Warlord Fedor von Bock is known as one of the leaders of a group of forces advancing to Moscow in 1941. Despite the fact that he completely agreed with Hitler in his theory of the Aryan race’s chosenness, he repeatedly criticized the Führer’s military maneuvers.
Biography
Fedor von Bock was born in 1880 in the town of Kustrin, which is now in Poland. His mother had Russian roots, so she called him a Russian name. The distant ancestors of von Bock are the Prussians and the Baltic, including Russian aristocrats.
Fedor received a cadet education and began a military career as a lieutenant in the guards regiment. After a short time he rose to the rank of battalion, and a little later - regimental adjutant, although he was only twenty-five years old.
Then von Bock graduated from the General Staff Academy and became the main quartermaster of the Guards Corps.
Military career
The First World War brought Fedor the title of Operations Manager. He fought and was awarded the Iron Crosses of the first and second class. During the war he received about ten more orders for developing a battle strategy and rose to the rank of major.
In the time interval between the first and second world wars in Germany, military forces were significantly reduced, but von Bock managed to stay in the army. He served in various positions: the chief of the district headquarters, the head of the infantry battalion, and then the commander of the infantry regiment.
For loyal and long service, he receives the rank of major general and appointment to the post of commander of the cavalry division.
When the Nazis come to power in his country, von Bock remains neutral, but remains in the service. And in 1935 he became commander of an army group.
With the outbreak of World War II, Fyodor von Bock receives leadership of the North Army, which is attacking Belgium and the Netherlands, and in occupied Paris, he participates in a parade of German troops at the Arc de Triomphe and soon receives the new rank of Field Marshal.
During the offensive on the USSR, he commands the Center group, which goes to Moscow. The tank groups of Guderian and Gotha moved to the capital of the Soviet Union in the hope of quickly capturing the city. At that time, Fyodor kept diary entries, and from them it became clear that he considered the USSR a weak adversary, and called the local population “natives”. However, he did not recognize the barbaric behavior with the population of the occupied territories and believed that violence reduces discipline in the army.
There is information that at the critical moment of the war, Fyodor von Bock, among others, received an offer to assassinate Hitler, but refused.
Bock criticizes the tactics of warfare in the winter of 1941, and he is removed from his post. He was later placed in charge of the South group, and again removed for criticizing the actions of German generals. He ended the war in the personal reserve of the Führer.
