page_title: Wehrmacht
section_title: War crimes
hierarchical_section_title: Wehrmacht / War years / War crimes
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Polnische Kriegsgefangene exekutiert durch Soldaten des Infanterie-Regiment (mot.) 15 in Ciepielów am 09.September 1939 English: About 300 Polish prisoners of war executed by the soldiers of the German 15th motorized infantry regiment in Ciepielów on September 9th, 1939. Polski: Egzekucja około 300 polskich jeńców wojennych przez żołnierzy niemieckiego 15-stego pułku zmotoryzowanego; Ciepielów, 9 IX 1939.
context_page_description: Wehrmacht was the name of the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. The Wehrmacht consisted of the Heer, the Kriegsmarine and the Luftwaffe.
  The Waffen-SS, an initially small armed section of Heinrich Himmler's Allgemeine SS that grew to nearly a million strong during World War II, was not part of the Wehrmacht, but subject to its Supreme Command.
context_section_description: The Wehrmacht was used as a tool of state policy in the Second World War, for both military and political aims. There is considerable controversy over the allegations that the Wehrmacht was found to be significantly rather than incidentally involved in the Holocaust, especially because the elements of the SS involved in the Holocaust were not the Waffen-SS and not under the control of the OKW or field commanders. The Wehrmacht ordered and participated in massacres of civilians for reprisals, executions of prisoners of war, summary executions of Soviet political officers and executions of military and civilian hostages as punishment for partisan activities in occupied territories.However, the oft-repeeated claim of breaking the Geneva convention by its treatment of Russian prisoners of war is not correct. Common Clause 2 of the Geneva Convention states that the treatment requirements apply where both parties are signatories of the Conventions. The Germans were signatories, The Russians refused to sign.
caption: Polish prisoners of War shot by Wehrmacht in 1939
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