18 of the Many Attempts to Assassinate Adolf Hitler by the German Resistance

18. Operation Valkyrie was the assassination attempt which came closest to success

The July 20 bomb plot was just one facet in the overall attempted coup launched by the conspirators led by Tresckow, Stauffenberg, and others known as Operation Valkyrie. Though the bomb planted in the conference room by Stauffenberg detonated, severely injuring Hitler and killing several others, the plot failed when delays initiating the rest of the plan in Berlin allowed the SS and others loyal to the Fuhrer to respond in time. Stauffenberg, who flew to Berlin after successfully planting the bomb at Wolf’s Lair, was executed that same night for treason. Several other conspirators were shot by the firing squad before the next morning. Upon learning of the failure of the coup and the fact of Hitler’s survival of the bombing, Tresckow committed suicide at his post on the Eastern Front. Hitler’s vengeance was immediate and deadly.

Hitler ordered those connected with the plot to be hanged by piano wire, their executions filmed, and he spent long hours watching the films. Field Marshal Erwin Rommel was discovered to have been aware of the plot and was offered the opportunity to commit suicide rather than face trial for treason, which he accepted. The trials of conspirators and the execution of those accused, very few of whom were acquitted, continued until the end of the war. The Gestapo dragnet even produced evidence which was sufficient for them to name Pope Pius XII as an active member of the conspiracy, allowing the Gestapo to thus implicate every member of the Catholic clergy then active in the Reich. Valkyrie was the last known attempt to assassinate Adolf Hitler during his career, and it had the most impact on the eventual destruction of the Nazi regime.