After von Blomberg resigned in the course of the Blomberg-Fritsch Affair (1938), the ministry was dissolved and the Armed Forces High Command ("Oberkommando der Wehrmacht" or OKW) under "Generalfeldmarschall" Wilhelm Keitel was put in its place.
V preobratu leta 1938 je Hitler postal vrhovni poveljnik oboroženih sil in ta položaj obdržal do svojega samomora 30. aprila 1945.