Fedor von Bock
Early life
Fedor von Bock was born in Kstrin, a fortress city on the banks of the Oder River in the Province of Brandenburg. His full name given at birth was Moritz Albrecht Franz Friedrich Fedor.
He was born into a Prussian Protestant aristocratic family whose military heritage is traceable to the time of the Hohenzollerns. His father, Karl Moritz von Bock, commanded a division in the Franco-Prussian War, and was decorated for bravery at the Battle of Sedan. His great-grandfather served in the armies of Frederick the Great, and his grandfather was an officer in the Prussian Army at Jena. His mother, Olga Helene Fransziska Freifrau von Falkenhayn von Bock, was of both German and Russian aristocratic heritage. Bock was distantly related to Erich von Falkenhayn.
At the age of eight, Bock went to Berlin to study at the Potsdam and Gross Lichterfelde Military Academy. The education emphasized Prussian militarism, and he quickly became adept in academic subjects such as modern languages, mathematics, and history. He spoke fluent French, and to a fair degree English and Russian. At an early age, and largely due to his father, Bock developed an unquestioned loyalty to the state and dedication to the military profession. This upbringing would greatly influence his actions and decisions when he commanded armed forces during the Second World War. At the age of 17, Bock became an officer candidate in the Imperial Foot Guards Regiment at Potsdam; he received an officer commission a year later. He entered service with the rank of Sekondeleutnant.
The tall, thin, narrow-shouldered Bock had a dry and cynical sense of humor; he seldom smiled. His manner was described as being arrogant, ambitious, and opinionated; he approached military bearing with an unbending demeanor. While not a brilliant theoretician, Bock was a highly determined officer. As one of the highest ranking officers in the Reichswehr, he often addressed graduating cadets at his alma mater. His theme was always that the greatest glory that could come to a German soldier was to die for the Fatherland. He quickly earned the nickname oly Fire of Kstrin.
In 1905, Bock married Mally von Reichenbach, a young Prussian noblewoman, whom he had originally met in Berlin. They were married in a traditional military wedding at the Potsdam garrison. They had a daughter, born two years after the marriage. A year later, Bock attended the War Academy in Berlin, and after a year study he joined the ranks of the General Staff. He soon joined the patriotic Army League and become a close associate of other young German officers such as Walther von Brauchitsch, Franz Halder, and Gerd von Rundstedt. In 1908, he was promoted to the rank of Oberleutnant.
World War I
By the time the First World War began in 1914, Bock was a Hauptmann. He was assigned as a divisional staff officer in von Rupprecht army group on the Western Front. Major von Bock was a friend of the Crown Prince of Germany. Two days before the Armistice, he met with Kaiser Wilhelm II at Spa, Belgium, in an unsuccessful attempt to persuade the Kaiser to return to Berlin to crush the mutiny at Kiel. After the Treaty of Versailles was signed, limiting the German Army to 100,000 troops, Bock stayed on as an officer of the post-treaty Reichswehr, and rose through the ranks. In 1935, Adolf Hitler appointed General von Bock as commander of the Third Army Group. Bock was one of the officers not removed from his position when Hitler reorganized the armed forces during the phase of German rearmament before the outbreak of World War II. He remained a monarchist, and was a frequent visitor to the former Kaiser’s estate. Hitler reportedly said of him, “Nobody in the world but Von Bock can teach soldiers to die.” Bock himself told his troops, “The ideal soldier fulfills his duty to the utmost, obeys without even thinking, thinks only when ordered to do so, and has as his only desire to die the honorable death of a soldier killed in action.”
General von Bock commanded the invasion of Vienna in March 1938 for the Anschluss and then the invasion of Czechoslovakia, before leading German armies into the Second World War.
World War II
Invasion of Poland
By August 25, 1939, Bock was in command of Army Group North in preparation for the invasion and conquest of Poland. The objective of Army Group North was to destroy the Polish forces north of the Vistula. Army Group North was composed of General Georg von Kchler’s 3rd Army, and General Gnther von Kluge’s 4th Army. These struck southward from East Prussia and eastward across the base of the Polish Corridor, respectively.
