Sperrle was prosecuted at the OKW Trial, one of the last twelve of the Nuremberg Trials after the war.

The Luftwaffe, the OKW argued, was still an offensive weapon, and its primary focus was on producing bomber pilots.

However, more time was lost at various critical moments as Hitler and the OKW suspended operations in order to argue about strategic objectives.

This attitude of Hitler's was further shown at the very end of the war, when he refused to station himself in the OKW bunker in Berlin, claiming that he did not ' trust the strength of army concrete ', however the true reason was probably that he feared another generals ' plot and so chose to stay in his own headquarters, surrounded by an apparently more loyal SS retinue.

As part of the reorganization of the military command structure following the Blomberg – Fritsch Affair in early 1938, it was declared that the service chiefs, namely OKW chief Wilhelm Keitel, Army commander Walter von Brauchitsch, Luftwaffe commander Hermann Göring and Raeder were to have the same status as Cabinet ministers and as such, they all started to receive publicly the same pay as a Cabinet member and privately payments from Konto 5 slush fund.

In the following year, after the Blomberg-Fritsch Affair, the Ministry of War ( Reichskriegsministerium ) was replaced by the Supreme Command of the Armed Forces ( Oberkommando der Wehrmacht or OKW ), and Keitel was appointed as its chief.

The Oberkommando der Wehrmacht ( OKW ) ( English: " Supreme Command of the Armed Forces ") was part of the command structure of the armed forces ( Wehrmacht ) of Nazi Germany during World War II.

The OKW was formed on 4 February 1938 following the Blomberg-Fritsch Affair, which led to the dismissal of Generalfeldmarschall ( and Reich War Minister ) Werner von Blomberg and the dissolution of the Reichskriegsministerium ( Reich War Ministry ).

The OKW was almost always represented at daily situation conferences ( Lagevorträge ) by Jodl, Keitel, and the officer serving as Hitler's adjutant.

It was not until 28 April 1945 ( two days before his suicide ) that Hitler placed OKH under OKW, giving OKW command of forces on the Eastern Front.

Setting different parts of the Nazi bureaucracy to compete for his favor in areas where their administration overlapped was a standard tactic employed by Hitler to reinforce his authority ; and just as in other areas of government, there was a rivalry between the OKW and the OKH.

In the west operations were further split between the OKW and Oberbefehlshaber West ( OBW, Commander in Chief West ), who was Generalfeldmarschall Gerd von Rundstedt ( succeeded by Field Marshal Günther von Kluge ).

There was even more fragmentation since the Kriegsmarine and Luftwaffe operations had their own commands ( Oberkommando der Marine ( OKM ) and Oberkommando der Luftwaffe ( OKL )) which, while theoretically subordinate, were largely independent from the OKW or the OBW.

During the entire period of the war, the OKW was led by Keitel, who reported directly to Hitler, from whom most operational orders actually originated as Oberster Befehlshaber der Wehrmacht ( Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces ).

" The historian Stephen E. Ambrose wrote: " The only high-command officer who responded correctly to the crisis at hand was Field Marshal Rundstedt, the old man who was there for window-dressing and who was so scorned by Hitler and OKW ... Rundstedt's reasoning was sound, his actions decisive, his orders clear.

Supported by Rommel, he tried to persuade Keitel at OKW that the only escape was to withdraw from Normandy to a prepared defensive line on the Seine, but Hitler forbade any withdrawal.

The only Army officers individually indicted were the OKW chiefs Keitel and Jodl, but they had never been field commanders.

As the war progressed more and more influence moved from the OKH to the OKW, with Norway being the first " OKW war theater ".

In February 1941, the OKW advised the naval high command that Operation Felix was out of the question for the time being, since the troops earmarked for it would soon be needed elsewhere.

Walter Warlimont ( born 3 October 1894 in Osnabrück, Germany ; died 9 October 1976 in Kreuth near the Tegernsee ) was a German officer and war criminal known for his role as a deputy chief in the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht ( OKW ), Germany's Supreme Armed Forces Command during World War II.

