THE PLOT TO ASSASSINATE ADOLF HITLER WAS CALLED OPERATION VALKYRIE AND THE FÜHRER'S LAST DAY
WAS SUPPOSED TO BE JULY 20, 1944. ERWIN ROMMEL WAS SUPPOSED TO BE HITLER'S REPLACEMENT.
UNFORTUNATELY, SEPP DIETRICH—HITLER'S BODYGUARD—BETRAYED THE PLANS TO
W
INSTON CHURCHILL, WHO ORDERED 2 SPITFIRES TO ASSASSINATE ROMMEL INSTEAD!

Winston Churchill—the Babylonian Bulldog—was the 20th century's version of King Richard the Babylonian Lyinheart. Winston became a "war hero" at the Battle of Omdurman in 1896 when he slaughtered a bunch of Fuzzy Wuzzies with a Maxim machine gun.

Likewise, King Richard I became known as "Lionheart" during the Third Crusade. It's easy to become a "war hero" when you own the opposition!

Winston Churchill
Warlord Winston Churchill
(Nov. 30, 1874
Jan. 24, 1965).
Misruled Britannia from 1914 to 1965.

 

On July 20, 1944, the Führer was supposed to die by a bomb planted in his "Wolf's Lair."

With at least 3 Führers, the bomb plot was doomed from the start!

Winston Churchill, General Bernard Montgomery, and General Sepp Dietrich knew all about the plot in advance!

 

 

An Adolf Hitler doppelgänger was
just 1 of 3 Führers from
1933 to 1945.

The July 20 Plot was supposed to rid the world of the scourge of Adolf Hitler and his Third Reich. The man chosen to replace Hitler, and make peace with the Allies, was a famous field marshal named Erwin Rommel. Rommel was the "human face" of the Third Reich, whose reputation was not tainted by war crimes, or the massacre of POW's.


Field Marshal Erwin Rommel
(1891– Oct. 1944).
 

Future Field Marshal Erwin Rommel was one of the architects of the "lightning victory" over France in 1940.

The speed and ease of that victory astonished Rommel because the French had more and better tanks than the Nazis.

Rommel was also extremely grateful for the huge amounts of armaments that the British left behind for his use!

 

General Victor Fortune surrendering the
British forces to Rommel, June 1940.

Rommel, together with von Rundstedt, von Bock, and Kesselring, were the heroes of the 6-week Battle of France. That "cakewalk" convinced the Nazis that they were invincible, and they expected to repeat that victory when they invaded the Soviet Union.

Unloading Nazi trucks at the port of Tripoli,
shipped via the Straits of Gibraltar.
 

After France surrendered, Rommel led the Axis invasion of North Africa, where he earned the sobriquet "Desert Fox."

Amazingly, the Germans were supplied with tanks and trucks through the British controlled Straits of Gibraltar.

 
Unloading Nazi tanks at the port of Tripoli,
shipped via the Straits of Gibraltar.

In February 1941, Rommel was appointed commander of the newly created Deutsches Afrika Korps. Initially, the Afrika Corps enjoyed spectacular success and Rommel gained a reputation as an invincible desert warrior.

Rommel was portrayed as a "good Nazi," and the war in North Africa was nothing like the slaughterhouse that was the Eastern Front.

Rommel receiving congratulations on his
promotion to field marshal, June 1942.
 

After the capture of Tobruk on June 21, 1942, Rommel was promoted to field marshal—the youngest field marshal in German history.

In September 1942, Rommel was suffering from a variety of "health issues," so he turned over command to General Georg Stumme and left North Africa.

In October 1942, General Stumme was killed when his staff car was strafed by British fighter planes.

 

General Georg Stumme
(1886 Oct. 1942).

General Stumme originally served on the Eastern Front, where Hitler had a spy among the generals—his own bodyguard named Josep "Sepp" Dietrich. Dietrich reported to Hitler that Stumme had a "bad attitude," and Hitler wanted to get rid of him . . . but make it look like "enemy action."

In June 1942, some Nazi battle plans were captured by Russian forces. Hitler blamed Stumme and ordered that he be court-martialed. He was sentenced to 5-years imprisonment, but field marshal Fedor von Bock secured his release.

Herman Göring promised him a new command, so he was sent to replace Rommel. It was all a ruse to have him killed by the British so Hitler would not be blamed for his death.


