I must admit I am not a native German speaker, and I aim at literal translations (it is easier to see where I'm coming from).
Whilst contemporary sources call it 'defence force' or just 'army', you will find if you break up the word, 'wehr' translates as weir and 'macht' as 'power'. The Wehrmacht was designed by Nazi Germany to be a centralised fighting force (hence my interpretation as 'centralised army').
"The three primary branches of the Wehrmacht were the Heer (army), Luftwaffe (air force), and Kriegsmarine (navy)"
In contemporary sources Wehrmacht are very often confused with the general army (Heer); I don't aim to 'correct' that here, because the word 'Heer' is very rarely used by the general public when discussing World War 2 (except maybe by historians).
I hope people can forgive my translation approach here; a mixture of literal plus contextual.
Insightful and detailed, as always.
(Not quite sure about your translation of Wehrmacht, though!) But your careful photo-analysis etc is top-level. 💐
I must admit I am not a native German speaker, and I aim at literal translations (it is easier to see where I'm coming from).
Whilst contemporary sources call it 'defence force' or just 'army', you will find if you break up the word, 'wehr' translates as weir and 'macht' as 'power'. The Wehrmacht was designed by Nazi Germany to be a centralised fighting force (hence my interpretation as 'centralised army').
"The three primary branches of the Wehrmacht were the Heer (army), Luftwaffe (air force), and Kriegsmarine (navy)"
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Wehrmacht
In contemporary sources Wehrmacht are very often confused with the general army (Heer); I don't aim to 'correct' that here, because the word 'Heer' is very rarely used by the general public when discussing World War 2 (except maybe by historians).
I hope people can forgive my translation approach here; a mixture of literal plus contextual.