Operation valkyrie true story

The political program of the planned government was outlined in a draft for a government policy statementconsisting of twelve points:. By mid, the tide of war was turning decisively against Germany. The army plotters and their civilian allies became convinced that Hitler should be assassinated, so that a government acceptable to the western Allies could be formed, and a separate peace negotiated in time to prevent a Soviet invasion of Germany.

In AugustTresckow met, for the first time, a young staff officer named Lieutenant Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg. Severely wounded in North Africa, Claus von Stauffenberg was a political conservative and zealous German nationalist. From earlyhe had come to share two basic convictions with many military officers: that Germany was being led to disaster and that Hitler's removal from power was necessary.

When Tresckow was assigned to the Eastern Front, Stauffenberg took charge of planning and executing the assassination attempt. Olbricht now put forward a new strategy for staging a coup against Hitler.

Operation valkyrie true story: Several notable politicians and senior

The Replacement Army Ersatzheer had an operational plan called Operation Valkyrie, which was to be used in the event that the disruption caused by the Allied bombing of German cities would cause a breakdown in law and order, or an uprising by the millions of forced labourers from occupied countries now being used in German factories.

Olbricht suggested that this plan could be used to mobilise the Reserve Army for the purpose of the coup. In August and SeptemberTresckow drafted the "revised" Valkyrie plan and new supplementary orders. A treacherous group of party leaders has attempted to exploit the situation by attacking our embattled soldiers from the rear in order to seize power for themselves.

Previously, it was believed that Stauffenberg was mainly responsible for the Valkyrie plan, but documents recovered by the Soviet Union after the war and released in suggest that the plan was developed by Tresckow by autumn of Both women wore gloves to avoid leaving fingerprints. The first plan was to shoot him during dinner at the army base camp, but this plan was aborted because it was widely believed that Hitler wore a bullet-proof vest.

The conspirators also considered poisoning him, but this was not possible because his food was specially prepared and tasted. They concluded that a time bomb was the only option. Operation Valkyrie could only be put into effect by Hitler himself, or by General Friedrich Frommcommander of the Reserve Army, so the latter had to be either won over to the conspiracy or in some way neutralised if the plan was to succeed.

During and early von Tresckow and von Stauffenberg organised at least five attempts to get one of the military conspirators near enough to Hitler, for long enough to kill him with hand grenades, bombs, or a revolver:. As the war situation deteriorated, Hitler no longer appeared in public and rarely visited Berlin. He spent most of his time at his headquarters at the Wolfsschanze near Rastenburg in East Prussiawith occasional breaks at his Bavarian mountain retreat Obersalzberg near Berchtesgaden.

In both places, he was heavily guarded and rarely saw people he did not know or trust. Himmler and the Gestapo were increasingly suspicious of plots against Hitler and rightly suspected the officers of the General Staff, which was indeed the source of many conspiracies against him. By the summer ofthe Gestapo was closing in on the conspirators.

Compared to that, nothing else matters. Himmler had at least one conversation with a known oppositionist when, in Augustthe Prussian Finance Minister Johannes Popitzwho was involved in Goerdeler's network, came to see him and offered him the support of the opposition if he would make a move to displace Hitler and secure a negotiated end to the war.

Popitz was not alone in seeing Himmler as a potential ally. General von Bock advised Tresckow to seek his support, but there is no evidence that he did so. Goerdeler was apparently also in indirect contact with Himmler via a mutual acquaintance, Carl Langbehn. Tresckow and the inner circle of plotters had no intention of removing Hitler just to see him replaced by the dreaded and ruthless SS chief, and the plan was to kill them both if possible—to the extent that Stauffenberg's first attempt on 11 July was aborted because Himmler was not present.

This position enabled Stauffenberg to attend Hitler's military conferences, either at the Wolfsschanze in East Prussia or at Berchtesgadenand would thus give him an opportunity, perhaps the last that would present itself, to kill Hitler with a bomb or a pistol. Meanwhile, new key allies had been gained. The plot was now fully prepared. Stauffenberg now decided to do both, assassinate Hitler and to manage the plot in Berlin.

In fact, it was unusual for Himmler to attend military conferences. By 15 July, when Stauffenberg again flew to the Wolfsschanzethis condition had been dropped. Again on 15 July, the operation valkyrie true story was called off at the last minute. Stauffenberg was able to intercept the bomb and prevent its discovery. On 18 July rumours reached Stauffenberg that the Gestapo had knowledge of the conspiracy and that he might be arrested at any time—this was apparently not true, but there was a sense that the net was closing in and that the next opportunity to kill Hitler must be taken because there might not be another.

