Blomberg, Werner Eduard Fritz “Rubber Lion” von, born on 02-09-1878 in Stargard
, the son of Emil von Blomberg and Emma Tschep, joined the Army at the young age of 16 and attended the Prussian Military Academy
in 1904. Serving with distinction on the Western Front
during World War I, Blomberg was awarded the Pour le Merit
By 1927 Blomberg was a Generalmajor and Chief of the Troop Office. Blomberg cared little for Nazi doctrines per se, his support for the Nazis being motivated by his belief that only a dictatorship could make Germany a great military power.










The Night of the Long Knives or the Röhm purge, also called Operation Hummingbird, was a purge that took place in Nazi Germany from 30 June to 2 July 1934. Chancellor Adolf Hitler, urged on by Hermann Göring
and Heinrich Himmler,
ordered a series of political extrajudicial executions intended to consolidate his power and alleviate the concerns of the German military about the role of Ernst Röhm and the Sturmabteilung (SA),
the Nazis’ paramilitary organization, known colloquially as “Brownshirts”. Nazi propaganda presented the murders as a preventive measure against an alleged imminent coup by the SA under Röhm – the so-called Röhm Putsch.



The SA who didn’t like von Blomberg had given him the nickname, “Sülznase” “Brawn Nose”. In early June, Reichspresident Paul von Hindenburg
decided that unless Hitler did something to end the growing political tension in Germany
, he would declare martial law and turn over control of the government to the army. Blomberg with his, pro Hitler, Cabinet Chief Walther von Reichenau
who had been known to oppose the growing power of the SA, was chosen to inform Hitler of this decision on the President’s behalf. As both the German Army and Navy had long-standing policies of refusing to accept Jews, there were no Jews to purge within the military; instead, Blomberg used the Nazi racial definition of a Jew in his purge. None of the men given dishonorable discharges themselves practiced Judaism, but all were the sons or grandsons of Jews who had converted to Christianity, and thus were considered to be “racially” Jewish. Blomberg ordered every member of the Reichswehr
to submit documents to their officers, and that anyone who was a “non-Aryan” or refused to submit documents would be dishonourably discharged. As a result, seven officers, eight officer cadets, thirteen NCOs and 28 privates from the Army, and three officers, four officer candidates, three NCOs and four sailors from the Navy were dishonorably discharged, together with four civilian employees of the Defence Ministry. With the exception of Erich von Manstein
who complained that Blomberg had ruined the careers of some seventy men for something that was not their fault, there were no objections. Again, on his own initiative as part of “self-Gleichschaltung”, Blomberg had the Reichswehr in May 1934 adopt Nazi symbols into their uniforms. In 1935, Blomberg worked hard to ensure that the Wehrmacht complied with the Nuremberg Laws by preventing so-called Mischlings from serving. After the death of Hindenburg, the loyal Blomberg was the first General Field Marshal appointed by Hitler (see Hitler Paula)
(see William Hitler). Hitler convened a meeting of his Cabinet and had them promulgate a decree stating: “From now on I take over personally the command of the whole armed forces.” He abolished the entire War Ministry, replacing it with the new High Command of the Armed Forces, Oberkommando der Wehrmacht or OKW, headed by himself with complete control of the Army, Navy and Air Force. The nominal post of OKW Chief of Staff was assigned to Generalfeldmarschall der Artillerie, Wilhelm Keitel.
To replace Fritsch as Army commander, Hitler chose Generalfeldmarschall der Artillerie, Walter von Brauchitsch,




















Erna on the right.
Hitler ( Parents)
flew into a rage and sacked von Blomberg on the spot, but Blomberg refused to annul the marriage, and consequently resigned all of his posts on 27-01-1938 when Göring threatened to make his wife’s past public knowledge. Generalfeldmarschall von Blomberg and his wife went on a honeymoon for a year to the island of Capri. Admiral Erich Raeder decided that Blomberg needed to commit suicide to atone for his marriage, and dispatched an officer to Italy, who followed the Blombergs around on their honeymoon and persistently and unsuccessfully tried to force Blomberg to commit suicide. The officer at one point even tried to force a gun into Blomberg’s hands, but he declined to end his life. Spending World War II in obscurity, Blomberg was arrested by the Allies in 1945 and later gave evidence at the Nuremberg trials. He kept his pension and he received a golden handshake of 50.000. The disgraced Field Marshal Blomberg and his wife retired to the Bavarian village of Bad Wiessee, in 1934 the crime place of the Knight of the Long Knives (see Ernst Röhm). He still desperate tried to get in Hitler’s attention, but forgotten, he never got a new position. The Night of the Long Knives between 30 June and 2 July 1934 saw the killing of approximately 82 SA men, including almost its entire leadership, effectively ending the power of the SA.




A few days later after the Blomberg confrontation, Goering and Himmler accused Commander-in-Chief of the Army, Werner von Fritsch
of being a homosexual. Hitler used these opportunities for major reorganization of the Wehrmacht. He himself took the leadership of the Army, with Wilhelm “Lakeitel” Keitel





Death and burial ground of Blomberg, Werner Eduard Fritz “Rubber Lion” von.







WW II also demanded from the family of Blomberg his victims. One of his sons, Major in the General Staff of the Air Force Axel von Blomberg, found in May 1941 in an operation over Syria the plane death. His brother Henning von Blomberg, was a captain and divisional adjutant in the German 1st Light Division before the war and on 22-11-1942, as Oberstleutnant and commander of No. 190 Panzer Battalion, fell in battle near Mateur in Tunisia. He had been Blomberg’s only surviving son. The wife of Henning von Blomberg was Ruth. Following established practice, Blomberg’s son-in-law, Oberst Ulrich Bürker
, the senior staff officer (Ia=the operations officer) in the 10th Panzer Division, under command of Generalleutnant Wolfgang Fischer
in Tunisia, was withdrawn from the front on 15 December and left his post on January 1943. Bürker was the Ia in the 10th Panzer Division
from 01-08-1941 until 15-12-1942, during that time the division fought in the central sector of the Eastern Front, in April 1942 the division was sent to Amiens, France, for refitting, upon the Anglo-American landings in North Africa, the division participated in the occupation of Vichy France and in January 1943 the 10th Panzer Division was rushed to Tunisia as part of the 5th Panzer Army. Bürker became the Ia of Heeresgruppe B in February 1943. This command had just been transferred from the Eastern Front to Germany and was eventually sent to northern Italy (and then France). Bürker spent some time with OKW
but by early 1944 he was a corps, then an army, chief of staff, first in the Balkans then on the Eastern Front.
He was awarded the Knight’s cross for his service with the 10th Panzer Division. Bürker’s successor was mayor Wilhelm Bürklin, Bürklin and the longtime division commander ran over a mine in their command vehicle on 01-02-1943, the division commander the veteran Generalleutnant Wolfgang Fischer, was killed and Bürklin badly wounded. On 3 or 4 February Oberstleutnant Claus von Stauffenberg
received his orders to take over as senior staff officer (Ia) in the 10th Panzer Division, and during the period it took for him to get there the army group Id, Major Josef Moll,
filled in as the Ia. Major Moll survived the war and became a Generalleutnant in the German Bundeswehr.









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