Valkyrie: The Story of the Plot to Kill Hitler, by Its Last Member by Philip Freiherr von Boeselager Page B
Authors: Philip Freiherr von Boeselager
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in the face.
We were actively preparing, working out scenarios, practicing our aim. Still, we had to decide who was goingto pull the trigger. Shooting somebody in the back already demands a great deal of sangfroid, and shooting him from the front is still more difficult. But shooting someone in the face is something else again. Georg saw Tresckow daily in order to ensure that his cavalry group would have priority. One day Tresckow suddenly asked him straight out whether he was prepared to assassinate the man who had solemnly decorated him a year earlier. My brother was a man of resolute temperament, and hunting had made him a good shot. Tresckow had decided that he wouldn’t get rattled. Georg reflected for a moment, and then conceded that he couldn’t guarantee hitting his mark. He was not afraid for his life, though indeed a solitary shooter would be completely exposed to the bodyguards’ fire. He was afraid that he might get too nervous to aim properly.
He therefore accepted, but only on the condition that he not be alone. There were nine conspirators in all, four from the staff and five from the cavalry unit being formed. Among the former were Captain Schmidt-Salzmann and I. I had delayed for a month taking up my command, which was initially scheduled for March 1, 1943, so as to be able to devote myself more fully to preparing for the assassination attempt. The scenario was as follows: once Hitler had come into the mess hall and sat down for lunch, Georg was to stand up and count “one, two,” whereupon the rest of us would also stand up and fire. There would probably be a few bodyguards, but they would be on the edges of the room, not seated at the main tables. Obviously, we were expecting them to react, but we were counting on the confusion to render them ineffective. It was as simple as that. Everyone knew exactly his position and his role. It was important that there be several shooters, in case an unforeseen obstacle caught one of the bullets.
The officers’ dining room where the March 1943
attempt to shoot Hitler was to take place
. (photo credit 14.1)
We also had a backup plan in the event that the lunch was canceled at the last minute, as Hitler was not fond of banquets. Wilhelm König’s cavalry squadron would intercept the Führer while he was passing through the forest and hand him over to an improvised military tribunal, which would sentence him to a firing squad. Finally, as a last resort, Schlabrendorff had proposed putting explosives in the Führer’s plane.
It remained to tell Kluge about our preparations. He knew generally what his operations officer was up to, and covered him. The only limit on his tacit approval was imposed by his legendary intelligence and prudence—not for nothing had he been nicknamed Günther the Crafty. To this sixty-year-old Prussian imbued with tradition, assassinating Hitler while he was eating lunch seemed a little cowardly for German officers. He had another reservation as well: the German people would not understand the murder of a man still perceived as an energetic war leader and the last bulwark against humiliating defeat. Hence, when I asked him about the plan, the field marshal did not answer me; instead, he gesturedwith his chin as if to say, “Do it at your own risk … I won’t denounce you.”
On March 7, Hans von Dohnanyi, Hans Oster’s assistant, came to the headquarters of Army Group Center. Coded signals had been set up with him to launch the coup d’état in the event of the assassination’s success. On March 12, 1943, the day before the Führer was to visit, we learned that Heinrich Himmler, head of the SS, would not be coming along with him. Kluge withdrew his approval at the last minute: to kill Hitler without seizing Himmler was to risk starting a civil war. As soon as the Führer was dead, the SS would take power and begin a merciless repression. It would then be necessary to dislodge them in turn from supreme power. In short,
We were actively preparing, working out scenarios, practicing our aim. Still, we had to decide who was goingto pull the trigger. Shooting somebody in the back already demands a great deal of sangfroid, and shooting him from the front is still more difficult. But shooting someone in the face is something else again. Georg saw Tresckow daily in order to ensure that his cavalry group would have priority. One day Tresckow suddenly asked him straight out whether he was prepared to assassinate the man who had solemnly decorated him a year earlier. My brother was a man of resolute temperament, and hunting had made him a good shot. Tresckow had decided that he wouldn’t get rattled. Georg reflected for a moment, and then conceded that he couldn’t guarantee hitting his mark. He was not afraid for his life, though indeed a solitary shooter would be completely exposed to the bodyguards’ fire. He was afraid that he might get too nervous to aim properly.
He therefore accepted, but only on the condition that he not be alone. There were nine conspirators in all, four from the staff and five from the cavalry unit being formed. Among the former were Captain Schmidt-Salzmann and I. I had delayed for a month taking up my command, which was initially scheduled for March 1, 1943, so as to be able to devote myself more fully to preparing for the assassination attempt. The scenario was as follows: once Hitler had come into the mess hall and sat down for lunch, Georg was to stand up and count “one, two,” whereupon the rest of us would also stand up and fire. There would probably be a few bodyguards, but they would be on the edges of the room, not seated at the main tables. Obviously, we were expecting them to react, but we were counting on the confusion to render them ineffective. It was as simple as that. Everyone knew exactly his position and his role. It was important that there be several shooters, in case an unforeseen obstacle caught one of the bullets.
The officers’ dining room where the March 1943
attempt to shoot Hitler was to take place
. (photo credit 14.1)
We also had a backup plan in the event that the lunch was canceled at the last minute, as Hitler was not fond of banquets. Wilhelm König’s cavalry squadron would intercept the Führer while he was passing through the forest and hand him over to an improvised military tribunal, which would sentence him to a firing squad. Finally, as a last resort, Schlabrendorff had proposed putting explosives in the Führer’s plane.
It remained to tell Kluge about our preparations. He knew generally what his operations officer was up to, and covered him. The only limit on his tacit approval was imposed by his legendary intelligence and prudence—not for nothing had he been nicknamed Günther the Crafty. To this sixty-year-old Prussian imbued with tradition, assassinating Hitler while he was eating lunch seemed a little cowardly for German officers. He had another reservation as well: the German people would not understand the murder of a man still perceived as an energetic war leader and the last bulwark against humiliating defeat. Hence, when I asked him about the plan, the field marshal did not answer me; instead, he gesturedwith his chin as if to say, “Do it at your own risk … I won’t denounce you.”
On March 7, Hans von Dohnanyi, Hans Oster’s assistant, came to the headquarters of Army Group Center. Coded signals had been set up with him to launch the coup d’état in the event of the assassination’s success. On March 12, 1943, the day before the Führer was to visit, we learned that Heinrich Himmler, head of the SS, would not be coming along with him. Kluge withdrew his approval at the last minute: to kill Hitler without seizing Himmler was to risk starting a civil war. As soon as the Führer was dead, the SS would take power and begin a merciless repression. It would then be necessary to dislodge them in turn from supreme power. In short,
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