Veda #64 : Hitler's assassination attempts

Day 64
"How many times does Hitler passed his assassination attempts?"
If we talk about World War, we can't left the axis and allies side. And when we talked about Axis, we can't left Germany with its Fuhrer, Adolf Hitler. The German supreme leader at that time. Adolf Hitler, born 20 April 1889 was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party commonly known as the Nazi Party. He was the totalitarian leader of Germany from 1933 to 1945. Twelve years of his rules, he was the most "hated" man, being assasinated many times, but all of them were failed. how many assassination attempt did he passed?

He has passed 42 assassination attempts, including suicide bombers, shooting him, blowing him up, crashing his plane, making it look accidental and many more. His most Famous assisnation attempt would be of Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg with Operation Valkyrie on July 20th 1944 plot to kill Hitler failed when his bomb blew up. Colonel Claus Schenk Graf Von Stauffenberg who was responsible of carrying out both the assassination attempt and the Valkyrie Operations which did not succeed. He was executed among other senior officers for treason.

Out of 42 assassination attempts, there were seventeen attempts that were plotted against him, the rest are merely just "taking chances". Here's the list of Hitler's well-known plotted assassination attempt :
1.MUNICH
On November 8, 1939, George Elser, a swiss clock maker who had worked in Germany for several years and bitterly resented the Nazi stranglehold on labour unions, decided to kill Hitler by placing a time bomb in one of the columns behind the podium where Hitler was to give a speech in the Burgerbrau Beer Celler. Set to detonate at preciesly 9.20pm on Wednesday, Nov. 8. At 8.10 Hitler enters the beer hall but at 9.12pm he suddenly ends his speech and departs. Eight minutes later the bomb explodes killing eight people and wounding sixty-five. Elser is later arrested and confined to the concentration camp at Sachsenhousen for six and a half years. Two weeks before the war ended in Europe, Elser was executed by the SS.

2. THE BERGHOF
On March 11, 1944, Cavalry Captain Eberhard von Breitenbuch attended a conference at Hitler’s villa the ‘Berghof’ on the Obersalzberg. Concealed on his person was a small Browning pistol with which he intended to shoot his Fuhrer and at the same time was willing to sacrifice his own life in the attempt. He felt that the war was now at such a stage that the complete destruction of Germany was inevitable and that Hitler had to be stopped. Breitenbuch enters the conference room behind Field Marshal Ernst Busch, who suspects nothing, but as he approaches the door he is stopped by the Duty Sergeant who explains "Sorry, no adjutants beyond this point, Führers orders". So yet another attempt fails.

3.BERLIN
In February, 1944, Infantry Captain Axel von dem Bussche agrees to blow up Hitler and himself while he demonstrates a new army winter overcoat to the German leader. Fate intervenes the day before when during a British air raid the uniforms were destroyed and Bussche was returned to duty at the front. A few weeks later another ‘overcoat’ attempt was made. This time the volunteer model was Ewald Heinrich von Kleist, son of one of the original conspitators and included Major General Helmuth Stieff. Again the RAF saved the day with an air-raid just before the demonstration was about to take place forcing its cancellation.

4. THE BERGHOF
On July 11, 1944, Staff Officer Lt. Colonel Count Claus Schenk von Stauffenberg, convinced that he and he alone could assassinate Hitler, attended another conference at the Berghof. Concealed inside his briefcase was a time bomb. Waiting outside in a gateaway car was his co-conspirator, Captain Friedrich Klausing. Inside the Berghof, Stauffenberg telephones his colleagues in Berlin to tell them that neither Goering nor Himmler are present. They insist that the attempt be aborted. Stauffenberg then returnes to Berlin to plan his next assassination attempt.

5. RASTENBURG
Stauffenberg’s second attempt occurs at Hitler’s Wolf’s Lair headquarters in East Prussia. On July 15, 1944, he attends a Fuhrers briefing and observes with dismay that Himmler is again absent. The attempt was once again aborted.

6. RASTENBURG
This is what we know now as Operation Valkyrie. Thirty six year-old Stauffenberg’s final attempt occured on July 20, 1944. Four days earlier, the attempt was decided upon during a meeting at his residence at No. 8 Tristanstrasse, Wansee. Himmler or no Himmler, the attempt must go ahead, come what may. At 12.00pm Stauffenberg and General Fromm report to Field Marshal Keitel’s office for a briefing before entering the conference room. At 12.37pm, Stauffenberg pushes his briefcase containing the bomb, under the map table, then leaves the room on the pretext of making a telephone call. The officer who took his place noticed the briefcase and with his foot pushed it further under the table. At 12.42pm, the bomb explodes. By this time Stauffenberg is on his way back to Berlin. At 6.28pm a radio broadcast from Wolf’s Lair reports that Hitler is alive but only slightly wounded. Later that night, at 12.30am, Stauffenberg and his co-conspirators, Haeften, Olbricht and Mertz, are arrested and executed by firing squad in the inner courtyard of the Bendlerstrasse Headquarters.