In just five weeks, Poland was overrun by German and Soviet forces and Bock had linked Germany back to East Prussia. Following the success in Poland, Bock returned to Berlin to begin preparations for the upcoming campaign in the West.
Fedor von Bock in Paris, 1940.
Invasion of France
Shortly after the conquest of Poland, on October 12, 1939, Bock was given command of Army Group B, with 291/2 divisions, including three armoured divisions. These were tasked with advancing through the Low Countries and luring the northern units of the Allied armies into a pocket. Army Group B consisted of the 18th Army and Sixth Army.
Bock participated in the Armistice with France (Second Compigne) in late June 1940. On July 18, 1940, Bock was promoted to the rank of Generalfeldmarschall during a reception held by Adolf Hitler. For much of the summer of 1940 Bock alternated his time between his headquarters in Paris and his home in Berlin. At the end of August, Army High Command transferred Army Group B to East Prussia; this included Kluge Fourth Army. On September 11, 1940, Bock relinquished command of his occupation area in France to Field Marshal Wilhelm Ritter von Leeb.
Operation Barbarossa
Operation Barbarossa: the German invasion of the Soviet Union, 21 June 1941 to 5 December 1941: to 9 July 1941 to 1 September 1941 to 9 September 1941 to 5 December 1941
In preparation for Operation Barbarossa, on April 1, 1941, Army Group B was re-designated as Army Group Center in an official order from Army High Command which defined the organization of the invasion force. Deployed in Poland, Army Group Center was one of the three army formations which were to lead the invasion of the Soviet Union. It included the 4th Army and 9th Army, the 3rd Panzer Army and 2nd Panzer Army and the Luftflotte 2. On the left flank of Bock’s Army Group Center was Army Group North, commanded by Ritter von Leeb; on the right flank was Army Group South, commanded by Gerd von Rundstedt.
Initially, the main objective of Army Group Center was to follow Napoleon route north of the Pripyat Marshes straight to Moscow. However, against the strong vocal opposition of von Bock, Hitler altered the original invasion plan, one of many changes he would make, both before the invasion and after it had already begun. Von Bock opposed any changes to the invasion plan of Moscow, because he wanted to occupy Moscow as soon as he could, hopefully before the onset of cold weather, so that his troops would be in warm quarters during the winter. The failure to do this caused the failure of the whole Soviet campaign.
The new task of Army Group Center was to drive towards the cities of Minsk and Smolensk, and in great encirclements destroy the Soviet Armies stationed there. Army Group Center would then drive toward Leningrad, and along with Army Group North destroy the remnants of the Soviet Armies in the Baltic states and seize valuable ports for the supply of the campaign. Only after the bulk of the Soviet army was destroyed in Western Russia would Army Group Center then drive toward the Soviet capital. Hitler made this change conscious of the fact that despite capturing Moscow, Napoleon was defeated because he did not destroy the Russian army.
At 3:15 a.m., June 22, 1941, the first shots of Operation Barbarossa were fired. At the outset of the campaign Bock remained at his desk in his headquarters waiting for the first reports from the front. Within an hour of the attack, the first reports began to arrive at Army Group Center headquarters. Elements of Heinz Guderian force had crossed the Bug River and were bypassing the city of Brest-Litovsk. Hermann Hoth tanks were heading for Grodno on the Nieman River to seize the important river crossings. Several reconnaissance units from the 4th Army and 9th Army had already crossed the Bug and Desna Rivers.
At 7:00 a.m. Bock flew from Posen to an advance airfield near the headquarters of XIII Infantry Corps. There, Lieutenant General Erich Jaschke gave Bock a summary of the progress of the invasion. Following this meeting, Bock visited Guderian forward command post at Bokhaly. Guderian Chief of staff Colonel Kurt Freiherr von Liebenstein greeted Bock, as Guderian had already crossed the Bug River several hours earlier with the 18th Panzer Division. Bock then visited Joachim Lemelsen, who gave an agitated report from the front. The roads on the Russian side of the Bug River were already becoming too soft to support the weight of tanks. As a result, several tank columns had to be rerouted to cross a bridge farther south at Koden. This rerouting caused severe traffic congestion, as some ten thousand vehicles converged on this single crossing. Despite this, the first day of the invasion had been spectacularly successful. Russian resistance was reported as being light and complete surprise was achieved. All along the front rapid progress was being made.
