The remaining documents (a significant number of them were destroyed in recent decades) – mostly resources on World War II, but also on World War I – were transferred to Deutsche Dienststelle. Asked by Wiki User. The Reichswehr was limited to 115,000 men, and thus the armed forces, under the leadership of Hans von Seeckt, retained only the most capable officers. The terms of the Treaty of Versailles were announced in May, and in June, Germany signed the treaty that, among other terms, imposed severe constraints on the size of Germany's armed forces. After Germany's defeat in the Battle of Stalingrad, the Wehrmacht also made substantial use of personnel from the Soviet Union, including the Caucasian Muslim Legion, Turkestan legion, Crimean Tatars, ethnic Ukrainians and Russians, Cossacks, and others who wished to fight against the Soviet regime or who were otherwise induced to join. [3] During the period of its expansion under Hitler, the German Army continued to develop concepts pioneered during World War I, combining ground and air assets into combined arms forces. However, the Germans still had some degree of respect for their Russian opponents. While the size of the standing army was to remain at about the 100,000-man mark decreed by the treaty, a new group of conscripts equal to this size would receive training each year. Only a few of the Wehrmacht's upper leadership were tried for war crimes, despite evidence suggesting that more were involved in illegal actions. By 1935, Germany was openly flouting the military restrictions set forth in the Versailles Treaty: German re-armament was announced on 16 March as was the reintroduction of conscription. Germany used a system of military districts (German: Wehrkreis) in order to relieve field commanders of as much administrative work as possible and to provide a regular flow of trained recruits and supplies to the field forces. You can search the indexed records using this search mask. I'm looking for information about my maternal grandfather who was a German WW 2 soldier. Only a minority of officers and men were Nazi members. The German naval strategy was to attack the convoys in an attempt to starve Britain of supplies which would disable the ability of the British army to continue fighting the war. From the German name "Friedrich", it has been used for German soldiers. It only takes a minute to sign up. ?maxt], lit. What is the hink-pink for blue green moray? For this the Germans saw their opponents as extremely courageous and even somewhat superhuman despite what their propaganda told them about their opponents. Part of the Eastern Front involved anti-partisan operations against Soviet partisan units and counter-insurgency operations - largely carried out by security divisions of the Wehrmacht and Waffen-SS units in the occupied territories behind Axis front lines. The records are in Russian. Military records identify individuals who served in the military or who were eligible to serve. At the end of January 1946 the WASt returned to Berlin and received its present name, which is a literal translation of the American designation. These lists are sorted by unit and contain information on those to be contacted (mostly family members) as well. The total number of soldiers who served in the Wehrmacht during its existence from 1935 to 1945 is believed to have approached 18.2 million. For military losses of both wars you can use a search engine (“Gräbersuche”) provided by the Volksbund. Were a large number of votes from suspiciously old Pennsylvanians received in the 2020 US presidential election? The Wehrmacht lost about 10,000,000 soldiers during the period from 1939-1945, a combination of about 2,000,000 KIA, 3,000,000 MIA, and 5,000,000 WIA. These losses in men and materiel led to motorized troops making up no more than 10% of total Heer forces at some points of the war. A german eyewitness: "That's not the way soldiers are supposed to act. The WASt can help with the following: Please note that in accordance with the German Data Protection Law the Deutsche Dienststelle (WASt) is only allowed to provide information to the persons concerned, their relatives or their legal heirs, or to Authorities in the carrying out of their legal duties. (previous page) () As far as I know, this service is free of charge. His name is Gustav Kolling and his wife's name is Adelheid Olga Erik nee Fath . The Army's Chief of Staff General Franz Halder in a directive declared that in the event of guerrilla attacks, German troops were to impose "collective measures of force" by massacring entire villages. site design / logo © 2020 Stack Exchange Inc; user contributions licensed under cc by-sa. Fulfilling the Nazi regime's long-term goals of regaining lost territory and dominating its neighbors required the reinstatement of conscription and massive investment and spending on the armaments industry. Extra Large German Shepherd Puppies For Sale, Supreme High Command of the Armed Forces (OKW), Führer and Chancellor of Germany Adolf Hitler (1935-1945), Field Marshal Paul von Hindenburg (1933-1934), President of the Reich, Field Marschal Werner von Blomberg (1935-1938), Vice Commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces, Generaloberst Werner von Blomberg (1933-1935), Chief of the Armed Forces Supreme High Command--Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel (1938-1945), Generaloberst Werner von Fritsch (1935-1938), Field Marshal Walther von Brauchitsch (1938-1941), General Hans Krebs (Wehrmacht general April - May 1945; committed suicide in the, Supreme High Command of the Air-Force (OKL), Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring (1935-1945), Field Marshal Robert Ritter von Greim (1945), Balkans and Greece (Operation Marita) (1940-1941), Operation Barbarossa (1941), conducted by Army Group North, Army Group Centre, and Army Group South, Battle of Kursk (Operation Citadel) (1943). The oath read: "I swear by God this sacred oath that to the