Who was the highest commander of the German military during World War II?
Axis leaders of World War II
Wilhelm Keitel
Adolf Hitler was leader of Nazi Germany, first as Chancellor from 1933 until 1934. He later became Germany's Führer from 1934 until his suicide in 1945. Hitler came to power during Germany's period of crisis after the Great War. During his rule, Germany became a fascist state with a policy of anti-Semitism that led to the Holocaust. Hitler pursued an extremely aggressive foreign policy that triggered World War II. He committed suicide on April 30, 1945 along with Eva Braun his long term mistress whom he had married less than 24 hours before they committed suicide.
Joseph Goebbels was Minister for Public Enlightenment and Propaganda from 1933 until 1945. An avid supporter of the war, Goebbels did everything in his power to prepare the German people for a large-scale military conflict. He was one of Hitler's closest associates and most devout followers. After Hitler's suicide, Goebbels and his wife Magda had their six children poisoned and then also committed suicide. He became Chancellor for one day before his death.
Hermann Göring was Reichsmarschall and Prime Minister of Prussia. Within the short life of the Third Reich, Göring held a variety of public offices heaped upon him by Hitler. He was the commander-in-chief of the Luftwaffe, President of the Reichstag, Original Head of the Gestapo, Minister of Economics, Paramount Chief of the War Economy, Head of the Four Year Plan, Reichmarshall of the Greater German Reich, Minister of the Forests of the Third Reich and finally defendant Number 1 at the Nuremberg Trials. Hitler awarded Göring the Grand Cross of the Iron Cross for his successful leadership. Originally, Hitler's designated successor, and the second highest-ranking Nazi official. However, by 1942, with his power waning, Göring fell out of favor with the Führer, but continued to be the de jure second-in-command of the Third Reich. Göring was the highest-ranking Nazi official brought before the Nuremberg Trials. He committed suicide with cyanide before his sentence was carried out.
Heinrich Himmler became the second-in-command of Nazi Germany following Göring's downfall after the repeated losses of the Luftwaffe which the Reichsmarshall commanded, as Supreme Commander of the Home Army and Reichsführer-SS. As commander of the Schutzstaffel (SS), Himmler also held overall command of the Gestapo. He was the chief architect of the "Final Solution" and through the SS was overseer of the Nazi concentration camps, extermination camps, and Einsatzgruppen death squads. He held final command responsibility for annihilating "subhumans" who were deemed unworthy of living. Shortly before the end of the war, he offered to surrender "Germany" to the Western Allies if he was spared from prosecution as a Nazi leader. Himmler committed suicide with cyanide after he became a captive of the British Army.
Joachim von Ribbentrop was the German Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1938 to 1945.  He was condemned to death at Nuremberg and hanged.
Karl Dönitz was made Großadmiral of the Kriegsmarine on 30 January 1943 and was President for 23 days after Hitler's suicide. Under his command the U-boat fleet conducted unrestricted submarine warfare during the Battle of the Atlantic. After the war he was tried at Nuremberg and sentenced to ten years in prison.
Lutz Graf Schwerin von Krosigk was Leading Minister of the German Reich in the short-lived Flensburg government in 1945.
Martin Bormann was head of the Party Chancellery (Parteikanzlei) and private secretary to Adolf Hitler. He gained Hitler's trust and derived immense power within the Third Reich by controlling access to the Führer and by regulating the orbits of those closest to him.
Rudolf Hess was Hitler's deputy in the Nazi Party. Hess hoped to score a stunning diplomatic victory by sealing a peace between the Third Reich and Britain. He flew to Scotland in an attempt to negotiate peace, but was arrested. He was tried at Nuremberg and sentenced to life imprisonment.
Albert Speer was German Minister of Armaments from 1942 until the end of the war, in which position he was responsible for organizing most of the logistical aspects of Germany's war effort. He was tried at Nuremberg and sentenced to twenty years in prison.
Alfred Rosenberg was a German philosopher and an influential ideologue of the Nazi Party. He is considered one of the main authors of key National Socialist ideological creeds, including its racial theory, persecution of the Jews, Lebensraum, abrogation of the Treaty of Versailles, and opposition to degenerate modern art. During the war he headed the NSDAP Office of Foreign Affairs and later the Reich Ministry for the Occupied Eastern Territories. After the war he was condemned to death at Nuremberg and hanged.