Hermann Hoth with Bock (left) in Russia during Operation Barbarossa, 1941.
On the second day of Barbarossa, Bock crossed the Bug River. Escorted by Major General Gustav Schmidt, he made his way to a company command post from where he observed German artillery firing on Russian positions near Brest-Litovsk. Despite the fact that German panzers had already crossed deep into Russian territory, the defenders of the city were holding out stubbornly. Later that day Bock was presented with reports that Russian resistance was stiffening all long the front, especially on Guderian southern flank. Meanwhile, Hoth forces were advancing with much more ease through the Baltic states and Belarus. The first two days of Army Group Center advance proved to be highly successful.
Hoth armies advanced so quickly that Bock immediately contacted Walter von Brauchitsch, requesting the bypassing of Minsk in favor of attacking toward Vitebsk so that a drive could be made for Moscow. Initially, the change in plan was accepted but it was soon overruled by Hitler, who favored the encirclement and destruction of the large Soviet armies near Minsk. Bock wrote in his diary:
The envelopment of Minsk is not decisive. Besides, I am sure that the enemy expects us to attack Minsk, the next natural objective, and will concentrate defense forces there.
Differences between Bock strategic intent and the intent of High Command repeatedly surfaced. Bock continued to favor a direct drive toward Moscow, bypassing Soviet armies and leaving them to be destroyed by infantry, which advanced well behind tank columns. Bock argued that if encirclement was truly necessary then instead of diverting his tanks north and south to encircle and destroy smaller Soviet armies, a larger encirclement should be made eastward toward the Dvina-Dnieper River basins. Hitler decided against this plan, and insisted that the pockets containing Soviet armies must be destroyed before advancing deeper into Russia.
Bock, enraged by this decision, was quoted as saying:
We are permitting our greatest chance of success to escape us by this restriction placed on our armor!
He hesitantly gave the order to abandon the drive toward Vitebsk and assist in the destruction of the pockets. On June 25, Bock moved his headquarters from Posen to Kobryn, a town about fifteen miles northeast of Brest-Litovsk. On June 30, the 4th Army and 9th Army met each other near Slonim, trapping thousands of Russian soldiers. However, many Russian soldiers managed to escape eastward. Bock soon gave the order to disengage from the encirclement and prepare for a full-scale drive to the east. This order once again caused a confrontation between Bock and Brauchitsch.
On July 3, Bock forces were once again advancing eastward, with Guderian tanks crossing the Beresina and Hoth tanks crossing the Duna. This day marked the furthest distance covered by Bock troops in a single day, with over 100 miles traveled. Four days later, Guderian tanks crossed the Dnieper River, the last great obstacle before Smolensk. However, Guderian was soon ordered by Gnther von Kluge to withdraw back across the river. Bock soon reversed this order, and Guderian was allowed to re-cross the river. Bock protested Kluge actions to High Command, to no avail. On July 11, Bock moved his headquarters again to Borisov, a Russian town near the Beresina River.
Operation Typhoon
On September 9, Army High Command instructed Bock to prepare an operational order for the assault on Moscow. Operation Typhoon was the code-name given to this new attack, which was to begin no later then September 30. Bock carefully supervised the planning and preparation of the operation, and a few days later it was approved by the High Command.
As part of the preparation for Operation Typhoon, Army Group Center would be reinforced and replenished with men and vehicles; it would be composed of three infantry armies (2nd Army, 4th Army, and 9th Army) and three tank armies (2nd Panzer Army, 3rd Panzer Army, and 4th Panzer Army). Colonel General Erich Hoepner would command the 4th Panzer Army, while the former two were outgrowths of Hoth and Guderian original Panzer Groups. The replenishment of Army Group Center for Operation Typhoon caused it to increase greatly in size: with almost 1.5 million soldiers, it was now larger than it was at the outset of Operation Barbarossa. Bock spent most of the remainder of September on inspection tours of his reinforced Army Group Center. On one occasion, Bock, along with Albert Kesselring, flew over Moscow.
