Wehrmacht (German: "defence force" or more literally "defence-power") was the name of the unified armed forces of Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the Heer (army), the Kriegsmarine (navy) and the Luftwaffe (air force). The Waffen-SS, an initially-small paramilitary section of Heinrich Himmler's Allgemeine SS that grew to nearly a million strong during World War II was, De Facto, a fourth branch of the Wehrmacht, under operational and field command of OKW and OKH.