It’s been the subject of dozens of documentaries, dramas and films; the compelling story of how a disillusioned German aristocrat, Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg, came within centimetres of blowing to pieces the most callous, depraved and obstinate dictator in history, Adolf Hitler. Here I ask ‘what if?’
People often question why the Germans kept fighting despite the desperate situation on both the Western and Eastern Fronts. Part of the answer lies in the dramatic events of 20th July 1944, which led to the consolidation of Party authority on the Wehrmacht, the rooting out of dissidents within all aspects of the German war machine and the astonishing expansion of Party bureaucracy during the final year of the war under the sinister Martin Bormann.
But what might have happened had von Stauffenberg’s plot been successful? Would the final stages of the Second World War have developed any differently? Might the conspirators have saved millions of lives? Or would the assassination simply have paved the way for one of Hitler’s fanatical subordinates to continue the promotion of pan-Germanism, genocidal anti-Semitism and anti-Bolshevism?
The European theatre of war, July 15 1944 (Source – Wikipedia, ‘Atlas of the World Battle Fronts in Semimonthly Phases to August 15th 1945’).
By July 1944 it was clear that victory for Germany was impossible. On the Eastern Front the destruction of Friedrich Paulus’ Sixth Army at Stalingrad, followed by the catastrophic defeat in the Battle of Kursk in July 1943, had put the Germans firmly on the back foot. By 1944 the Red Army was advancing into Poland, outnumbering the battered and demoralised Wehrmacht. On the Western Front, despite fierce German resistance, Allied forces were making inroads into France after the successful D-Day landings of 6 June 1944. Hooked on narcotics, Hitler was becoming increasingly maniacal, ignoring the advice of his generals, interfering with commands and refusing to allow his troops to retreat from positions despite impending encirclement by enemy forces.
Within the upper echelons of the Wehrmacht, opponents of Hitler knew that time was running out to avoid Germany’s destruction. The resistance movement counted senior German generals, von Witzleben, Beck, and the aristocratic officer Colonel von Stauffenberg, among their ranks. The conspirators scored a major coup when the celebrated war hero, the ‘Desert Fox’, Erwin Rommel, gave the operation his blessing. There was a problem, however. By 1944 Hitler rarely appeared in public, spending most of the time ranting hysterically at his generals in his East Prussian bunker. The assassination would have to be carried out by von Stauffenberg because his positon allowed him direct access to the Fuhrer at his Wolf’s Lair headquarters in East Prussia.
Germany’s pre-1914 borders, which many of the conspirators wanted to maintain (Source – isedphistory.wordpress.com)
It is important to note that the officers involved in Valkyrie were hardly ideological opponents of Nazism. Far from being democrats, these were mostly staunch conservatives, whose vision of society resembled Wilhelmite Germany. Many agreed with the central tenets of Nazi ideology, especially pan-Germanism, aggressive militarism and hostility towards the idea of Polish sovereignty. With the exception of General Olbricht, who had supported the Weimar Republic, most did not believe in mass participation in politics and wanted to establish an authoritarian, aristocratic government.
In addition, not all wanted an end to the war. Some believed that the tension between Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin could be exploited, and that the Western Allies might be persuaded to fight on Germany’s side against the sub-human Bolsheviks, whose ‘barbaric’ Communist ideology needed to be crushed. Stauffenberg, however, wanted a quick resolution to the conflict, hoping to maintain the Reich’s territorial integrity and perhaps keep its pre-1914 borders, especially its Polish territory.
Initially, the conspirators saw the elimination of Heinrich Himmler, leader of the SS and arguably the chief architect of the Holocaust, and Luftwaffe leader, Hermann Goering, as crucial to the plot’s success. Himmler was a fanatical Nazi who had a peculiar interest in mysticism and encouraged the worship of the Aryan race. He saw the SS as a feudal order of white knights, charged with the defence of the German race against sub-human, corrupting peoples.
Whilst Goering had fallen out of favour with Hitler after his defeat in the Battle of Britain and the crippling of Luftwaffe power by the Allied Strategic Bombing Campaign, he remained highly influential due to his popularity with the German people. He did not possess the fanaticism that motivated Goebbels and Himmler, but was deeply anti-Semitic and, as the driving force behind the ‘Aryanisation’ policy and the confiscation of Jewish property, was heavily involved in crimes against humanity. This meant that he had a vested interest in settling the war on conditions favourable to Germany, as a crushing defeat would surely result in his prosecution by the Allies. He was also obsessed with power, a trait exemplified by his habit of changing military uniform four or five times a day.
Both would have to be killed alongside Hitler if the conspirators were to succeed, otherwise they would simply capitalise on the vacuum and take his place. The conspirators decided that they would have to kill all three. During a military conference, Von Stauffenberg would carry a briefcase containing a bomb, place it under the table close to Hitler, excuse himself from the room and then detonate the device.
Once Hitler and his key loyalists were dead, Operation Valkyrie would kick into action. Valkyrie was a secret Reserve Army plan to maintain order in the event of a mass uprising in Germany, which analysts predicted would either be triggered by the terror of the Allied bombing campaign population or a rebellion by the millions of forced labourers enslaved by the Nazi regime. Friedrich Olbricht realised that this plan could be appropriated for the coup. A message announcing the Fuhrer’s death would be broadcast attacking Party ‘traitors’, whilst government infrastructure would be taken over by his troops.
