The conspiracy of the generals against Hitler. The conspiracy of the generals against Adolf Hitler. Impact of defeats on the Eastern Front

On July 20, 1944, the most famous

assassination attempt on Adolf Hitler.

Colonel of the Army Reserve Headquarters Count Klaus Schenck von Stauffenberg and his adjutant Oberleutnant Werner von Heften made an attempt on their supreme commander. A powerful explosion was the culmination of the so-called. "Conspiracy of the Generals" ("Conspiracy of July 20"), with the aim of eliminating Hitler and overthrowing the Nazi government.

Part of the German generals and senior officers, foreseeing the imminent defeat of Germany in World War II, conspired to eliminate Hitler and conclude a separate peace with the Western powers, thus preventing the final defeat of the Third Reich. However, Hitler literally escaped by a miracle - during the meeting, one of the officers moved a briefcase with an explosive device a few meters to the side. A strong explosion led to the death of 4 people, the rest were injured or damaged of varying severity. Hitler was also wounded. The investigation revealed a wide conspiracy - more than 7 thousand people were arrested, about 200 people were executed. The German Resistance was crushed.

Colonel Klaus Philipp Maria Graf Schenk von Staufenberg. After the assassination attempt, he flew to Berlin, stayed with him throughout the day, right up to the suppression of the conspiracy. He was arrested late in the evening on July 20 by officers loyal to Hitler.

Werner von Heften. July 20, 1944 accompanied Stauffenberg during his trip to the Fuhrer's Headquarters.

Count von Stauffenberg (left) with his friend Colonel Albrecht Merz Count von Kvirnheim, who was shot with him.

This photo was taken five days before the explosion. Führer headquarters in Rastenburg, East Prussia. From left to right: Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg, Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel, Adolf Hitler.

After the explosion.

It must be said that the assassination attempt on July 20, 1944 was not the first - although Hitler's popularity was very high, there were enough enemies. In the 1930s, four serious attempts were made to eliminate the leader of the National Socialist German Workers' Party (NSDAP). November 9, 1939 Hitler spoke on the occasion of the anniversary of the failed in 1923 " beer putsch» in the famous Munich pub. Former communist Georg Elser organized the assassination attempt. He prepared and detonated the bomb. Hitler was unharmed, although several people were killed and more than sixty people were injured during the massive explosion. Hitler, for some reason, completed his entry ahead of time and left the building a few minutes before the bomb went off.

Georg Elser giving evidence to the Gestapo

But, the military, dissatisfied with the strengthening of the SS troops and who believed that Germany was not ready for a big war, that Adolf Hitler was leading the country to disaster, had the greatest opportunities. Many of them were aristocrats and monarchists, disapproved of the ideology of National Socialism and were unhappy with the rise of the SS troops.

Many German generals did not share the Fuhrer's foreign policy views

Back in 1938, a conspiracy arose against Hitler. The conspirators believed that the conflict over Czechoslovakia would lead to war with the great Western powers - France and England. The weak German army, which had just begun the process of transformation and rearmament, would be defeated. Therefore, it was decided to remove Hitler after he gave the order to attack Czechoslovakia, form a provisional government and hold new democratic elections.

Ludwig August Theodor Beck (June 29, 1880 - July 20, 1944). After the failure of the conspiracy, he tried to commit suicide and was finished off by subordinates of General Friedrich Fromm (participated in the suppression of the conspiracy)

Among the participants in the conspiracy was the chief of staff of the ground forces, Colonel-General Ludwig Beck. He believed that Hitler was putting Germany at unnecessary risk. In July 1938, the general sent a memorandum to the commander-in-chief of the ground forces, Colonel-General von Brauchitsch, where he proposed that the top military leadership of Germany resign and prevent the outbreak of war: “The question of the existence of the nation is at stake. History will brand the leadership armed forces bloody guilt if they do not act in accordance with their professional and state-political qualities and conscience. But, the rest of the German generals did not have such willpower, besides, many were passionate about the idea of revenge, so Beck was not supported. The general resigned and gradually became the head of the military opposition.

Wilhelm Franz Canaris

Shared the views of Beck and the new chief of staff Franz Halder, was ready for action and the commander of the 1st Army (protected the German-French border during the Sudeten crisis), General Erwin von Witzleben. The active group of conspirators included the head of the Abwehr, Wilhelm Franz Canaris, and General Erich Göpner, and the Prussian Minister of Finance Johannes Popitz, and the banker Hjalmar Schacht. The commander-in-chief of the ground forces, Walter von Brauchitsch, also knew about the conspiracy. He refused to participate in it, but did not inform on the conspirators.

Walther von Brauchitsch

The conspirators tried to establish contacts with the British, planning to act when the military-political crisis erupted. When the great powers come against the policies of Hitler. However, England and France simply surrendered Czechoslovakia at the Munich Conference. Czechoslovakia, under pressure from the great powers, gave Germany the Sudetenland without resistance. As a result, Germany was seized with jubilation, and the entry of military conspirators became meaningless. A significant part of the conspirators became disillusioned with the possibility of overthrowing the Nazi regime. Witzleben declared: “For this unfortunate stupid people, he is again“ our beloved Fuhrer ”, the only one sent by God, and we are just a miserable bunch of reactionaries and disgruntled officers and politicians who dared at the moment of the highest triumph the greatest politician of all time to throw stones in his path."

Erwin von Witzleben (1881 - 1944). After von Stauffenberg's assassination attempt on Hitler, he assumed the duties of commander-in-chief of the Wehrmacht.

Erwin von Witzleben at the Nazi trial.On August 8, 1944, he, like the other defendants, was sentenced to death by hanging.

The next time the conspirators became active was in 1939, when Hitler decided to attack Poland. Halder, Schacht and other conspirators, through several channels, warned the British and French governments, intelligence about the impending German attack on Poland. Moreover, they also proposed retaliatory measures that would deter German aggression: in particular, he proposed sending a squadron to the Baltic Sea to support Poland from the sea, and transferring British troops to France. However, it was more important for London and Paris at that moment to set Hitler against the USSR, so all the proposals of the German opposition were ignored.

Carl Heinrich von Stulpnagel

The conspirators became active again at the start of the war against France: it was then that Canaris and the Deputy Chief of the General Staff, General Karl Heinrich von Stulpnagel, made an attempt to persuade Halder and Brauchitsch to lead a coup d'état. But they got scared and refused. An offer was also made to Karl Friedrich Goerdeler, one of the key oppositionists, who was expected to be Chancellor. But Goerdeler also refused. The unexpected successes of Hitler and the Wehrmacht in Poland, Denmark, Norway, Holland and France, and then in the USSR, became the defeat of the German Resistance. Some believed in Hitler's "lucky star", others became discouraged and disappointed.

Carl Friedrich Goerdeler (July 31, 1884 - February 2, 1945). A few days before the July 20 coup attempt, he went underground after learning that the Gestapo planned to arrest him. A bounty of one million marks was put on his head. August 12 identified and captured. Executed in Plötzensee Prison.

Only in 1944, after the victorious spring-summer offensive of the Soviet troops and the landing of the Anglo-American forces in Normandy, when the German opposition was defeated, did the leader of the West begin to look for the possibility of concluding a separate agreement, and began negotiations with the German opposition.

Anti-Hitler inscriptions on the streets of Berlin, 1944

So, among the active opponents of Hitler was former ambassador Germany in the Union Count Friedrich Werner von der Schulenburg. Even before the German attack, von Schulenburg in May 1941 warned Moscow about the imminent German attack on the USSR. He made every effort to prevent the war, informing Berlin of the powerful military-industrial potential of the USSR. After the defeat of the German troops near Moscow in the winter of 1941-1942. and the failure of the blitzkrieg, Schulenburg sent a note to the Fuhrer with a proposal to start separate negotiations with Moscow, but did not receive support. Thereafter, Schulenburg became a member of the Resistance and was considered as a possible candidate for the post-coup foreign minister.

Friedrich-Werner von der Schulenburg (November 20, 1875, Kemberg - November 10, 1944). After the failed assassination attempt on July 20, 1944, Schulenburg was arrested and imprisoned in the Plötzensee prison in Berlin, where on November 10, 1944 he was executed by hanging.

Another prominent opposition leader was Henning von Tresckow, a Prussian nobleman and officer of the General Staff at the headquarters of Army Group Center. Even before the start of the war, Tresckow argued that only the elimination of Hitler would save Germany. Tresckow believed that the conspirators should mutiny anyway. Even if the attempt to assassinate Hitler and the military coup fails, they will remove shame from Germany, show the whole world that not all Germans agree with the policy of the National Socialists.

Treskov, while on the eastern front, prepared several plans to assassinate the Fuhrer. However, every time something interfered with the implementation of the plan. So, on March 13, 1943, during a visit by Adolf Hitler to Army Group Center, a bomb was planted on the Fuhrer’s plane under the guise of sending a bomb (Operation Flash). It was supposed to explode during the return of Hitler by plane from Smolensk to Berlin. But the detonator didn't work. There is a version that it did not work due to the too low temperature in the luggage compartment of the aircraft.

Henning Hermann Robert Carl von Tresckow (January 10, 1901 - July 21, 1944). Upon learning of the failure of the plot on July 20, Treskov imitated a fight with the enemy, and then blew himself up with a hand grenade in order to save his family members from persecution and not betray his comrades during torture

Then Comrade Treskov, Baron Rudolf-Christoph von Gersdorf, began to prepare an assassination attempt on Hitler. On March 21, 1943, Hitler and other top leaders of the Third Reich were to visit an exhibition of war trophies at the Zeuchhaus weapons museum on Unter den Linden, where the day of remembrance for those killed in the war was celebrated. Hitler was to stay at the Zeuchhaus for an hour. The tour guide was to be the head of intelligence of the Army Group Center, von Gersdorf, who was ready to sacrifice himself for the common cause. The Colonel hid two small magnetic time bombs in his clothes and planned to blow himself up in close proximity to Hitler and his entourage. When the Fuhrer appeared at the insertion of captured weapons, Gersdorff set the fuse for 20 minutes. But, after 15 minutes, Hitler suddenly left the building and the plan was not implemented. With great difficulty, the officer managed to prevent the explosion.

