Oberkommando der Wehrmacht
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- For other uses of OKW, see OKW (disambiguation).
Oberkommando der Wehrmacht or OKW (Wehrmacht High Command, Armed Forces High Command) was part of the command structure of the German armed forces during World War II. In theory, it served as the military general staff for Adolf Hitler's Third Reich, coordinating the efforts of the German Army (Heer), Navy (Kriegsmarine), and Air Force (Luftwaffe), and, as Hitler's military office, was charged with translating Hitler's ideas into military orders. In practice it had little real control over the Army, Navy and the Air Force High Commands. However, as the war progressed OKW found itself exercising increasing amounts of direct command authority over military units, particularly in the West. This created a situation such that by 1942 the OKW was the de facto command of Western forces while the Oberkommando des Heeres (the Army High Command) exercised de facto command of the Russian front.
OKW had been formed in 1938 following the Blomberg-Fritsch Affair which led to the dismissal of Werner von Blomberg and the dissolution of the Reichswehrministerium (Reich Ministry of War).
Albrecht von Hagen, a member of the July 20 failed assassination attempt on Hitler, was stationed here to be responsible of the courier service between military posts in Berlin and Hitler's secret military headquarters known as The Wolf's Lair.
There was a rivalry between OKW and OKH (Oberkommando des Heeres, Army High Command): Because most German operations during World War II were army operations (with air support), OKH demanded the control over the German military forces. Hitler decided against OKH and in favour of OKW.
During the war more and more influence moved from OKH to OKW. Norway was the first "OKW war theater". More and more theaters came under complete control of OKW. Finally only the Russian Front stayed under control of OKH.
OKW ran military operations on the Western front, Africa and in Italy. In the west operations were further split between OKW and Oberbefehlshaber West (OBW, Commander in Chief West), who was Generalfeldmarschall Gerd von Rundstedt (later Field Marshal Günther von Kluge).
There was even more fragmentation as naval and air operations had their own commands (Oberkommando der Marine (OKM) and Oberkommando der Luftwaffe (OKL, Hermann Göring)) which, while theoretically subordinate, were largely independent from OKW or OBW.
OKW was headed for the entire war by Wilhelm Keitel and reported directly to Hitler, from whom most operational orders actually originated as he had made himself Oberster Befehlshaber der Wehrmacht (Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces) and Oberbefehlshaber des Heeres (head of OKH).
Alfred Jodl was Keitel's Chef des Wehrmachtführungsstabes (Chief of Operation Staff), while Walter Warlimont was Deputy Chief.
OKW was indicted but acquitted of charges during the Nuremberg trials of being a criminal organization. Keitel and Jodl however were convicted and sentenced to death by hanging. Jodl was later acquitted in 1952, six years after his death.