Reinhard Heydrich was SS-Obergruppenführer (general) and General der Polizei, chief of the Reich Main Security Office (including the Gestapo, Kripo, and SD) and Stellvertretender Reichsprotektor (Deputy/Acting Reich-Protector) of Bohemia and Moravia (in what is now the Czech Republic). Heydrich served as president of the ICPC (later known as Interpol) and was one of the main architects of the Holocaust. He died of wounds from an assassination attempt in Prague 1942.
Ernst Kaltenbrunner was an SS-Obergruppenführer. He was appointed by Himmler as chief of the SD (Sicherheitsdienst) in January 1943, the SiPo, (Sicherheitspolizei) made up of the combined forces of the Gestapo (secret state police) and the Kripo (Kriminalpolizei) and the RSHA (Reichssicherheitshauptamt); after Reinhard Heydrich's assassination. Further, Kaltenbrunner was in command of the Einsatzgruppen death squads. He was the highest-ranking SS leader to face trial at Nuremberg and be executed.
Wilhelm Canaris was a German admiral, and chief of the Abwehr, the German military intelligence service, from 1935 to 1944. During the Second World War, he was among the military officers involved in the clandestine opposition to Adolf Hitler and the Nazi regime. He was executed in the Flossenbürg concentration camp for the act of high treason.
Wilhelm Keitel was an army general and the chief of the OKW, the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht or High Command of the German Military, throughout the war. He was condemned to death at Nuremberg for the commission of war crimes and hanged.
Alfred Jodl was an army general and operations chief of the OKW throughout the war. Like his chief, Keitel, he was condemned to death at Nuremberg and hanged.
Franz Halder was a German general and the chief of the OKH, Oberkommando des Heeres, from 1938 until September 1942, when he was dismissed after frequent disagreements with Hitler
Kurt Zeitzler was a German general and the chief of the OKH, from 1942 until July 1944.
Walther von Brauchitsch was commander-in-chief of the army from 1940 until his dismissal in December 1941, when Hitler took personal command of the army.
Erich Raeder was Großadmiral of the Kriegsmarine (Navy) from 1 April 1939 until 30 January 1943.
Fedor von Bock served as the commander of Army Group North during the Invasion of Poland in 1939 and commander of Army Group B during the Invasion of France in 1940. Following the invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941, he was named commander of Army Group Center and commanded Operation Typhoon, the ultimately failed attempt to capture Moscow during the winter of 1941. His final command was that of Army Group South in 1942 before being dismissed by Hitler. He was killed by British aircraft on May 4, 1945.
Albert Kesselring was a German Luftwaffe general. He served as commander of Luftflotte 2 for the early part of the war, commanding air campaigns in west and east, before being assigned as commander-in-chief of German forces in the Mediterranean, a position he would occupy for most of the war, commanding German forces in the defense of Italy. In March 1945, he became the last German commander-in-chief in the west.
Gerd von Rundstedt was a Generalfeldmarschall (field marshal) in the German army and held some of the highest field commands in all phases of the war. He commanded large formations during the invasion of Poland and Battle of France. During Operation Barbarossa, he was named commander of Army Group South. In 1942 he was appointed commander of OB West. He retained this command (with several interruptions) until his dismissal by Hitler in March 1945.
Erich von Manstein is credited with the drawing up of the Ardennes invasion plan of France. In the Soviet campaign, he also conquered Sevastopol in 1942 and was then made Generalfeldmarschall and took command of Army Group South. A command he held until he was dismissed by Hitler in March, 1944. He is often considered one of the finest German strategists and field commanders of World War II.
Heinz Guderian was the principal creator of Blitzkrieg. He commanded several front line armies in the early years of the war, most notably Panzergruppe Guderian during Operation Barbarossa. Guderian later served as chief of staff of the army from July 1944 to March 1945.
Erwin Rommel was the commander of the Afrika Korps in the North African campaign and became known by the nickname "The Desert Fox". Rommel was admired as a tactical genius by both Axis and Allied leaders during the war. He was subsequently in command of the German forces during the battle of Normandy. He was forced to commit suicide on October 14, 1944 for being implicated in the July 20th plot against Hitler.
Walter Model was a general in the German army who became best known as a skilled practitioner of defensive warfare on both the Eastern and Western Fronts. Following the invasion of Normandy in June, 1944 he was reassigned to the west where he took command of Army Group B. He was also the principal architect of the Ardennes Offensive. He committed suicide on April 21, 1945.
Hans-Jürgen von Arnim was a German colonel general and commander-in-chief of the Army Group Africa and de facto commander of the Afrika Korps from March 9, 1943 until his capture by the British Indian Army's 14th Infantry Division on May 12, 1943.