Eight Most Notable Unsuccessful Attempts to Kill Hitler
by Hollywood recently releases a movie, Valkrie that tells a story on how a military conspirational group led by Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg planned to assassinate Hitler. This attempt was not the first plot to kill Hitler. Here are some of the most notable plots.
Rudolf von Gersdorff (March 1943)
Gersdorff intended to do a suicide bombing. He carried 8 ounces C2 bomb and hide it in his pocket. He was a tour guide when Hitler visited Zeughaus Berlin to inspect Soviet captured weapons. His plan was to throw himself around Hitler after Hitler made his speech and blew the bomb that would surely kill them both. The bomb was set to explode within 10 minutes after the detonator was activated. Unexpectedly, Hitler ended the tour sooner than expected. Probably because he felt Gersdorff,s anxiety. Gersdorff managed to diffuse the bomb in a public lavatory. He evaded suspicion and become one of few German Military anti Hitler plotter who survive the war.
Claus Von Stauffenberg (20 July 1944)
Born into an aristocrat Catholic family; Stauffenberg felt uneasy towards Hitler’s ill-treatment of Jews. Finally, his personal sense of justice and religious morality made him turn against Hitler.
Stauffenberg named his assassination plan “Valkrie Operation”. This is perhaps the most famous plot to kill Hitler. Stauffenberg planned to conceal two bombs in a briefcase and put it in the briefing room in Wolfsschanze, one of Nazi’s Headquarters, when Hitler held a meeting there on 20 July 1944.Because there was not enough time to arm the second bomb before the meeting began, only one bomb was successfully carried into the briefing room. Stauffenberg placed the briefcase as close as possible to Hittler and hurriedly excused himself. Unexpectedly, after his exit from the room, Colonel Brandt moved the briefcase away from its intended position.
The bomb exploded. Stauffenberg watched the explosion and convinced himself that no one could have survived the blast. He was wrong. He was in Berlin to initiate a military coup against Nazi’s leaders when he heard the news that Hitler suffered only minor injury. Scientist believes that the existence of windows on the walls of the meeting room had reduced the power of explosion. Moreover, the wrong placement of the bomb caused a heavy and solid oak conference table to form a shield that protected Hitler. Modern computer simulation shows that if only the second bomb were also used, the blast would have killed Hitler. Stauffenberg was shot to death.
Besides the above attempt, there are still numerous plots to kill Hitler, from bombing to poisoning. Although all have failed, it shows the world that not all German citizen and military support Hitler’s conduct and ideology.
You might be interested in :
Five Greatest Inventions That Helped the Allied Forces Win World War II
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Post CommentEunice Tan
On April 6, 2009 at 2:18 am
Yovita, I’m convinced that you are a great historian. I only know this from you.
PR Mace
On April 6, 2009 at 2:23 am
Very interesting article.
Shari86
On April 6, 2009 at 3:43 am
Very well researched article and great archive photos. There were a few typos though which probably would have been picked up by doing a spell check. If you are interested in WWII history, you probably saw the Tom Cruise film Valkyrie. You can read my review of that movie here: http://www.cinemaroll.com/Comedy/Valkyrie-Falls-Just-Short-of-the-Target.497559
Dee Gold
On April 6, 2009 at 3:48 am
a job well done here.
Betty Carew
On April 6, 2009 at 4:13 am
Yovita thia is an excellent article on my favorite subject. Hitler as always fascinated me or should I say that era. Excellent write and read
john coombs
On April 6, 2009 at 6:13 am
Hi mate new to triond liked your article. I am a fellow historian I have submitted an article on the bubonic plague please read a give me some feed back.
thanks
Nina007
On April 6, 2009 at 6:27 am
wow…!!!what nice work…
Daisy Peasblossom
On April 6, 2009 at 6:34 am
Interesting stuff. I became fascinated with the info, and didn’t notice the typos. (That’s why I’m not good at editiing.)
NA Staffieri
On April 6, 2009 at 7:01 am
Great history lesson.
Kate Smedley
On April 6, 2009 at 7:56 am
I love this era of history, wonderful article Yovita, thank you.
Daghost413860
On April 6, 2009 at 8:19 am
This is great stuff, good research!
Joe Dorish
On April 6, 2009 at 11:20 am
Liked this article!
nutuba
On April 6, 2009 at 2:16 pm
Yovita, this is a well researched, informative, and interesting article! It’s amazing to me that so many plots failed. I know that Dietrich Bonhoeffer was involved in a plot as well, but I’m not sure if it’s one of these listed or if it’s another one. Anyway, I enjoyed this immensely!