General Montgomery (1887–
1976)
became a "war hero" in North Africa.
 

After Rommel returned to Africa, Churchill appointed General Bernard Montgomery commander of the British 8th Army.

He soon had Rommel and his Afrika Korps on the run and "Monty" became a celebrated "war hero."

"Monty's" reputation soared, but Churchill did not promote him to field marshal until September 1944.

 

The vaunted Afrika Corps surrendered
en masse in Tunisia, March 1943.

In March 1943, the once "invincible" Afrika Corps surrendered to the British in Tunisia. However, that surrender did not cause Rommel to lose favor with Hitler.


Rommel inspecting the Atlantic
Wall, January 1944.
 

Despite disobeying Hitler's command not to retreat or surrender, Rommel was given a plum assignment in Normandy.

Hitler knew that U.S. pressure would eventually force Churchill to open a second front, so Rommel was given the task of fortifying the coast of France against an invasion.

Rommel attacked that task with relish and he believed that his Atlantic Wall was impregnable.

 

Rommel inspecting the beach
defenses in Normandy, June 1944.

It was in Normandy that Rommel first met Sepp Dietrich. Dietrich was Hitler's spy whose main job was to report back to the Führer on the attitude of all his top commanders. Additionally, Dietrich was given command of the 6th Panzer Division.

Sepp Dietrich—Hitler's bodyguard—was assigned to spy on Rommel

Josep "Sepp" Dietrich—the Bavarian butcher—was Hitler's bodyguard from the very beginning of his rise to power in Munich. A man with absolutely no military training, his ambition was to be a BUTCHER, until Hitler came along and offered him the chance to be a human butcher!


General Sepp Dietrich
(1892–1966).
 

Dietrich first met Hitler in Munich in 1921. Dietrich was a pilot, and beginning in 1932, he began to ferry Hitler around to "election" campaigns.

From that time onward, Dietrich stuck like glue to Hitler, and only the invasion of France separated him from his Führer.

Hitler knew that the greatest threat to his regime came from the Wehrmacht, so he promoted Dietrich to the rank of general, and sent him to spy on the other officers.

 

Hitler flanked by Dietrich and
Himmler, April 20, 1937.

As a Waffen-SS general, Dietrich was responsible for the massacre of Russian civilians on the Eastern Front. When Hitler gave the order that there was to be no retreat, Dietrich reported back to the führer the discontent among the generals. As a result, many generals were fired and replaced with sycophants.

Hitler never fully trusted Rommel—or any of his generals—so Dietrich was sent to spy on him and report his attitude back to his boss in Berlin.

Against vehement opposition from Churchill, the D-Day landings occurred on June 6, 1944. Once the beachhead was secured, Rommel could plainly see the handwriting on the wall.

2 RAF Spitfires almost assassinated Field Marshal Rommel

By the end of June 1944, not just Rommel, but most of the German high command could also see the handwriting on the wall. Only the most fanatical Waffen-SS believed in fighting to the bitter end.


Claus von Stauffenberg
(1907– July 21, 1944).
 

Claus von Stauffenberg was the leader of the July 20 plot to assassinate Hitler

Transferred from the Eastern Front, Claus was almost killed in North Africa when he was strafed by an RAF fighter plane.

Amazingly, Claus had access to Hitler, but he knew that for the coup d'état to succeed he must also eliminate Himmler.

 

Von Stauffenberg and Hitler at
the Wolf's Lair, July 15, 1944.

Claus saw Rommel as the one man who could lead Germany after the elimination of Hitler and Himmler. The totally naive Rommel had to be sure that Sepp Dietrich was also on board, so he visited the Waffen-SS general at his HQ in Normandy.


Sepp Dietrich and Rommel
on July 17, 1944.
 

On July 17, the totally naive Field Marshal Rommel visited Sepp Dietrich at his HQ in Normandy.

Sepp assured him that he was his superior officer and that he would take orders only from him.

As soon as Rommel left, Sepp phoned Churchill at his Normandy HQ, and told him to have his Spitfires ready!

 

Churchill and Montgomery discussing
the planned assassination of
Rommel, July 1944.

