Operation Valkyrie

For the 2008 film based on this plot, see Valkyrie (film).

Operation Valkyrie (Unternehmen Walküre) was an emergency "Continuity-of-Government" operations plan developed for the Territorial Reserve Army of the Germany (Wehrmacht Heer) to execute and implement should; for whatever reason; there come to be a general breakdown in civil order of the nation; caused by the failure of the nominal civilian (Nazi) led government, to maintain control of civil affairs. The plan was approved by German dictator Adolf Hitler, who intended it to be used in the event that physical disruption caused by the Allied bombing of German cities resulted in a breakdown in domestic law and order; or a rising by the millions of forced laborers from occupied countries working in German factories.

The "plan" as implemented by the attempted assassins of Hitler was an attempt to “trick” the Territorial Reserve Army of the Third Reich into the seizure and removal of the civilian National Socialist (Nazi) government of wartime Germany; under the false pretense that, the said same civilian government had attempted a coup d’état; that included the assassination of Adolf Hitler. The key variable being that the rank-and-file soldiers and junior officers who were supposed to execute this plan, would be motivated to do so based upon the false belief that it was the Nazi leadership who had behaved with disloyalty and treason against the state and were required to be removed.

German Resistance

In an ironic twist of fate, however, the German Resistance—led by members of the Reserve Army and including members of the Kreisau Circle—modified the plan with the intention of using it to take control of German cities, disarm the SS, and arrest the Nazi leadership once Hitler had been assassinated in the July 20 Plot. Hitler's death was required to free German soldiers from their oath of loyalty to him (Reichswehreid). After lengthy preparation, the plot was carried out in 1944.

Apart from Hitler, only General Friedrich Fromm, commander of the Reserve Army, could put Operation Valkyrie into effect, so he had to be either won over to the conspiracy or in some way neutralized if the plan were to succeed. Fromm, like many senior officers, knew in general about the military conspiracies against Hitler but neither supported them nor reported them to the Gestapo.

The key role was played by German Army (Wehrmacht Heer) officer Claus von Stauffenberg, who was in charge of German Reserve Army's Walküre, a role which allowed him access to Hitler for reports, and required his presence in the coup—which ruled out another suicide attack as planned earlier by other officers. After the first attempt had to be canceled and declared an "exercise", Stauffenberg placed the bomb on July 20 and hurried back to Berlin to assume his pivotal role.

Fromm ordered the executions of General Olbricht, his chief of staff Colonel Albrecht Ritter Mertz von Quirnheim, Colonel von Stauffenberg, and his adjutant Lieutenant Werner von Haeften. Shortly after midnight, the condemned men were led to a mound of earth back lit by idle vehicles where each was executed by firing squad in the courtyard of Bendlerstrasse headquarters.

Initial Walküre order to the Wehrkreise (as of 1943)

I. The Führer Adolf Hitler is dead!
An unscrupulous clique of party leaders alien to the front has attempted, under the exploitation of this situation, to fall on the backs of the hard-struggling front and to seize power for selfish purposes.*

II. In this hour of highest danger, the government of the Reich has declared a state of military emergency for the maintenance of law and order and at the same time has transferred the executive power, with the supreme command of the Wehrmacht, to me.

III. With this, I order:

1. I transfer the executive power – with the right of delegation, on the territorial commanders – in the area of the war at home, on the commander of the army reserves under the simultaneous appointment to the supreme commander in the homeland war – in the occupied western area, on the supreme commander west – in Italy, on the supreme commander southwest – in the occupied eastern area, on the supreme commander of the army groups and the commander of the Wehrmacht eastern land for their respective area of command – in Denmark and Norway, to the Wehrmacht commander.

2. The holders of executive power have control over:

a) all section and units of the Wehrmacht, including the Waffen-SS, RAD and the OT, within their area of command;

b) all public authorities (of the Reich, Germany, the states and the municipalities), especially the entire law enforcement police, security police and administrative police;

c) all office bearers and subdivisions of the NSDAP and those of its affiliated associations;

d) the transportation services and public utilities.

