WORLD WAR II:

WORLD WAR II:
An extremely rare and historically important original flow-chart, the partially printed document, completed in typescript, is entitled Gliederung Oberkommando d. Wehrmacht, one page, oblong folio, n.p. (Flensburg), May 1945, in German. The organisational diagram showing the composition of the German Army High Command (OKW) as at 10th May 1945, with Generalfeldmarschall Wilhelm Keitel as Chef OKW/Chefgruppe and Generaloberst Alfred Jodl as Chef Wehrmachtsfuhrungsstab and also identifies the ranks of various other German officers within the structure of the OKW including Hermann Reinecke, Rudolf Lehmann, Siegfried Adolf Handloser, Leopold Bürkner, Erich Dethleffsen and Heinz Assmann. Some light overall creasing and some tears and areas of paper loss to some edges and corners, professionally restored in places, GProvenance: The present document was previously the property of Major General Sir Kenneth Strong, General Eisenhower's Chief of Intelligence, and retained by him as an historical souvenir of the end of World War II in Europe.The present document was produced at the insistence of the Allies when a SHAEF Control Party visited Doenitz’s headquarters at Flensburg on 12th May 1945. The team comprised fourteen Americans led by Major General Lowell W. Rooks and eleven British under Brigadier E.J. Foord. A meeting was convened between 8.25pm and 8.45pm on the 12th May with the OKW representative, Colonel Meyer-Detring. As a result OKW were ordered to produce by 10am on the 13th May a number of documents relating to the composition of the Armed Forces and their senior commanders. The present document was one of those so produced and is historically significant in that it is the last OKW organisational diagram to include Field Marshall Keitel as its chief. However, by midday, Germany’s new Chancellor, Grand Admiral Döenitz, was advised that the Supreme Commander of the Army High Command, Field Marshal Keitel was, on the instructions of General Eisenhower, to be relieved of his post immediately and treated as a prisoner of war. Colonel General Jodl assumed Keitel’s position until both the Acting German Government and the German High Command were dissolved, and its members arrested, on the 23rd May 1945.Four days after the surrender at Reims, General Eisenhower ordered General Rooks, a deputy G-3 of SHAEF, to establish a Control Party at Flensburg in order to impose the will of the Supreme Commander on the OKW in the areas of Germany occupied by the Western Allies. Headed by General der Infanterie Friedrich Fangohr, Rook’s orders were to compile information about the German command system through the collection and safeguarding of all OKW documents at FIensburg. Following Field Marshal Keitel’s arrest, General Jodl assured the Allied general that he would undertake to carry out SHAEF directives in the interests of maintaining order and saving the German people from catastrophe. Meanwhile, Doenitz declared that the German armed forces had taken an oath to him personally and would obey his orders. He understood the critical situation that the Reich now found itself in, with severe shortages of food, currency, and fuel. The focus had shifted from military to civilian needs, in which Doenitz felt compelled to organised through a central German authority. General Rooks brushed suggestion aside, stating that SHAEF army group commanders would organise their own zonal affairs, and that the OKW would only be involved in matters common to all Allied zones. On the 17th May, Doenitz’s censored statement to the German people removed any doubts or aspirations the fledgling continuation government had of leading its citizens, "The German Reich has had to capitulate because it was at the end of its power of resistance. The first consequence that we have to draw is the most loyal fulfilment of the demands made on us. There must be no officer and no soldier, who would try by illegal means to evade the consequences which have arisen out of the last war and an unconditional surrender." Despite these evidences of co-operation, messages of were still being transmitted from inside the OKW enclave that were angering the Allies, including arrangements made to established a German chain of command through which it could carry out the initial steps of disbanding the enemy forces. This prompted the imposition of censorship of Flensburg radio and its ultimate closure. Other criticisms arose when senior Allied officers were photographed in friendly poses with high-level German commanders and when reports were printed that enemy leaders were receiving special treatment, and that some members of the old regime might be perpetuated in power. On 19th May, the Supreme Commander directed the 21 Army Group to consult with the SHAEF control party at Flensburg and then to arrest the members of Doenitz' "so-called government" and of OKW. On the morning of 23rd May, General Rooks summoned Doenitz, Jodl, and Friedeburg to his office and informed them of the Supreme Commander's order. The officers were then put under guard, but, despite all precautions, Admiral Friedeburg killed himself by taking poison. With the arrest of Doenitz and members of his staff, the main work of the SHAEF Control Party at Flensburg was ended. General Rooks indicated his intention of leaving the area about 27th May and handed over local control to a small joint U.S.-British Ministerial Control Party. However, he retained general policy control of the southern branch of OKW which was still in existence and made attempts to disband German forces in that sector.Wilhelm Keitel (1882-1946) German Field Marshal who served as Chief of the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht (Supreme Command of the Armed Forces) for most of World War II, making him the Chief of Defense for Germany.Alfred Jodl (1890-1946) German General, who served as the Chief of the Operations Staff of the Armed Forces High Command (OKW). After the war, Jodl was indicted on the charges of conspiracy to commit crime against peace; planning, initiating and waging wars of aggression; war crimes; and crimes against humanity.Hermann Reinecke (1888-1973) German General in the Wehrmacht and convicted war criminal during World War II. As head of the General Office of the Armed Forces, he was responsible for the creation and implementation of the POW policy.Rudolf Lehmann (1890-1955) German Jurist and Military Judge.Siegfried Adolf Handloser (1885-1954) German Doctor, Chief of the German Armed Forces Medical Services.Leopold Bürkner (1894-1975) German Vice Admiral.Erich Dethleffsen (1904-1980) German General, planned the German invasion of Norway and Denmark during World War II.Heinz Assmann (1904-1954) German Naval Captain who was a Kriegsmarine staff officer in the OKW. He is notable for being present in the conference room when the 20 July plot bomb exploded in 1944.The Oberkommando der Wehrmacht (or OKW), part of the command structure of the German armed forces during World War II. It served as the military general staff for Adolf Hitler's Third Reich, coordinating the efforts of the German Army (Heer), Navy (Kriegsmarine), and Air Force (Luftwaffe). In theory, the OKW was only Hitler's military office, was charged with translating Hitler's ideas into military orders, and had little real control over the Army, Navy and the Air Force High Commands. The OKW was headed for the entire war by Wilhelm Keitel and reported directly to Hitler, from whom most operational orders actually originated as he had made himself Oberster Befehlshaber der Wehrmacht (Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces). Alfred Jodl was Keitel's Chef des Wehrmachtführungsstabes (Chief of Operation Staff).During the Nuremberg Trials, the OKW was indicted but acquitted of being a criminal organization like the Waffen-SS. Wilhelm Keitel and Alfred Jodl were convicted and sentenced to death by hanging. Jodl was posthumously acquitted of the main charges against him in 1952, six years after the sentence was carried out. During the subsequent High Command Trial in 1947/48, several OKW members were charged with war crimes, especially for the Commissar Order to shoot Red Army political commissars in German-occupied countries, the killing of POWs and participation in the Holocaust. Eleven defendants received prison sentences ranging from three years including time served to lifetime imprisonment, two were acquitted on all counts, and one committed suicide during the trial.