# What were Halder's Responsibilities During WWII **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 13, 2010, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-halders-responsibilities-during-wwii/539264 "2010-05-13T03:14:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 2\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![GregH](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/43a26b/32.png) [@GregH](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GregH)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2010, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-halders-responsibilities-during-wwii/539264/1 "2010-05-13T03:14:29Z")
Another basic question for the WWII experts… If Keitel was the head of the OKW and Brauchitsch was the head of the OKH, what exactly was Franz Halder’s role as Chief of the General Staff? I understand that Keitel and Jodl were Hitler’s right-hand-men in terms of daily briefings and the issuance of orders. What was Halder’s role on a day-to-day basis? On a broader note, what was the General Staff? Thanks, Greg ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2010, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-halders-responsibilities-during-wwii/539264/2 "2010-05-13T04:10:52Z")
The main role of the General Staff was war planning and coordination. As Chief of the General Staff, Halder was in charge of German war planning. He reported to Brauchitsch, who was Commander of the Army. Here’s a handbook describing the structure of German military forces that might be of help. Unfortunately, it’s from 1945, and by that point, things had changed somewhat with Hitler taking over more roles. > **[HyperWar: Handbook on German Military Forces (Chapter 1)](http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/Germany/HB/HB-1.html)** From that page: > [@](#): > > 1. The OKW (11) > > Hitler himself is the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces (Oberster Befehlshaber der Wehrmacht) (12). Under him, Keitel is the Chief of the Armed Forces High Command (Chef des OKW) (13) and as such serves as Hitler’s chief executive officer in the administration of the Armed Forces and the application of his policies and plans. > > The operational part of the OKW is the Armed Forces Operations Staff (Wehrmachtführungsstab). which constitutes the main advisory body to Hitler on strategy and planning. It is located at the field headquarters of the OKW, which is known as the Führerhauptquartier (14). The other subdivisions of the OKW are mostly with the rear echelon and deal with numerous administrative matters of joint interest to the three branches of the Armed Forces. . . . > > 1. The Army High Command (OKH) > > a. GENERAL. Since the Army is by far the largest and most important of the three branches of the German Armed Forces, it was, from the outbreak of the war, the branch which Hitler was most anxious to control directly. Its headquarters in the field always has been located in the immediate vicinity of the Führerhauptquartier. In December 1941, after the failure of the Moscow offensive, Hitler removed Brauchitsch as Commander-in-Chief of the Army (Oberbefehlshaber des Heeres (70a) ) and took over personal command himself. He has exercised this command ever since, and the result has been a partial merging or overlapping of the functions of the OKW and of the OKH. Keitel, while still Chief of the OKW, nevertheless also acts as Hitler’s executive officer in matters pertaining to the Army alone. Similarly, it is often difficult to draw the line between the de facto authority and functions of the Army General Staff and those of the Armed Forces Operations Staff.