This makes manufactured badasses a reality, but also makes the loss of a 5 star squad tragic for the player. OKW have 5, and it costs the same amount of exp to 5 star a squad here as it does to 3 star it anywhere else, so you receive 2 extra bonuses for free. Say what you will about their ethics (like the complete lack of them), the Germans actually had some really fascinating stuff. So, the mind set for these guys, you might ask? Well… rule of cool for one thing. They lack a few of the tools of the trade that other factions receive by default, such as mortars, but can make arrangements to have them shipped to the front with an extensive Fallschirmjager program. They are also provided with very high level technology, from the vampir IR invisible lights and scopes to the biggest, baddest, most excessive tank destroyers that evil Nazi cyborg scientists could dream up. Their entire skill set revolves around EXTREME violence and the blessing of the German High Command to visit it upon those deemed enemies of the state. So you can see that these guys don’t exactly have audience seating in Heaven reserved for them for the Seraphim bikini mud wrestling competition. Auschwitz might be more famous, but Dachau is where it all began, and, on Hitler’s order, it was run entirely by the SS with no oversight, meaning they didn’t have to answer to anyone over the deaths there.
They also started up a nice little vacation destination called Dachau, which served as the basis for all German concentration camps. But say you’re still on the fence about these guys. The murders we don’t know about likely ranges in the hundreds, but who can say? Not enough? How about Kristallnacht, the Night of Broken Glass? Where thousands of Jewish businesses were vandalized, hundreds of synagogues were damaged or destroyed, 30,000 Jewish people were arrested for no reason, and to top it all off, German big-wigs claimed that the Jewish community was to blame for all this and had the balls to fine them the equivalent of $400 million modern dollars. They killed 85 high-profile players in the German political sphere in one day with no repercussions, and that’s just what we know about. What atrocities you might ask? Well, one of their first duties was to bump off all of Hitler’s opponents and rivals in an act known as the Night of the Long Knives. The Nuremberg trials condemned this entire group as a criminal organization due to the fact that they liked to conduct atrocities on days ending with Y. They were often told of a problem’s existence and given complete autonomy under the condition that said problem went away into a dark hole no one could find it in, and were amply supplied with manpower, equipment, and whatever else they needed to conduct their dark trade. No matter where you fall on the Allied/Axis fandom, you have to know that these guys are some seriously bad news. Way I figure it, the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht has the same acryonym, and are the Waffen’s bosses, so either name could apply. So it is entirely likely that the censors would not allow it. To the point that if you thought about anything that Nazi Germany did that was even remotely horrifying, I’d wager that there was a SS man involved. I suspect that Relic opted to use the name “Oberkommando West” because… well, the Waffen-SS were not nice people.
The OKW in game resemble the Waffen in appearance as well, sporting a similar pea-dot style camouflage pattern as well as uniform style, and I am told there are several references to “Waffen” and “Honor guard” in the game’s code as well. I believe that this is the true identity of the Oberkommando West. However, there were a 4th branch, answerable only to them, that had a very dark reputation for extreme violence and “creative problem solving”: the Waffen-Schutzstaffel, or “protection squadron”. They commanded the Heer (army), the Kriegsmarine (navy), and the Luftwaffe (Lolwaffle Air Force). However, the acronym of OKW does fit with Oberkommando der Wehrmacht, translated to mean High Command of the Defense Force. Forewordĭespite my best efforts, I have not been able to find any group in history with the name “Oberkommando West”. A complete analysis of everything that the Oberkommando West can throw at the Allies in Company of Heroes 2 with the All Units Mod.