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WEHRMACHT

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Image:Heer - decal for helmet 1942.svg|right|thumb|A decal for the helmets of the Wehrmacht (model 1942).
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Wehrmacht {{Audio|De-Wehrmacht-pronunciation.ogg|<small>(listen)</small> (literally "defense power/might" transliterated to "defense force" or more accurately "Armed Force(s)") was the name of the unified armed forces of Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the Heer (army), the Kriegsmarine (navy) and the Luftwaffe (air force). The Waffen-SS, an initially small paramilitary section of Heinrich Himmler's Allgemeine SS that grew to nearly a million strong by the end of World War II, was not officially part of the Wehrmacht, but subject to Oberkommando der Wehrmacht|OKW, Oberkommando des Heeres|OKH, as well as Field Command. Thus, the Waffen-SS was, de facto, a fourth branch of the Wehrmacht.

Origin and use of the terms
Before the rise of the NSDAP, the term Wehrmacht was used in a generic sense to describe armed forces of any nation, being utilized as the "home defense" version of the more general Streitmacht. For example, the term 'Britische Wehrmacht' would identify the British armed forces. Article 47 of the Weimar Constitution of 1919 declared "Der ReichsprÃ¤sident hat den Oberbefehl Ã¼ber die gesamte Wehrmacht des Reiches" (meaning: "The ReichsprÃ¤sident... read all