How did the Wehrmacht participate in war crimes on the Eastern Front?

The Wehrmacht’s participation in war crimes on the Eastern Front was extensive, directly contradicting the postwar "clean Wehrmacht" myth that attempted to distance the regular military from the atrocities of the Nazi regime.1

Historical evidence confirms that the Wehrmacht was not merely a bystander but was fully complicit in Hitler’s racist agenda. Key aspects of their involvement include:1

• War of Extermination: Wehrmacht offensives on the Eastern Front were characterized as a campaign of extermination against Bolsheviks, Jews, and Slavs. The upper echelons of the military command were active participants in this genocidal policy.1
• Collaboration with Mobile Killing Units: The Einsatzgruppen—special mobile units tasked with mass murder—operated alongside the Wehrmacht during the invasion of the Soviet Union. The army facilitated these operations, which resulted in the systematic execution of over 1.4 million people, primarily Jews, including the massacre at Babi Yar.32
• Systematic Brutality: In occupied territories, the Wehrmacht and other Nazi forces treated local populations as inferior races, subjecting them to forced labor, starvation, and summary executions in response to resistance.4

The complicity of the Wehrmacht in these crimes is a well-documented historical fact, dispelling the narrative that regular soldiers were untainted by the atrocities of the Third Reich.1