July saw a number of aborted attempts to carry out the plot. On 15th July, von Stauffenberg did not follow through with the plan because Himmler was not present. On the 17th, Hitler left the room at the last moment. In both cases, the Colonel was able to retrieve the briefcase without the discovery of its contents. But he was aware that not only were the Allies advancing into Nazi occupied territory, but there were rumours spreading of the Gestapo closing in on the conspirators. There were not going to be many more opportunities.
On 20th July, aware that detection was imminent, von Stauffenberg and his fellow conspirators decided that Hitler would have to be assassinated that day. The condition that Himmler and Goering had to be present was dropped. At a conference held in the main room of the Wolf’s Lair rather than the usual location of Hitler’s bunker (a point that would prove incredibly significant) the Colonel excused himself and went to Generalfeldmarschall Wilhelm Keitel’s washroom to prepare the explosives. Crucially, he was recalled to the conference before having placed the two blocks of dynamite inside the briefcase, having to make do with only one. He put it underneath the table around which Hitler and the Wehrmarcht leadership were gathered. Von Stauffenberg received a planned phone call and excused himself. A decisive moment occurred when Colonel Heinz Brandt, positioned next to the Fuhrer, moved the briefcase with his foot, a decision that would blow off his leg and cost him his life, but save almost everybody else in the room.
At around 12.30 Von Stauffenberg detonated the bomb, killing a number of stenographers but nobody else. Hitler was thrown to the floor and wounded by shrapnel, but was not seriously injured. Had the meeting been held in the usual location of the bunker, or Brandt not kicked the briefcase away from the Fuhrer, or Von Stauffenberg placed both blocks of explosives inside the briefcase, it is likely that everybody in the room would have died.
The room following the explosion (Source – Wikimedia Commons)
Believing that Hitler was dead, Von Stauffenberg, having made his escape from the Wolf’s Lair, indicated to the other conspirators that it was time for Operation Valkyrie to kick into action. Many of the plotters carried out their roles as planned; for instance, General von Stulpnagel, governor of Nazi-occupied France, managed to capture the SS leadership in his zone of control. However, this was meaningless.
By the early evening, Hitler was awake in hospital and able to make phone calls. He instructed Major General Ramer to regain control of the situation and arrest those involved in the plot. A major crackdown began, leading to the arrest and execution of von Stauffenberg and the other conspirators. Rommel was instructed to kill himself by ingesting cyanide pills. Given the ‘Desert Fox’s’ immense popularity, Hitler knew that he could not publically announce his execution and thus forced his suicide, lying to the German people that he had died due to injuries sustained in an Allied assassination attempt. The Nazi backlash led to around 7000 arrests. Wehrmacht officers, even if they were not Party members, would now have to swear an oath of personal loyalty to Hitler.
Major General Remer (Source – Wikimedia Commons)
The 20th July plot represents the remnants of the political tension between the Nazis and the forces of conservatism during the final years of the Weimar Republic. It was a clash between aristocratic reactionaries in the mould of President Paul von Hindenburg and the fanatical Hitlerites.
If the military conservatives had triumphed, the leading conspirators would have certainly been more receptive to the idea of peace. However, their aim of maintaining Germany’s pre-1914 borders would not have been acceptable to the Allies, who wanted to cripple German belligerence so that it would never rise again. Faced with the certainty that the Reich was finished as a military power, would these aristocratic conservatives, raised in the military tradition, really have accepted the surrender terms issued to them by the Allies?
Another point is that given Himmler and Goering were absent from the conference, as well as the Nazi master of propaganda, Joseph Goebbels, would Hitler’s assassination have allowed the conspirators to take power anyway? Himmler had been informed of the German resistance movement, but strangely refused to alert Hitler. It is quite possible that he refrained from doing so because of a desire to seize power after Hitler’s death. As head of the SS, which had evolved into a powerful and well-organised killing machine, he had at his disposal the mechanism for a successful coup. Goering was still immensely popular with the German people and might also have taken the opportunity to fulfil his dream of leadership. Goebbels, who saw the war as a revolutionary struggle for the Aryan race, would have been more likely to support Himmler. Had the fanatical Himmler taken over the Reich, it is difficult to believe that the war would have ended earlier than it did. Goering may have sought to make peace with the Western Allies, but this would have had to involve their acceptance of his leadership and the probable continuation of the war on the Eastern Front.
The ‘stab-in-the-back’ myth, seized upon by Hitler (Source – Wikimedia Commons)
The final point to consider is that had Hitler been assassinated and a peace treaty been negotiated with the Allies, it is possible that rumours would have spread akin to the ‘November criminals’ myth that circulated in the aftermath of World War One. The idea of treachery is extremely powerful, as the rise of Hitler demonstrates. When the Germans surrendered in November 1918, the Allies had not encroached upon German territory and the Imperial German Army had returned in relatively good order. Despite the fact that defeat was practically inevitable, General Ludendorff and Hitler blamed Jewish traitors for leading the Kiel mutiny and subsequently bowing to Allied demands.
Might a peace treaty that followed the assassination of Hitler have led to a similar noxious belief, vulnerable to being seized upon by a future fascistic leader? When a poll was conducted in Germany in 1951, two thirds of respondents thought negatively of the coup leaders, lending credence to this theory.
I hope I have shown in this article that if you were to travel back in time and somehow find yourself in the main room of the Wolf’s Lair, it might not be sensible to try to interfere with events.
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