Werner Freiherr von Fritsch (4 August 1880 in Benrath - 22 September 1939 Praga near Warsaw) was a prominent Wehrmacht officer, member of the German High Command, and the first German general to die in the Second World War. August 4 is the 216th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (217th in leap years), with 149 days remaining. ... Year 1880 (MDCCCLXXX) was a leap year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar). ... Schloss Benrath is a Rococo maison de plaisance near Düsseldorf that was erected for the Elector Palatine Palatine Carl Theodor von der Pfalz by his garden and building director and garden survisor, Nicolas de Pigage (1723 - 1796). ... September 22 is the 265th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (266th in leap years). ... 1939 (MCMXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... Praga Północ and Praga Południe Pragas market, Jan Piotr Norblin, 1791. ... Warsaw (Polish: , , in full The Capital City of Warsaw, Polish: Miasto Stołeczne Warszawa) is the capital of Poland, its largest city, and a gamma world city. ... Wehrmacht troops of the Heer (military land forces) marching at a military parade in honour of the 50th birthday of Adolf Hitler, on April 20, 1939. ... Mushroom cloud from the nuclear explosion over Nagasaki rising 18 km into the air. ...

Army career through World War I

von Fritsch entered the army at the age of 18, and won the attention of the General Staff with his superior military qualities. In 1901, at the age of 21, he transferred to the Kriegsakademie. As a first lieutenant in 1911, he was appointed to the General Staff. Between 1914 and 1918, during World War I, he gradually increased in importance and received, among other awards, the Pour le Mérite. Fassade Unter den Linden 74, erbaut 1845/25 von Karl Friedrich Schinkel als vereinte Artillerie- und Ingenieurschule Fassade des Lehrgebäudes an der Dorotheenstraße 58/59, entworfen von Franz Schwechten (1883) Lageplan der Kriegsakademie mit dem Lehrgebäude an der Dorotheenstraße und dem aufgrund der vornehmen Lage 1878... Combatants Allied Powers: Russian Empire France British Empire Italy United States Central Powers: Austria-Hungary German Empire Ottoman Empire Bulgaria Commanders Nicholas II Aleksei Brusilov Georges Clemenceau Joseph Joffre Ferdinand Foch Herbert Henry Asquith Douglas Haig John Jellicoe Victor Emmanuel III Luigi Cadorna Armando Diaz Woodrow Wilson John Pershing Franz... The Order Pour le Mérite, known informally as the Blue Max (German: Blauer Max), was Prussias highest military order until the end of World War I. The award was a blue-enameled Maltese Cross with eagles between the arms, the Prussian royal cypher, and the French legend Pour...

The Interwar period

After the war, von Fritsch served in the Reichswehr. He was promoted to lieutenant-general in 1932. After the Nazis came to power in 1933, von Fritsch was appalled by their lawlessness and suppression of civil liberties, but did not openly criticise them. He was worried, however, that Hitler would cause a war with the USSR, as he had supported the Weimar liaison with them. The Reichswehr (help· info) (literally National Defense or Imperial Defense) formed the military organization of Germany from 1919 until 1935, when the government rebranded it as the Wehrmacht (Defence Force). ... The Nazi party used a right-facing swastika as their symbol and the red and black colors were said to represent Blut und Boden (blood and soil). ... The city hall Goethe and Schiller in front of the Deutsche Nationaltheater Weimar is a city in Germany. ...

In 1934, von Fritsch was promoted to the army High Command, the OKH, and made Commander-in-Chief the next year. He, alongside Werner von Blomberg, set about rearming Germany. von Fritsch was among the officers present at the Hossbach Conference in 1937 where Hitler made his aggressive intentions known, but was appalled at this, as he knew the army was not ready. The Oberkommando der Heeres (OKH) was Germanys Army High Command from 1936 to 1945. ... Werner von Blomberg. ... The Hossbach Memorandum was the summary of the minutes of a meeting on November 5, 1937 between Adolf Hitler and his military leadership, laying out his plans to precipitate an aggressive war that would eventually be known as World War II in Europe. ...

