German General Caught Between Hitler and the July Plot: Friedrich Fromm
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Berlin, 1944. As Allied bombers devastate the capital of Nazi Germany, tension grows inside the Bendlerblock, headquarters of the German Replacement Army. At the centre stands Friedrich Fromm, commander of the Ersatzheer, the organisation responsible for training and supplying millions of German soldiers during the Second World War.
After the disaster at Stalingrad, opposition to Adolf Hitler began to grow within the German officer corps. Conspirators including Claus von Stauffenberg and Ludwig Beck planned to overthrow the Nazi regime using Operation Valkyrie, a plan that depended heavily on the forces under Fromm’s command. Yet Fromm hesitated.
On 20 July 1944, when Stauffenberg’s bomb failed to kill Hitler, Fromm turned against the conspirators and ordered the execution of Stauffenberg and several of his allies at the Bendlerblock.
The decision did not save him. Arrested by the Gestapo, Fromm was later convicted of cowardice before the enemy and executed by firing squad on 12 March 1945.
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