Rudolf-Christoph von Gersdorff (March 27, 1905 - January 27, 1980). After the failure of the Conspiracy of the Generals, he was one of the few who managed to survive. His accomplice, one of the leaders of German military intelligence, Colonel of the General Staff, Baron Wessel Freitag von Loringofen, committed suicide, but did not betray his comrade to the Gestapo

There were other German officers who were ready to sacrifice themselves in order to eliminate the Fuhrer. For example, in November 1943, a young German officer Axel von dem Busche planned to assassinate Adolf Hitler during a screening of the new German military uniform. During the screening, he hid grenades in his clothes and planned to detonate them when the Fuhrer approached. However, Hitler, for some unknown reason, did not show up for the screening.

So, on July 20, 1944, the conspirators got closest to the liquidation of the Fuhrer. It was on this day that the next meeting on the state of affairs on the fronts was scheduled at Hitler's headquarters. The participants in the conspiracy, Major General Henning von Tresckow and his subordinate Major Joachim Kuhn, a military engineer by education, prepared two explosive devices for the assassination, which Stauffenberg put in his briefcase - Stauffenberg was called to the Wolf's Lair field headquarters near the city of Rastenburg in East Prussia , where he was to make a report on the formation of reserve units.

The explosion of two kilograms of explosives in a closed room left the Fuhrer practically no chance of salvation. However, upon arrival at headquarters, Stauffenberg learned that the meeting had been postponed to an earlier time. In addition, it was held not in the Fuhrer's bunker, but in one of the wooden buildings, since additional fortification work had begun in the bunker. Being under almost continuous surveillance, experiencing a lack of time and acting with one crippled hand, Stauffenberg was able to activate the detonator on only one explosive device. Despite the fact that the explosion of one device would lead to the detonation of the second, Stauffenberg, for unknown reasons, did not put the block of explosives back into his briefcase, which was left without a detonator. Therefore, the force of the explosion was two times lower than expected. True, Stauffenberg managed to put the briefcase next to Hitler and, under a plausible pretext, left the room when there were five minutes left before the explosion. But just a few seconds before the explosion, Colonel Heinz Brandt rearranged the briefcase, and a massive oak table saved Hitler from the blast wave.

Hitler shows Mussolini the aftermath of the explosion

In total, there were 24 people in the barracks. 17 of them were injured, four more died, and Hitler himself miraculously escaped with a slight concussion and injury. The failure of the assassination attempt gave him another reason to claim that he was being kept by "providence" itself.

The plot ultimately failed. The military commanders, who did not wait for the official confirmation of Hitler's death, themselves began to extradite the conspirators. By the evening of the same day, the battalion of guards of the military commandant's office of Berlin, which remained loyal to Hitler, controlled the main buildings in the center of Berlin, and closer to midnight captured the building of the headquarters of the reserve of ground forces on Bendlerstrasse.
Claus von Stauffenberg and the other conspirators were captured. Colonel von Stauffenberg was shot the same day - as it turned out later, he was executed by the conspirators themselves, who feared that the colonel would reveal all the details of the plan to the Gestapo. But the Gestapo already knew about the existence of the "conspiracy of the generals."

Chief of Staff of the Supreme High Command of the German Armed Forces, Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel, Reich Minister of the Imperial Ministry of Aviation Hermann Goering, Adolf Hitler and the head of the NSDAP Party Chancellery, Hitler's closest ally Martin Bormann. The photo was taken after the most famous assassination attempt on Hitler - he rubs his arm damaged in the explosion.

A soldier demonstrates the Fuhrer's pants, which miraculously survived the explosion.

Hitler visits in the hospital the victim of the explosion, Admiral Karl-Jesco von Puttkamer.

The trial of the participants in the assassination attempt against Adolf Hitler.

Berthold Schenk Count von Stauffenberg, brother of Claus von Stauffenberg. Was sentenced to death.

Count Peter Yorck von Wartenburg, a prominent official of the War Ministry, is introduced into the courtroom.

Former commander of the 4th Panzer Army of the Wehrmacht, Erich Hoepner, dismissed from the army on Hitler's orders after the failed attack on Moscow. He was also part of the conspiracy.

Also in the dock were many leaders of the banned Social Democratic Party - they were also executed, although formally they did not attempt on Hitler.

Judge Ronald Freisler reads out the verdict. All defendants were sentenced to death.

Plötzensee prison cell in Berlin, where the sentence was carried out. The execution was specially filmed for showing to the Fuhrer.

Monument to the executed.........Hitler's Headquarters "Wolf's Lair" today.

When you look from the outside at Germany in the Second World War, you involuntarily get the impression that all Germans as one supported the course and decisions of the Nazis, warmly welcomed Hitler and shared the ideas of National Socialism. However, this is not the case at all. Even with this totalitarian regime that strictly controls society, from the very beginning, back in the pre-war years, there were those who did not agree with the Nazis and did not welcome their ideas, who went against and tried to revolt, remove or destroy the Fuhrer. Such conspiracies were brutally suppressed in the bud, many attempts to assassinate Hitler could not be carried out due to various circumstances, accidents. The oppositionists, united by historians in the so-called "Gördeler-Beck group", came closest to the implementation of the coup d'état plan. On July 20, 1944, they attempted to assassinate Hitler and seize power. This plot became the most famous in the history of the Second World War, it was also called "Operation Valkyrie".

First opposition

In fact, the opposition began to form not in the 44th year, but much earlier. Most of the research calls the 37-38th years as a starting point. The most active oppositionists showed themselves in connection with the German aggression against Czechoslovakia. However, the goals of the opposition were not as noble as one might think. A number of generals at the time feared that Hitler's actions would big war with the Western countries, that England and France would stand up for Czechoslovakia and prevent the division of its territory. The conspirators, among whom were then the former chief of the general staff of the ground forces Beck, who replaced him Halder, the former imperial commissioner for price control Goerdeler, the commander of the Berlin military district Witzleben, the head of the Berlin police Geldorf, the head of military intelligence and counterintelligence Canaris, the head of the main department of criminal Police Nebe, intelligence officer Gisevius tried to secretly establish contact with the West, sending their representatives to them. The German opposition hoped that if England and France, with the support of the United States, resolutely opposed Hitler's aggression, they would be able to use their authority among the soldiers and remove the Fuhrer, carry out a coup, convincing the Germans that Hitler was leading them into the abyss. However, Neville Chamberlain, who at that time held the post of Prime Minister of Great Britain, preferred not to spoil relations with the Nazi leaders, doing everything to avoid war. He took the path of "appeasement" of the aggressor, allowing the division of Czechoslovakia and even supporting this decision. Hitler at that time assured that the Sudetenland was his last territorial claim in Europe, and Chamberlain was glad to believe it. As a result, the defeated oppositionists had no choice but to postpone the implementation of their plan and hide. In addition, apparently, many of them believed that Hitler could be tolerated for the time being if his actions did not entail immediate consequences and a global war could be avoided. To overthrow him, it was supposed to find a more convenient moment when his authority would be shaken by some serious defeats, failures. In the meantime, in Germany, Hitler was greeted as a triumphant, which means that the coup was extremely difficult to carry out. However, this idea was not abandoned, despite the danger that threatened the opposition - the Fuhrer was extremely suspicious and, in case of failures in the war, was ready to see betrayal everywhere, blaming his generals for everything.

Impact of defeats on the Eastern Front

The conspirators became more active during the defeats on the Eastern Front, several attempts were made to assassinate Hitler, but they all failed. The most resolute oppositionists began to act when it became clear that the shameful defeat of Germany in the war was only a matter of time. In 1943, everyone seemed to understand this, except for Hitler himself, who imagined himself to be a great strategist, who was destined by fate to lead his country to victory and glory. The arrival of Colonel Henning von Tresckow and Count Claus von Stauffenberg, the most decisive participants in the conspiracy, to the ranks of the conspirators, pushed the opposition to more thoughtful and bold actions. Until 1943, many ideologists of the conspiracy were against the assassination of Hitler, explaining this by various reasons, moral, religious, political, they only wanted to remove him or take him prisoner, arrest him, but after the terrible Battle of Stalingrad, which struck with its cruelty, severity, the number of senseless victims, the majority the conspirators were forced to agree that the Nazi leader must be eliminated at all costs. And in 1943 an attempt was made to blow up the Fuhrer. In March, Hitler personally visited the headquarters of the German troops near Smolensk to get acquainted with the situation on the spot. The conspirators decided to take advantage of this. Colonel Treskov, who was given a portable time bomb, initially wanted to plant a mine in Hitler's car, but it was too heavily guarded. Then he came up with an original solution. Treskov asked one of Hitler's adjutants to take a package with him on the plane, which contained "a couple of bottles of cognac" for his friend General Stif, who worked at the main headquarters. The adjutant did not suspect anything and carried the package on board. The plane with the Fuhrer flew away, but after some time of intense waiting, the conspirators learned that he had landed safely in Rastenburg. The bomb did not explode, as is believed, due to the low air temperature during flight. Schlabrendorff, Treskov's adjutant, managed to urgently fly to the place and discreetly pick up the failed bomb. After that, several more assassination attempts were made, but they all failed for the most ridiculous and strange reasons, so it seemed that Hitler was being protected by fate itself or God, which he himself, by the way, completely believed in.