1. Adolf Hitler
2. General Heusinger
3. Luftwaffe General Korten (Died of wounds)
4. Colonel Brandt (Died of wounds)
5. Luftwaffe General Bodenschatz (Severely wounded)
6. General Schnunt (Died of wounds)
7. Lt.Colonel Borgman (Severely wounded)
8. Rear Admiral Von Puttkamer
9. Stenographer Berger (Killed on the spot)
10. Naval Captain Assmann
11. General Scherff
12. General Buhle 1
13. Rear Admiral Voss
14. SS Group Leader Fegelein
15. Colonel Von Bellow
16. SS Hauptsturmfuhrer Gunsche
17. Stenographer Hagen
18. Lt.Colonel Von John (Adjutant to Keitel)
19. Major Buchs (Adjutant to Jodl)
20. Lt.Colonel Weizenegger
21. Min.Counsellor Von Sonnleithner
22. General Warlimont (Concussion)
23. General Jodl (Lightly wounded)
24. Field Marshal Keitel

This is probably the closest chance the got to put the bomb near the Fuhrer. However, this plan also failed, Hitler was merely wounded because the bomb was put under the strong oak table that supress the explosive effect.
7. PARIS
Another attempt to assassinate Hitler was planned for July 27, 1943, in Paris, where Count Fritz-Dietlof von der Schulenberg planned to shoot Hitler from the reviewing stand during a military parade in Hitler’s honour. Hitler however secretly visited Paris in the early hours of July 23, visiting all the city’s famed buildings. He began his tour at 6am and by 9am he ended his tour and departed the city. A few days later Schulenberg recieved word that his hoped for July 27 military parade had been cancelled.

8. PARIS
Despite Schulenberg’s failure to lure Hitler to Paris for the special parade, Field Marshal Erwin von Witzleben had plans of his own to assassinate Hitler. In May, 1941, he attemped to lure Hitler to Paris under a similar pretext. The visit was scheduled for May 21st but was abruptly called off at the last minute.

9. SIEGFRIED LINE
In 1939, prior to the outbreak of WWII, German General Kurt von Hammerstein repeatedly attempted to lure Hitler into visiting the Army’s fortifications along the Seigfried Line near the Dutch border where he commanded a base. Hammerstein and his co-conspirator, retired General Ludwig Beck, had planned a ‘fatal accident’ to Hitler during his inspection of the base. Hitler however, never honoured the invitation, instead he turned the tables on Hammerstein by placing him on the retired list.

10. POLTAVA
Another plot to assassinate Hitler was hatched at Army Group B Headquarters at Walki near Poltava in the Ukraine. This time the conspirators were General Hubert Lanz, his Chief of Staff, Major-General Dr. Hans Speidel and Colonel Count von Strachwitz, the commanding officer of the Grossdeutschland Tank Regiment. The plan was to arrest Hitler on his anticipated visit to Army Group B in the spring of 1943. Hitler, at the last minute, changed his mind and instead decided to visit his forces fighting in Saporoshe further east.

11. SMOLENSK
On March 13, 1943, three attempts were planned on Hitler’s life. Field Marshal Guenther von Kluge, commander of Army Group Center on the eastern front, finally managed to lure Hitler into visiting his headquarters at Smolensk. However a number of officers on Kluge’s staff had other thoughts, to assassinate Hitler. Colonel Henning von Tresckow, who hated Hitler and the Nazis, together with Lt. Fabian von Schlabrendorff, Colonel Rudolf von Gersdorff and Cavalry Captain Georg von Boeslager, had hatched a plan to get rid of the Fuhrer.
Plan 1
Captain von Boeslager and his company was to serve as armed escort to Hitler’s motorcade. During the drive from the airfield the Fuhrer’s car was to be gunned down in an ambush. The attempt was aborted when Hitler arrived with his own armen escort of 50 SS guards.
Plan 2
The second attempt was to take place during lunchtime in the mess hall. At a given signal, Tresckow was to rise from the table and open fire on Hitler as he ate lunch, but the sight of so many SS close to Hitler arouses fear of failure and so once again the attempt was aborted.
Plan 3
As Hitler leaves by plane for Berlin, Tresckow instructs Schlabrendorff to hand over a package to Colonel Heinz Brandt who is flying back with Hitler. The package, containing two bottles of brandy, is a gift for Major-General Helmuth Stieff in Berlin. Concealed in the package is a time bomb but it failed to explode owing to the high altitude cold air freezing the acid in the detonator. When news of Hitler’s safe arrival reached the plotters, Schlabrendorf immediately flew to Berlin and retrieved the package, replacing it with two genuine bottles.

He is sure hard to kill. But there is only one successful attempt to kill Hitler. When Soviet union press Germany to defeat, he killed himself rather than surrendering. He was die, shoot himself with Walther PPK, the handgun, while his mouth biting cyanide.