The military leader Fyodor von Bock is known as one of the leaders of the group of forces attacking Moscow in 1941. Despite the fact that he fully agreed with Hitler in his theory of the chosenness of the Aryan race, he repeatedly criticized the Fuhrer'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 named him with a Russian name. Von Bock's distant ancestors are the Prussians and the Baltic, including Russian aristocrats.
Fedor received a cadet education and began a military career as a lieutenant in a 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 Academy of the General Staff and became the chief intendant of the Guards Corps.
Military career
The First World War brought Fedor the title of head of the operations department. 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 strategy of battles 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: chief of the district headquarters, head of an infantry battalion, and then a commander of an infantry regiment.
For his loyal and long service, he received the rank of major general and was appointed commander of a 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 the commander of an army group.
With the outbreak of World War II, Fyodor von Bock takes over the leadership of the North Army, which is advancing on Belgium and the Netherlands, and in occupied Paris he participates in the parade of German troops at the Arc de Triomphe and soon receives the new rank of Field Marshal.
During the attack on the USSR, he commanded the "Center" group, which goes to Moscow. Panzer groups of Guderian and Goth moved to the capital of the Soviet Union, hoping to quickly capture the city. At that time, Fyodor kept diary entries, and from them it became clear that he considered the USSR a weak enemy, and called the local population "aborigines". However, he did not recognize the barbaric behavior with the population of the occupied territories and believed that violence reduced discipline in the army.
There is information that at a critical moment of the war, Fyodor von Bock, among others, received an offer to assassinate Hitler, but refused it.
Bock criticizes the tactics of warfare in the winter of 1941 and is removed from office. Later he was put in charge of the "South" group, and again for criticizing the actions of the German generals was dismissed. He ended the war in the personal reserve of the Fuhrer.
Personal life
Marriage and family were never the main things for Fedor, but in 1936, being a major general, the former military leader got married and soon had a daughter. In 1945, when it was still unsafe in Germany, he went with his wife in a car, and unknown assailants fired on them. The wife survived, and von Bock died in the hospital.
In 2011, a book was published in Russia based on his diary entries entitled “I stood at the gates of Moscow”.