Kim Buck
On April 6, 2009 at 3:26 pm
Interesting article…
Lauren Axelrod
On April 6, 2009 at 4:52 pm
Wow, this was fantastic. I can’t believe this many people failed, but Hitler was just to paranoid. He knew things before they ever happened. If I was alive at the time, I would have done the same thing. He was a monster!
Lady Sunshine
On April 6, 2009 at 7:23 pm
Fascinating article, Yovita. With so many attempts, I am surprised that they all failed! And you are right. This shows not all German citizens believed or supported Hitler’s ideology. Thank you for this piece.
Shirley Shuler
On April 6, 2009 at 7:39 pm
Excellent article Yovita, well done!!
papaleng
On April 6, 2009 at 8:50 pm
great article, Where did you find those facts.
denus
On April 6, 2009 at 11:50 pm
excellent article, i was aware of stauffenberg but not some of the others.
Inna Tysoe
On April 6, 2009 at 11:56 pm
Excellent article.
Thank you,
Inna
Poetic Enigma
On April 7, 2009 at 1:01 am
Did not know this info,
Great article, very well done
egypt33
On April 7, 2009 at 1:31 am
Excellent information!
Patrick Bernauw
On April 7, 2009 at 1:57 am
This really is the stuff for a history freak like me! I did know Von Stauffenberg and Elser, but I never heard of the rest… Great article, well researched!
CHAN LEE PENG
On April 7, 2009 at 10:09 am
You’re a good history teacher. I learnt much from you. Thanks for your class. Student Chan,
ShaFar
On April 7, 2009 at 2:27 pm
Great research and very well written.
Ruby Hawk
On April 7, 2009 at 4:55 pm
What a lot of lives would have been saved if one of these plans had worked. You would think with all the people out to get him that someone could have carried it out.
nobert soloria bermosa
On April 7, 2009 at 5:58 pm
this is a very interesting piece of history
OhSugar
On April 7, 2009 at 6:50 pm
Excellent presentation of some very interesting historical information. Thanks for sharing.
Fresh Writing
On April 7, 2009 at 7:16 pm
I have to say, this was really interesting to read! Last year we read about the various attempts to assassinate Hitler…I find it interesting that none of them succeeded (also disappointing).
Thank you for sharing! Valkyrie, which I saw in theaters, was very ‘intense’ and an interesting movie to watch; one of the few movies I can honestly say that Tom Cruise acted fairly well in.
-Fresh Writing
CutestPrincess
On April 9, 2009 at 1:23 am
i learned a lot from you today, yovita!
S A JOHNSON
On April 10, 2009 at 1:08 am
Thanks for the information
Mr Ghaz
On April 14, 2009 at 7:23 pm
Very interesting article about History/ Hitler. Lovely article. Nicely done and well written 2. I LOV it..nice pics..Thanx 4 sharing..keep it up
skylite
On April 15, 2009 at 10:11 am
Very well researched and interesting article
Holly J. Harrington
On April 17, 2009 at 12:25 pm
Excellent commentary. Thank you.
BC Doan
On April 23, 2009 at 6:59 pm
Fascinating information, and well documented!
Parish Loveless
On April 25, 2009 at 11:21 am
These were ALL very wonderful people. I admire all of them very very much. GOOD ARTICLE!!!
Hari678
On May 1, 2009 at 7:19 am
It is an exciting and interesting article. Yovita this is an excellent historic article which I like very much.
Athlyn Green
On May 6, 2009 at 2:07 pm
Wow! Interesting info. I never realized that their were plots against Hitler–but it makes sense.
Lorenzo A. Fernandez Jr.
On May 8, 2009 at 10:44 pm
very interesting…hardly knew there were some brave souls during Hitler’s dictatorship.
seashell66
On May 9, 2009 at 10:59 am
Wow, very interesting stuff here.
swatilohani
On May 19, 2009 at 3:59 am
it was a treat for me, just adored your article, great info
Leonardo da Vinci E.
On August 26, 2009 at 2:59 pm
I especially enjoyed your presentation. Thank you for your skill in writing it.
Fornis
On September 11, 2009 at 2:14 pm
These people were great men. They took great risks as high as treason because they wanted to show the world that Germany is not cruel or isolated.
Great writing
Kaetus
On November 13, 2009 at 2:30 pm
Waw i really enjoyed reading this, since I like History so much. This was very well done, congratulations.
P.S: There are some typos
Thomas
On December 16, 2009 at 6:09 am
Thanks for sharing.
Correction on Maurice Bavaud.
Switzerland tried to save him.
The diplomacy condemned it publicly but tried to exchange him against a German spy.
Germany turned down the offer.