On July 20, 1944, a one-eyed, one-armed man tried to assassinate Adolf Hitler
Colonel Claus Schenk von Stuaffenberg had served with the Wehrmacht in Poland (1939), France (1940) and the Soviet Union (1941).
While serving in Tunisa, he was seriously wounded on April 7, 1943 when Allied fighters strafed his vehicle. He lost his left eye, right hand and two fingers of his left hand after surgery.
Colonel Claus Schenk von Stuaffenberg
Nevertheless, he now acted as the prime mover for the conspiracy among a growing number of German high command officers to arrest or assassinate Germany’s Fuehrer.
For most of these officers, the motive was craven: Germany was losing the war it had launched on the world–and they feared the worst. This was especially true now that the numerically superior forces of the Soviet Union had gone onto the offensive.
For Stauffenberg, there was another reason: His disgust at the horrors he had seen committed by his fellow Wehrmacht soldiers upon defenseless POW’s and civilians in Russia.
A typical atrocity on the Eastern front
Thus, Stauffenberg–more than many Germans–knew firsthand the vengeance his country could expect once the “1,000 year Reich” shattered in defeat.
Something must be done, he believed, to prove to the world that not all Germans–even members of the Wehrmacht–were criminals.
Most of the conspirators wanted to arrest Hitler and surrender to British and American forces–well before the much-feared Russians gained a toehold in Germany.
For Stauffenberg, arresting Hitler wasn’t enough. Stauffenberg wanted him dead.
A live Hitler might eventually be rescued by his Nazi colleagues.
But–how to do it? Hitler was a closely-guarded target. He was surrounded by SS bodyguards who were expert marksmen. He often wore a bulletproof vest and a cap lined with three pounds of laminated steel.
Adolf Hitler
But his single greatest protection–he claimed–was an instinct for danger. He would often suddenly change his schedule–to drop in where he was least expected. Or to suddenly depart an event where he was scheduled to stay a long time.
On November 9, 1939, this instinct saved his life. He had been set to give a long speech at a Munich beer hall before the “Old Fighters” of his storm troopers.
Sixteen years earlier on that day, Hitler had led them in a disastrous attempt to overthrow the Bavarian government. Police had put down the effort, killing and wounding about a score of storm troopers in the process. Hitler himself had later been arrested, tried and convicted for treason–and sentenced to a year’s imprisonment.
But instead of proving to be the end of Nazism, the “Beer Hall Putsch” turned Hitler into a national celebrity. And it launched his career as a legitimate, ultimately successful politician.
So Hitler was expected to speak to his longtime supporters for a long time that evening.
Instead, he suddenly cut short his speech and quickly left the beer hall.
Forty-five minutes later, a bomb exploded inside a pillar–before which Hitler had been speaking.
Since then, a series of other assassination attempts had been made against Hitler. All of them involved time-bombs. And all of the would-be assassins were members of the German General Staff.
In one case, a bomb secretly stashed aboard Hitler’s plane failed to explode. In another, an officer who had a bomb strapped to himself unexpectedly found his scheduled meeting with Hitler called off. He had to rush into a bathroom to defuse the bomb before it went off.
So now it was the turn of von Stauffenberg. He would carry his bomb–hidden in a briefcase–into a “Hitler conference” packed with military officers.
But Stauffenberg didn’t intend to be a suicide bomber. He meant to direct the government that would replace that of the Nazis.
His bomb–also rigged with a time-fuse–would be left in the conference room while he found an excuse to leave. Once the explosion came, he would phone one of his fellow conspirators with the news.
Then, the coup–“Operation Valkyrie”–would be on.
Anti-Nazi conspirators would seize control of key posts of the government. The British and Americans would then be informed of Germany’s willingness to surrender. Provided, of course, that the Russians did not have a say in its postwar future.
The Wehrmacht and Schutzstaffel (SS) had killed millions of Russians. Mny had died in combat. Others had been murdered as captives. Still more had been allowed to die by starvation and exposure to the legendary Russian winter.
So the Germans–both Nazi and anti-Nazi–knew what they could expect if the Soviet Union landed its soldiers on German soil.
On July 20, 1944, Stauffenberg appeared at Hitler’s well-guarded military headquarters in East Prussia. Like all his other outposts, Hitler had named it–appropriately enough–“Wolf’s Lair.”
“Wolf’s Lair”
Stauffenberg entered the large, concrete building while the confernce was in session. He placed his yellow briefcase next to Hitler–who was standing with his generals at a heavey oaken table.
Then Stauffenberg excused himself to take an “urgent” phone call.
With only minutes to spare, he calmly left the conference–and waited for Hitler to die in a burst of fire and smoke.
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WATCH THEIR HANDS, NOT HER LIPS
In Politics, Social commentary on August 30, 2012 at 12:05 amSecret Service agents will tell you: Watch the hands.
If someone’s going to assault you, he’s going to use his hands. Don’t worry about his mouth–unless he’s using it to distract you from his hands.
Or, as in the case of Ann Romney, her mouth.
Consider Ann Romney’s address on behalf of her husband at the Republican National Convention on August 28.
ANN ROMNEY (mouth): It’s the moms of this nation — single, married, widowed — who really hold this country together. We’re the mothers, we’re the wives, we’re the grandmothers, we’re the big sisters, we’re the little sisters, we’re the daughters.
REPUBLICAN PLATFORM (hands):
ANN ROMNEY (mouth): You can trust Mitt.
REPUBLICAN PLATFORM (hands):
ANN ROMNEY (mouth): And I want us to think tonight about the love we all share for those Americans, our brothers and sisters, who are going through difficult times, whose days are never easy, nights are always long, and whose work never seems done.
REPUBLICAN PLATFORM (hands):
ANN ROMNEY (mouth): We were very young. Both still in college. There were many reasons to delay marriage, and you know? We just didn’t care. We got married and moved into a basement apartment.
REPUBLICAN PLATFORM (hands):
ANN ROMNEY (mouth): You know what those late night phone calls with an elderly parent are like and the long weekend drives just to see how they’re doing. You know the fastest route to the local emergency room and which doctors actually answer the phone
when you call at night.
REPUBLICAN PLATFORM (hands):
ANN ROMNEY (mouth): No one will work harder. No one will care more. No one will move heaven and earth like Mitt Romney to make this country a better place to live!
REPUBLICAN PLATFORM (hands):
ANN ROMNEY (mouth): I read somewhere that Mitt and I have a “storybook marriage.” Well….those storybooks never seemed to have chapters called MS or breast cancer.
REPUBLICAN PLATFORM (hands):
ANN ROMNEY (mouth): Tonight I want to talk to you about love.
REPUBLICAN PLATFORM (hands):
* * * * *
Of course Ann Romney loves her husband. Fine. Let’s congratulate her for the happiness she’s shared with him and wish her well in the future.
Then let’s elect a President–and a Congress–who oppose everything stated within the Republican platform.
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