On September 29, Bock held a conference with his senior commanders Strauss, Hoth, Kluge, Weichs, Hoepner, Guderian, and Kesselring. During the meeting the main operational plan was reviewed, with Bock again stressing that Moscow must be taken by November 7, before the onset of the Russian winter, and to coincide with the anniversary of the Russian Revolution. The following day, Operation Typhoon began with attacks from Guderian and Hoth armored forces. Several days later, the infantry armies began to move toward Moscow. With less than 100 miles between the most advanced troops and Moscow, Bock estimated that his troops would enter the city in three to four weeks.
Almost immediately, Bock forces encountered stiff Soviet resistance on the road to Moscow. The previous diversions of Army Group Center allowed the Soviets to reinforce the area between Smolensk and Moscow with the Russian 3rd Army, 10th Army, 13th Army, and 20th Army, as well as elements of three other armies. German forces were outnumbered almost two to one[citation needed]. However, the superior tactics and training of the Wehrmacht, along with an element of surprise, resulted in significant gains despite the increasingly desperate measures employed by the Russians to stop the advance.
The 2nd Panzer Army, along with the XLVIII Panzer Corps, attacked important rail junctions near Oryol and Bryansk. Hoepner 4th Panzer Army soon crossed the Desna River and gained access to deep Russian territory. Meanwhile, Hoth 3rd Panzer Army struck toward Rzhev on the Volga River.
On October 3, Guderian forces soon captured Orel and subsequently gained access to a paved highway which led to Moscow, some 180 miles away. Meanwhile, elements of the 2nd Panzer Army reported that they had bypassed Bryansk and were heading toward Kuraschev. Bock ordered Guderian to press on toward Tula, but within hours this order had been reversed by High Command. The reversal of the order called for Guderian to attack Bryansk where, along with Vyazma, two massive encirclements of Soviet forces were occurring. Bock argued that the area between Orel and Tula remained relatively free of Soviet forces and that Tula could be captured within hours. Ultimately, Bock agreed to divert Guderian tanks toward Byansk.
Cold rain soon began to fall over the northern sectors of Army Group Center front, and the roads soon turned into quagmires as part of the Rasputitsa. Virtually the entire front became stuck - the only vehicles capable of negotiating the mud were tanks and other tracked vehicles. However, these moved at a snail’s pace (sometimes less than two miles per day ), and fuel consumption soared. This further aggravated the problem of already poor supply lines. Trucks soon became stuck in the mud, as soldiers tried desperately to free them. As the temperature continued to drop, Guderian requested a supply of winter clothing and anti-freeze for the vehicles. However, the increase in partisan activity behind the lines, along with the deteriorating weather conditions, made it increasingly difficult for these vital supplies to reach the front. In one two day period, partisans made over sixty attacks on German truck convoys, outposts, and railway lines.
Soldiers of Army Group Center try to keep warm during the assault on Moscow
Slight improvements in the weather soon made it possible for Bock forces to continue to seal the pockets around Bryansk and Vyazma. The dual encirclements of Soviet forces around Vyazma and Bryansk yielded some of the largest Soviet casualties since the beginning of Operation Barbarossa: some 650,000 prisoners were taken during these two encirclements, after which the Soviet armies facing Bock Army Group Center no longer had the advantage of superior numbers.
The weather soon deteriorated again, with the roads once more turning into impassable, muddy quagmires. Since September 30, Bock had lost some 35,000 men, 250 tanks and artillery pieces, and several hundred other vehicles, many of which were mired in the mud. Fuel and ammunition supplies became dangerously low. Despite these problems, the advance toward Moscow continued as Hitler became increasingly impatient. When advance units of the 4th Panzer Army reached Kaluga and Maloyaroslavets, German forces were within forty miles of Moscow. Guderian’s advance in the south was much slower. An attempt by his forces to capture Tula had failed, with considerable losses of men and tanks. However, other units captured Stalinogorsk and Venev, indicating the possibility of bypassing Tula.
