![]() ![]() Keitel was a successful and talented career army officer, though some of his colleagues suspected that his elevation to the supreme command in 1939 had more to do with his admiration for Hitler than his military skills. The chief of OKW was Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel, who had taken over the post in 1939 and would hold it until 1945. This was the overall strategic planning body that made the big strategic decisions, allocated resources between the army, air force and navy and liaised with the suppliers and manufacturers who designed and produced weaponry. ![]() The top organization in the German armed forces was the Oberkommando der Wermacht, Supreme Command of the Armed Forces, usually termed OKW. At first Hitler took an interest and sometimes overruled the professionals, but as the years passed his involvement grew rapidly. Hitler, however, was also the head of the government of Germany, so in practice the command of the armed forces was in the hands of military professionals. Command structureĪt the top was Adolf Hitler himself as Führer and supreme warlord of Germany. In theory the German High Command had a clear and relatively simple structure. In part the disastrous decision to launch the Battle of Kursk grew out of the increasingly confused German command structure, combined with the personalities of the men involved. It grew out of a desire to do something on the Eastern Front, combined with the knowledge that the losses at Stalingrad meant that a major war-winning offensive was impossible. ![]() ![]() The planning for what was to become the German Operation Zitadelle (Citadel), the Battle of Kursk, was long in coming and slow in formation. ![]()
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