Leader of the German empire and people, Adolf Hitler, supreme commander of the armed forces, I shall render unconditional obedience and that as a brave soldier I shall at all times be prepared to give my life for this oath". You can see a list of top Wehrmacht Soldiers on the link below is a humanitarian organisation charged by the government of the Federal Republic of Germany with recording, maintaining and caring for the graves of German war casualties abroad. It is a myth that the German Army in World War II was a mechanized juggernaut as a whole. The Oberkommando des Heeres (OKH) was Nazi Germany's Army High Command from 1936 to 1945. word for temporarily ordering a worker to a new position because of an emergency, Contact them and tell them what you are looking for. What instrument can be used to check that constant attitude is maintained? As World War II intensified, Naval and Luftwaffe personnel were increasingly transferred to the Army, and "voluntary" enlistments in the SS were stepped up as well. If your ancestor was an officer or official in the Wehrmacht, the Bundesarchiv in Freiburg (Bundesarchiv, Abteilung Militärarchiv) holds personnel documents. The Kragujevac massacre was the mass murder of 2,778-2,794 mostly Serb men and boys in the city of Kragujevac by German soldiers on 21 October 1941. The German genealogy association Verein für Computergenealogie has the only complete, indexed and freely accessible collection of them. In addition to his current work, Dr. Amos is using his vast experience to … //hide the elements on login user. Names of German soldiers? A list of Prussian soldiers missed in action was also indexed. Prior to World War II, the Wehrmacht strove to remain a purely German force; as such, minorities, such as the Czechs in annexed Czechoslovakia, were exempted from military service after Hitler's takeover in 1938. By the time the war ended in Europe in May 1945, the Wehrmacht had lost approximately 11,300,000 men, about half of which were killed in action. Submarines, tanks and heavy artillery were forbidden and the air-force was dissolved. However, their motorized and tank formations accounted for only 20% of the Heer's capacity at their peak strength. The names are listed according to the soldier’s units, so if your ancestor was killed or injured, was missing in action or became a POW, you can reconstruct where he was fighting and which unit he was a member of around this time. Bundesarchiv - Militärarchiv Federal Records Office - Military Archive, Bundesarchiv Abteilung Militärarchiv Wiesentalstrasse 10 79115 Freiburg Deutschland, Phone: +49 (0761) 47817 0 Fax: +49 (0761) 47817 900, Archive specialist service: Phone: 0761 47817 864, Library: Phone: 0761 47817 912 E-Mail: [email protected], Bundesarchiv - Zentralnachweisstelle Federal Central Record Office, Bundesarchiv-Zentralnachweisstelle Abteigarten 6 D-52076 Aachen Deutschland, Phone: +49 024 081470 Fax: +49 024 0811437, The offical Institution which houses documents and information of historical importance to the German Federal Republic. The Bavarian records (Kriegsranglisten und -stammrollen des Königreichs Bayern) are also available on Ancestry.com. 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. ... As Bartov (The Eastern Front; Hitler's Army) shows, it barbarised the German armies on the eastern front. Some members of the Wehrmacht did save Jews and non-Jews from the concentration camps and/or mass-executions. As a branch of the German Federal Archive system, this office is a contact point for information on specific personnel questions relating to those who survived WWII. The German operational doctrine emphasized sweeping pincer and lateral movements meant to destroy the enemy forces as quickly as possible. For information on German veterans MIA or KIA during WWII, please see WASt below. Rear-echelon personnel were sent to front-line duty wherever possible, especially during the last two years of the war. The Wehrmacht formed the heart of Germany's politico-military power. During his time in World War I, Hitler had spent a large portion of the war fighting on a relatively static battleground where both sides gained and lost very little ground. The German branch of the international Red Cross, the world-wide emergency relief organization. ?h?nt] ) is a bre... photo src: historyinphotos.blogspot.com The Wehrmacht ( German pronunciation: ['ve:? The sexuality of the German Soldiers in WW2. These officers saw the role of an air-force as winning air-superiority, tactical and strategic bombing and providing ground support. The army was limited to one hundred thousand men with an additional fifteen thousand in the navy. The operations by the Kriegsmarine in the North and Mid-Atlantic can also be considered as separate theatres considering the size of the area of operations and their remoteness from other theatres. German units were then overextended, undersupplied, outmaneuvered, outnumbered and defeated by its enemies in decisive battles during 1941, 1942, and 1943 at Battle of Moscow, Siege of Leningrad, Stalingrad, Tunis in North Africa, and Battle of Kursk. This ‘compendium’ page is created to provide ManyRoads’ readers with a Bundesministerium der Verteidigung Federal Ministry of Defense, Bundesministerium der Verteidigung Postfach 13 28 53003 Bonn Deutschland, Deutsche Dienstelle (WASt) Wehrmacht Information Office for War Losses and PoWs, Deutsche Dienstelle (WASt) Postfach 51 06 57 D-13400 Berlin Deutschland, Phone: +49 (030) 41904-100 Fax: +49 (030) 41904-100. rev 2020.11.9.37971, The best answers are voted up and rise to the top, Genealogy & Family History Stack Exchange works best with JavaScript enabled, Start here for a quick overview of the site, Detailed answers to any questions you might have, Discuss the workings and policies of this site, Learn more about Stack Overflow the company, Learn more about hiring developers or posting ads with us.
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