Articles on Heer

Introduction

At the same time as the re-establishment of the compulsory military service on 16th March 1935 the term Heer was created by renaming the Reichswehr. This name existed for more than 10 years, until the Allied control council dissolved in 1946 the Wehrmacht by law decree.

If the number of the soldiers of the Reichsheer was limited by the Versailler contract to 100.000, then the army had approx. 3.7 millions members in the year 1939 and about 5.3 millions in the year 1945. For the entire period from 1939 to 1945 a number of approx. 13 millions members of the Heer is assumed (Note: The numbers mentioned are reference values, which are to clarify the numerical ratios. There is so far no single source with clear and accurate data).

During its existence the structure of the Heer was again and again subjected to changes, so that only an overview of the different organization forms shall be given here. The following table does not raise any claim on completeness.

Units of the Heer

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