16. The assassination attempt in the Berghof
Eberhard von Breitenbuch was recruited by Tresckow and his fellow conspirators to serve as an aide to Gunther von Kluge, to provide a liaison between Tresckow and Kluge and to attempt to lure Kluge into actively supporting the conspiracy. In late October 1943, Kluge was severely injured when his car overturned between Minsk and Smolensk, rendering him temporarily unfit for duty (he returned to duty in July 1944). Breitenbuch was re-assigned as an aide to Field Marshal Ernst Busch. Busch was assigned to replace Kluge in command of Army Group Center, which was preparing to receive the expected Soviet attacks over the coming winter of 1943-44. In that capacity, he was summoned to appear at the Berghof to meet with Hitler and other commanders to discuss the situation on the Russian Front in the late winter.
Tresckow learned of Busch and his aide Breitenbuch being summoned to the Berghof and met with the latter, trying to persuade him to wear a suicide bomb to the meeting. Breitenbuch refused, but agreed to shoot Hitler at close range in the head. Officers were no longer allowed to wear their side arms in the Fuhrer’s presence, but Breitenbuch agreed to hide the small pistol in his trousers pocket. Busch and his aide were flown to the area and transferred to the Berghof by car. When he arrived, Breitenbuch was allowed to enter the Berghof, but an order issued only that same morning, March 11, 1944, forbade the presence of junior officers in the conference room with the Fuhrer, unless he specifically ordered their presence. Hitler did not order Breitenbuch to attend and once more avoided an attack which likely would have cost him his life.