Fedor Von Bock - Weimar Republic

Weimar Republic

After the Treaty of Versailles was signed, limiting the German Army to 100,000 troops, Bock stayed on as an officer of the post-treaty Reichswehr, and rose through the ranks. In the 1920s, Bock was together with Kurt von Schleicher, Eugen Ott, and Kurt von Hammerstein-Equord a member of a secret group known as Sondergruppe R selected by and responsible to Hans von Seeckt that was in charge of helping Germany evade the Part V of the Treaty of Versailles, which had disarmed Germany. The officers of Sondergruppe R formed the liaison with Major Bruno Ernst Buchrucker, who led the so-called Arbeits-Kommandos (Work Commandos), which was officially a labor group intended to assist with civilian projects, but were in reality thinly disguised soldiers that allowed Germany to exceed the limits on troop strength set by Versailles. Buchrucker′s so-called "Black Reichswehr" became infamous for its practice of murdering all those Germans who were suspected of working as informers for the Allied Control Commission, which was responsible for ensuring that Germany was in compliance with Part V. The killings perpetrated by the "Black Reichswehr were justifed under the so-called Femegerichte (secret court) system. These killings were ordered by the officers from Sondergruppe R. Regarding the Femegerichte murders, Carl von Ossietzky wrote:

"Lieutenant Schulz (charged with the murder of informers against the "Black Reichswehr") did nothing but carry out the orders given him, and that certainly Colonel von Bock, and probably Colonel von Schleicher and General Seeckt, should be sitting in the dock beside him".

Several times Bock perjured himself in court when he denied that the Reichswehr had anything to do with the "Black Reichswehr" or the murders they had committed. On 27 September 1923, Buckrucker ordered 4,500 men of the Black Reichswehr to assemble outside of Berlin as the first preparatory step toward a putsch. Bock, who was Buckrucker's contract with the Reichswehr, was enraged, and in a stormly meeting berated Buckrucker for mobilizing the Black Reichswehr without orders. Bock stated the Reichswehr wanted no part in Buckrucker′s putsch and that "If von Seeckt knew you were here, he would screw his monocle into his eye and say "Go for him!"" Despite Bock′s orders to demobilize at once, Buckrucker went ahead with his putsch on 30 September 1923, which ended in total failure.

In 1935, Adolf Hitler appointed General von Bock as commander of the Third Army Group. Bock was one of the officers not removed from his position when Hitler reorganized the armed forces during the phase of German rearmament before the outbreak of World War II. He remained a monarchist, and was a frequent visitor to the former Kaiser′s estate. Hitler reportedly said of him, "Nobody in the world but Von Bock can teach soldiers to die." Bock himself told his troops, "The ideal soldier fulfills his duty to the utmost, obeys without even thinking, thinks only when ordered to do so, and has as his only desire to die the honorable death of a soldier killed in action."

General von Bock commanded the invasion of Vienna in March 1938 for the Anschluss and then the invasion of Czechoslovakia, before leading German armies into World War II.