Wehrmacht (German Armed Forces)

The Wehrmacht was the army of the Nazi regime. In 1935, the former Reichswehr was renamed the Wehrmacht. The reintroduction of compulsory military service in the same year led to the rapid expansion of the army, which included not only the army but also the navy and the air force. The supreme commander of the Wehrmacht was initially the Reich Minister of War, Werner von Blomberg, and from 1938 Adolf Hitler himself. With the beginning of the Second World War in 1939, the Wehrmacht took part in the terror against the civilian population, and from 1941 also in mass shootings of Jews. On May 8, 1945, the Wehrmacht signed the unconditional surrender to the Allies in Berlin. In 1946 it was officially disbanded. It was not until 10 years later, during the Cold War and as a result of the Korean War, that the Bundeswehr was established as the new army of West Germany. A few months later, the GDR created the National People’s Army (NVA).