Wehrmacht Campaigns & Operations - All between 1938 and 1945

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The history of Wehrmacht campaigns both during and before WWII, from the earliest invasions of Austria and Czechoslovakia, all the way to the last battles in Germany in 1945.

The Wehrmacht directed combat operations during World War II (from 1 September 1939 to 8 May 1945) as the German Reichs Armed Forces umbrella command organisation. After 1941 the OKH became the de facto Eastern Theatre higher echelon command organisation for the Wehrmacht, excluding Waffen-SS except for operational and tactical combat purposes. The OKW conducted operations in the Western Theatre.

For a time the Axis Mediterranean Theatre and the North African Campaign was conducted as a joint campaign with the Italian Army, and may be considered a separate Southern Theatre.

However, strategic mistakes by Hitler demanded that the Wehrmacht had to fight on other fronts, sometimes three simultaneously, that stretched its resources too thin. By 1944, even the defense of Germany became impossible.