As Bock forces pressed on toward Moscow, panic struck in the capital. Hundreds of thousands of civilians began to evacuate the city while others were forces into emergency volunteer units. Martial law was instituted as looting and pillaging of deserted stores increased. Marshal Timoshenko was relieved of command in favor of Georgy Zhukov, who had been organizing the defense of Leningrad. The main bulk of the Soviet government was evacuated to Kuibyshev, 500 miles southeast of Moscow; however, Stalin remained in the capital after being reassured by Zhukov that the capital would not fall.
The further Bock forces advanced, the stiffer Soviet resistance became. The paved roads leading to Moscow became craters under constant Russian artillery fire, rendering them impassable. This forced the German troops into the mud and Army Group Center soon became stuck once again. The goal of capturing Moscow by mid-October could no longer be achieved. However, the sheer weight of the German advance could not be fully stopped and on October 21 units of the 9th Army captured Kalinin.
As November arrived the mud soon turned into ice as temperatures dropped to -20 F. While the ground hardened sufficiently enough to support vehicles, the cold weather added to the miseries of the German soldiers as many had not received winter clothing. Frostbite soon took its toll - many soldiers were severely affected and had to be evacuated.
On November 20, Bock moved his field headquarters to an advanced forward position near the front lines. There he visited an artillery command post, where he could see the buildings of Moscow through his field glasses. Several days later, German forces crossed the Moscow-Volga Canal and reached Khimki but soon fell back due to Soviet resistance. On November 29, elements of the 4th Panzer Army reached the western suburbs of Moscow. On December 4, units of the 2nd Army reached Kuntsevo, a western suburb of Moscow. Several units of Guderian army bypassed Kolomna and reached the Moscow River. Meanwhile, the 3rd Panzer Army once again fought into Khimki. These were the last advances made by Army Group Center under Bock command.
On December 6, with the temperature at -50 F, fresh Russian troops commanded by Zhukov launched a huge counterattack. All along the front near Moscow German troops retreated, destroying whatever equipment they could not salvage. Several days later, High Command ordered a halt to all offensive operations. Bock wrote in his diary:
All along, I demanded of Army High Command the authority to strike down the enemy when he was wobbling. We could have finished the enemy last summer. We could have destroyed him completely. Last August, the road to Moscow was open; we could have entered the Bolshevik capital in triumph and in summery weather. The high military leadership of the Fatherland made a terrible mistake when it forced my army group to adopt a position of defense last August. Now all of us are paying for that mistake.
By December 13, German forces had retreated more than 50 miles from the capital. On December 18, Bock was relieved of his command of Army Group Center. The official pretext of this decision was health problems. However, this was just one case out of some 40 high ranking officers being relieved of their command following the failure to capture Moscow. Bock’s command of Army Group Center marked the closest the German army ever got to Moscow; never again would the Soviet capital be threatened.
Operation Blue
When Bock asked for permission to withdraw his exhausted troops in December 1941, he was dismissed from his post as Commander of Army Group Center, to be reassigned to lead Army Group South in January 1942, when field marshal Walter von Reichenau died of a heart attack. Only five months later, in July 1942, Hitler blamed him for the failure of “Operation Braunschweig”, the second part of the German offensive in Russia, and retired him definitively. The command of Army Group South was given to Maximilian von Weichs.
While privately opposing the atrocities being committed against Soviet civilians,[citation needed] Bock never protested directly to Hitler, although at one time, he had a subordinate file a formal complaint (”Meine Herren, ich stelle fest: Der Feldmarschall von Bock hat protestiert!” - “gentlemen, I state: The field marshal von Bock has protested”).[citation needed] His nephew, Henning von Tresckow, tried in vain to win him for the military resistance against the Hitler regime. When his staff officers planned the assassination of Hitler during a visit to his Army Group, Bock intervened.[citation needed] On the other hand, he did not report the conspirators either.
One of the reasons for Bock’s dismissal is believed[who?] to have been his expressed interest in supporting the Russian Liberation Movement, which Hitler was categorically against.
Post 1943
As an involuntarily retired Field Marshal, Bock felt he was made a scapegoat for the problems of Stalingrad. He was approached to join a coup against Hitler, but he believed any such move not supported by Heinrich Himmler (who controlled the Waffen-SS) was bound to fail; he refused to move against the Fhrer.
