VALKYRIE: The plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler

According to Norse mythology, a valkyrie (chooser of the slain) is one of a congregation of female figures who decide upon those who die in battle. After their death, the valkyries bring these chosen warriors to the afterlife hall of the slain, Valhalla, ruled over by the god Odin. In Valhalla the deceased warriors become einherjar. There, when the einherjar are not preparing for the events of Ragnarök, the valkyries bear them dead. But in history, it is related to a certain Colonel Claus Schenk von Stauffenberg, and his actual implementation of an assassination attempt on Adolf Hitler on July 20, 1944.
Von Stauffenberg, Claus Philip Schenk remained an apolitical military officer during the chaotic years of German economic unrest and the Nazi rise to power. In Berlin, his all-around brilliance attracted the attention of ranking German officers and in two years he emerged as a twenty-nine-year-old officer of the high command. He was a dedicated patriot and, according to his family, "basically a monarchist.
Stauffenberg was definitely far from a slavish follower of Hitler, while not opposed to National Socialism in the mid-1930s,. Stauffenberg's first doubts about the Nazi programs came during the virulent anti-Jewish campaigns of 1938. Nevertheless when the war started in September 1939, Stauffenberg was enthusiastic to carry out his responsibility. In early June 1940, just before the Dunkirk assault, he was transferred to the army high command. And for the first eighteen months of Operation Barbarossa, the Russian campaign, he spent most of his time in Soviet territory.
In early 1943, Stauffenberg served with the 10th Panzer Division in Field Marshal Erwin Rommel's Afrika Korps. On April 7, 1943, he was seriously wounded at Sebkhet en Noual, south of Mezzouna in the North African desert, when Allied fighters strafed his vehicle. He lost his left eye, right hand, and last two fingers of his left hand after surgery.
In 1943, he only agreed to join in conspiracy with the civilian side of the German Resistance, including Wilhelm Canaris, Carl Goerdeler, Julius Leber, Ulrich Hassell, Hans Oster, Henning von Tresckow, Fabian von Schlabrendorff , Peter Graf Yorck von Wartenburg, Ludwig Beck, and Erwin von Witzleben in what became known as the July Plot. According to the plan, after Adolf Hitler, Hermann Goering and Heinrich Himmler were assassinated, Ludwig Beck, Erwin von Witzleben and Friedrich Fromm would take control of the German Army and seize key government buildings, telephone and signal centres, and radio stations. Stauffenberg was to become State Secretary of the War Ministry in the post-coup government.
In June 1944, Stauffenberg was promoted to Colonel and appointed Chief of Staff to Home Army Commander General Friedrich Fromm. This gave him direct access to Hitler's briefing sessions.
On July 11, Stauffenberg brought a bomb concealed in a briefcase with him to a briefing at Hitler's Berghof residence. He planned to assassinate Hitler that day, but circumstances beyond his control prevented him from doing so.
Four days later, Stauffenberg flew to the Fuehrer's Wolf's Lair headquarters with aide and co-conspirator Captain Klausing. He was ordered by senior conspirators in Berlin to abort the attempt after telephoning to report the absence of Reichsfuehrer SS Heinrich Himmler and Luftwaffe Air Marshal Hermann Goering from the briefing session. He secretly agreed with close friend and Berlin co-conspirator Colonel von Mertz to try to kill Hitler anyway, but when he returned to the briefing room, he discovered the session had ended after only five minutes.
On July 20, Stauffenberg flew to the Wolf's Lair again with aide and co-conspirator Lt. Werner von Haeften. Stauffenberg, who had never met Hitler before, carried the bomb in a briefcase and placed it on the floor while he left to make a phone call. The bomb exploded. Of four men in the hut who died of the attack, only one was killed outright. Another died in the afternoon, and two more died later in hospital. Hitler's right arm was badly injured, but he survived the bomb blast. Stauffenberg returned to Berlin with Haeften and arrived at Army High Command Headquarters at 4:30 P.M. to launch the planned coup. The plot unraveled, however, for several reasons: Hitler survived the attack; co-conspirator General Friedrich Olbricht neglected to set the coup in motion during first two hours after the attempt; and the conspirators failed to seize any radio stations or retain authority over reserve army troops in Berlin.
In an attempt to protect himself, From organized the execution of Stauffenberg along with three other conspirators, Friedrich Olbricht, Werner von Haeften, and Colonel Albrecht Ritter Mertz von Quirnheim, in the courtyard of the War Ministry. On July 21, 1944, at 12:30 A.M., Stauffenberg was executed by firing squad. It was later reported that Stauffenberg died shouting, "Long live free Germany."