The Plot to Overthrow Hitler
On July 20, 1944, a number of military officials were involved in a plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler and high-ranking members of the Nazi Party. Throughout Hitler’s dominance of the German government, there had been ongoing rebellion in the military. This was a final, desperate move in the hopes of protecting Germany from the continued consequences of an Allied assault. Today, the 20 July plot is commonly called Operation Valkyrie; however, Operation Valkryie originally referred to only a small portion of the operation.
Plotting began well before the middle of 1944. As early as 1942, Colonel Henning von Tresckow and Brigadier-General Hans Oster began to work closely together as the rebellion became increasingly organized. Tresckow was a high-ranking army official in Operation Barbarossa—the invasion of the Soviet Union, while Oster was deputy head of military intelligence. Tresckow and Oster were the first to conceive of a plan for the assassination of Adolf Hitler.
It had become clear by the summer of 1943 that Germany was unlikely to win the war. The rebellious forces in the army came to a relatively simple conclusion; Hitler had to go in order to save Germany. Following the assassination, they planned to install a government acceptable to the Allies and negotiate peace with the Soviets. Lieutenant Colonel Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg joined, and later led the plot following Tresckow’s reassignment. Between 1943 and 1944, Stauffenberg and Tresckow attempted to organize multiple assassination attempts.
The Gestapo was aware of these plots, and rapidly moving closer to the conspirators. Action was necessary, as there was little time remaining. While evidence is sparse, Rommel was likely brought into the conspiracy in early 1944. While Rommel supported a coup, he did not believe that assassination was effective. He advocated for arrest and trial of Hitler, believing that execution could set off a civil war. He may have played a role in the attempted bombing on July 20 as part of the overall plot.