Werner von Fritsch Werner Thomas Ludwig Freiherr von Fritsch ( 4 August 1880 – 22 September 1939 ) was a prominent " Wehrmacht " officer , member of the German High Command , and the second German general to be killed during World War II . Early life . Fritsch was born in Benrath in the Rhine Province of the German Empire . He entered the Imperial German Army ( " Reichsheer " ) at the age of 18 , and won the attention of the German General Staff with his superior military qualities . In 1901 , at the age of 21 , he transferred to the Prussian Military Academy ( " Preußische Kriegsakademie " ) . As a First Lieutenant ( " Oberleutnant " ) in 1911 , he was appointed to the General Staff . During World War I , he gradually increased in importance and received , among other awards , the Iron Cross First Class and a black wound badge for a head wound he received while visiting the front lines . Interwar period . During the interwar period , Fritsch served in the Weimar Republic ' s Armed Forces ( " Reichswehr " ) . In 1924 , Fritsch wrote a letter to Joachim von Stülpnagel where he expressed his hatred of democracy and his hope that General Hans von Seeckt would carry out a " putsch " to establish a military dictatorship . Fritsch declared he was totally opposed to seeing another " black , red and gold cur " as Chancellor and wrote that he believed that Germany was being ruined by " the propaganda of the Jewish papers " . Fritsch ended his letter with a list of all whom he hated : " For in the last resort Ebert , pacifists , Jews , democrats , black , red , and gold , and the French are all the same thing , namely the people who want to destroy Germany . There may be small differences , but in the end it all amounts to the same . " The German historian Wolfram Wette wrote that Fritsch had come close to high treason with his letter as Fritsch had taken the " Reichswehreid " oath to defend democracy , and in calling for a " putsch " to destroy the democracy that Fritsch had taken an oath to defend was an act of " . . . extreme disloyalty to the republic to which he had sworn an oath " . Fritsch was heavily involved in the secret rearmament of the 1920s , in which Germany sought to evade the terms of Part V of the Treaty of Versailles , which had essentially disarmed Germany , limiting the country ' s Army to 100 , 000 soldiers , plus destroying all its aircraft and tanks . As such , Fritsch who worked closely with the Soviet Union in secret rearmament favored a pro - Soviet foreign policy , and had an extreme hatred for Poland . In 1928 , Fritsch began work on the plan that became " Fall Weiss " , the invasion of Poland in 1939 . He was promoted to Major - General ( " Generalmajor " ) in 1932 by Kurt von Schleicher , who regarded him as a promising young officer . Schleicher then assigned Fritsch and Gerd von Rundstedt the duty of carrying out the Rape of Prussia that saw the " Reichswehr " oust the Social Democratic government of Prussia . After the Nazis came to power in 1933 , Fritsch was a warm supporter of the new regime , which he saw as a radical force that , provided it was influenced by people like himself , would be a force for the good . Wette wrote that as Fritsch was a member of " . . . group of hardened anti - Semitics " in the officer corps , the anti - Semitism of Adolf Hitler was one of Fritsch ' s most important reasons for supporting the Nazi regime . Fritsch was promoted to Commander - in - Chief of the Army ( " Oberkommando des Heeres " , or OKH ) , in February 1934 partly because Hitler saw him as a supporter of his regime and partly because the Defence Minister Werner von Blomberg valued Fritsch for his professionalism . In February 1934 , when Blomberg ordered that all soldiers who might be considered Jewish ( that is , had at least Jewish parent or grandparent who converted ; long before the Nazis , the " Reichswehr " did not accept Jews ) be given dishonorable discharges , Fritsch made no objection , and instead carried out the order . According to William Shirer in " The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich " , Fritsch played a pivotal role when he balked at Hitler ' s initial overture to the Army to succeed ailing President von Hindenburg upon his death . Fritsch ultimately betrayed the officer corps to the Führer by agreeing to this demand after consulting with his generals . On 31 December 1934 Fritsch announced that it " goes without saying that an officer [ should seek ] a wife only within Aryan circles " and that any officer who married a Jewish woman would be dishonorably discharged at once . He was named Commander - in - Chief of the Army in 1935 . In late 1934 - early 1935 , Fritsch and Blomberg successfully pressured Hitler into rehabilitating the name of the assassinated General von Schleicher , claiming that as officers they could not stand the press attacks portraying him as a traitor working for France . Through Fritsch supported the Nazi regime , he was not friendly towards attempts to create rivals to the Army . In particular , he grew increasingly hostile toward the SS , which he saw as a rival to the Army . Shirer recalled hearing Fritsch make sarcastic remarks about the SS , as well as several Nazi leaders from Hitler on down , at a parade in Saarbrücken . He was also worried that Hitler would cause a war with the Soviet Union ; like most of his fellow officers , he had supported the Weimar liaison with Moscow . Wette wrote that " It is indisputable that the conservative and nationalistically