Volume 7 1941~1945


Doc No.
Date
Subject

No. 459  NAI DFA Secretary's Files P12/3

Minute from William Warnock to Frederick H. Boland (Dublin)
(P. 21)

DUBLIN, 28 July 1944

Assistant Secretary
I knew General Fromm, Head of the Army Reserve. I had a very long conversation with him in November last at a dinner given by the Secretary of State of the Foreign Office.

He is tall and built in proportion – the typical sort. He is regarded as being very modest and retiring, and he is certainly very pleasant to meet. He struck me as being exceptionally patient and broadminded. I did not get the impression that he is the kind of man who would get mixed up in a revolt.

Fromm has not been mentioned in any of Goebbels' communiqués. If he was actively involved, the conspiracy was more serious than I had thought. It is possible, however, that he was removed from office as a sort of scapegoat in view of the fact that he had not exercised sufficient supervision over General Olbricht1 and others of the conspirators who were under his jurisdiction.

1 General Friedrich Olbricht (1888-1944), Chief of the General Army Office in the Army High Command and Chief of the Armed Forces Replacement Office.