Eighty-Two years ago in Germany....

Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg was ready for tomorrow - the day he hoped to assassinate Adolf Hitler. We cannot begin to imagine what was going through his head of those of the many conspirators across Germany. If it was successful then there was likely to be civil war with the Waffen-SS with Heinrich Himmler trying to takeover as Fuhrer - part of Operation Valkyrie allowed for internal uprisings to be stopped and this would be done by co conspirator Generaloberst Erich Hoepner - the subject of my next book which is due out in September.

Valkyrie had been ready to be put into operation for years - it was always there in the hands of the plotters to be used should any of the many attempts to kill Hitler actually succeed. Von Stauffenberg was simply the next in line after a long succession of failures. If the plot of 20th July 1944 failed then it would be certain death for all the conspirators - and fail it did.

Hermann Goring shows the damage from the bomb blast which Hitler, miraculously, survived to senior officers on 20th July 1944

The aftermath saw a violent purge every bit as barbaric as a Roman proscription with around 5,000 people either executed or placed in concentration camps. As for Hitler his rage knew no bounds.

Hitler visited Carlshof Hospital the day after the blast and is seen here at the bedside of one his most trusted aids General Schmundt - Schmundt would die of his wounds a few days later.

Although few were killed outright from the blast - there are a number of reasons why the plot failed - many more would die of their wounds in the days to come which made Hitler's rage and desire for vengeance even more terrible.

An immaculately groomed Adolf Hitler, only a matter of hours after the blast, sits with Oberstleutnant Heinrich Borgmann, one of many adjutants to the Fuhrer. Borgmann would survive, be promoted to full Colonel but be killed just before the war's end on 5th April, 1945.

As for the trials of those arrested I will be writing a full post on that of Erich Hoepner to coincide with the anniversary of his execution next month.