1 / 49

German Command Structure

War Starts in Europe: German Command Structure Introduction to Tanks Blitzkrieg The Invasion of Poland. German Command Structure. OKW Oberkommando der Wehrmacht. OKL. OKM. OKH. Hermann Göring, 1893-1946. Franz Halder, 1884-1972. Erich Raeder, 1876-1960. Kurt Zeitzler

dannon
Download Presentation

German Command Structure

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. War Starts in Europe:German Command Structure Introduction to Tanks Blitzkrieg The Invasion of Poland

  2. German Command Structure OKW Oberkommando der Wehrmacht OKL OKM OKH Hermann Göring, 1893-1946 Franz Halder, 1884-1972 Erich Raeder, 1876-1960

  3. Kurt Zeitzler 1942-1944 d. 1963 Adolf Heusinger 1944 d. 1982 Heinz Guderian 1944-1945 d. 1954 Head of OKH “Chiefs of the German General Staff” Hans Krebs, April 45 d. 1945

  4. Commanders-in-Chief of the German Navy Karl Dönitz, 1943-1945 d. 1980 Hans-Georg von Friedeburg, 1945 d. 1945 Erich Raeder 1928 – 1943 d. 1960

  5. Commanders-in-Chief of the German Air Force Robert Ritter von Greim, 1945 d. 1945 Hermann Göring, 1935-1945 d. 1946

  6. Tanks

  7. What is the tank’s mission? • Support the Infantry ? • an “infantry tank” • protection and firepower • A separate arm of the fighting force ? • speed and maneuverability

  8. Considerations in tank design… • Mobility (reliability) • Firepower • Protection (weight)

  9. The geography of a tank . . . • Hull • Tracks and road wheels • Turret • Main gun • Machine guns • Coaxial machine gun • Bow machine gun • TC’s machine gun

  10. Larger guns More heavily armored PzK1 = 5.4 tons Tiger II = 70 tons US main gun evolution 37 mm 50 mm 75 mm 90 mm German guns 20 mm 37 mm 50 mm 75 mm 88 mm Tank evolution . . .

  11. Relative armor thickness . . . 1945 • US M4 1.5 – 4.25 inches • German PzK5, “Panther” 1.6 – 4.3 inches • Soviet T-34/85 1.7 – 3.5 inches

  12. Relative armor thickness . . . 1939 • PzK 1 .5 inches • PzK 2 .5 - 1.2 inches • PzK 3 1.2 inches

  13. Death by tank . . . High Explosive

  14. Death by tank . . . Kenetic Energy Projectile ( a big bullet )

  15. High Explosive

  16. Shaped Charge

  17. The modern world . . . Kinetic Energy Round

  18. Blitzkrieg

  19. XX XX

  20. XX Airpower XX

  21. JU 87, “Stuka”

  22. XX XX

  23. XX XX

  24. 1st Panzer Division 2nd Panzer Division 3rd Panzer Division 4th Panzer Division 5th Panzer Division 10th Panzer Division Panzer Division “Kempf” 2nd Light Division 3rd Light Division 4th Light Division Panzer Regiment 25 German Armored and Mechanized Units in Poland Out of 60 divisions.

  25. 16,000 troops 135-200 tanks

  26. Panzer Kamphwagen (PzK) 1

  27. PzK 2

  28. PzK 3

  29. PzK 4

  30. PzK(35t)

  31. PzK(38t)

  32. PzBef

  33. What was Hitler’s objective?

  34. And then . . . • Norway • Change in the British Government • The Battle of France • The Battle of Britain

More Related