Introduction
It was July 20, 1944, and Adolf Hitler had called a meeting of his senior Nazi military officers in the Wolf’s Lair at Rastenburg in Eastern Prussia. But as soon as the military leaders took their seats to discuss the troop movements on the Eastern Front, an explosion ripped through the conference room—and, as soon as the smoke settled, his body was seen lying across the table. The Führer was dead.
Momentarily, Claus von Stauffenberg and his co-conspirators were overjoyed that they had succeeded in doing the unthinkable and had turned the tide of World War II and saved thousands of innocent lives. But on the contrary, the most detailed assassination plot on Hitler’s life, which was also known as "The July 20 Plot" or "Operation Valkyrie", proved Kaput for reasons that remain unexplained to this day.
By the time summer of 1944 approached the majority of the German populace, including a number of Germany’s senior military brass were beginning to realize that Germany could not win the war. Many started blaming Hitler for leading Germany to a disaster. Thereby few notable politicians and senior military officials conceived a plot to assassinate the Führer by planting a bomb during a meeting at the Wolfsschanze or the "Wolf's Liar" and by doing so, to trigger a coup d’état. This plan was codenamed Operation Valkyrie. The resonating idea behind the plot was that, as soon as Hitler was dead, the military would portray that the assassination was plotted by the Nazi Party, and the Reserve Army would seize important installations in Berlin and immediately arrest Senior Nazi leadership. Thereafter a new government would be formed with Carl Friedrich Goerdeler as Chancellor of Germany and Ludwig Beck as president. The new government had intended to negotiate an end to the war, preferably with favorable terms for Germany.
As per Philipp Freiherr Von Boeselager, one of the few surviving members of "The July 20 Plot", the zeal and reasoning of the key co-conspirators varied. For a few of them, it was a way to avoid a sure-shot military defeat, while for others it was a way to salvage the country’s morality. They unanimously shortlisted a young German army Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg to carry out the plot. Stauffenberg was a committed German nationalist, despite not being a formal Nazi party member. He strongly believed that it was his duty to rid Germany of Adolf Hitler if the country was to be saved.
However, Hitler over the years had developed a prenomination to assassination attempts. Since the late 1930s assassination attempts against him had become somewhat routine. He had become extremely Paranoid and used to change his daily schedule unexpectedly without any prior notice just to be safe.
What Went Wrong in the Plot
On the designated date of July 20, 1944, Stauffenberg arrived in the bunker at "Wolf's Lair". The co-conspirators had envisaged the meeting to take place in a windowless underground bunker made of concrete and reinforced with heavy steel doors. It was planned so because if the blast happened in such a controlled perimeter it would have maximum impact and the shrapnels would instantly kill and fatally injure everyone in proximity.
But as fate would have it, July 20 that day was an unbearably hot day and it was decided to change the venue to a wooden bunker, above ground, which had relatively better air circulation. This room had many windows as well as a wooden table and other pieces of furniture, which meant that the potential explosion would get significantly reduced as the energy of the blast would be absorbed and become less lethal.
Even though Stauffenberg knew this was the case, he still carried ahead with the plan, believing that two bombs he was about to plant would be adequate to blow the room and kill everyone inside it.
After reaching the meeting Stauffenberg excused himself with the premise to change his shirt but actually to set and arm the two explosive devices. However, there was an unexpected phone call for him, and later when he returned after attending the phone, there was a hurried knocking on the door of the restroom he was using to arm the bombs, both these incidents meant that he had time left to arm one of the two devices. Hence the possibility of a large explosion was thus reduced to half.
Stauffenberg contemplated that due to the changed scenario of detonating only one bomb, the explosive device had to be placed as close as possible to Hitler for causing fatality. He used the excuse that he had hearing issues due to injuries suffered in combat and hence was able to get the closest available seat to Hitler, he managed to get a seat with only one other person between him and Hitler. Stauffenberg finding the right moment placed the briefcase as close to Hitler as he could and thereafter exited the room on the premise of a personal call.
In the meantime, seeing the seat vacant another official took it and in order to make space comfortable for himself he casually moved the briefcase to another position resting it against the leg of the heavy wooden table.
The Aftermath of Failed Plot
As timed at exactly 12:42 pm, the bomb exploded causing widespread panic. The detonation instantly killed a Stenographer and injured 20 more officers, out of which 3 later succumbed to their injuries.
Hearing the explosion and thinking that Furher was dead, Col. Stauffenberg and his accomplice Werner von Haeften in order to escape took the staff car and immediately left the "Wolf's Lair" bypassing 3 military checkpoints.
But as luck would have it Hitler, along with others was shielded by the heavy wooden table leg, he survived with a few minor body scratches and perforation of the eardrum. Hitler's trousers got shredded with the impact of the explosion, and the photographs of these trousers were later used by Nazis for propaganda campaigns.
After the explosion conflicting reports started circulating about Hitler's status. As planned by the conspirators due to the resulting confusion, the Reserve Army began arresting Senior Nazi leadership in Berlin. However, the Nazi leadership heard about the ensuing confusion and immediately broadcasted that the assassination attempt on Hitler had failed. This instantly halted the situation which was going out of control. Something the Plot planners had not taken into account. Hence leading to the unraveling of the conspiracy.
The same night of the failed assassination attempt, an impromptu court martial was conducted by General Friedrich Fromm and all the conspirators were court marshaled and sentenced to immediate death. One of the main conspirators Ludwig Beck committed suicide whereas Stauffenberg, von Haeften, Olbricht, and Albrecht Mertz von Quirnheim, were executed by firing squad in the compound of the Bendlerblock. Stauffenberg’s brother Berthold was also killed by slow strangulation at Plötzensee prison in Berlin and the entire episode was filmed and documented for Hitler’s viewing.
There were many factors running in tandem which helped in saving Hitler’s life that day, but the conspirator's belief about Germany being on its way to defeat was correct. Hitler and his closest aides died by suicide within a year after this incident.