On 20 July 1944, Claus von Stauffenberg and other conspirators tried to assassinate Adolf Hitler, the Führer of Nazi Germany, inside his Wolf's Lair field headquarters near Rastenburg, East Prussia. The name Operation Valkyrie, originally referring to part of the conspiracy, has become related to the plot. The idea behind the assassination was to seize political control of Germany and its armed forces from the Nazi Party (including the SS) and to make peace with the Western Allies as soon as possible.
The plot was a plan by several groups in the German resistance to overthrow the Nazi German government. Stauffenberg planted a bomb close to Hitler since he was presented with him in the conference meeting. The bomb failed to kill Hitler since one of the participants had unwittingly moved the bomb away from Hitler. Also, the table absorbed much of the blast as a result. The failure of the assassination attempt and the intended military coup d'état that was to follow led the Gestapo to arrest more than 7,000 people of whom they executed 4,980.[1]
References
- ↑ According to Shirer, Führer Conferences on Naval Affairs, 1960, p. 1393.