Death
With the Russians closing in on Berlin in 1945, Bock was informed by Erich von Manstein that Grand Admiral Karl Dnitz was forming a new government in Hamburg. Bock started off for that city immediately, perhaps hoping for a new command. On 4 May 1945, only a week before the war’s end in Europe, Bock’s car was strafed on the Kiel road by a British fighter-bomber; he was killed along with his wife and daughter.
At age 64, Fedor von Bock became the only one of Hitler’s Field Marshals to die from enemy fire.
Dates of Rank
Leutnant - 15 March 1898
Oberleutnant - 10 September 1908
Hauptmann - 22 March 1912
Major - 30 December 1916
Oberstleutnant - 18 December 1920
Oberst - 1 May 1925
Generalmajor - 1 February 1929
Generalleutnant - 1 February 1931
General der Infanterie - 1 March 1935
Generaloberst - 15 March 1938
Generalfeldmarschall - 19 July 1940
Quotes
“Our profession should always be crowned by heroic death in battle”
Notes
^ Turney, Alfred W., Disaster at Moscow: Von Bock’s Campaigns 1941-1942, Cassell (1971)
^ a b “Death on the Approaches”, TIME Magazine, December 8, 1941
^ Stug III and IV Assault Guns - German War Files. Artsmagic Ltd. 16 February 2004
^ a b c d e f g Battle of Russia, Battlefield: Battles that Won the Second World War - Series 2. Universal Pictures Video. May 2, 2005
^ a b c d e Turney, Disaster at Moscow, (1971) pg.6
^ Turney, Disaster at Moscow, (1971) pg.3
^ Turney, Disaster at Moscow, (1971) pg.4
^ Turney, Disaster at Moscow, (1971) pg.5
^ a b c “GENERALFELDMARSCHALL”. Axis Biographical Research. http://www.geocities.com/~orion47/WEHRMACHT/HEER/GFM-RH_A-Z.html. Retrieved 2007-05-16.
^ a b c d Gregory, Mackenzie J. “Field Marshal Fedor von Bock (1880- 1945)”. Ahoy - Mac’s Web Log, The Naval Historical Society of Australia, Inc.. http://ahoy.tk-jk.net/GermanFieldMarshalsWW2/FedorvonBock.html. Retrieved 2007-05-16.
^ a b Current Biography 1942, pp. 89-91
^ “Hitler/Jaeger File”. Life Magazine. http://images.google.com/hosted/life/l?imgurl=445b83d2ad615cfb. Retrieved 2009-04-14.
^ Turney, Disaster at Moscow, (1971) pg.37
^ Turney, Disaster at Moscow, (1971) pg.54
^ Turney, Disaster at Moscow, (1971) pg.55
^ Turney, Disaster at Moscow, (1971) pg.56
^ Turney, Disaster at Moscow, (1971) pg.58
^ Turney, Disaster at Moscow, (1971) pg.60
^ Turney, Disaster at Moscow, (1971) pg.87
^ Beevor, Antony. Stalingrad, The Fateful Siege: 1942-1943. New York: Penguin Books. (1998) pg. 34
^ Turney, Disaster at Moscow, (1971) pg.88
^ Blood and Steel: The Russian Front. Cromwell Productions Ltd. January 3, 1999
^ Turney, Disaster at Moscow, (1971) pg.141
^ Turney, Disaster at Moscow, (1971) pg.142
^ Turney, Disaster at Moscow, (1971) pg.155
^ Turney, Disaster at Moscow, (1971) pg.160
^ “Two Men, Two Faces”. Time Magazine. http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,773573,00.html. Retrieved 2007-05-16.
References
Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Fedor von Bock
Turney, Alfred W., Disaster at Moscow: Von Bock’s Campaigns 1941-1942, Cassell (1971)
Gerbet, Klaus and Johnston, David. Generalfeldmarschall Fedor von Bock: The War Diary 1939-1945. Schiffer Publishing. January 1, 2000
Beevor, Antony (1998). Stalingrad, The Fateful Siege: 1942-1943. New York: Penguin Books.
