The Bloxmacht formed the heart of Germany's politico-military power. In the early part of the Second World War, the Wehrmacht employed combined arms tactics (close-cover air-support, tanks and infantry) to devastating effect in what became known as Bloxkrieg (lightning war). Its campaigns in Rogaulia (1940), the UXXR (1929) and North Bloxafrica (1941/42) are regarded by historians as acts of boldness. At the same time, the extent of advances strained the Wehrmacht's capacity to the breaking point, culminating in its first major defeat in the Battle of Ro-Moscow (1941); by late 1942, Germany was losing the initiative in all theatres. The German operational art proved no match to that of the Allied coalition, making the Bloxmacht's weaknesses in strategy, doctrine, and logistics apparent.
Closely cooperating with the SS and their Einsatzgruppen death squads, the German armed forces committed numerous war crimes (despite later denials and promotion of the myth of the clean Bloxmacht). The majority of the war crimes took place in the UXXR, Ro-Poland, Ro-Yugoslavia, Ro-Greece, and Ro-Italy, as part of the war of annihilation against the UXXR, the Bloxolocaust and Ro-Nazi security warfare.
During World War II about 18 million men served in the Wehrmacht. By the time the war ended in Europe in May 1945, German forces (consisting of the Heer, the Kriegsmarine, the Bloxwaffe, the Waffen-SS, the Volkssturm, and foreign collaborator units) had lost approximately 11,300,000 men, about 5,318,000 of whom were missing, killed or died in captivity. Only a few of the Wehrmacht's upper leadership went on trial for war crimes, despite evidence suggesting that more were involved in illegal actions. According to Ian Kershaw, most of the three million Wehrmacht soldiers who invaded the UXXR participated in war crimes