Operation Valkyrie

For a long time, the Wehrmacht command had developed a secret plan in case of internal danger, which could arise both in the event of a parachute landing, and due to internal unrest, an attempted coup. This plan was called Operation Valkyrie. The conspirators, who had long been looking for a reliable way to seize power, decided to act "in plain sight", almost without hiding, using the plan that already existed at that time for their own purposes, slightly changing it. They wanted to present everything as if it was the leaders of the party that betrayed the Fuhrer and killed him, in connection with which the Valkyrie is put into action. The essence of the operation was to use the forces of the Reserve Army to capture and isolate the Nazis, transferring power to the military, which should have been led by the generals who participated in the conspiracy. For this purpose, the persons responsible for carrying out the operation "Valkyrie" and who were at the head of the reserve army were involved. The plan, it must be admitted, was quite clever in theory, but in practice it did not work so well at all, the reasons for which we turn to below.

Hitler was supposed to be killed by Colonel Count Claus von Stauffenberg, a war hero who served under Rommel in Africa and was seriously injured in the bombing (he lost an eye, his right hand and two fingers of his left hand). He became the main, iconic figure of the conspiracy, the most famous opponent of Hitler, although in fact he did not lead the conspiracy and was not the main ideologist or inspirer. Stauffenberg was a respected man, who, perhaps, was trusted by both the Fuhrer and his entourage. So, General Schmundt, Hitler's chief adjutant, himself proposed to make Stauffenberg chief of staff of the reserve army. Yes, and Hitler, according to Albert Speer, the Reich Minister of Armaments, in his book, asked him to cooperate as closely as possible with Stauffenberg and trust him in everything.

At first, Stauffenberg wanted to shoot Hitler, but due to the fact that the count did not have one hand, and the second was damaged, it was decided to stop at a mine. The conspirators have already obtained sabotage delayed-action mines, similar to the one used by Treskov in the last assassination attempt. Stauffenberg, having received a mine, from now on always carried it with him in his briefcase, looking for an opportunity when Hitler, Himmler and Goering would be together at a meeting in order to immediately get rid of all the most dangerous opponents who could lay claim to power. The conspirators at that time were afraid that in the event of the death of one Fuhrer, Himmler, who was considered his official deputy and successor, would simply take his place. However, it was not possible to catch them all in one place, Göring and Himmler may have been aware of the impending plot and did not appear more often at general meetings. Then it was decided to act, even if only one Hitler had to be killed.

On July 17, a warrant was issued for the arrest of Goerdeler, about which the conspirators were warned in advance by Nebe, the head of the criminal police. Goerdeler was forced to hide, but after the start of the Valkyrie plan, he had to reappear in Berlin already as the leader of the rebels, and then as head of the new government. The conspirators understood that they could not delay any longer, that at any moment they could be exposed and arrested, and they were looking for an opportunity to carry out their plan.

July 20, 1944

On July 20, 1944, a meeting of military leaders was to be held at Hitler's headquarters in Rastenburg, in East Prussia. The oppositionists made this date the final one for the execution of their plan. Stauffenberg also had to attend the meeting and make a presentation regarding the recruitment of additional units of soldiers from the reserve for the war in the East. On this day, from the very beginning, everything did not go quite as planned, again a series of accidents intervened in the matter. The meeting was scheduled for 13:00, however, as it turned out, due to the arrival of Mussolini, the meeting was postponed at the last moment. The meeting began at 12:30 pm and speakers were asked to shorten their presentations. Stauffenberg, preparing for the meeting, asked permission to change in one of the rooms, where he, along with his assistant Werner von Heften, was to equip and activate two bombs. However, due to the fact that they entered the room, they had to refuse the second one, which they did not have time to prepare. They considered that the power of one mine would be quite enough.

Another circumstance also played a role. Due to the hot weather, the meeting was held instead of an underground fortified bunker, where the power of the explosion and the damage from the blast wave would be greater (and the conspirators planned the assassination, counting on this), in a lighter room, an ordinary barrack, in which the windows and doors were open wide open (Hitler during the meeting stood at the beginning near the window). Stauffenberg entered the room and placed the briefcase with the bomb under a heavy oak table on which the map was spread, leaning it against the crossbar, while positioning the bomb so that it was as close as possible to Hitler. He received a call to the headquarters from Berlin, as agreed, and he, referring to an urgent call, left the premises, and then left the building altogether. While he was looking for a car in the courtyard of the headquarters, he saw a strong explosion that pierced through the building and even threw one of the meeting participants out of the window. Being confident that the Fuhrer simply could not survive such a powerful explosion, Stauffenberg safely left the Wolf's Lair, getting rid of the second bomb along the way, and flew to Berlin. Three hours, while he was in the air, he was forced to remain inactive.

Although Stauffenberg could have sworn that Hitler had been killed, he was wrong. And the following happened: after Stauffenberg placed the bomb and left, Colonel Brandt, who was standing not far from him, leaning over the map, bumped into the briefcase with his foot, and he fell. So that the briefcase would not interfere with him, Brandt rearranged it on the other side of the massive cabinet, away from Hitler. Of course, he had no idea that the fat briefcase contained a bomb, and acted unconsciously. The explosion, which would have had great consequences in a concrete bunker, was dampened here by a heavy table, which shattered into pieces in the process, and the blast wave was extinguished due to open windows and doors. Hitler was right above the table at the time of the explosion, hunched over to get a better look at the map (he was nearsighted). One of his hands was on the table. The explosion killed several people, among them Colonel Brandt. Hitler, on the other hand, received minor injuries, a leg burn, his eardrums were damaged, for a while he was shell-shocked and stunned. He stood in clothes torn to shreds, burned, with a blackened face, trembling jaw, however, as the doctors who examined him said, all the wounds were light. At first, the headquarters did not even understand what had happened and how to react. At first, no one suspected Stauffenberg, it was thanks to this that he managed to sneak out of the Wolfschanze, but soon many remembered that he had behaved somehow strangely that day, his absence was noticed, and they began to look for Stauffenberg.

Lieutenant General Felgiebel, the head of the signal troops who participated in the plot and was at Hitler's headquarters, according to the plan, was supposed to inform the conspirators in Berlin about the successful explosion and destroy the communications center so that no one from the headquarters could contact Berlin and give any orders. He completed the first part of his work, but did not destroy the connection. It is not known exactly why he did this. Perhaps he soon found out that Hitler was alive, or simply decided not to risk it and try to save own life without arousing further suspicion. However, this circumstance seriously affected the course of the entire operation, confusing the plans of the rebels. It was one of the biggest mistakes they made.

The coup "stalled" at the very beginning. The conspirators looked forward to this day and hour with impatience and anxiety, many of them did not sleep at night, but when the time came for decisive action, they showed unforgivable timidity and slowness. So, while Stauffenberg, confident in his success, reached Berlin, on Bendlerstrasse, where the military leadership of the Reich was located and where the putschists were sitting, they were inactive, not knowing what to do and wasting precious time on fruitless disputes. Some conspirators decided to abandon the plan at the very beginning. So, Colonel-General Fromm, who knew about the conspiracy and had to support it, at the right moment refused to act and began to doubt. Olbricht told him that Hitler had been killed and that an order should be given to start Operation Valkyrie, but Fromm wished to personally contact Hitler's headquarters and receive confirmation. To the surprise of both Olbricht and Fromm, they picked up the phone right away - the connection with the headquarters was not cut off, as expected. General Keitel answered the phone. Fromm asked him what was happening, to which he received an answer that an attempt was made on Hitler, but he remained alive. At the same time, Keitel asked Fromm where Colonel Stauffenberg was now, to whom he wanted to ask some questions. From the conversation, Fromm realized that the headquarters guessed that his people were involved in a conspiracy, and flatly refused to put the Valkyrie into action. At this time, in the Berlin police headquarters, Gisevius was waiting for instructions from Olbricht, but he hesitated.

They began to act only at 16 o'clock, when Stauffenberg arrived in Berlin and contacted the War Ministry. Fromm, who decided to dissociate himself from the conspirators, was arrested and locked in his office, leaving him with a telephone. They finally gave orders to start the Valkyrie, but at the same time, orders were received from Hitler's headquarters that canceled their commands. At Hitler's headquarters, they did not immediately understand the scale of the conspiracy, deciding at first that Stauffenberg acted independently, the conspirators had time to set all forces in motion, but they missed it. In most military districts, the orders coming from Benlerstrasse were in no hurry to carry out. Only a few radio towers were captured, but broadcasting did not stop in them. Oddly enough, the most decisive action was taken in Paris, where General Stülpnagel arrested many SS men, while in other places the commanders, even who knew about the conspiracy, chose not to do anything, especially since soon a radio message began to spread that Hitler was in fact alive, refuting the orders coming from Berlin. The conspirators did not at all take into account the power of information and radio communications, they did not immediately think of using all means in order to spread their calls for rebellion. Perhaps this is partly due to the fact that they were not against fascism in general, not for the fight against the regime itself, but only against Hitler, wanting to establish a military dictatorship in the country, which could hardly find support among the people, ordinary people which they did not address.

In Berlin, the guard battalion carrying out the Valkyrie plan was commanded by Major Roemer, an ardent supporter of Nazism and an admirer of Hitler. The order to capture and isolate the Nazi leadership puzzled him. At that time, Albert Speer was in the imperial office along with Goebbels, who described this event in his memoirs. Goebbels, sensing that Roemer had doubts about how to do the right thing, talked to him, appealing to his honor and reminding him of his loyalty to National Socialism. He told the major that Hitler was in fact alive, and then called the "Wolf's Lair" and handed the phone to Roemer so that he himself spoke with the Fuhrer. After that, Remer, along with his troops, immediately went over to the side of Goebbels and cordoned off Bendlerstrasse, which the conspirators initially took for the execution of their own order. Fromm was soon released, and the conspirators in the building were arrested. Of all of them, it seems that only one Stauffenberg tried to resist, but he was wounded in the arm and disarmed.