Horner, D. M., Jukes, Geoffrey. The Second World War - The Eastern Front 1941-1945. Osprey Publishing (July 25, 2002)
Helden der Wehrmacht - Unsterbliche deutsche Soldaten (in German). Mnchen, Germany: FZ-Verlag GmbH, 2004. ISBN 3-924309-53-1.
Military offices
Preceded by
none
Commander of Heeresgruppe Nord
27 August 1939 20 June 1941
Succeeded by
Generalfeldmarschall Wilhelm Ritter von Leeb
Preceded by
none
Commander of Heeresgruppe Mitte
22 June 1941 19 December 1941
Succeeded by
Generalfeldmarschall Gnther von Kluge
Awards and achievements
Preceded by
Sir Claude Auchinleck
Cover of Time Magazine
8 December 1941
Succeeded by
Husband E. Kimmel
Preceded by
Sir Harold Alexander
Cover of Time Magazine
21 September 1942
Succeeded by
William Francis Gibbs
v d e
German Field Marshals and Grand Admirals of World War II
Field Marshals
(Generalfeldmarschall)
Werner von Blomberg Fedor von Bock Eduard Freiherr von Bhm-Ermolli (honorary) Walther von Brauchitsch Ernst Busch Hermann Gring Robert Ritter von Greim Wilhelm Keitel Albert Kesselring Ewald von Kleist Gnther von Kluge Georg von Kchler Wilhelm Ritter von Leeb Wilhelm List Erich von Manstein Erhard Milch Walter Model Friedrich Paulus Walther von Reichenau Wolfram von Richthofen Erwin Rommel Gerd von Rundstedt Ferdinand Schrner Hugo Sperrle Maximilian von Weichs Erwin von Witzleben
Grand Admirals
(Groadmiral)
Karl Dnitz Erich Raeder
v d e
Recipients of the Pour le Mrite and Knight’s Cross of the Iron Cross
Fedor von Bock Kuno-Hans von Both Ernst Busch Hermann Gring Robert Ritter von Greim Siegfried Haenicke Alfred Keller Heinrich Kirchheim Otto Lancelle Bruno Loerzer Theo Osterkamp Johann von Ravenstein Erwin Rommel Karl Rothenburg Siegfried Runge Ferdinand Schrner Wolff von Stutterheim Ernst Udet
in alphabetical order
v d e
First and last recipients of the Knight’s Cross of the Iron Cross
first
30 September 1939
Johannes Blaskowitz (Oak Leaves and Swords) Fedor von Bock Walther von Brauchitsch Hermann Gring (Grand Cross of the Iron Cross) Wilhelm Keitel Albert Kesselring (Oak Leaves, Swords and Diamonds) Gnther von Kluge (Oak Leaves and Swords) Georg von Kchler (Oak Leaves) Wilhelm List Alexander Lhr (Oak Leaves) Erich Raeder Walter von Reichenau Gerd von Rundstedt (Oak Leaves and Swords)
last
17 June 1945
Georg-Wolfgang Feller
Groadmiral Karl Dnitz had ordered a cease of all promotions and awards as of 11 May 1945. Therefore Georg-Wolfgang Feller is a de facto but not de jure recipient.
Persondata
NAME
Bock, Fedor von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION
German field marshal
DATE OF BIRTH
2 December 1880
PLACE OF BIRTH
Kstrin, German Empire
DATE OF DEATH
4 May 1945
PLACE OF DEATH
Oldenburg, Germany
Categories: German nobility | Field Marshals of Nazi Germany | Recipients of the Knight’s Cross | Recipients of the Pour le Mrite (military class) | Recipients of the Order of Michael the Brave | German military personnel of World War I | German military personnel killed in World War II | Military personnel referenced in the Wehrmachtbericht | People from the Province of Brandenburg | 1880 births | 1945 deathsHidden categories: All articles with unsourced statements | Articles with unsourced statements from October 2008 | Articles with unsourced statements from August 2009 | All articles with specifically-marked weasel-worded phrases | Articles with specifically-marked weasel-worded phrases from August 2009
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