bodies have been buried in new graves.
British and German wounded, Bernafay Wood, 19 July 1916. Photo by Ernest Brooks.. The total number of military and civilian casualties in World War I was about 40 million: estimates range from around 15 to 22 million deaths [1] and about 23 million wounded military personnel, ranking it among the deadliest conflicts in human history.
The Battle of the Seelow Heights, fought over four days from 16 until 19 April, was one of the last pitched battles of World War II: almost one million Red Army soldiers and more than 20,000 tanks and artillery pieces were deployed to break through the "Gates to Berlin", which were defended by about 100,000 German soldiers and 1,200 tanks and guns.