Hitler used the situation to transfer the duties of the Ministry of War ( Reichskriegsministerium ) to a new organization — the Supreme Command of the Armed Forces ( Oberkommando der Wehrmacht, or OKW )— and Wilhelm Keitel, who became the new head of the OKW on 4 February 1938.

The Waffen-SS was a separate organization, although SS combat units were usually placed under the operational control of Army High Command ( OKH ) or Wehrmacht High Command ( OKW ).

The OKW directed the operations of the German Armed Forces during World War II.

In 1944, Buttlar-Brandenfels was Army Operations Chief ( OKW Major-General ) and played a major role in not releasing the panzer reserves ( Panzer Lehr and 12th SS Divisions ) requested by Gerd von Rundstedt, who was Generalfeldmarschall of the German army during the initial Normandy landings by Allied troops.

The OKW believed it too risky to allow German Corps and Army Groups to be operated and commanded independently by one field commander.

Frieser argues that the OKW had intended to avoid the decisive battle concepts of its predecessors and planned for a long all out war of attrition.

These groups — the Nazi party and government leadership, the German General Staff and High Command ( OKW ); the Sturmabteilung ( SA ); the Schutzstaffel ( SS ), including the Sicherheitsdienst ( SD ); and the Gestapo — had an aggregate membership exceeding two million, making a large number of their members liable to trial if the organisations were convicted.

Bormann exploited the disaster at Stalingrad, and his daily access to Hitler, to persuade him to create a three-man junta representing the State, the Army, and the Party, represented respectively by Hans Lammers, head of the Reich Chancellery, Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel, chief of the OKW ( armed forces high command ), and Bormann, who controlled the Party and access to the Führer.

The Oberkommando der Wehrmacht ( OKW ), the overall command for all German military forces, ordered reductions in raw and steel materials for armament production.

* 1945 – World War II: Ratification in Berlin-Karlshorst of the German unconditional surrender of May 8 in Rheims, France, with the signatures of Marshal Georgy Zhukov for the Soviet Union, and for the Western Headquarters Sir Arthur Tedder, British Air Marshal and Eisenhower's deputy, and for the German side of Colonel-General Hans-Jürgen Stumpff as the representative of the Luftwaffe, Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel as the Chief of Staff of OKW, and Admiral Hans-Georg von Friedeburg as Commander-in-Chief of the Kriegsmarine.

| 75px < div style =" clear: left "> Wilhelm Keitel </ div >|| G || G || G || G || Death || Head of Oberkommando der Wehrmacht ( OKW ) 1938 – 45.

The Oberkommando der Wehrmacht ( Supreme High Command of the Armed Forces or OKW ) commanded OKH only in theory.

However, after 1941, the OKW de facto directly commanded operations on the Western front while the OKH commanded the Eastern front.

These were theoretically subordinate to the OKW, but in actuality acted quite independently.

Hitler, the OKW and the various high commands disagreed about what the main objectives should be.

In preparing for Barbarossa, most of the OKW argued for a straight thrust to Moscow, but Hitler kept asserting his intention to seize the resource-rich Ukraine and Baltics before concentrating on the Soviet capital.

While the Waffen-SS remained officially outside the armed forces ( Wehrmacht ) and under Himmler's authority, they were placed under the operational command of the Armed Forces High Command ( OKW ) or Army High Command ( OKH ), and were largely funded by the Wehrmacht.

** Alfred Jodl, German Nazi Chief of the OKW ( b. 1890 )

In the same way, Raeder always refused to appoint an flag officer with command experience to act as the liaison with the OKW out of the fear that such an officer might a threat to his power.

Soon after his appointment at OKW, he convinced Hitler to appoint his close friend, Walter von Brauchitsch, Commander-in-Chief of the Army.

In February 1939 Keitel again became Chief of OKW.

Keitel remained the Chief of OKW until the end of the war.