On the morning of Thursday, 20 July Stauffenberg flew back to the Wolfsschanze for another Hitler military conference, once again with a bomb in his briefcase. At around pm as the conference began, Stauffenberg asked to use a washroom in Wilhelm Keitel 's office, saying that he had to change his shirt, which indeed was soaked through with sweat, it being a very hot day.

There, assisted by von Haeften, he used pliers to crush the end of a pencil detonator inserted into a 1 kilogram 2. It was slow going due to war wounds that had cost Stauffenberg an eye, his right hand, and two fingers on his left hand. Interrupted by a guard knocking on the door advising him that the meeting was about to begin, he was not able to prime the second bomb, which he gave to his aide-de-campWerner von Haeften.

Stauffenberg placed the single primed bomb inside his briefcase and, with the unwitting assistance of Major Ernst John von Freyendentered the conference room containing Hitler and 20 officers, positioning the briefcase under the table near Hitler. It is presumed that Colonel Heinz Brandtwho was standing next to Hitler, used his foot to move the operation valkyrie true story aside by pushing it behind the leg of the conference table, [ 49 ] thus unintentionally deflecting the blast from Hitler but causing the loss of one of his legs and his own demise when the bomb detonated.

At [ 49 ] the bomb detonated, demolishing the conference room and killing a stenographer instantly. More than 20 people in the room were injured with three officers later dying. Hitler survived, as did everyone else who was shielded from the blast by the conference table leg. His trousers were singed and tattered see photograph below and he suffered from a perforated eardrum as did most of the other 24 people in the room[ 49 ] as well as from conjunctivitis in his right eye.

Hitler's personal physician, Theodor Morelladministered penicillin which had been taken from captured Allied soldiers for treatment; Morell had previously observed the death of Reinhard Heydrich from sepsis in an assassination 2 years earlier. Stauffenberg was seen leaving the conference building by Kurt Salterberg, a soldier on guard duty who did not consider this out of the ordinary as attendees sometimes left to collect documents.

He then saw a "massive" cloud of smoke, wood splinters and paper and men being hurled through a window and door. He then climbed into a staff car with his aide Werner von Haeften and managed to bluff his way past three checkpoints to exit the Wolfsschanze complex. Werner von Haeften then tossed the second unprimed bomb into the forest as they made a dash for Rastenburg airfield, reaching it before it could be realised that Stauffenberg could be responsible for the explosion.

At first it was thought that the explosion had been the result of a bombing, but when it was confirmed that no warplanes had flown over and Stauffenberg was absent, the theory of an attack gained strength. By he was airborne in a Heinkel He [ 52 ] [ page needed ] [ 53 ] [ page needed ] arranged by General Eduard Wagner. By the time Stauffenberg's aircraft reached Berlin about[ 55 ] General Erich Fellgiebelan officer at the Wolfsschanze who was in on the plot, had phoned the Bendlerblock and told the plotters that Hitler had survived the explosion.

As a result, the plot to mobilise Operation Valkyrie would have no chance of succeeding once the officers of the Reserve Army knew that Hitler was alive. There was more confusion when Stauffenberg's aircraft landed and he phoned from the airport to say that Hitler was in fact dead. Finally, at Olbricht issued the orders for Operation Valkyrie to be mobilised.

Keitel demanded to know Stauffenberg's whereabouts. This told Fromm that the plot had been traced to his headquarters and that he was in mortal danger. Fromm replied that he thought Stauffenberg was with Hitler. Fromm, presumably to protect himself, changed sides and attempted to have Stauffenberg arrested. Olbricht and Stauffenberg restrained him at gunpoint and Olbricht then appointed General Erich Hoepner to take over his duties.

By this time Himmler had taken charge of the situation and had issued orders countermanding Olbricht's mobilisation of Operation Valkyrie. In many places the coup was going ahead, led by officers who believed that Hitler was dead. General Fritz Lindemannwho was supposed to make a proclamation to the German people over the radio, failed to appear and as he held the only copy, Beck had to work on a new one.

AtHitler was sufficiently recovered to make phone calls. He called Goebbels at the Propaganda Ministry.

Operation valkyrie true story: The 20 July plot was

After assuring him that he was still alive, Hitler ordered Remer to regain control of the situation in Berlin and capture the conspirators alive. Major Remer ordered his operations valkyrie true story to surround and seal off the Bendlerblock, but not to enter the buildings. Witzleben left shortly afterwards. As Remer regained control of the city and word spread that Hitler was still alive, the less resolute members of the conspiracy in Berlin began to change sides.

