Moritz Albrecht Franz Friedrich Fedor von Bock (3 December 1880 – 4 May 1945) was a German Generalfeldmarschall (Field Marshal) who served in the German Army during the Second World War. Bock served as the commander of Army Group North during the Invasion of Poland in 1939, of Army Group B during the Invasion of France in 1940, of Army Group Center during Operation Barbarossa in 1941, and of Army Group South on the Eastern Front in 1942.
Bock was a staff officer of the Imperial German Army during World War I and rose through the ranks of the post-war Reichswehr during the Weimar Republic. Bock was given his first command post in 1935, playing a key role in the Anschluss, the annexation of the Sudetenland, the invasion of Poland, and the invasion of France for which he was promoted to Generalfeldmarschall. Bock was successful during Operation Barbarossa and commanded Operation Typhoon, the German attempt to capture Moscow during the autumn and winter of 1941, which was slowed by the rasputitsa and stiff Soviet resistance around Mozhaisk.
Bock was a monarchist neutral to the Nazi regime and not heavily involved in politics, but he did not sympathize with plots to overthrow Hitler. Bock was outspoken in his disagreement with Hitler and the Army High Command's strategy on the Eastern Front, a privilege extended to him only because he had been successful in battle.Battle of Russia, Battlefield: Battles that Won the Second World War—Series 2. Universal Pictures Video. 2 May 2005 After the failure of Operation Typhoon and the German retreat from the Red Army, Bock was relieved of his command by Hitler in July 1942 forcing him into retirement for the rest of the war. Bock was killed by a strafing Royal New Zealand Air Force plane on 4 May 1945 while travelling by car towards Hamburg.
Early life Fedor von Bock was born on 3 December 1880 in Cüstrin, Province of Brandenburg (now Kostrzyn, Poland), into an old Prussian military family. His father, Moritz Albert Karl von Bock, had commanded a division of the Prussian Army in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–1871 and was ennobled by Kaiser Wilhelm I for his achievements during the conflict.Mitcham 2009, p. 17 His mother, Olga Helene Franziska von Falkenhayn, was the sister of Erich von Falkenhayn, the Chief of the German General Staff during the First World War,Afflerbach 1996, p. 9 and had relatives within the Russian aristocracy.
At the age of eight, Bock went to study at a military academy in Berlin, receiving an education that emphasized Prussian militarism. He quickly became adept in academic subjects such as modern languages, mathematics, and history. He spoke fluent French, and some English and Russian. At an early age, and largely due to his father, Bock developed an unquestioning loyalty to the German state and dedication to the military profession. While not a brilliant theoretician, Bock was a highly motivated officer. As one of the highest-ranking officers in the Reichswehr, he often addressed graduating cadets at his alma mater, which closed in 1920. 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 "Holy Fire of Küstrin". In 1905, Bock married Mally von Reichenbach (1887–1910), a young Prussian noblewoman. They had a daughter. In 1908, Bock entered the Prussian Staff College in Berlin, and after a year's study he joined the ranks of the General Staff. He soon joined the Army League (Deutscher Wehrverein) and came to know Walther von Brauchitsch, Franz Halder, and Gerd von Rundstedt.
World War I By the time World War I began in 1914, Bock had reached the rank of Hauptmann and a staff officer of the Guards Corps, which was deployed to the Western Front. In May 1915, he was transferred to the 11th Army on the Eastern Front and participated in the Gorlice–Tarnów offensive. The following year he joined the General Staff of the 200th Infantry Division, taking part in the mountain warfare in the Carpathians and in the defense of the Brusilov Offensive. In April 1917, he was transferred to the General Staff of the German Crown Prince's Army Group on the Western Front. On 1 April 1918, he was decorated with Pour le Mérite for his work on the General Staff during the Spring Offensive. He had previously received both classes of the Iron Cross and the Knight's Cross of the Royal House Order of Hohenzollern with Swords.
Weimar Republic Bock stayed on as an officer of the Reichswehr after the war and rose through the ranks. In the early 1920s, General Hans von Seeckt, chief of the Army Command, named Bock head of a group tasked with building up what came to be known as the Black Reichswehr. It consisted of "labour battalions" (), purportedly made up of civilian volunteers attached to Reichswehr units, but its members wore Reichswehr uniforms and received their training and orders from it. Its actual purpose was to provide a way for the Reichswehr to circumvent the restriction in the Treaty of Versailles which limited Germany's army to 100,000 men. Bock chose Major Bruno Ernst Buchrucker to build up the force. The Black Reichswehr under Buchrucker became infamous for the Feme murders to punish "traitors" who, for example, revealed the locations of weapons' stockpiles or names of members. During the trials of some of those charged with the murders, prosecutors alleged that the killings were ordered by the officers from Bock's group. The journalist Carl von Ossietzky wrote: "... [the accused] did nothing but carry out the orders given him, and that certainly Colonel von Bock, and probably ... General Seeckt, should be sitting in the dock beside him." Several times Bock denied in court that the Reichswehr ministry had had any knowledge the "Black Reichswehr" or the murders they had committed.
