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The German term "Wehrmacht" stems from the compound word of German: wehren, "to defend" and Macht, "power, force". [c] It has been used to describe any nation's armed forces; for example, Britische Wehrmacht meaning "British Armed Forces".
The comparative ranks of Nazi Germany contrasts the ranks of the Wehrmacht to a number of national-socialist organisations in Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945 in a synoptic table. Nazi organisations used a hierarchical structure, according to the so-called Führerprinzip (leader principle), and were oriented in line with the rank order system of ...
By removing the institutional social restrictions on who could become an officer, Hitler instead made rank dependent upon combat ability and élan, thus encouraging soldiers to fight even harder to earn the prospect of a swift rise through the ranks. The Wehrmacht thus became a "soldier's community" fused by shared ambition, fanaticism, and ...
Wehrmacht – German armed forces under the Third Reich consisting of three branches: the Heer (Army), the Luftwaffe (Air Force), and the Kriegsmarine (Navy). The Waffen-SS was a separate organization, although SS combat units were usually placed under the operational control of Army High Command (OKH) or Wehrmacht High Command (OKW).
These ranks and insignia were specific to the Heer and in special cases to senior Wehrmacht officers in the independent services; the uniforms and rank systems of the other branches of the Wehrmacht, the Luftwaffe (Air Force) and Kriegsmarine (Navy), were different, as were those of the SS which was a Party organization outside the Wehrmacht.
The Oberkommando der Wehrmacht (German: [ˈoːbɐkɔˌmando deːɐ̯ ˈveːɐ̯ˌmaxt] ⓘ; abbreviated OKW [oː kaːˈve] Armed Forces High Command) was the supreme military command and control staff of Nazi Germany during World War II, that was directly subordinated to Hitler.
The Abwehr (German for resistance or defence, though the word usually means counterintelligence in a military context) pronounced [ˈapveːɐ̯]) was the German military-intelligence service for the Reichswehr and the Wehrmacht from 1920 to 1944.
The German armed forces kept the name Reichswehr until Adolf Hitler's 1935 proclamation of the "restoration of military sovereignty", at which point it became part of the new Wehrmacht. Although ostensibly apolitical, the Reichswehr acted as a state within a state, and its leadership was an important political power factor in the Weimar Republic.