The Oberkommando des Heeres (OKH) was Germanys Army High Command from 1936 to 1945. In theory the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht (OKW) commanded the OKH. However, the de facto situation after 1941 was that the OKW directly commanded operations on the Western Front while the OKH commanded the Eastern Front.

In theory, OKW served as the military General Staff for the German Reichs armed forces, coordinating the Wehrmacht (Army (Heer), Navy (Kriegsmarine), and the Air Force (Luftwaffe)) operations. In practice OKW acted as Hitlers personal military staff, translating his ideas into military plans and orders, and issuing them to the three services while having little control over them. However, as the war progressed the OKW found itself exercising increasing amounts of direct command authority over military units, particularly in the West. This created a situation where by 1942 theOKW was the de facto command of Western Theatre forces while the Army High Command (Oberkommando des Heeres) (OKH) served Hitler as his personal command Staff on the Eastern Front.

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• the Wikipedia article Heer : Heer