Werner von Fritsch (4 August 1880 – 22 September 1939) was a Colonel-General of the Wehrmacht of Nazi Germany during World War II. Von Fritsch was infamous for his alleged affair with fellow general Werner von Blomberg, as well as for his opposition to Hitler and the Nazi Party, as he was a member of the German National People's Party. He was the second German general to be killed in the war, after Brigadefuhrer Wilhelm Fritz von Roettig and the second general to be killed in the war, also after Roettig.
Biography[]
Werner von Fritsch was born on 4 August 1880 in Benrath in the Rhine Province of the German Empire (present-day Dusseldorf-Benrath, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany). He joined the Reichswehr and rose to the rank of First Lieutenant by 1911, when he joined the General Staff. During World War I, Fritsch was given the Iron Cross First Class and Wound Badge for his services in the conflict. After the end of the war, he supported General Hans von Seeckt, believing that he should be the military dictator of Germany. He blamed Germany's ruin on President Friedrich Ebert, pacifists, Jews, democrats, and the French. His writing of the letter was treason, as in becoming a general of the Weimar Republic he swore to uphold democracy. Fritsch was involved with the secreat rearmament of the German Army and in 1928 he secretly worked on writing an invasion plan for Poland that would be employed in 1939. In 1932 he was promoted to Major-General by Chancellor Kurt von Schleicher and in 1933 he allied with the Nazi Party of Adolf Hitler in their takeover of Germany. In 1933 he took part in the Prussian Coup against the Free State of Prussia, bringing the democratic government under Nazi control. However, he became hostile to the SS, as he saw them as enemies of the Wehrmacht army. He also opposed a war with the Soviet Union, saying that they should continue their alliance. Fritsch also opposed a 1938 war plan, as Germany was not yet ready for war. Nevertheless, he was made a Colonel-General.
In February 1938, when Field Marshal Werner von Blomberg (who was also the commander-in-chief of the Wehrmacht) resigned, Heinrich Himmler and Hermann Goering accused the unmarried Fritsch of being a homosexual involved in gay activities. Blomberg was forced to resign as commander-in-chief and Walther von Brauchitsch replaced him, but Fritsch was acquitted. He continued a rivalry with Himmler, and once even challenged him to a duel, but Gerd von Rundstedt convinced Fritsch that it was illegal to duel a high-ranking Nazi Party members.
As the honorary Colonel of the German 12th Artillery Regiment, Fritsch took part in the invasion of Poland in 1939 at the start of World War II. Fritsch was shot in the leg by a Polish machine-gun near Warsaw at Praga and it tore an artery, killing him. He was the second commanding officer to die in the war.