The released Fromm, realizing that he himself would soon fall under suspicion, decided, without waiting for an investigation and instructions from above, to pass a sentence and get rid of the coup leaders in order to cover up the traces in this way. Colonel Beck asked him for a pistol and tried to shoot himself, but only wounded himself. Then he fired again, and again he failed to commit suicide. Then one of Fromm's soldiers shot him, either taking pity on him, or on the orders of his superior. Fromm immediately sentenced the conspirators to death, they were taken out into the courtyard and shot by the headlights of a truck. After that, Fromm sent a telegram to Hitler, in which he said that he himself punished the conspirators. He also contacted occupied Paris and ordered the release of the detained members of the SS. However, betrayal only briefly delayed Fromm's death, he was still convicted and executed, like the rest.

Trial and punishment of the conspirators

Hitler, who had long disliked his generals and blamed them for all the failures of the war, severely punished everyone who was involved in the conspiracy after the assassination attempt. The fact that he managed to survive once again, he took as an indication from above that he was destined to win and lead Germany to glory and prosperity. After these events, Hitler spoke to his comrades-in-arms and assured them that now, when the plot was finally revealed and suppressed, and all the traitors were destroyed, they would finally be able to win, because it was these people, in his opinion, who were to blame for all the defeats. At that time, he even managed to infect some skeptics with his confidence, many were sincerely horrified by the rebels, because. under the circumstances of the ever-increasing crisis in Germany, such a rebellion was fatal to the country.

Goerdeler, who was supposed to be the leader of the conspiracy, did not appear at the War Office on Bendlerstrasse on July 20, taking a wait-and-see attitude. When he saw that the rebellion was doomed, he fled with false documents, but was recognized and caught. In conclusion, he showed his weakness of character, behaved cowardly and readily betrayed other participants in the conspiracy. Despite the remorse shown by him, and cooperation with the investigation, the rejection of previous ideas, he was hanged along with other conspirators.

Arrests and searches began already on July 21, and on August 7-8, the trials of the suspects took place. Moreover, not only people who were really somehow involved in these events were arrested, the Nazis simply settled old scores, grabbing those who were not connected with the conspiracy at all. Their relatives were also repressed, and the children were given to shelters under false names, while their parents were exiled to concentration camps. The cases were considered by the "People's Tribunal", composed of the most devoted to the cause of Nazism and personally to Hitler judges. The sentences, which were equally ruthless for almost everyone, were carried out in prisons on the same day. The conspirators were hanged, in addition, they were mocked both at the trial itself and during the execution. The meetings and the massacre of the rebels were filmed on videotape, and they tried to capture the putschists in the most unfavorable light, humiliated, dirty, weak, downtrodden, and the recordings were then shown to everyone and those who did not want to "raise morale" throughout the country.

After July 20, 4,980 people were executed in Germany and at least 10,000 were imprisoned in camps. According to the Gestapo alone, 700 officers and generals were repressed and killed. However, some participants in the conspiracy betrayed their comrades and were spared by Hitler.

Reasons for the failure of the plot of July 20, 1944

The assassination of Hitler and the coup d'état were prevented by a series of unfortunate accidents. One cannot help but be surprised at how unsuccessfully everything turned out for Stauffenberg and the rest of the conspirators, and because of what seemingly trifles, the Valkyrie failed. However, the reason for the failure of the putschists is not only this. As Goebbels himself correctly said, as Speer, who did not know about the conspiracy in advance, pointed out, the rebels behaved stupidly and indecisively, did not immediately occupy the main communication centers, provided Goebbels with the opportunity to freely communicate with Hitler's headquarters and give instructions, they did not even turn off his phone , although a handful of soldiers would have been enough to arrest Goebbels and Speer, who was with him. They did not use the full power of propaganda, they did not cast an appeal to the masses. This conspiracy is quite accurately called the "conspiracy of the generals." Among the oppositionists were people endowed with great power, having authority in the political and military environment, but they too hoped that the army would unquestioningly carry out any of their instructions. Their main opponents were not immediately arrested, all this time they remained at large. Ordinary officers were not involved in the conspiracy either, relying only on the generals, some of whom only flirted with the conspirators, and in the process decided to betray them or chickened out (however, this did not save them either). One cannot but agree that if the putschists had not lost so much time, had acted faster, tougher and more decisively, they would have had more chances of success, but among them there were no people experienced in conspiracies, deceit and propaganda, so Goebbels should not have special efforts to lure the troops to their side. conspiracy in this case could have been possible only with the assistance of Western intelligence agencies, whom Goerdeler and other ideological leaders tried to attract, but to no avail. All they could offer the Americans and the British was a separate peace and the creation of a new government, but at this stage, in the 44th year, when it was clear that the defeat of Germany was not far off, this was not enough, and even the West could not go, both fearing the response of the Soviet Union, and not wanting to violate the terms of the alliance with Russia.

Purpose and meaning of the conspiracy

The rebellion did not have a special effect on the situation in Germany. The goals of the opposition also seem not quite clear. Of course, among the rebels were people who disagreed with the methods and ideology of the Nazis, who wanted to overthrow this government and end the war, building a new society on more democratic grounds. There were those who fought out of disgust and hatred for the war and the crimes of the Nazis. However, many of the conspirators were conservatives, and some quite shared the ideas of National Socialism, they did not agree with the ideology, but with the victims and failures. Their goal was, apparently, the conclusion of a separate peace with the Western countries, the transfer of power into the hands of the generals and the continuation of the war in the East already on one front and without Hitler, who only most often interfered with the generals with his decisions, being sure that he understood military art and strategy are much better than them. Many in the military resented Hitler's behavior towards old and experienced generals and officers, who are well-respected by the soldiers and the people, and the measures that the Nazis initially took to eliminate figures they did not want and concentrate all power in their hands. The system that Hitler created in the army, with many separate leaderships and units for each group of troops, seemed to many inefficient, cumbersome, Germany's huge resources were not fully used, and the adoption and implementation of decisions became more complicated. And it was impossible not to see that in 1944 Germany was in a deep crisis, from which she herself could not get out. The war was now on the territory of Germany, many of its allies lost, the USSR successfully liberated its territory and neighboring countries, and the Americans and the British carried out a grandiose landing in Normandy and moved to Germany from the other side. The ring was shrinking, the conspiracy would no longer be of decisive importance, and the Allies, embittered and bitter by the war, suffered colossal, horrific losses, subjected to barbaric, vile attacks, could not come to terms with the regime that existed in Germany. In any case, they would demand unconditional surrender, the trial of Nazi leaders and reparation for all damage caused by the Nazis. This was especially wanted in the USSR, whose losses both in the economic sphere and in human lives were the most terrible. Soviet authority would never have come to terms with a simple peace treaty and would not have made concessions, so almost none of the leaders of the conspiracy even thought of turning to the communists for help, establishing ties with the USSR.

In general, in historiography there are different assessments of the July 20 conspiracy. Often, Soviet and Western researchers have a diametrically opposed attitude towards the conspirators. Soviet historians, in the spirit of that time and that ideology, especially during the Cold War, insisted that the conspiracy was not of a popular nature and had no special significance, and did not influence further events in any way. The conspirators can hardly be called heroes. They are convinced that the purpose of the conspiracy was only a separate peace with the West and the continuation of the war with the USSR. Western sources, ironically, claim the opposite, praising the conspirators, seeing them as self-sacrificing heroes, and denying that any negotiations on a separate peace with representatives of the secret services of America or Great Britain took place. In addition, these two camps diverge in the assessment of individuals.

If in 1944, calling yourself a participant in the July 20 conspiracy was tantamount to signing your own death warrant, and then everyone, on the contrary, tried to express their loyal feelings to Hitler in order to avoid suspicion, then after the war, at the Nuremberg trials and later, many former military leaders, the Nazis began to look for ways somehow tie himself to the fallen conspirators and justify his actions. Anglo-American historians and the press helped them in this to some extent (I do not presume to judge how legitimate all this is). Anyone who allegedly tried to resist Hitler during the war years could count on the indulgence of the court at the Nuremberg trials, and in the future he often held a significant post, published books, received awards, and even gave lectures. Thus, the role of Heusinger, Speidel and some other persons in the oppositional activities is controversial. Heusinger even held an important position in NATO after the war, his advice was listened to, although he, as the head of the operations department of the OKH general staff, was directly involved in many decisions that were made by the Wehrmacht. The Soviet leadership, on the contrary, demanded that Heusinger be extradited or executed as a war criminal, and considered the acquittal against him unfair. However, I will speak more about the Nuremberg Trials and the disagreements between Western and Soviet representatives in a separate article.

Bryan Singer's film Operation Valkyrie

Much has been written about the July 20 conspiracy, and more than once those events served as the basis for feature films. The most famous and popular of them is Bryan Singer's film Operation Valkyrie, in which Tom Cruise played the role of Colonel von Stauffenberg. In many ways, it was this film that shaped the views of most people about those events. Although this film is evaluated differently, sometimes very critically, it must be said that from the point of view of the event outline, historical accuracy, it reproduces the events of July 20 quite accurately. The film also shows the episode with the briefcase and the bomb, and the consequences of the explosion, and the further course of the Valkyrie. True, not all the conspirators are depicted in the film, but the main events are presented correctly. Unless, perhaps, their significance is somewhat overestimated, and the images of the conspirators are overly romanticized, which, it seems to me, is quite acceptable for a feature film. The emotional, artistic part of Singer's film is all right. Valkyrie has a lot of dialogue and a lot less action, it's more of a historical drama than an action drama, which some people might not like. Only in the second part of the picture and closer to the finale, the action accelerates. Cruise managed to play a surprisingly serious role, he did it quite well, and the other actors were at their best. Singer's film is well worth watching to get an idea of the events of July 20th.

Shot from Bryan Singer's film "Operation Valkyrie"

main sources

1. Milshtein, M.A. Conspiracy against Hitler.

2. Churchill, W. World War II.

3. Speer, A. The Third Reich from the inside.

4. Yakovlev, N.N. USA and England in World War II.

Historians debate the number of attempts on Hitler's life. According to various estimates, their number is in the tens. One of the most famous conspiracies against the Fuhrer is Operation Valkyrie.