Sepp didn't have to ask twice because as soon as Rommel left, 2 Spitfires came roaring out of the sky, raining bullets down on Rommel's car:

Near Saint-Foy-de-Montgommery, Hoike spotted a formation of Allied fighters that appeared to be lining up for a strafing run on the road ahead. Rommel ordered Corporal Daniel to take a side road that ran through the village of Sainte-Germaine-de-Montgommery, and it was there that a pair of Royal Air Force Spitfires suddenly appeared. Daniel zigzagged desperately to throw off the British pilots' aim, but a burst of 20mm cannon fire walked across the road and into the car seriously wounding Daniel, who lost control of the big Horsch. The car skidded for 100 yards before it nosed into the ditch alongside the road, struck a tree and rebounded into the roadway again; everyone in the car was thrown clear by the initial impact. Rommel, who had turned to the right to watch the approach of the enemy fighters, was thrown violently against the windscreen pillar, fracturing his skull in three places and suffering massive injuries to the left side of his face before being tossed into the roadway. Unconscious and bleeding heavily, Erwin Rommel had come to the end of the war. (Butler, Field Marshal: The Life and Death of Erwin Rommel, p. 505).

Here is a description of that assassination attempt by Winston Churchill himself:

An important event now occurred. On July 17 Rommel was severely wounded. His car was attacked by our low-flying fighters, and he was carried to hospital in what was thought a dying condition. He made a wonderful recovery, in time to meet his death later on Hitler's orders. (Churchill, Triumph and Tragedy, p. 24).

Obviously, Churchill was very disappointed that Rommel was not killed by his Spitfires. It was left to his cousin Adolf to force Rommel to commit suicide.

Corporal Daniel the driver was killed instantly, and it was a miracle that Rommel escaped alive. His strong constitution from serving in North Africa helped him to recover from that attempted assassination!

Hitler had a doppelgänger at the Wolf's Lair conference room on July 20

Hitler had several doppelgängers, so nobody could be sure of the identity of the real Hitler. Charlie Chaplin—a Hitler look-alike—was actually born the same year as Hitler. Hitler decided to go along with the assassination charade so Himmler's Gestapo could cast its net far and wide and get rid of all the officers who opposed him.


The bomb damage to the Wolf's Lair
conference room was massive.
 

On July 20, Stauffenberg entered the conference room with a bomb hidden in his briefcase and activated by a timer.

Hitler's doppelgänger was meeting with about 20 other officers.

Like Hitler, the timer and explosive were "made in Britain!"

 

The doppelgänger's trousers.

The massive explosion killed the doppelgänger and several of the officers. Von Stauffenberg was sure that Hitler was dead because he saw a man carried out on a stretcher covered with Hitler's coat.

Winston Churchill alluded to that event in his multi-volume history of the Second World War:

During the pause in the fighting in Normandy there took place on July 20 a renewed unsuccessful attempt on Hitler's life. According to the most trustworthy story, Colonel von Stauffenberg, had placed under Hitler's table, at a staff meeting, a small case containing a time-bomb. Hitler was spared from the full effect of the explosion by the heavy table-top and its supporting crosspieces and also by the light structure of the building itself which allowed an instantaneous dispersal of the pressures. Several officers present were killed, but the Führer, though badly shaken and wounded, arose exclaiming, "Who said that I am not under the special protection of God?" All the fury of his nature was aroused by this plot, and the vengeance which he inflicted upon all suspected of being in it makes a terrible tale. (Churchill, Triumph and Tragedy, p. 28).

The doppelgänger was definitely dead, and an unknown numbers of officers. The loyalty of those officers was questionable, so Hitler was glad to be rid of them.


A Hitler doppelgänger visiting one of the survivors
from the conference room explosion.
 

Only the doppelgänger and several officers were killed in the conference room.

The doppelgänger pretended to be injured when he visited some of the survivors in the hospital.

On the same afternoon he met Mussolini, and the "Sawdust Caesar" marveled at the "miracle" of his survival.

 

The doppelgänger meeting Mussolini
on the afternoon of July 20.

Von Stauffenberg flew back to Berlin to put Operation Valkyrie into operation. He was absolutely sure that Hitler was dead. He soon found out the awful truth that Hitler was alive and well, and the coup d'état had failed. Von Stauffenberg was placed before a firing squad and executed. Then his body was cremated. That was the fate of most of the July 20 plotters.


