Rank Generaloberst Name Friedrich Fromm | Service/branch German Army | |
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Commands held Chef der Heeresausrustung und Befehlshaber des Ersatzheeres Battles/wars World War IWorld War II Died March 12, 1945, Brandenburg an der Havel, Germany | ||
Friedrich Fromm
Friedrich Fromm (8 October 1888 – 12 March 1945) was a German army officer. In World War II, Fromm was Commander in Chief of the Reserve Army (Ersatzheer), in charge of training and personnel replacement for combat divisions of the German Army, a position he occupied for most of the war. A recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross, he was executed for failing to act against the plot of 20 July 1944 to assassinate Hitler.
Contents
- Friedrich Fromm
- Early life
- Head of the Reserve Army
- 20 July plot
- Arrest trial and execution
- Awards
- References
Early life
Fromm was born in Charlottenburg. He served as a lieutenant during World War I.
At the beginning of the Nazi era, Fromm played an important role in the power structure of the regime: beginning in 1933, he was responsible for the human and material upgrade of the German army.
Head of the Reserve Army
In 1939, Fromm became Chief of Army armour and commander of the Replacement Army (the Ersatzheer).
When Operation Barbarossa stalled outside of Moscow in December 1941 and the Russian counter-attack started, Hitler took direct command of the Army and re-organized the armed forces command structure. The Office of the Chief of Army Armament and the Reserve Army under Generaloberst Friedrich Fromm was created, subordinate to the commander in chief, army (head of the OKH, i.e. Hitler). Fromm had enough power at his disposal to control the German state because his position controlled army procurement and production and commanded all army troops inside Germany.
At the beginning of 1942 Fromm, apparently, recommended going over to the defensive for the entire year, because of exhausted army stockpiles and the diversion of production, after Barbarossa initial success in the summer of 1941.
20 July plot
Though he was aware that some of his subordinates—most notably Claus von Stauffenberg, his Chief of Staff—were planning an assassination attempt against Adolf Hitler, he remained quiet and agreed to have a part in it if he became a top official of the new government after the mutiny. He didn't have any direct involvement in the conspiracy. When the attempt to proceed with a mutiny on 15 July 1944 failed, Fromm refused to have any further part in it.
On 20 July 1944 news broke that Hitler and several officers of the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht (Supreme Command of the Armed Forces) had become victims of an explosion in the German military's headquarters on the Eastern Front, the Wolfsschanze (Wolf's Lair), near Rastenburg, East Prussia (modern day Poland). Fromm quickly came to the conclusion that it was Stauffenberg and the plotters who were behind the explosion, and when he attempted to arrest them, he was quickly overwhelmed and confined to a jail cell in the Bendlerblock, the Berlin headquarters of the Ersatzheer among other branches of the German military.
When the mutiny failed, Fromm was found by men of the Ersatzheer and freed. Against Hitler's orders to take the conspirators alive, he only arrested the one who was, at that time, a civilian (retired Colonel-General Beck) while court-martialing and having the active soldiers immediately shot. As for General Beck, Fromm allowed him upon request to commit suicide; after the suicide attempt failed, Fromm ordered him shot.
The reason, or reasons, for Fromm's dealing with the conspirators are unclear: He might have wished to cover up potential allegations that he himself was involved; also, he might have wished to spare his comrades a humiliating trial and possible torture. In any case, the executions did not save him.
Arrest, trial and execution
After executing the top plotters, Fromm returned to his office for the night after a reported upcoming air-raid. There in his office he was met by various Nazi officers, Joseph Goebbels among them. Fromm tried to claim credit for ending the coup.
On the morning of 22 July 1944, Fromm was arrested by Nazi officials and locked in jail to await trial. Fromm was discharged from the German Army on 14 September 1944. The civilian Fromm was sentenced to death and considered unworthy for military duty by the Volksgerichtshof on 7 March 1945. Since the court failed to prove a direct association with the 20 July plotters, he had been charged and convicted for cowardice before the enemy. On 12 March 1945, Fromm was executed at the Brandenburg-Görden Prison by firing squad as part of the post-conspiracy purge. His last words before the firing squad were reported to be "I die, because it was ordered. I had always wanted only the best for Germany."