Wehrmacht

American  

[vair-mahkht, veyr-mahkht] / ˈvɛərˌmɑxt, ˈveɪrˌmɑxt /

noun

1. the German armed forces of the years prior to and during World War II.

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Wehrmacht British  

/ ˈveːrˌmaxt /

noun

1. the armed services of the German Third Reich from 1935 to 1945

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Etymology

Origin of Wehrmacht

< German, equivalent to Wehr defense + Macht force

Example Sentences

Blockades and strategic bombing of German oil refineries left the Wehrmacht with fuel shortages by 1945 and without key inputs to build munitions.

From The Wall Street Journal

The Daily Mail, which first revealed the family link, reports that it found hundreds of pages of documents in an archive in Freiburg, Germany, which showed Mr Dobrowolski was known as "The Butcher" or "Agent No 30" by Wehrmacht commanders.

From BBC

The town was the site of an intense battle with the German Wehrmacht after U.S. troops landed in Normandy.

From Seattle Times

Articles in the German press have pointed to the recorded use of the slogan by several high-ranking Nazis, including Adolf Hitler's deputy Rudolf Hess and the head of the Wehrmacht high command, Wilhelm Keitel.

From BBC

Horne quotes contemporaries calling the headquarters “a submarine without a periscope”: a huge blunder when facing the Wehrmacht's speedy, flexible operational plans.

From Salon