Werner von Fritsch
Thomas Ludwig Werner Freiherr von Fritsch (4 August 1880 β 22 September 1939). In 1911 he was appointed to the German General Staff, where he served during World War I. He was promoted to be a member of the German High Command in the Weimar Republic. A supporter of the National Socialists he became Commander-in-Chief of the German Army from February 1934 until February 1938 when he resigned due to a false accusation of homosexuality. Just over a year later, before the outbreak of World War II, Baron von Fritsch was recalled to service as Colonel-in-chief of the 12th Artillery Regiment. He died in battle in Poland early in the war; he was only the second German General to perish in that conflict (first was Wilhelm Fritz von Roettig). His grave is in Berlin's Invalidenfriedhof cemetery.