3. The entire Waffen-SS is integrated into the army with immediate effect.

4. The holders of executive power are responsible for the maintenance of order and public security. They especially have to ensure:

a) the protection of the communication facilities,

b) the elimination of the SD (Security Service).

Any opposition against the military power of enforcement is to be broken ruthlessly.
In this hour of highest danger for the Fatherland, unity of the Wehrmacht and the maintenance of full discipline is the uppermost requirement.
That is why I make it the duty of all commanders of the army, the navy, and the air force to support the holders of executive power to carry out their difficult task with all means at their disposal and to guarantee the compliance of their directives by the subordinate sections. The German soldier stands before a historical task. It will depend on his energy and attitude whether Germany will be saved.

* It was a colorful maneuver by the conspirators to impute the assassination attempt of Adolf Hitler to circles inside the NSDAP. Thereby, they could have legitimized their actions against the Party's organizations in the eyes of the population.

Improvement for 1944

Henning von Tresckow and Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg recognized the weaknesses of the plan regarding a plot. From 1943 on, they altered the plan in order to capture leaders of SS, SD, Gestapo, and the Nazi Party. Stauffenberg later used this revision in his plot in the assassination attempt on Hitler.

Epitaph

With respect to the whole purpose of the coup, which nominally was to achieve the cessation of military hostilities (at least between Germany and the Western Allies); the Coup’s leaders would have been torn to pieces by the German people because the German people would never have believed (unlike the far more naive plotters) that the Allies or the Soviet Union were interested in anything other than the unconditional surrender of Germany. And that by 1944 the terms of such an unconditional surrender would not be lessened by the removal of Hitler or his party.

Lastly, at the time of the assassination attempt in 1944 the majority of the German people believed that given the desperate nature of the conflict, in both the east and the west that only the resolute Hitler offered any hope of forcing the Allies to even consider dealing with Germany on any terms other than unconditional surrender. The German people at some fundamental level understood that only an individual (Hitler) who head was more at risk than all of Germany, would be motivated to lead and fight-on to the last to preserve the German state.

See also

• July 20 plot
• List of members of the 20 July plot
• Valkyrie
• Valkyrie (film)
• Fighter Pilots Conspiracy

Literature

Reference in English

• Hans Bernd Gisevius, Valkyrie: An Insider's Account of the Plot to Kill Hitler, 2009 reprint of one volume abridgement of two volume text, To the Bitter End, 1947. Foreword by Allen Welsh Dulles, introduction by Peter Hoffmann. Translated by Richard and Clara Winston; Da Capo Press, Cambridge, MA ISBN 978-0-306-81771-7

References below are in German.

• Helena Page, General Friedrich Olbricht: Ein Mann des 20. Julis, 1993, Bouvier Verlag, Bonn ISBN 3-416-02514-8
• Dr. phil. Gerd R. Ueberschär: Auf dem Weg zum 20. Juli 1944, Motive und Entwicklung der Militäropposition gegen Hitler.,[1]
• Bernd Rüthers: Spiegelbild einer Verschwörung – Zwei Abschiedsbriefe zum 20. Juli 1944. Juristenzeitung 14/2005, pp. 689–698
• Hans-Adolf Jacobsen (Hrsg.): Spiegelbild einer Verschwörung. Die Opposition gegen Hitler und der Staatsstreich vom 20. Juli 1944 in der SD-Berichterstattung. Geheime Dokumente aus dem ehemaligen Reichssicherheitshauptamt. 2 Vol., Stuttgart 1984
• Peter Hoffmann: Widerstand, Staatsstreich, Attentat. Der Kampf der Opposition gegen Hitler. Munich 1985 (reissue)

External links

• German Resistance to Hitler – Valkyrie Conspiracy – German Conspiracy against the Nazi Regime culminating in the Coup Attempt of 20 July 1944
• The Conference Room at the "Wolf's Lair" after the Assassination Attempt (July 20, 1944) from German History in Documents and Images a project of the German Historical Institute
• Telex Message by the Conspiratorial Stauffenberg Group to the Holders of Executive Power (July 20, 1944) from German History in Documents and Images a project of the German Historical Institute

Following links are in German.

• The assassination attempt from July 20, 1944, and the operation "Valkyrie"
• Consequences