The bomb that exploded in the "Wolf's Lair"—Hitler's command headquarters—on July 20th, 1944 was the closest any assassination attempt ever came to ridding the world of the Nazis' Führer. Pierre Galante's account of the years that led up to the attempt, and its grim aftermath, offers an illuminating look at how dissent among the German officer corps grew until something had to be done. Conspirator General Adolf Heusinger, who met with Hitler on hundreds of occasions, provides his personal accounts of the disintegrating obedience of the German commanders as the war turned against them. Their plan to kill Hitler, establish a provisional government, and negotiate with the Allies for peace—known as Operation Valkyrie—is described here in depth.

After Operation Valkyrie--the failed July 20, 1944, plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler and seize control of the German government--both the Third Reich and Hitler came to a violent end. Hitler promised a classless fatherland before he became chancellor and had covertly been liquidating Germany's elite officer corps long before Stalingrad. Today it is possible to reconstruct and connect important events and biographies of the principle characters to chronicle the disappearance of Germany's officer class, its nobility and, for a time, its civilian leadership.

20 July 1944 is usually associated with the bomb plot to murder Hitler. However, what distinguishes Colonel Stauffenberg’s plan from all others is that the attempt on the Führer’s life was only to be the initial stage of a full military coup d’état. The aim was to overthrow the murderous regime, and to end the war as soon as possible. The conspiracy has long been analyzed from political, social, religious, or moral points of view. This book asks what the military dimension of the plan was. What traditions in the German army were at work, how was planning and preparation done, and why did the plot fail eventually? What is more: how did the conspiracy affect the German armies created in East and West after World War II, and also the Austrian Army? As the politicians among the conspirators thought in categories of Imperial Germany or at least the Weimar Republic, the officers among them were conditioned by the Reichswehr. Yet, Stauffenberg and some others were also bright intellectuals who were willing to incorporate their war experience into their plans, rendering them surprisingly modern at times. The coup d’état had been planned as meticulously as circumstances in war-torn Berlin allowed. However, as most officers had foreseen, once it became public knowledge that Hitler had survived Stauffenberg’s bomb, army units refused to act. The myth surrounding the "Führer" effectively prevented any military action against him. Still, the failed uprising had its effects: the regime took the opportunity to tilt the balance of power further in favor of Himmler and his fiefdom (SS, Gestapo, Police), to the detriment of the army which Hitler felt was too reactionary anyway. The leadership of the West German Bundeswehr always saw the failed uprising as part of its tradition, but it took time for this attitude to percolate down to the rank and file. For decades, some of the former Wehrmacht soldiers viewed Stauffenberg and his friends as "traitors". The book is the first to approach this important event in German history from a specifically military point of view, and that results in some surprising new results.

Provides an account of the unsuccessful military conspiracy against Adolf Hitler carried out by the generals on his staff in the summer of 1944.

By July of 1944, the Third Reich's days were numbered. Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg, a general staff insider with open eyes (and access to the F?hrer), was convinced that assassinating Hitler was the only way to prevent the destruction of the Fatherland and the deaths of millions. On July 20, he hid a bomb-stuffed briefcase at a high-level meeting. The explosion tore through the room, but a table leg spared Hitler from the blast. The result was a witch hunt, a wave of executions, and a further pointless year of war. Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh deliver ... [a] definitive portrait of the anti-Nazi movement (called "Secret Germany") that almost killed Hitler

There were over forty plots to assassinate Hitler— This is the “compelling, fast-paced account” of the one that came closest to succeeding (Publishers Weekly). The July Plot of 1944 was masterminded by Count Claus von Stauffenberg, a member of the German General Staff, who had been rushed back from Africa after losing his left eye and right hand. For his injuries, he had been decorated as a war hero. However, he’d never been a supporter of Nazi ideology—and he was increasingly attracted by the approaches of the German resistance movement. After an attempt to assassinate Hitler in November 1943 failed, Stauffenberg developed a new plot to kill him at the Wolf’s Lair, fortified underground bunkers, on July 20, 1944. Besides the führer’s assassination, Stauffenberg organized plans to take over command of the German forces and sue for peace with the Allies. With the help of photographs, explanatory maps, and diagrams, author Nigel Jones dissects the events leading up to the attempt, the events of the day in minute-by-minute detail, and the aftermath in which the conspirators were hunted down. No other work on the July Plot contains such a full explanation of this attempt on Hitler’s life—in addition to a forensic analysis of the day, the book includes short biographies of the key characters involved, the first-person recollections of witnesses, and a “what if” section explaining the likely outcome of a successful assassination. “An engaging history by a talented and accomplished writer.” —Roger Moorhouse, author of Killing Hitler

Both horrifying and life-affirming, Disobeying Hitler tells the untold story of German revolt against the dying Nazi tyranny. Anyone with even a passing interest in the Second World War knows about the plot to assassinate Hitler in 1944. There was even a Tom Cruise movie. But the story of the great wave of resistance that arose in the year that followed--with far-reaching consequences--has never been told before. Drawing on newly opened archives, acclaimed historian Randall Hansen shows that many high-ranking Nazis, and average German citizens in far greater numbers than previously recognized, reacted defiantly to the Fuhrer's by then manifest insanity. Together they spared cities from being razed, and prevented the needless obliteration of industry and infrastructure. Disobeying Hitler presents new evidence on three direct violations of orders made personally by Adolf Hitler: The refusal by the commander of Paris to destroy the city; Albert Speer's refusal to implement a scorched earth policy in Germany; and the failure to defend Hamburg against invading British forces. In gripping, story-driven style, Disobeying Hitler shows how the brave resistence of soldiers and civilians, under constant threat of death, was crucial for the outcome of the war. Their bravery saved countless lives and helped lay the foundations for European economic recovery--and continued peace