 |
| Tour of the bomb site |
High German officials had made up their minds that Hitler must die.
He was leading Germany in a suicidal war on two fronts, and
assassination was the only way to stop him. A coup d'etat would follow,
and a new government in Berlin would save Germany from complete
destruction at the hands of the Allies. That was the plan. This was the
reality: Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg, chief of the army reserve, had
been given the task of planting a bomb during a conference that was to
be held at Berchtesgaden, but was later moved to Hitler's "Wolf's Lair,
a command post at Rastenburg, Prussia. Stauffenberg planted the
explosive in a briefcase, which he placed under a table, then left
quickly. Hitler was studying a map of the Eastern front as Colonel Heinz
Brandt, trying to get a better look at the map, moved the briefcase out
of place, farther away from where the Fuhrer was standing. At 12:42
p.m. the bomb went off. When the smoke cleared, Hitler was wounded,
charred, and even suffered the temporary paralysis of one arm—but he was
very much alive. (He was even well enough to keep an appointment with Benito Mussolini that very afternoon. He gave Il Duce a tour of the bomb site.) Four others present died from their wounds.
 |
| Hitlers trousers following failed bomb attempt |
 |
| Stauffenberg |
As the bomb went off, Stauffenberg was making his way to Berlin to
carry out Operation Valkyrie, the overthrow of the central government.
In Berlin, he and co-conspirator General Olbricht arrested the commander
of the reserve army, General Fromm, and began issuing orders for the
commandeering of various government buildings. And then the news came
through from Herman Goering—Hitler was alive. Fromm, released from
custody under the assumption he would nevertheless join the effort to
throw Hitler out of office, turned on the conspirators. Stauffenberg and
Olbricht were shot that same day. Once Hitler figured out the extent of
the conspiracy (it reached all the way to occupied French), he began
the systematic liquidation of his enemies. More than 7,000 Germans would
be arrested (including evangelical pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer), and up
to 5,000 would wind up dead—either executed or as suicides. Hitler,
Himmler, and Goering took an even firmer grip on Germany and its war
machine. Hitler became convinced that fate had spared him—"I regard this
as a confirmation of the task imposed upon me by Providence"—and that
"nothing is going to happen to me... [T]he great cause which I serve
will be brought through its present perils and...everything can be
brought to a good end."
Source: This Day in History
No comments:
Post a Comment