There were many who disagreed with the policy of the leader of the Third Reich. These included Karl Goerdeler and Ludwig Beck, who, as early as 1938, wanted to depose the Führer, form a provisional government, and hold new democratic elections.

Karl Goerdeler and Adolf Hitler during the latter's visit to Leipzig, March 1934

Before Hitler came to power, Karl Goerdeler held high government posts: he was the Reich Commissioner for Prices, the second mayor of Königsberg and the mayor of Leipzig. Being a born organizer, a capable speaker, Goerdeler knew how to lead people. As for his political position, it can safely be called pro-Western or even anti-Soviet. Firstly, Goerdeler believed that the future Germany should be arranged with full use of the "achievements of the National Socialist regime", and, secondly, he insisted on agreements with the Anglo-American allies regarding the future borders of the new state. Moreover, he insisted on the borders of 1938, that is, with Austria already included in Germany. In his documents (the protocols and the memorandum have been preserved), he wrote that the allies would still have to fight for Alsace and Lorraine.

As for the east, Goerdeler proposed to keep the front line that existed at that time, or to liberate Poland (apparently, he recognized that Poland would still have to be given away), but he still intended to keep the Danzig corridor, compensating for all this to Poland at the expense of the Soviet lands.

Many German generals did not share Hitler's foreign policy views.

Another anti-Hitler conspirator was Klaus von Stauffenberg, an active and enterprising person who, unlike Karl Goerdeler, insisted on the need to reach agreements not only with the Western allies, but also with Soviet Union. He believed that it was practically impossible to get out of the war relying only on the West.

As you know, the bulk of the conspirators are the military of the Wehrmacht, more precisely, one of its components is the ground forces. Neither the Kriegsmarine nor the Luftwaffe (for the most part) took part in the conspiracy.

Ludwig Beck (right) and Wernher von Fritsch, 1937

Returning to the conspirators (by the way, in East German and Soviet historiography they were divided into two wings: "reactionary" (conservative) led by Goerdeler and "patriotic" (progressive) led by von Stauffenberg), it is worth noting that even before the operation to eliminate Hitler, they actively discussed posts in the new government. So, initially, the candidacy of Karl Goerdeler was proposed for the post of chancellor, although some of the conspirators considered him too conservative for this position. Klaus von Stauffenberg actively lobbied for the candidacy of the Social Democrat Wilhelm Leuschner, who was ready to interact with all political forces. The post of Reich President was predicted for Ludwig Beck, who, by the way, was one of the organizers of the conspiracy against Hitler in 1938. They saw Erwin von Witzleben as Minister of War, commander of the Wehrmacht, Count von Helldorf as head of the Berlin police, and so on.

But back to Operation Valkyrie. Since the winter of 1941-1942, one of the conspirators, Friedrich Olbricht, had been working on the Valkyrie plan, calculated in the event of sudden unrest and internal uprisings in Germany. According to the plan, in the event of an uprising by the military, sabotage, or similar emergencies, a reserve army was to be mobilized to put down the insurrections. The plan was submitted to Hitler for consideration, and he approved it. Later, Olbricht secretly changed the Valkyrie plan in such a way that, in an attempted coup, the reserve army would become a tool in the hands of the conspirators.

A bounty of one million marks was placed on the head of Karl Goerdeler.

After the assassination of Hitler, she was to take over key installations in Berlin, disarm and arrest the Nazi leadership, and block a number of government lines of communication other than those used by the conspirators. In a word, the ideal plan, if not for one "but". Klaus von Stauffenberg, Friedrich Olbricht, Merz von Kvirnheim and other "rebels" expected that the commanders of the military districts, having received an order, would carry it out. Pretty romantic situation. Although, of course, most of the commanders were officers of the old school.

Klaus von Stauffenberg (left), Adolf Hitler (center) and Wilhelm Keitel at the Fuhrer's Headquarters "Wolf's Lair", July 15, 1944

However, when the attempt on Hitler failed, when the main culprit of the event (von Stauffenberg) flew away, the operation failed. Erich Felgiebel, who was supposed to call Friedrich Olbricht on Bendlerstrasse and report on the result of the assassination attempt, did not fulfill his order. At this moment, Hitler, unexpectedly for everyone, decides to call Goebbels and declare complete radio silence around the Wolf's Lair for two hours. Why? The Fuhrer wanted to see how events would develop further.

Hitler ordered to deal with the conspirators "like cattle in a slaughterhouse"

So silence was declared. And people were still sitting on Bendlerstrasse and did not know whether the attempt had occurred or not. They could not give the signal to the Valkyrie, because on July 15, five days before this event, they had already done the same. Klaus von Stauffenberg had to fulfill his plan, everything went according to plan, and the order "Valkyrie" was given two hours before "moment X". However, the assassination did not take place. The conspirators had to say that it was training order. As a result, Fromm gave Olbricht a grandiose dressing down, so it never occurred to anyone to repeat this. Everyone was waiting for the result of the assassination attempt. And only at 15:30, when von Stauffenberg was already on the way to Berlin, Lieutenant General Fritz Tille was able to contact the headquarters and find out that the assassination attempt on the Fuhrer did happen. However, he was not told the result of the operation. Having received this information, the Bendlerstrasse began to prepare for the issuance of the order "Valkyrie".

A soldier shows off what's left of Hitler's pants after the explosion

At 16:00, von Stauffenberg also landed at the airfield near Berlin, who assured everyone that Hitler was dead. And only then the operation "Valkyrie" began to unwind. However, three and a half hours have passed since the assassination attempt. Time has been wasted...

And yet in two places the conspiracy was successful. In Paris, from 18:00 - 19:00 to 00:00, the Wehrmacht arrested about 1,200 people, that is, almost the entire local party leadership. All adherents of the regime were placed in hotels converted into places of detention. Moreover, surprisingly, none of the prisoners offered any resistance. The same thing happened in Prague.

As historians note, the massacre of the participants in the conspiracy on July 20 was especially bloody. The conspirators were not guillotined like civil criminals, they were not shot like military men, they were hung on piano strings attached to a butcher's hook on the prison ceiling. Hitler ordered Roland Freisler, chairman of the People's Court of Justice, to deal with the defendants "like cattle in a slaughterhouse." In total, as a result of executions and repressions, 7,000 people were arrested, about 200 were sentenced to death.

70 years ago, on July 20, 1944, the most famous assassination attempt on Adolf Hitler took place at the headquarters of the Fuhrer "Wolf's Lair" in Rastenburg. Colonel of the Army Reserve Headquarters Count Klaus Schenk von Stauffenberg and his adjutant Lieutenant Werner von Heften made an attempt on their supreme commander. A powerful explosion was the culmination of the so-called. "Conspiracy of the Generals" ("Conspiracy of July 20"), with the aim of eliminating Hitler and overthrowing the Nazi government ...

A strong explosion led to the death of 4 people, the rest were injured or damaged of varying severity. Hitler was also wounded. The investigation revealed a wide conspiracy - more than 7 thousand people were arrested, about 200 people were executed. The German Resistance was crushed.

Werner von Heften. July 20, 1944 accompanied Stauffenberg during his trip to the Fuhrer's Headquarters.

Count von Stauffenberg (left) with his friend Colonel Albrecht Merz Count von Kvirnheim, who was shot with him.

After the explosion.

On November 9, 1939, Hitler spoke on the occasion of the anniversary of the "beer putsch" that failed in 1923 in the famous Munich pub. Former communist Georg Elser organized the assassination attempt. He prepared and detonated the bomb. Hitler was unharmed, although several people were killed and more than sixty people were injured during the massive explosion. Hitler, for some reason, completed his entry ahead of time and left the building a few minutes before the bomb went off.

Georg Elser giving evidence to the Gestapo

Many German generals did not share the Fuhrer's foreign policy views.

Ludwig August Theodor Beck (June 29, 1880 – July 20, 1944). After the failure of the conspiracy, he tried to commit suicide and was finished off by subordinates of General Friedrich Fromm (participated in the suppression of the conspiracy)

“The question of the existence of the nation is at stake. History will brand the leadership of the armed forces with bloody guilt if they do not act in accordance with their professional and state-political qualities and conscience.

But, the rest of the German generals did not have such willpower, besides, many were passionate about the idea of revenge, so Beck was not supported. The general resigned and gradually became the head of the military opposition.

Wilhelm Franz Canaris

The active group of conspirators included the head of the Abwehr, Wilhelm Franz Canaris, and General Erich Göpner, and the Prussian Minister of Finance Johannes Popitz, and the banker Hjalmar Schacht. The commander-in-chief of the ground forces, Walter von Brauchitsch, also knew about the conspiracy. He refused to participate in it, but did not inform on the conspirators.

Walther von Brauchitsch

As a result, Germany was seized with jubilation, and the entry of military conspirators became meaningless. A significant part of the conspirators became disillusioned with the possibility of overthrowing the Nazi regime. Witzleben declared: “For this unfortunate stupid people, he is again“ our beloved Fuhrer ”, the only one sent by God, and we are just a miserable bunch of reactionaries and disgruntled officers and politicians who dared, at the moment of the highest triumph of the greatest politician of all time, to throw stones in his path ".

Erwin von Witzleben (1881 - 1944). After von Stauffenberg's assassination attempt on Hitler, he assumed the duties of commander-in-chief of the Wehrmacht.

Erwin von Witzleben at the Nazi trial. On August 8, 1944, he, like the other defendants, was sentenced to death by hanging.

Moreover, they also proposed retaliatory measures that would deter German aggression: in particular, he proposed sending a squadron to the Baltic Sea to support Poland from the sea, and transferring British troops to France. However, it was more important for London and Paris at that moment to set Hitler against the USSR, so all the proposals of the German opposition were ignored.

Carl Heinrich von Stulpnagel

The unexpected successes of Hitler and the Wehrmacht in Poland, Denmark, Norway, Holland and France, and then in the USSR, became the defeat of the German Resistance. Some believed in Hitler's "lucky star", others became discouraged and disappointed.

