A Kriegschule was a General Military School used for basic officer training in Nazi Germany up until the defeat in 1945. All Wehrmacht officers in World War II had passed through a Kriegsschule during their training. The Wehrmacht had five Kriegsschulen: at Potsdam, Dresden, München, Hannover, and Wiener-Neustadt.
Officer candidates, known as Fahnenjunkers undertook an extensive eight-week course, aimed at giving them a good knowledge of the basics of command. After completion of the course, the officer candidate moved off to his chosen Truppenschule or branch of service school. An example of a Truppenschule is Panzertruppenschule I in Munster, but there were also schools catering for all branches of service. Engineers, Physicians and Veterinarians studied longer at a military Akademie instead progressing to a military branch school.