Fromm was freed from his room and fighting broke out in the Bendlerblock between officers supporting and opposing the coup; Stauffenberg was wounded after a shootout. As the fighting was still ongoing, Remer and his forces arrived at the Bendlerblock and the conspirators were overwhelmed and arrested; by Fromm and Remer had regained control of the building.

Perhaps hoping that a show of zealous loyalty would save him, Fromm convened an impromptu court martial consisting of himself, and sentenced Olbricht, Stauffenberg, Haeften and another officer, Colonel Albrecht Mertz von Quirnheimto death, while putting Beck under arrest; Beck, realising the situation was hopeless, asked for a pistol and shot himself—the first of many attempted suicides in the coming days.

At first Beck only seriously wounded himself—he was then shot in the neck and killed by soldiers. Over the following weeks, Himmler's Gestapo, driven by a furious Hitler, rounded up nearly everyone who had the remotest connection with the plot. The discovery of letters and diaries in the homes and offices of those arrested revealed the plots of, andand this led to further rounds of arrests, including that of colonel general Franz Halderwho finished the war in a concentration camp.

Under Himmler's new Sippenhaft blood guilt laws, many relatives of the principal plotters were also arrested in the immediate aftermath of the failed plot. Sippenhaft was proposed and introduced by Heinrich Himmler and remained in effect until the end of the war. Its distribution was aimed at creating fears among Wehrmacht members for their families in the event of an attempted betrayal.

Presumably, the Sippenhaft regulation was introduced to tighten control over the military and keep them in the army during the final period of the war. Particularly noteworthy in considering this issue is the scientific publication of Robert Loeffel. In his study, Loeffel came to the conclusion that Sippenhaftas part of state terror at the end of the war, was a means of intimidation within Nazi Germany, when in reality this practice was not always applied, and most of the terror was adopted only after July This was due to its duality: terror was implemented only in quantities necessary to maintain a level of fear among the population that would not lead them to go over to the side of resistance.

More than 7, people were arrested [ 65 ] and 4, were executed.

Operation valkyrie true story: Operation Valkyrie (German: Unternehmen Walküre)

Alfons Heckformer Hitler Youth member and later a historian, describes the reaction many Germans felt to the operations valkyrie true story of the conspirators:. When I heard that German officers had tried to kill Adolf Hitler I was enraged. I fully concurred with the sentences imposed on them, strangling I felt was too good for them; this was the time, precisely, when we were at a very And the only man who could possibly stave off disaster That opinion was shared by many Germans, Germans who did not adore Hitler, who did not belong to the [Nazi] Party.

Allied radio stations also speculated on who the possible remaining suspects could be, many of whom were eventually implicated in the plot. Very few of the plotters tried to escape or to deny their guilt when arrested. Those who survived interrogation were given perfunctory trials before the People's Courta kangaroo court that always decided in favour of the prosecution.

The court's president, Roland Freislerwas a fanatical Nazi seen shouting furiously and insulting the accused in the trial, which was filmed for propaganda purposes. The plotters were stripped of their uniforms and given old, shabby clothing to humiliate them for the cameras. Hitler survived, shielded from the blast by the solid-oak conference table leg.

His trousers were in tatters and he suffered a perforated eardrum, but he was alive. Stauffenberg and Von Haeften swiftly drove to a nearby airfield, convinced that Hitler was dead, as no one could have possibly survived the explosion. On his return to Berlin, Stauffenberg, General Friedrich Olbricht and General Ludwig Beck of the German general staff put their military coup into action, but when Goebbels later announced by radio that Hitler had survived, and when Hitler himself personally spoke on state radio that same evening, the conspirators soon realised that the coup had failed.

They were hunted down to their Bendlerblock offices in Berlin, where they surrendered after a brief shoot-out. Over the years, the event has been commemorated in a variety of ways. The website www. Bendlerblock Memorial source. Hitler exacted a terrible retribution for the events of July 20th Stauffenberg's position as Chief of Staff of the Reserve Army gave him access to Hitler for reports and at the same time required his presence at headquarters for implementation of Valkyrie.

At first, Tresckow and Stauffenberg sought out other officers with access to Hitler who could carry out the assassination. Tresckow attempted several times to be assigned to Hitler's headquarters without success. Finally, Stauffenberg decided to carry out both the assassination attempt and the Valkyrie operation, which greatly reduced the chance of success.

After two abortive attempts, Stauffenberg placed the bomb on 20 July and hurried back to Berlin to assume his pivotal role. Discovering from Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel that the bomb had not killed Hitler, Fromm refused to initiate Valkyrie, only to learn that General Friedrich Olbricht had initiated in his name; refusing to co-operate, he was removed and arrested by the conspirators and replaced by General Erich Hoepner.