Carl Friedrich Goerdeler (July 31, 1884 – February 2, 1945). A few days before the July 20 coup attempt, he went underground after learning that the Gestapo planned to arrest him. A bounty of one million marks was put on his head. August 12 identified and captured. Executed in Plötzensee Prison.

Anti-Hitler inscriptions on the streets of Berlin, 1944

So, among the active opponents of Hitler was the former German ambassador to the Union, Count Friedrich Werner von der Schulenburg. Even before the German attack, von Schulenburg in May 1941 warned Moscow about the imminent German attack on the USSR. He made every effort to prevent the war, informing Berlin of the powerful military-industrial potential of the USSR.

After the defeat of the German troops near Moscow in the winter of 1941-1942. and the failure of the blitzkrieg, Schulenburg sent a note to the Fuhrer with a proposal to start separate negotiations with Moscow, but did not receive support. Thereafter, Schulenburg became a member of the Resistance and was considered as a possible candidate for the post-coup foreign minister.

Henning Hermann Robert Carl von Tresckow (January 10, 1901 – July 21, 1944). Upon learning of the failure of the plot on July 20, Treskov imitated a fight with the enemy, and then blew himself up with a hand grenade in order to save his family members from persecution and not betray his comrades during torture

The tour guide was to be the head of intelligence of the Army Group Center, von Gersdorf, who was ready to sacrifice himself for the common cause. The Colonel hid two small magnetic time bombs in his clothes and planned to blow himself up in close proximity to Hitler and his entourage. When the Fuhrer appeared at the insertion of captured weapons, Gersdorff set the fuse for 20 minutes. But, after 15 minutes, Hitler suddenly left the building and the plan was not implemented. With great difficulty, the officer managed to prevent the explosion.

Rudolf-Christoph von Gersdorff (March 27, 1905 – January 27, 1980). After the failure of the Conspiracy of the Generals, he was one of the few who managed to survive. His accomplice, one of the leaders of German military intelligence, Colonel of the General Staff, Baron Wessel Freitag von Loringofen, committed suicide, but did not betray his comrade to the Gestapo

There were other German officers who were ready to sacrifice themselves in order to eliminate the Fuhrer. For example, in November 1943, a young German officer, Axel von dem Busche, planned to assassinate Adolf Hitler during a display of new German military uniforms. During the screening, he hid grenades in his clothes and planned to detonate them when the Fuhrer approached. However, Hitler, for some unknown reason, did not show up for the screening.

Being under almost continuous surveillance, experiencing a lack of time and acting with one crippled hand, Stauffenberg was able to activate the detonator on only one explosive device. Despite the fact that the explosion of one device would lead to the detonation of the second, Stauffenberg, for unknown reasons, did not put the block of explosives back into his briefcase, which was left without a detonator. Therefore, the force of the explosion was two times lower than expected.

True, Stauffenberg managed to put the briefcase next to Hitler and, under a plausible pretext, left the room when there were five minutes left before the explosion. But just a few seconds before the explosion, Colonel Heinz Brandt rearranged the briefcase, and a massive oak table saved Hitler from the blast wave.

Hitler shows Mussolini the aftermath of the explosion

Claus von Stauffenberg and the other conspirators were captured. Colonel von Stauffenberg was shot the same day - as it turned out later, he was executed by the conspirators themselves, who feared that the colonel would reveal all the details of the plan to the Gestapo. But the Gestapo already knew about the existence of the "conspiracy of the generals."

A soldier demonstrates the Fuhrer's pants, which miraculously survived the explosion.

Hitler visits in the hospital the victim of the explosion, Admiral Karl-Jesco von Puttkamer.

The trial of the participants in the assassination attempt against Adolf Hitler.

Berthold Schenk Count von Stauffenberg, brother of Claus von Stauffenberg. Was sentenced to hang.

Count Peter Yorck von Wartenburg, a prominent official of the War Ministry, is introduced into the courtroom.

Former commander of the 4th Panzer Army of the Wehrmacht, Erich Hoepner, dismissed from the army on Hitler's orders after the failed attack on Moscow. He was also part of the conspiracy.

Also in the dock were many leaders of the banned Social Democratic Party - they were also executed, although formally they did not attempt on Hitler.

Judge Ronald Freisler reads out the verdict. All defendants were sentenced to death.

Plötzensee prison cell in Berlin, where the sentence was carried out. The execution was specially filmed for showing to the Fuhrer.

Monument to the executed.

Hitler's Headquarters "Wolf's Lair" today.

More than ten films have been made about the July 20 conspiracy. In one of the latest - "Operation Valkyrie" - the role of Klaus von Stauffenberg was played by the famous American actor Tom Cruise. The film turned out to be very romantic, although many historians said that one should not romanticize the images of the conspirators, who, although they were opponents of Hitler, remained Nazis.

Yes, they were sure that Hitler was leading the country to collapse, that a war on two fronts was ruinous for the Reich. But von Stauffenberg and his associates least of all wanted to build a Western-style democracy, disband concentration camps and abandon the swastika and the ideologies of racial superiority. All they wanted was to ease the burden of the war, to conclude a separate peace with Britain and the United States in order to successfully continue the war on the Eastern Front - in the name of Greater Germany and its new Fuhrer.

The path to liberation from Nazism turned out to be much more difficult than it seemed to the conspirators and all fans of "simple solutions".