Rommel with a swollen eye after
his return home, August 15, 1944.
 

The survival of Rommel was a big embarrassment to Hitler.

He dared not put the field marshal on trial, and another strafing by the RAF was out of the question.

To spare his family reprisals, Rommel took a fast-acting poison on October 14.

The official cause of his death was "heart attack."

 

The funeral of Field Marshal Rommel,
October 19, 1944.

Rommel was given a state funeral with his coffin draped with a huge black spider flag. It was never even hinted that he was in any way disloyal to the Nazi regime.

Had the coup d'état succeeded, World War II might have ended in July 1944. There would have been no Battle of the Bulge, no Russian invasion of Germany, no Hiroshima and Nagasaki, no Holohoax, and no subsequent Cold War. Millions of lives were lost in the 9 months that followed the failed attempt to assassinate Hitler.

Sepp Dietrich killed American POW's during the Battle of the Bulge!

Before he was assigned to Normandy, Sepp Dietrich served on the Eastern Front where he committed war crimes against Russian prisoners and civilians.


For saving his life, Dietrich received a special decoration from
Hitler, August 10, 1944.
 

In August 1944, Dietrich received a special award from Hitler for saving his life.

Hitler planned a top secret offensive for December 1944 that would take the Americans completely by surprise.

Dietrich—commanding the 6h Panzer Army—was to spearhead the offensive to capture the port of Antwerp.

 

SS-Waffen commander
Sepp Dietrich.

Thanks to Ultra, the offensive was no secret to Churchill and Montgomery. HItler believed that the U.S. Army, without air cover, would be no match for his Waffen-SS fanatics. That battle became known as the Battle of the Bulge.

Americans surrendering to the Nazis
during the Battle of the Bulge.
 

The juggernaut, led by "Death's Head" Waffen-SS troops, came as a complete surprise to the Americans, but not to Churchill and Montgomery.

Regular conscripts surrendered, but not general McAuliffe, and his 101st Airborne Division.

To spread terror, Dietrich shot over 300 of the captive GI's.

 

The Massacre at Malmédy.

Surrender was not an option for General McAuliffe. When the Nazi commander von Lüttwitz sent him a surrender ultimatum, he gave his now famous reply "NUTS."

No amount of fanaticism could save the Nazis from defeat, and by January of 1945 they were in full retreat.


Colonel Joachim Peiper
(1915–1976).
 

Colonel Joachim Peiper commanded the 1st Panzer Division at the Battle of the Bulge.

On December 17, he captured a lightly armored U.S. convey of about 30 trucks. He ordered 84 prisoners into a meadow where they were all machine-gunned to death!

Both Peiper and Deitrich were tried for war crimes but both men escaped the death penalty.

 

Dietrich was tried for the Malmédy Massacre after the war.

While Hitler, Bormann, and Himmler escaped to Argentina, Peiper and Dietrich were captured and put on trial for war crimes. Both men were defended by a U.S. lawyer from Atlanta named Colonel Willis M. Everett, Jr. Everett claimed that the prisoners were tortured while in U.S. custody, and he appealed the case all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.


Vital links


References

Beevor, Anthony. Ardennes 1944: The Battle of the Bulge. Penguin Random House, New York, 2015.

Butler, Daniel Allen. Field Marshal: The Life and Death of Erwin Rommel. Casemate Publishers, Pennsylvania and Oxford, England, 2015.

Caddick-Adams, Peter. Snow & Steel: The Battle of the Bulge, 194445. Oxford University Press, New York, 2015.

Churchill, Winston. The Second War War: Triumph and Tragedy. (Volume 6). Chartwell Edition, Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, 1953.

Galante, Pierre. Operation Valkyrie: The German Generals Plot Against Hitler. Harper & Row Publishers, New York, 1981.

Messenger, Charles. Hitler's Gladiator: The Life and Wars of Panzer Army Commander Sepp Dietrich. Skyhorse Publishing, New York, 2011.

Remy, Steven P. The Malmedy Massacre: The War Crimes Trial Controversy, Harvard University Press, 2017.

Taylor, Blaine. Guarding the Führer: Sepp Dietrich & Adolf Hitler. Fonthill Media Limited, Stroud, Gloucestershire, U.K., 2015.


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