This led to the failure of the coup, with most of the commanding officers learning that Hitler was alive and cancelling their operations. When it was clear that the coup had failed, the less resolute members of the conspiracy in Berlin began to change sides.

Operation valkyrie true story: The most famous assassination attempt

Fromm was freed from his detention room and, after a brief fight, he managed to regain control of the Bendlerblock. In a desperate attempt to cover his involvement, he ordered the executions of General Friedrich Olbricht, his chief of staff Colonel Albrecht Mertz von QuirnheimColonel Claus von Stauffenberg and his adjutant Lieutenant Werner von Haeften.

Contents move to sidebar hide. Article Talk. Read Edit View history. Tools Tools. Download as PDF Printable version. In other projects. Wikimedia Commons Wikidata item. German plan for putting down civil unrest, repurposed for planned coup, WW2. For the related plot to assassinate Hitler, see 20 July plot. For the film based on this plot, see Valkyrie film.

Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg may have been the face of Operation Valkyrie, but it was much bigger than just one person. According to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museumthe plan involved dozens of military and civilian conspirators — because it wasn't just about killing Hitler, it was about everything that would come afterward.

The actual assassination was pretty straightforward. At the time, Stauffenberg pictured, far left was an army officer who had already proven he was willing to do whatever he needed to for the Fatherland: According to the BBChe had lost an eye, had his right hand amputated, and lost two fingers from his other hand as a result of active duty in Tunisia.

As an officer, he was invited to daily briefings at Hitler's Wolfsschanze pictured, backgroundand on July 20,he was going to walk in with a briefcase. That briefcase would have two bombs in it, and after putting it under the table, it operation valkyrie true story detonate and kill the Fuhrer. Hitler's death would set off a chain reaction. Those involved in the plan would circulate information that members of the Nazi Party had attempted a coup, giving Germany's Reserve Army time to mobilize, arrest pro-Hitler party members, and seize various locations across Berlin.

Scores of conspirators were standing by for the notice that it was go-time: There were high-ranking officers on standby in France, and in Germany, a new chancellor and president were lined up. What happened next is a weird series of events that is precisely the sort of thing that makes even the staunchest skeptic wonder if someone had gone back in time to muck about with the outcome of the assassination plot.

Things started to go not according to plan when exceptionally hot weather necessitated a change in the meeting location. Then, when Claus von Stauffenberg ducked out to the bathroom to arm the bomb, harassment from a guard meant that he didn't have the time he needed to arm the second one. Finally, the smallest of things ended up saving Hitler's life.

Stauffenberg put his briefcase down right next to the Fuhrer, but when he left the room to take a conveniently-timed phone call — that was all operation valkyrie true story of the plan — another officer named Heinz Brandt moved the briefcase behind the solid oak leg of the table. The bomb killed four, but that table leg spared Hitler. Researchers from the University of Cambridge say that his clothes were shredded and he damaged an eardrum, but that was the extent of his injuries.

Thinking that the plan had been successful, Stauffenberg headed back to Berlin for the kick-off of the rest of the plan. When it was announced that Hitler had survived — and when he took to the radio waves himself later that night — the entire thing crumbled around the conspirators. While it's Claus von Stauffenberg who's most closely associated with the plan to assassinate Hitler, he wasn't the one to come up with it.

According to the Deutsches Historisches Museumthe whole thing really started in earnest with one man: Friedrich Olbricht right. Olbricht had been anti-Nazi from the start, but — like many who opposed Hitler — he couldn't exactly come out and say so. With someone sympathetic to the anti-Nazi cause at the end of a whole section of the army, that section would be likely to turn on a dime.

Olbricht was appointed inand quietly started working on a plan that he code-named Valkyrie. Even as more and more German soldiers died in the field, Olbricht started drawing up plans for things like sending the army into Berlin to quell unrest. Only, that wasn't exactly all the plans were. Then, inanother officer named Henning von Tresckow left started working with Olbricht to turn those plans into something that would form the basis of their coup.

It wasn't until the fall of that year that Stauffenberg got involved — and when he did, his disillusionment with the way things were going in the war created an anti-Hitler mentality that made him one of the major players of Valkyrie. Being involved in a plot to kill Adolf Hitler was akin to signing your own death warrant, but according to Historythere were around people who were willing to do just that.

It's nice to think that these people knew what was going on in the concentration camps and were willing to die to put an end to it, but humans aren't that simple — or, it turns out, that selfless. The good news is that some were, like Henning von Tresckow. Played by Kenneth Branagh in 's " Valkyrie ," Tresckow had been an opponent of the Nazi regime way back into the mids Then, once he learned what was really going on at the concentration camps, all bets were off.