The Blomberg-Fritsch Affair

Himmler and Hermann Göring, inspired by the resignation of Werner von Blomberg, accused the unmarried von Fritsch, who had never been a womaniser and had preferred to concentrate on his army career, of engaging in homosexual activity. He was forced to resign on 4 February 1938, and was replaced by Walther von Brauchitsch, whom von Fritsch himself recommended for the post. Also, Hitler took advantage of the situation by replacing several generals and ministers with people even more loyal to him, taking control of the Wehrmacht. Soon, it became known that the charges were false, and an honour court of officers examined the Blomberg-Fritsch Affair, although it was presided over by Göring himself. The successful Anschluss of March 12 silenced all critics of Hitler, Göring and Himmler. Fritsch was acquitted on March 18, but the damage to his name had been done. Heinrich Himmler Heinrich Himmler (October 7, 1900 - May 23, 1945) was the commander of the German Schutzstaffel and one of the most powerful men in Nazi Germany. ... Hermann Wilhelm Göring (also Goering in English) (January 12, 1893 – October 15, 1946) was a German politician and military leader, a leading member of the Nazi Party, second in command of the Third Reich, and commander of the Luftwaffe. ... Werner von Blomberg. ... A womanizer or philanderer is a person who makes love with a woman he or she cannot or will not marry. ... February 4 is the 35th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... Year 1938 (MCMXXXVIII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will take you to calendar). ... Walther von Brauchitsch in 1939. ... The Blomberg-Fritsch Affair (also known as Blomberg-Fritsch-Krise or Blomberg-Fritsch crisis) were two related scandals in early 1938 that resulted in the subjugation of the German Wehrmacht to Adolf Hitler who had been dissatisfied with these two highest ranking military officials, regarding them as too hesitant towards... German troops march into Austria on 12 March 1938. ...

World War II

Just before the outbreak of World War II, von Fritsch was recalled, and chose to personally inspect the front lines during the Invasion of Poland, a very unusual activity for someone of his rank. On 22 September 1939, in Praga during the Siege of Warsaw (1939), a stone chipped by gunfire tore an artery in his leg. William Shirer in his book Berlin Diary, writes that though von Fritsch suffered from a serious wound, it was not mortal. His adjutant attempted to stop the bleeding and carry him to the rear, but von Fritsch took off his monocle, looked at him and stated: "Ach, don't bother!". He bled to death in one minute. Combatants Major Allied powers: United Kingdom France Soviet Union United States Republic of China and others Major Axis powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Winston Churchill Charles de Gaulle Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Chiang Kai-Shek Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tojo Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian... Combatants Poland Germany, Soviet Union, Slovakia Commanders Edward Rydz-Śmigły Fedor von Bock (Army Group North), Gerd von Rundstedt (Army Group South), Mikhail Kovalov (Belorussian Front), Semyon Timoshenko (Ukrainian Front), Ferdinand Čatloš (Field Army Bernolak) Strength 39 divisions, 16 brigades, 4,300 guns, 880 tanks, 400 aircraft, Total: 950... September 22 is the 265th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (266th in leap years). ... 1939 (MCMXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... Praga Północ and Praga Południe Pragas market, Jan Piotr Norblin, 1791. ... Battle of Warsaw Conflict Polish Defence War of 1939 Date 8 to September 28, 1939 Place Warsaw, Poland Result Polish defeat The 1939 Battle of Warsaw was fought between the Polish Warsaw Army (Armia Warszawa) garrisoned and entrenched in the capital of Poland (Warsaw) and the German Army. ... William Lawrence Shirer (1904 - 1993), U.S. historian & journalist. ... Berlin Diary (1934-1941) is a first-hand account of the rise of the Third Reich and its road to war, as witnessed by the American journalist William L. Shirer. ...

As von Fritsch was the first German general to be killed in combat in World War II, the event was closely examined. It is believed that he deliberately sought death. von Fritsch received a ceremonial state funeral four days later in Berlin.

Notes

Note regarding personal names: Freiherr is a title, translated as Baron, not a first or middle name. The female forms are Freifrau and Freiin. Freiherr (German for Free Lord) is a title of lower nobility in Germany, the Baltic states and Austria-Hungary, considered equal to the title Baron. ... Baron is a specific title of nobility or a more generic feudal qualification. ... Freiherr (German for Free Lord) is a title of lower nobility in Germany, the Baltic states and Austria-Hungary, considered equal to the title Baron. ... Freiherr (German for Free Lord) is a title of lower nobility in Germany, the Baltic states and Austria-Hungary, considered equal to the title Baron. ...

References

• Wheeler-Bennett, Sir John The Nemesis of Power : The German Army in Politics 1918-1945 Palgrave Macmillan, London, 1953, 1964, 2005.
• Read, Anthony The Devil's Disciples: The Lives and Times of Hitler's Inner Circle Pimlico, London, 2003, 2004.
• Barnett, Correlli, Ed. Hitler's Generals Grove Weidenfeld, New York, NY, 1989.