I'm sure this has probably been asked before in some form but I am currently reading a lot about WWII and I've run into a question that keeps nagging me: What was the relationship between the Wermacht and the SS? In contemporary conversation the general consensus between non-historically minded people seems to be that in general the Wemacht were not the ones that committed the crimes against humanity that are attributed to the SS. Is this an accurate summation? Were the Wermacht soldiers just that? Soldiers fighting for their country right or wrong? Or were they rank and file Nazi supporters by and large? Also were the SS seen as an inferior fighting force by the Wermacht, and by extension not generally well liked by them? Or were they one in the same mentality wise?
Thank you for such a detailed answer.
^ this answer I've given previously should be pertinent.
What was the relationship between the Wermacht and the SS?
It was quite often antagonistic, esp. as the Waffen SS began to expand its number of divisions and compete with the Army (Heer) for manpower, but there was also cooperation, particularly in the Invasion of the USSR, and in the occupation of the Western USSR and Yugoslavia. This will be addressed further down.
In contemporary conversation the general consensus between non-historically minded people seems to be that in general the Wemacht were not the ones that committed the crimes against humanity that are attributed to the SS. Is this an accurate summation?
It is in no way an accurate summation; the misconception of "army good, SS bad" has a long history going back to the Nuremburg Trials, and is part of what historians of the war dub "the myth of the Clean Wehrmacht."
Were the Wehrmacht soldiers just that? Soldiers fighting for their country right or wrong? Or were they rank and file Nazi supporters by and large?
Wehrmacht units were involved in war crimes from the invasion of Poland onwards (a detailed discussion is available [here] (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_crimes_of_the_Wehrmacht)), and saw close cooperation between Army units and SS Einsatzgruppen (Action Groups, mobile killing squads hunting Jews and Partisans) during the Invasion of the Soviet Union. There was the Commissar Order, which ear-marked all Red Army political officers for immediate execution, and which was carried out by c. 80% of invading German divisions by historian Felix Romer's research estimates. There were directives passed absolving soldiers of the consequences of breaking most laws, so as not to 'hinder' the prosecution of the war in the East, and the subsequent 'Anti-Partisan' campaigns in Belarus and Ukraine were or at least became red herrings for the genocide of Soviet Jewry in the occupied territories, as was already taking place in German-occupied Serbia. In addition, c. 2 million out of the 3 million Red Army POWs captured by the Wehrmacht in the invasion were dead (by German estimates) by January 1942. This was the result of deliberate mistreatment and exposure, in violation of the Hague Laws, as part of the preliminary implementation of the Hunger Plan. This aimed at the mass starvation of perhaps 30 million people in the occupied Soviet Union, to make room for German settlement. Only the check of Operation Barbarossa in autumn/winter of 1941-42 by the Red Army halted these plans.
I could go on, as more crimes were committed in the USSR and throughout 'fortress Europe' by the Army, and there are other more detailed answers in the FAQs section of the wiki. While the issue of the degree to which German soldiers supported the regime requires further research, Harald Welzer and Soenke Neitzel's book Soldiers (Soldaten in German) suggests that many soldiers did harbour positive views of Hitler at least, and of the aggressive actions carried out by Germany under the aegis of the Third Reich. Jeff Rutherford's book Combat and Genocide on the Eastern Front (his thesis can be found via google) indicates also that steadfast ideological adherence by the majority of the rank and file was not always necessary for war crimes either. Standard Operating Procedures and 'Military Culture' in the German Army emphasized swift, brutal reprisals in response to real or perceived civilian resistance, as had been demonstrated by the Imperial Army in WWI, and again by the Heer in WWII.
Also were the SS seen as an inferior fighting force by the Wermacht, and by extension not generally well liked by them? Or were they one in the same mentality wise?
With the exceptions of the 4th, 7th and 8th SS divisions, the first twelve were well regarded in the German Army by 1943. After the 12th SS, unit qualities varied greatly, and units could be very good like the 28th SS "Wallonien" division (really more of a brigade), or absolutely abysmal like the 21st "Skanderbeg" division, made up of Albanians for anti-partisan work, but disbanded after it disintegrated in the face of Red Army troops in late 1944.