Hitler est-il mort?
Pierre Galante's book "Operation Valkyrie" was first published in France in 1981 under the title "Hitler est-il mort?" and was shortly after translated into the current english version. As of this writing, there is a movie out starring Tom Cruise that pictorially brings this book to life. The movie, with a few deviations to make the story more dramatic, does a good job of this. Galante's book is about the July 20, 1944 plot to kill the leader of the Third Reich, Adolf Hitler. The story centers around a one-eyed, one-armed veteran of Irwin Rommel's Afrika Korps, Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg, who smuggled a briefcase full of high explosives into a conference room at Hitler's East Prussian command headquarters called the "Wolf's Lair". Exploding at 12:42 p.m.. Stauffenberg quickly left the conference room just prior to the explosion and hastily fled back to Berlin to initiate "Operation Valkerie". This operation was a plan for the military coup d'etat to overthrow and kill Hitler, and hopefully end the savagery and barbarism engulfing Hitler and his diabolic regime-from the killing centers of the Concentration Camps to the endless slaughter of German soldiers and civilians as a consequence of being on the losing end of the Second World War. Operation Valkerie was drawn up by a group of the most intelligent officers in the Wehrmacht (German High Command) to not only depose and destroy Hitler but to seize power in Nazi Conquered Vichy France's capital, Paris, as well as the center of Germany itself, Berlin. A second goal was to proclaim a provisional government and sue for a seperate peace with the rapidly approaching Western Allies, who at no uncertain terms refused to negotiate in any sense with Germany's deranged strongman, Adolf Hitler. The key to Galante's book was that this author spent over fifteen years interviewing eyewitnesses of this secret war between the "normal Germans", i.e. the last generation of the Prussian warrior caste (Field Marshal Friedrich Paulus, Commander in Chief of the German Sixth Army who defied Hitler's orders to commit suicide and not surrender at Stalingrad, was one of this caste) and Adolf Hitler (who was sarcastically referred to as the "upstart corporal") that they reluctantly had sworn to serve and obey. Pierre Galante's primary source of information for this book was to be found in the archives and personal recollections of General Adolf Heusinger, who served as the operations chief of the German General Staff from 1940 to 1944 and also was an important architect of the postwar West German army. Galante drew on Heusinger's four year tour of service to the Fuhrer, his descriptions of his impressions of over six hundred meetings with Hitler, and how Heusinger ultimately came to be the dissident officer's special envoy to the Nazi court, a role that obviously exposed him to considerable risks from both sides. Heusinger was in the conference room during the assassination attempt and was critically wounded by the explosion and narrowly escaped death a second time at the hands of Hitler's Gestapo (the "SS"). Galante does an excellent job of describing a blow by blow description of why the July 20, 1944 plot failed. "Operation Valkerie" (in German is:"Unternehmen Walkure) is defined by Galante as a plan to take power by means of an emergency plan and was intended to be used in the event of Hitler's death or a disruption caused by Allied bombing of German cities resulted in the breakdown of law and order. Approved by Hitler himself, Col. Stauffenberg (Tom Cruise portrayed him in the movie) played a key role in the plot and was in charge of it. Because of his position, von Stauffenberg was allowed access to Hitler to make reports and for carrying out the other intended use of Operation Valkyrie. According to noted historian William Shirer, the July 20th plot was the culmination of the German Resistance to overthrow the Nazi regime. It's failure, both in Hitler's "Wolf's Lair" Headquaters as well as in Berlin and Paris, led to the arrest of at least 7,000 people by the Gestapo. Incredibly, 4,980 people were executed, effectively destroying the resistance movement against Nazism. Here is Galante's description of the plan and why the explosion didn't work:"Operation Valkyrie had originally been drawn up by the Wehrmacht, with Hitler's approval, to allow any contingency that would place the Reich in immenent danger-Hitler's death, an allied invasion, or insurrection (presumably of Russian slave laborors). The conspirators, of course, had introduced certain modifications:The army would seize power in Berlin, and military commanders would take whatever steps were necessary to secure the districts under their command. As soon as word came of Hitler's death, the conspirators planned to implement Valkerie, to occupy the key strategic points and communication centers of Berlin (notably the main radio transmitter) arrest Joseph Goebbels (Minister of Propaganda) and proclaim General Ludwig