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Germany. 1944 On July 20, 1944, an event occurred that excited the whole world. On the evening of that day, Berlin radio broadcast a special message from Hitler's headquarters. A group of officers, it said, tried to kill the Fuhrer. Listed were the victims of the explosion of persons from Hitler's inner circle. On the night of July 21, Hitler, Doenitz and Goering spoke on the radio. They called on the German people and the armed forces to remain calm and loyal to the Fuhrer. The world press was filled with sensational rumors about clashes, arrests and executions in Germany. Only on July 27 in Berlin were the names of some of the participants in the conspiracy officially announced - General of the Infantry Olbricht, Colonel General Beck and Colonel General Gepner. Even earlier, the name of the Colonel of the General Staff Stauffenberg, who made an attempt on Hitler, penetrated into the press. According to reports coming from Germany, the conspiracy was purely military in nature. However, the announcement of a reward of one million marks to anyone who helps track down the former imperial commissioner for price control Goerdeler pointed to the participation of civilians in the conspiracy. In the years before the fall of Hitler, there were several opposition groups in Germany. Three of them can be distinguished. The first was made up of members of the Berlin "Mittwohgesellschaft" - an aristocratic club, where only the cream of fascist society (Goerdeler, Popitz, Hassel, Jessen, etc.) had access. The Goerdeler group had like-minded people in almost every imperial civil department and in the army. The second group is the Kreisau circle, which got its name from the Kreisau estate, where a narrow circle of political like-minded people gathered. The circle consisted of relatively young aristocrats. Its head, the owner of Kreisau, Count Helmut Moltke, was an expert on international law in the general staff and at the same time an agent of military intelligence. The second leader of the circle, Peter Yorck von Wartenburg, served in the Eastern Department of the Military Economic Directorate. Among the members of the Kreisau circle were Gofaker and Schwerin, adjutants of the commanders German troops in France and Western Europe Stulpnagel and Witzleben, who listened to the opinion of this circle. They were associated with Kluge, Rommel, the headquarters of the army groups in the East and the occupying forces in Europe, the police presidium of Berlin, the Gestapo. The third group of opposition is the senior officers of the Nazi army, dissatisfied with the political and military strategy of Hitler and the demotions. The leading members of the military part of the opposition were Beck, Olbricht, Treskov, Kanaris and Oster. Colonel-General Ludwig Beck was one of the founders and leaders of the "Black Reichswehr". After the Nazis came to power, Beck was one of those Reichswehr generals on whom Hitler relied most to restore the German war machine. Beck was followed by the head of the general affairs department of the main command of the ground forces, General Olbricht, the chief of staff of the Army Group Center on the Eastern Front, General Treskov, the head of German military intelligence and counterintelligence, Admiral Canaris, and his chief of staff, General Oster. Thanks to personal connections, Beck had his people in almost all levels of the army apparatus. The elite opposition that had formed against Hitler sought to replace its leader due to the fact that he ceased to meet the interests of the ruling country's financial and land oligarchy, being unable not only to ensure the victory of the German military machine over the enemy, but also to guarantee the country a safe exit from the war. The defeat of the southern wing of the Nazi Eastern Front in the winter of 1942-1943 and the annihilation of the fascist troops encircled near Stalingrad, which was nearing its end, spurred the conspirators to hasten the coup. However, the failure of the first attempts to overthrow Hitler greatly shook their faith in quick success. They became convinced of the need for more thorough preparations for the coup. Military preparations for the elimination of Hitler were based on the use of a plan that had the code name "Valkyrie". In its final form, it provided that in the event of internal unrest, the reserve army - and it numbered about 2.5 million people - would be raised on combat alert and form combat-ready groups of troops. These groups, led by the commanders of the military districts, will have to ensure the security of important installations, military, transport and economic installations, communication centers and lines, etc., and then, acting in accordance with further instructions, destroy the emerging enemy. All the commands of the military districts had this plan, which was to be put into effect at the prearranged signal "Valkyrie". Only one person had the right to give this signal on behalf of Hitler - the commander of the reserve army, Colonel-General Fromm. In the event of Fromm's refusal to take part in the coup d'etat, General Olbricht was ready to give the signal "Valkyrie" to the commanders of the districts. Olbricht, Stauffenberg and - until October 1943 - Tresckow jointly developed a number of additional orders to put troops on alert at the signal "Valkyrie" to use for a coup d'état to overthrow the Nazi dictatorship. After the assassination of Hitler and the alerting of the troops in Berlin and its environs, it was planned to give the commanders of the districts and the commanders of army groups and armies the first basic order. It began with the words: “The Fuhrer Adolf Hitler has been killed. An unscrupulous group of party leaders entrenched in the rear is trying to use this situation to stab the troops desperately fighting at the front in the back and seize power for selfish purposes. The conspirators initially considered such a statement necessary, because they believed that Hitler's authority in the Wehrmacht was still so great that it was impossible to immediately tell the full truth. This can be done only after the power is in the hands of the Wehrmacht. On the question of eliminating Hitler, views were different. Goerdeler rejected the assassination attempt for a long time. Stauffenberg, Olbricht, Tresckow and others considered the assassination attempt on Hitler as the only possible impetus for a coup. Meanwhile, the Gestapo got closer and closer to the conspirators. Agent Recksee was introduced into Solf's circle, and in January 1944 many members of this circle were arrested, including Helmut von Moltke. On July 4, 1944, Reichwein, Zefkov and Jakob were captured; on July 5, Leber; Thus the Gestapo penetrated the inner circle of the conspiracy. On July 11, in an effort to save his arrested friends from death, Stauffenberg tried to carry out an assassination attempt on Hitler on his own initiative. Extremely suspicious, Hitler allowed only a few people to see him. When he left the headquarters or from any other residence, an air raid alert was announced along the entire route. The headquarters was surrounded by three guard cordons. Passing through each of them required special passes. Stauffenberg decided to use his official position. As chief of staff of the reserve army, which included all the internal troops of Germany and formed replacements for the front, he was obliged to periodically report to Hitler on the situation in the field of training and education of the reserves. Stauffenberg enjoyed the full confidence of the fascist leadership. A young officer who lost an eye in an African campaign, left hand, two fingers of the right hand and yet remaining on military service , seemed to be the epitome of fanatical devotion to the "National Socialist Empire". Hitler spent the first half of July at his residence at the Obersalzberg near Berchtesgaden, in southern Germany. A meeting was scheduled for July 11th. Arriving at the report, Stauffenberg brought a mine in a large official briefcase along with papers, intending to blow it up near Hitler. Among those present was not Himmler, whom Stauffenberg also wanted to kill. So he decided to postpone the assassination. After July 11, Hitler returned to his headquarters near Rastenburg, in East Prussia. On July 15, a new meeting was held in it, to which Staufenberg was called. However, this time, not only Himmler, but also Hitler himself was not among those present. The next meeting at headquarters to discuss the general martial law was scheduled for 20 July. On Thursday, July 20, 1944, Stauffenberg, Lieutenant von Heften, Major General Stiff arrived by plane in Rastenburg. The briefcases contained two bombs with silent chemical fuses. Stauffenberg put one in his briefcase, Heften took the other. In an official car, Staufenberg and his companions went to the Fuhrer's headquarters. Here Stauffenberg reported his arrival to the commandant. After breakfast with his adjutant, Captain von Mellendorf, Staufenberg went to see General Felgiebel, the Wehrmacht's communications chief, who was privy to the conspiracy. Then Stauffenberg had to resolve another official issue with General Bule, the representative of the High Command of the Ground Forces (OKH) under the High Command of the Wehrmacht (OKB). At about 12 o'clock, Stauffenberg, together with Bule, came to the Chief of Staff of the OKW, Field Marshal Keitel, to once again discuss the forthcoming report with him. Heften remained in the reception room in the same room. Keitel said that the meeting, originally scheduled for 1 pm, was postponed to 12.30 pm due to the visit of Mussolini. Keitel said that the discussion of the situation would take place in a cartographic hut intended for this purpose, with wooden walls reinforced with concrete cladding. When there was very little left before 12:30, Keitel, together with his adjutant von Freyend, Buhle and Stauffenberg, left the office to head to the cartographic hut, located three minutes away. But then Stauffenberg said that he wanted to freshen up a bit and change his shirt first. Heften was waiting for him in the hallway. Von Freyend showed them his bedroom, where Heften entered with Stauffenberg, as he was supposed to help the one-armed colonel. They needed to be alone to press the fuse of the bomb hidden in the briefcase with tongs. The explosion was supposed to occur 15 minutes later. Meanwhile, Keitel had already gone quite far ahead. While the two conspirators were in Freyend's room, Felgiebel telephoned the OKW bunker and asked that Stauffenberg be told to call him again. Von Freyend immediately sent Oberfeldwebel Vogel to inform the colonel. Vogel later said that he saw Stauffenberg and Heften hiding something in a briefcase, and a pile of paper lay on the bed. Apparently, he prevented them from putting both bombs in Stauffenberg's briefcase. Heften stuffed the bundle with the second bomb into his briefcase, and then, leaving Stauffenberg, quickly went out to take care of the car. On the way to the cartographic hut, Stauffenberg several times refused the offer of his companions to carry his briefcase. Together with Keitel, who was already impatient, the colonel entered the cartographic hut a little later than 12:30. Before entering, he loudly, so that Keitel could hear him, shouted to the sergeant-major telephone operator that he was waiting for an urgent call from Berlin. At the time Staufenberg appeared at the meeting, General Heusinger was just reporting on the situation on the Eastern Front. Keitel interrupted him for a moment to introduce Stauffenberg to Hitler, who greeted the colonel with a handshake. Heusinger then continued his report. The room for operational meetings was located at the end of the barracks and had an area of approximately 5 by 10 meters. He was almost completely occupied by a huge table with cards, around which, after the arrival of Stauffenberg and Keitel, 25 people had gathered. Opposite the door there were three windows - because of the heat they were wide open. Hitler stood in the middle of the table, facing the windows and with his back to the door. The table was a heavy oak slab placed on two massive pedestals. Stauffenberg put the briefcase with the bomb at the cabinet, which was in close proximity to Hitler. Soon he reported to Keitel that he needed to talk on the phone, left the room and went straight to General Felgiebel, where Werner von Heften was already waiting for him in a car. Meanwhile, Heusinger continued his report. His deputy, Colonel Brandt, wanting to get closer to the map, kicked Stauffenberg's briefcase, which was interfering with him, and moved it to the other side of the cabinet, away from Hitler. Since Stauffenberg was supposed to report immediately after Heusinger, but still had not returned, Buhle left the room to call him. However, the telephone operator told him that the colonel had disappeared. Surprised, Boulet returned to the room. At 1242 hours - Heusinger was just speaking his final words - the bomb exploded. Stauffenberg, Heften and Felgiebel saw the flames of the explosion and were firmly convinced that Hitler had been killed. The explosion was as strong as if a 150-mm shell had exploded, Stauffenberg later said in Berlin. The explosion in the meeting room caused great destruction: the table was shattered into pieces, the ceiling partially collapsed, the window panes were broken, the frames were torn out. One of those present was thrown out the window by the blast wave. And yet, General Felgibel, who was supposed to report on the phone on Bendlerstrasse about the success of the assassination, to his horror, saw: covered with burning, in a burnt and tattered uniform, leaning on Keitel and hobbling, Hitler comes out of the smoking barracks! Keitel took Hitler to his bunker and ordered doctors to be called immediately. Hitler suffered burns to his right leg, his hair was burned, his eardrums burst, his right arm was partially paralyzed, but in general the injuries were minor. At the time of the explosion, a massive pedestal and a heavy table top were between him and the mine, and this softened the blow. Of the participants in the meeting, one - the stenographer Berger - was killed on the spot; three others - Colonel Brandt, General Korten, Chief of Staff of the Air Force Operations Command, Lieutenant General Schmundt, Adjutant Chief of the Wehrmacht under Hitler and Head of the Army Personnel Directorate - soon died from their injuries. General Bodenschatz, liaison officer of the Commander-in-Chief of the Air Force at the Fuhrer's headquarters, and Colonel Borgmann, Hitler's adjutant, were seriously