Fedor von Bock

Fedor von Bock
Fedor von Bock as Generaloberst in 1939
Birth name	Moritz Albrecht Franz Friedrich Fedor von Bock
Nickname(s)	Holy Fire of Küstrin Der Sterber[1]
Born	(1880-12-03)3 December 1880 Cüstrin, Prussia, German Empire (now Kostrzyn nad Odrą, Poland)
Died	4 May 1945(1945-05-04) (aged 64) Oldenburg in Holstein, Nazi Germany
Buried	Friedhof Lensahn
Allegiance	German Empire (1898–1918)  Kingdom of Prussia  Weimar Republic (1918–1933)  Nazi Germany (1933–1942)
Service/branch	Imperial German Army  Prussian Army  Reichsheer  Wehrmacht
Years of service	1898 – 1942
Rank	Generalfeldmarschall
Commands held	Reichswehr: II. (light) Battalion, 4th Prussian Infantry Regiment (1924) 4th Prussian Infantry Regiment (1926) 1st Cavalry Division Military District II (1931) Wehrmacht: Gruppenkommando 3 (1935) Gruppenkommando 1 (1938) Army Group North (August 1939) Army Group B (October 1939) Army Group Center (October 1941) Army Group South (January 1942)
Battles/wars	See battles World War I Western front German spring offensive (1918) Eastern Front Gorlice–Tarnów Offensive (1915) Brusilov Offensive (1916) World War II Invasion of Poland Battle of Gdynia (1939) Western Front Battle of the Netherlands Battle of Maastricht (1940) Battle of Belgium Battle of the Lys (1940) Battle of France Battle of Dunkirk (1940) Eastern Front Operation Barbarossa Battle of Białystok-Minsk (1941) Battle of Smolensk (1941) Yelnya Offensive (1941) Battle of Moscow (1941) Battles of Rzhev (1942) Operation Blue
Awards	Pour le Mérite Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross
Spouse(s)	Mally Lonny Anna Marga Klara von Reichenbach ​ ​ (m. 1905; died 1910)​ Wilhelmine Gottliebe Jenny von Boddien ​ ​ (m. 1936; died 1945)​
Children	1
Relations	Erich von Falkenhayn (uncle) Eugen von Falkenhayn (uncle)
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Moritz Albrecht Franz Friedrich Fedor von Bock (3 December 1880 – 4 May 1945) was a German Generalfeldmarschall (Field Marshal) who served in the German Army during the Second World War. Bock served as the commander of Army Group North during the Invasion of Poland in 1939, commander of Army Group B during the Invasion of France in 1940, and later as the commander of Army Group Center during the attack on the Soviet Union in 1941; his final command was that of Army Group South in 1942.

Bock commanded Operation Typhoon, the ultimately failed attempt to capture Moscow during the autumn and winter of 1941. The Wehrmacht offensive was slowed by stiff Soviet resistance around Mozhaisk, and also by the rasputitsa, the season of rain and mud in Central Russia.^[2] The Soviet counteroffensive soon drove the German army into retreat, and Bock was subsequently relieved of command by Adolf Hitler.

A monarchist, Bock was not heavily involved in politics and he did not sympathize with plots to overthrow Adolf Hitler. Bock was also uncommonly outspoken, a privilege Hitler extended to him only because he had been successful in battle.^[2]

Bock, his second wife and his stepdaughter were killed by a strafing Royal New Zealand Air Force fighter-bomber on 4 May 1945 as they traveled by car towards Hamburg.