On the 20th of July in 1944, 66 years ago today, a group of German army officers attempted to overthrow the Nazi regime in Germany. The plot centered around the assassination of Hitler and the takeover of key facilities in Berlin. The plot failed; a large number of German generals and senior officials were hung for their part in the plot, or their association with members of the plot, or just because they looked like they may have had a hand in it. One of the key players in the plot was Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg. Prior to Tom Cruise bringing his character to the big screen, most Americans had never heard of Stauffenberg or the plot. If you were German or addicted to the History Channel, you probably knew all about it before the film was made. The movie was true to the story, for the most part, and I liked it a lot.
Now, the BFD disclaimer: Claus was in North Africa when he was wounded. The movie portrayed him as a staunch anti-Nazi even then. Which was probably true, since the Nazis threatened the class system that Claus, a Graf (Count), had grown up in. Several references cite him as anti-politic, and ascribe to him a sense of service, born of his station in life...a Graf. Suffice it to say that on July 20, 1944, he was extremely anti-Nazi. He planted a briefcase bomb in the conference room where Hitler was conferring with his General Staff. NO small feat since the wounds he suffered in North Africa left him with no right hand and only half a left hand, only one eye, and who knows what else. The bomb failed to kill Hitler; communication problems with Berlin, delays in action by wishy-washy conspirators, and just dumb bad luck killed the plot and not the dictator.
As the plot fell apart, Stauffenberg was arrested and shot...at the orders of General Fromm who was supposed to be a partner in the conspiracy. As Chief of Staff of the Home Army, Fromm had control of a large number of Army units in the Berlin area. He was supposed to move those units into key positions around the city to secure the coup. No doubt Fromm hoped to conceal his part in the plot by killing Stauffenberg...it didn't work...he was executed himself a short time later.
Now here is the disclaimer question: Why 1944? Why not 1941? Because they were still winning in 1941, that's why. These noble gentlemen were not motivated by any high-minded sense of morality or by what Hitler was doing to the Jews and disenfranchised of Europe (Gypsys, mentally ill, communists, anyone who wasn't on their side) or by the illegality of the wars he started...these "noble" gents were motivated by the fact that the war was lost, a madman was directing them into ruin, the allies' air forces were pulverizing their cities and factories, the allies had landed in Normandy successfully and were advancing steadily, General Paulus had lost about 400,000 men at Stalingrad, and now the Russian Front was moving back toward Germany. Most disheartening: the battle for the Atlantic, where the U-boats had roamed freely, and sunk thousands of ships full of troops and supplies bound for the allies, was turned completely around and now the feared wolfpacks of U-boats barely got formed up before land-based, long-range bombers swarmed on them, destroyers chased after them, and sank them by the hundreds. The generals had ridden the waves of success with pride at the performance of their crack troops. They didn't try to kill Hitler then...they may not have liked him, his tactical fixation with no strategic forsight, his wars that were nothing more than personal vendettas against any "enemy" who he felt "had it coming". But they didn't do anything about it, no matter what they thought...not until they could see the allies, like the villagers in a Frankenstein movie, torches and pitchforks raised, storming the castle, intent on putting an end to the evil that had threatened them.
Yeah, Claus was a hero; what he did took guts and three fingers. There were many other men of conscience and integrity in the Reich as well. It is too bad that they didn't feel the need to act sooner.