injured. All the rest escaped with minor injuries or were not injured. Familiarization with the location of the persons who were in the room shows that almost exclusively those who were standing to the right of the table stand were killed or seriously wounded. measure has changed. This is the only way to explain why Hitler, who, moreover, at the time of the explosion, leaned over the table so much that he almost lay on it (he was short-sighted), survived. Having recovered from the shock, Hitler and his entourage began to prepare for Mussolini's scheduled afternoon visit to the headquarters of the Supreme High Command. Seeing Hitler alive, Felgibel refused the agreed call to Berlin. After all, he had to report whether the attempt took place or not. But such a situation that Hitler would survive after the assassination attempt was not foreseen. Felgiebel's indecision was reinforced by Stiff, who decided that in view of this, the coup d'état should not be started and now we just need to take care of the safety of our own and other conspirators. At 1300 Stauffenberg reached the airfield. On the way, Heften dismantled the spare bomb and threw it away. At 13:15 the plane took off and headed back to Berlin. For almost three hours, Stauffenberg was doomed to be inactive, and these three hours turned out to be fatal for the work he undertook. What happened during these three hours in Berlin - the center of the conspiracy? Beck, Witzleben and other military leaders of the conspiracy, together with their civilian advisers, gathered on the morning of July 20 on the Bendlerstrasse with General Olbricht in the General Affairs Directorate of the High Command of the Ground Forces. From 13.00 they were expecting a conditional telephone call from Rastenburg. At 2:00 pm news was received that an important message would be sent from headquarters. Half an hour later, Stauffenberg reported by phone from Rangsdorf Airport in Berlin that the action had been carried out successfully. Olbricht rushed to Fromm. Having announced the death of Hitler, he demanded that he announce a combat alert in all parts of the reserve army. Fromm contacted the headquarters by direct wire. Keitel explained to him that Hitler was only wounded, and demanded that Stauffenberg be found and arrested. After a conversation with headquarters, Fromm refused to support the conspirators and was arrested by them. Witzleben appointed Hoepner commander-in-chief of the reserve army. The latter was desperately cowardly and did not take up his duties until he begged. . written order of appointment. Only after that, 50 teletypes and 800 telephone lines of the headquarters of the army of the reserve started working, sending out orders to proceed with the implementation of the "Valkyrie operation" and additional instructions prepared in advance. At 16.00, parts of the Berlin garrison, as planned, began to occupy the main government buildings of the capital. However, there were too few troops, and the units of the reserve army called to Berlin were only approaching the outskirts of the huge city by 17.00. Without troops, the conspirators were powerless. Half an hour after the assassination attempt, Himmler, informed of the incident, appeared in the Wolf's Lair, who was at his headquarters on Lake Mauersee, and immediately began to investigate. Goebbels, who was in Berlin at the time, received a telephone message after 1 p.m. that an assassination attempt had taken place, but Hitler was alive. Then all communication between Rastenburg and the outside world ceased for two hours. Hitler ordered a ban on the transfer of any information from the headquarters. This circumstance could even play into the hands of the conspirators, since Felgiebel already had the task of preventing any connection with the headquarters. At 4 pm, a special train from Mussolini arrived at the Fuhrer's headquarters. He was met by Goering, Ribbentrop, Doenitz and other Nazi leaders. Hitler boasted that he had been saved by the will of Providence itself, which thus clearly destined him for even greater tasks. The rest were zealous in manifestations of loyal feelings. Around 6 pm, Hitler saw his guest to the railway station. After the ban on information was lifted and after the first Valkyrie orders were sent from Berlin, telephone inquiries from commanders of various ranks began to arrive at headquarters. Gradually, here the impression was more and more definite that a much larger action was unfolding than was initially supposed. At about 5 p.m., Hitler appointed Reichsführer SS Himmler to replace Fromm as commander of the reserve army and ordered him to immediately fly to Berlin. At 5:30 p.m., Hitler had a telephone conversation with Goebbels and instructed him to prepare an emergency radio message that an assassination attempt had taken place but had failed. Soon the report that Hitler was only wounded was confirmed. At 6:30 p.m., the official announcement of the assassination was broadcast on the radio. It stated that Hitler received only minor burns and concussion. This news increased indecision among the commanders of the troops of the conspirators and, in turn, slowed down the implementation of the orders of the Valkyrie. The primary task of the conspirators after the assassination attempt was considered to be the capture of the central government radio station "Deutschland Zender" to proclaim a new government. There were no troops for this. The commanders of the units, who received the orders of the conspirators, hesitated. Keitel from headquarters sent out counter-orders that canceled Hoepner's orders. So, in Vienna, in accordance with the order of the "Valkyrie", the leaders of the SS were arrested. After a short time, they were released by order of the headquarters. The same thing happened in Paris. Upon learning that Hitler was alive, Kluge in a panic categorically refused to cooperate with the conspirators and issued an order to remain loyal to the Fuhrer. On the night of July 21, the SS and Gestapo leaders arrested earlier in Paris were released and began to arrest members of the conspiracy. The main hope of the conspirators in Berlin was the tank battalion of the Grossdeutschland division. His commander, Major Remer, was not a participant in the conspiracy. Having received an order to occupy the premises of the imperial office and arrest many prominent generals, Remer doubted the legality of such actions and turned to Goebbels. He already had a clear idea of what was happening. Having a direct wire with the rate, Goebbels connected Roemer with Hitler. The Fuhrer, whose voice Roemer easily recognized, ordered him to immediately occupy the headquarters of the reserve army and shoot anyone who seemed suspicious to him. Remer rushed to fulfill the order. Meeting troops on the highway heading towards the city center, he turned them back, referring to the "personal order of the Fuhrer." On other roads, General Guderian rushed about, stopping, like Roemer, the troops moving on the call of the conspirators. One of the first he turned back was Major Wolf's tank battalion, which was going to storm the main headquarters of the SS troops. Returning to Krampnitz, where it was stationed, this battalion was subjected to heavy fire from the SS units. Similar incidents occurred in other places as well. Already on the evening of July 20, the troops that the rebels counted on did not go to help them, but to suppress the conspiracy. By 21:00 the Nazis had regained their control over Berlin. But the main reason for the failure of the coup was not only the confusion with the issuance of orders and the slow pace military operation . The leaders of the uprising in Berlin, as all evidence shows, did not have enough reliable battle groups to solve the urgent tasks of the first hour. The conspirators wanted to seize power with the help of the military, issuing commands by telegraph and telephone. Appeals and appeals on the radio were prepared, but the leaders of the coup wanted to address them to the people only after the power was already firmly in the hands of the Wehrmacht. The overwhelming majority of the generals and officers of the General Staff were so deeply attached to the Nazi system that they were not even capable of formally carrying out military orders if they knew or felt that these orders might be directed against the system. The only real beginnings of real action were in Vienna and Paris. When, around 9 pm, it was announced on the radio that Hitler would soon march (which further increased the confusion in the camp of the conspirators), the troops were already about to leave the city center. At 21:30 the last tanks left the interior of Berlin. The approaching units were partially stopped even earlier by the SS men raised on alarm. At 10:30 p.m., Olbricht had to call on the officers who were on the Bendlerstrasse to take over the security of the building themselves. Meanwhile, Nazi leaders gathered in Berlin: at Goebbels - Himmler and Kaltenbrunner, in the building of the Security Service (SD) - Schellenberg and Skorzeny. While on the Bendlerstrasse a group of officers were gathering forces for a counterattack, the conspiracy survived its last outbreak. At about 10:40 p.m., a company from the Arms and Technical School of the Ground Forces arrived to guard the building. But units of the security battalion were thrown against her. The company of the school had to lay down its arms. In the building itself, at that time, the last act of the drama was being played out. At about 10.45 p.m., Stülpnagel's chief of staff, Colonel Linstov, received a telephone message from Stauffenberg in Paris: everything was lost. At 2250 hours, a group of officers and non-commissioned officers led by Lieutenant Colonels Herber, von Heide, Prydun and Kuban and Major Flisbach, armed along the way, broke into Olbricht's office. At that moment, Olbricht, Peter York von Wartenburg, Eugen Gerstenmeier and Berthold Staufenberg Colonel Staufenberg and Heften were fired on in the corridor, Stauffenberg was wounded. Then, for ten minutes, screams, shots, and the noise of hand-to-hand combat were heard in the corridor and adjacent rooms. Beck, Hoepner, the Stauffenberg brothers, Olbricht, Merz, Heften and other conspirators were captured; a few, including Air Major Georgi, Olbricht's son-in-law, as well as Kleist, Fritsche and Ludwig von Hammerstein, managed to escape in the general confusion. Beck asked to leave him a gun for "personal purposes." In response, Fromm urged the general to quickly carry out his intention. Putting a pistol to his temple, Beck fired, but the shot was not fatal, and he collapsed into a chair. After a while, Beck asked in a weak voice for another pistol. They gave him, but the second shot did not kill him. Then one sergeant-major "out of compassion" finished off the unconscious general. Fromm announced that he had convened a court-martial that sentenced four officers to death: Colonel Merz Quirnheim, General Olbricht, Colonel Stauffenberg and Heften. Fromm then suggested to Hoepner that he commit suicide. But Gepner replied that he did not know such a grave guilt behind him, and allowed himself to be taken to the military prison of Moabit. The four men sentenced to death were taken out into the yard at about midnight to be shot. Heften supported Stauffenberg, who was weakened from injury. The execution site was illuminated by the headlights of a military truck. Count Klaus Schenk von Staufenberg died crying "Long live holy Germany!" Bullets ended Stauffenberg's life on the eve of his 37th birthday. At 0021, General Fromm ordered that a telegram be sent to all command authorities that had previously received orders from the conspirators. In it, he declared these orders null and void and reported that the putsch attempt had been suppressed. Fromm's decision to immediately execute the main conspirators was clearly explained by his desire to quickly get rid of unpleasant witnesses. Meanwhile, the SS Fuhrers Skorzeny and Kaltenbrunner, who arrived in the meantime, ordered that the chained prisoners be immediately delivered to Prinz-Albrecht-Straße, where interrogations immediately began. Fromm, who no longer had command power, since Himmler was now appointed commander of the reserve army, went to Goebbels. But on the same night, Fromm was subjected to an "honorable arrest." At about one in the morning, the radio broadcast Hitler's speech, which had been announced four hours earlier. The tape recording of the speech had first to be delivered from Rastenburg to Konigsberg. Hitler declared: “A tiny bunch of vain, unscrupulous, and at the same time criminal, stupid officers put together a conspiracy to remove me, and with me to destroy the headquarters of the operational leadership of the armed forces. A bomb planted by Colonel Count von Staufenberg exploded two meters to my right… I myself remained completely unharmed, except for very minor abrasions, bruises or burns. I take this as a confirmation of the will of providence, commanding me to continue to strive to achieve the goal of my life, as I have done to this day ... ”The wild abuse of the conspirators was followed by a statement that they“ will now be mercilessly exterminated. Then Hitler again thanked "providence" and promised: "I must continue to, and therefore I will lead my people." To investigate the events and search for the rest of the participants, Himmler immediately created a Special Commission for the July 20 case under the Gestapo, the apparatus of which consisted of 400 officials, divided into 11 departments. This special commission worked until the very end of Hitler. The total number of those arrested was approximately 7,000 people. Among the victims of the Nazi terror after July 20, 1944, there were 20 generals, including one field marshal general. Some of the conspirators managed to escape, and they were wanted: for example, Karl Goerdeler (reward - one million marks), Fritz Lindemann (500 thousand marks). Most of the conspirators fell into the hands of the Gestapo immediately. Immediately after July 20, increased border blocking measures were introduced. After the failed coup attempt, some of the conspirators committed suicide to escape the Gestapo torture that awaited them. The well-known in Germany and abroad, Field Marshal Erwin von Rommel, the Nazis got rid of in a special way. On October 14, 1944, on the orders of Hitler, he was given the choice to either commit suicide or face trial. In case of suicide, he will be given a solemn funeral, and the family will be spared and will not be persecuted. After saying goodbye to his wife and son, Rommel took the poison given to him by Hitler's envoy.