On 27 September 1923, Buchrucker ordered 4,500 men of the Black Reichswehr to assemble outside of Berlin as the first preparatory step toward a coup d'état. Bock, who was Buchrucker's contact with the Reichswehr, was enraged, and in a stormy meeting berated Buchrucker for mobilizing without orders. Bock stated that the Reichswehr wanted no part in Buchrucker's coup and, despite his orders to demobilize at once, Buchrucker went ahead with the Küstrin Putsch on 1 October 1923, which ended in total failure. Following the coup attempt, Seeckt disbanded the Black Reichswehr.
After the Nazis came to power in 1933, Bock was neutral towards the new regime and remained a monarchist. In 1935, Adolf Hitler promoted Bock to General der Infanterie and appointed him as commander of the Third Army Group, and he was one of the officers who was not removed from his position when Hitler reorganized the armed forces during the German rearmament. Hitler reportedly said of him, "Nobody in the world but Bock can teach soldiers to die."Current Biography 1942, pp. 89–91 In 1936 Bock married Wilhelmine, née von Boddien (1893–1945). Bock marched into Vienna at the head of the 8th Army in March 1938 during the Anschluss, and played a key role in the annexation of the Sudetenland, also in 1938.
World War II Invasion of Poland By 25 August 1939, Bock was in command of Army Group North in preparation for the imminent invasion of Poland. The objective of Army Group North was to destroy the Polish forces north of the Vistula with a force composed of General Georg von Küchler's 3rd Army, and General Günther von Kluge's 4th Army. These struck southward from East Prussia and eastward across the base of the Polish Corridor, respectively.
On 10 September, Bock ordered the forces under his command to burn Polish villages located behind the front line to the ground if they were fired upon from the settlement and "if it proves impossible to identify the house from which the shots came". By the end of the military occupation of Poland on 26 October 1939, 531 towns and villages had been destroyed across the country. In five weeks, Poland was overrun by Germans and then Soviet forces after their occupation of Poland from the east.
Invasion of France
On 12 October 1939, shortly after the conquest of Poland, Bock was given command of Army Group B, with 29½ 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 and 6th Armies. While his units were overrunning the Netherlands, in May 1940, Bock attempted to call on the exiled former Kaiser Wilhelm II at his home in Doorn, but was unable to gain admittance, as the German troops guarding the residence having been instructed to prevent such visits.
Bock participated in the Armistice with France in late June 1940.
On 19 July 1940, Bock was promoted to the rank of field marshal during the 1940 Field Marshal Ceremony. At the end of August, the Army High Command transferred Army Group B to East Prussia; this included Kluge's 4th Army. On 11 September, Bock relinquished command of his occupation area in France to Field Marshal Wilhelm Ritter von Leeb.
Operation Barbarossa
On 2 February 1941, Bock met with Hitler and questioned whether the Soviets could be forced to make peace even if the Red Army was brought to battle and defeated. Hitler airily assured Bock that Germany's resources were more than sufficient and that he was determined to fight.Pincus, Oscar. The War Aims and Strategies of Adolf Hitler pg. 173 On 1 April 1941, in preparation for the invasion of the Soviet Union, Army Group B was re-designated as Army Group Center. Deployed in Poland, it was one of the three army formations which were to lead the invasion. It included the 4th and 9th Armies, the 3rd and 2nd Panzer Armies, and Luftflotte 2 of the Luftwaffe. On the left flank of Bock's Army Group Center was Army Group North, commanded by Wilhelm Ritter von Leeb; on the right flank was Army Group South, commanded by Gerd von Rundstedt. The main objective of Army Group Center was to follow the route north of the Pripyat Marshes to the Soviet capital Moscow. Following the border battles, the task of Army Group Center was to drive towards the cities of Minsk and Smolensk, and destroy the Soviet armies stationed there in encirclement battles.
At 03:15 on 22 June 1941, a Sunday, the first shots of Operation Barbarossa were fired; Germany invaded the Soviet Union with a timed declaration of war. Elements of Heinz Guderian's force had crossed the Bug River and were bypassing the city of Brest-Litovsk. Hermann Hoth's tanks were heading for Grodno on the Nieman River to seize the important river crossings. Several reconnaissance units from the 4th and 9th Armies had already crossed the Bug and Desna rivers. At 07:00, Bock flew from Posen to an advance airfield near the headquarters of XIII Infantry Corps. There, Major General Erich Jaschke gave Bock a summary of the progress of the invasion. Following this meeting, Bock visited Guderian's forward command post at Bokhaly. Bock then visited Joachim Lemelsen, who gave a report from the front. The roads on the Soviet side of the Bug River were already becoming too soft to support the weight of tanks. Despite this, the first day of the invasion had been spectacularly successful. Soviet resistance was reported as being light and complete surprise was achieved. All along the front rapid progress was being made.