minded General von Fritsch affirmed the National Socialist state , and he accepted Hitler as a dictator fully and completely . Given this compatibility of outlook , one may doubt whether Fritsch ' s pronounced anti - Semitism reflected " political naïveté " as the historian Klaus - Jürgen Müller has asserted " . In 1936 , when Blomberg was promoted to Field Marshal , Fritsch received promotion to Blomberg ' s vacated rank of Colonel General ( " Generaloberst " ) . Fritsch was among the officers present at the Hossbach Conference in 1937 where Hitler announced that he wanted to go to war as early as 1938 . He was very critical of this demand , as he knew the army was not ready . The Blomberg - Fritsch Affair . Heinrich Himmler and Hermann Göring — inspired by the resignation of Blomberg — accused the unmarried Fritsch of engaging in homosexual activity . Fritsch had never been a womaniser and had preferred to concentrate on his army career . He was forced to resign on 4 February 1938 . His replacement — Walther von Brauchitsch — was recommended for the post by Fritsch . Adolf Hitler took advantage of the situation through the replacement of several generals and ministers with Nazi loyalists , which strengthened his control of the German Armed Forces ( " Wehrmacht " ) . It soon 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 annexation of Austria into Greater Germany ( " Anschluss " ) of 12 March silenced all critics of Hitler , Göring and Himmler . Fritsch was acquitted on 18 March , but the damage to his name had been done . Following his acquittal , Fritsch attempted to challenge SS leader Heinrich Himmler to a duel . Fritsch composed a formal challenge and reportedly practiced his pistol skills in his free time , of which he had plenty as an officer without a command . The letter was given to General Gerd von Rundstedt for delivery , but Rundstedt , seeking to bridge the distrust between the Wehrmacht and SS , ultimately convinced Fritsch to abandon the idea . ( It is unlikely the encounter could have come about regardless , as Hitler had forbidden highly - placed party members , such as Himmler , from dueling . ) Despite the false charges , Fritsch remained loyal to the Nazi regime , and maintained his firmly held belief Germany was faced with an international Jewish conspiracy out to ruin the " Reich " . After the " Kristallnacht " pogrom of November 1938 , Fritsch wrote in a letter to a friend on 22 November 1938 that " Of course the battle with international Jewry has now officially began , and as a natural consequence that will lead to war with England and the United States , the political bastions of the Jews " . In another letter to his friend , the Baroness von Schutzbar on 11 December 1938 Fritsch wrote : " It is very strange that so many people should regard the future with growing apprehension , in spite of the " Führer " ' s indisputable successes in the past . . . Soon after the War , I came to the conclusion that we have to be victorious in three battles , if Germany were again to be powerful : . ( 1 ) The battle against the working class . Hitler has won this ; ( 2 ) Against the Catholic Church , perhaps better expressed as Ultramontanism and ( 3 ) Against the Jews . We are in the midst of these battles , and the one against the Jews is the most difficult . I hope everyone realizes the intricacies of this campaign . " Fritsch told Ulrich von Hassell — when the latter tried to involve him in an anti - Nazi plot — that Hitler was Germany ' s destiny , and nothing could be done to change that fact . World War II . Just before the outbreak of World War II , Fritsch was recalled , and chose to personally inspect the front lines as the " Honorary Colonel of the 12th Artillery Regiment " 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 , a Polish bullet ( either a machine gun or a sharpshooter ) tore an artery in his leg . Lieutenant Rosenhagen , adjutant to Fritsch and an eyewitness to his death , wrote in his original , official report : " [ . . . ] In this moment the Herr Generaloberst received a gunshot in his left thigh , a bullet tore an artery . Immediately he fell down . Before I took off his braces , the Herr Generaloberst said : " please leave it " , lost consciousness and died . Only one minute passed between receiving gunshot and death . " Werner von Fritsch was the second German general to be killed in combat in World War II — the first being " Generalmajor der Ordnungspolizei " and " SS Brigadeführer " Wilhelm Fritz von Roettig ( KIA on 10 September 1939 ( around 14 : 15 ) near Opoczno , Poland ) . As Fritsch was the second general to be killed in action , the event was closely examined . The official verdict was that he deliberately sought death . Fritsch received a ceremonial state funeral four days later in Berlin . William Shirer covers the event in his diary entry dated 26 September 1939 . " They buried General von Fritsch here this morning . It rained , it was cold and dark – one of the dreariest days I can remember in Berlin . Hitler did not show up , nor Ribbentrop , nor Himmler , though they all returned to Berlin from the front this afternoon . " Legacy . The " Freiherr von Fritsch Kaserne " in Darmstadt was named after Fritsch after his death . It was later combined with the adjoining Cambrai Kaserne . The facilities were combined when the United States Army occupied Darmstadt in 1945 . The Cambrai - Fritsch Kaserne was scheduled to be turned over to the German government in about March 2009 .