Fedor von Bock
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Fedor von Bock (December 3, 1880 - May 4, 1945) was a Generalfeldmarschall of the Wehrmacht who served as Army Group Center's commander during the attack on the Soviet Union in 1941. Von Bock was considered a very "by the book" General and was not heavily involved in Nazi politics but also did not sympathize with those who opposed Adolf Hitler.
Life and career
He was born in Küstrin, Germany. He attended a military academy then joined the German Army in 1897. He served in the First World War and by 1918 he had attained the rank of major. He remained in the army after the end of the war, serving as commander of the Third Army Group.
He was one of the few officers not removed from his position when Hitler reorganized the German military in 1939 at the onset of World War II in September 1939. At that time, von Bock was assigned to lead Army Group North during the successful invasion of Poland. After his success with the blitzkrieg against France, Belgium, and The Netherlands, von Bock was promoted to field marshal. He was then given his most famous mission; Operation Barbarossa, the capture of Moscow and the defeat of the Soviet Union. In 1941, von Bock invaded Soviet-occupied Poland, destroying the non-aggression pact between Germany and the Soviets. By December, all of Poland had been subdued, as well as the Ukrainian SSR, Belarus, and most of western Russia.
However, von Bock was unfortunate enough to get caught in the vicious Russian winter, when some of his men were within 30 km of Moscow. Temperatures dropped to an average of -30º C, but his men only had their thin fall jackets (Hitler had diverted resources to the Western Front). Tank engines routinely failed, and their weapons jammed frequently. However, Hitler ordered von Bock to stand his ground. The Russian forces, commanded by Marshal Georgy Zhukov, quickly went on a counteroffensive, driving the Germans back 145 km from Moscow. German casualties were listed in the thousands, and Moscow would not be threatened for the rest of the war.
While privately opposing the atrocities being committed against Soviet civilians, von Bock never protested directly to Hitler (although at one time, he had a subordinate file a formal complaint). After Hitler's suicide, von Bock gave his services to Admiral Karl Dönitz, the new leader of Germany. While in Hamburg, von Bock was killed in an Allied bombing raid on May 4, 1945.
Trivia
In the film The Final Countdown, the USS Nimitz (stranded in time on December 6, 1941) picks up a radio broadcast which mentions that forces under General von Bock are advancing on Moscow.