The briefcase that could have changed history: Inside the July plot to kill Hitler

Indian Express

19-07-2025

On July 20, 81 years ago, Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg came within seconds of altering the course of history. He walked into the Wolfsschanze—or Wolf's Lair—Adolf Hitler's heavily guarded headquarters in northern Poland. From this remote location, Hitler directed Nazi Germany's brutal Eastern Front campaign.
Von Stauffenberg, who had lost his right arm and one eye during the war, carried a briefcase in his left hand. He entered a high-level strategy meeting with Hitler and his closest aides, placed the briefcase under the table near the Führer, and then stepped outside, ostensibly to take a phone call.
Moments later, a massive explosion ripped through the room. The briefcase contained a bomb. It was the centrepiece of what would later be known as the July Plot, an audacious attempt to assassinate Adolf Hitler and broker peace with the Western Allies (the US, UK, and France) in the aftermath.
The plot nearly worked. The blast killed four people and injured many others. But Hitler survived, barely just. One of his aides, Heinz Brandt, had unknowingly shifted the briefcase a few feet away from Hitler shortly before the detonation, inadvertently saving his life.
Von Stauffenberg returned to Berlin and tried to initiate a military coup, but the plan collapsed. He was quickly arrested and executed, along with hundreds of others, including high-ranking officers in the German Army. Deeply shaken by the betrayal, Hitler abolished the traditional army salute, replacing it with the Nazi one. It is said he never trusted his inner circle again and became increasingly paranoid in the final months of his life, culminating in his suicide in his Berlin bunker in April 1945.
Had the plot succeeded, Operation Valkyrie, as it was codenamed, could have changed the trajectory of the Second World War. The Holocaust might have ended earlier. The bombings of Dresden, Tokyo, Hiroshima, and Nagasaki might never have happened. Eastern Europe may have been spared decades of Soviet domination.
Von Stauffenberg and his fellow conspirators were driven by outrage over Nazi atrocities, including the extermination of Jews, mistreatment of prisoners of war, and the overall moral collapse of the regime. Their aim was to eliminate Hitler, end the war, and restore humanity to Germany's soul.
The July Plot has inspired many books and even a Hollywood film. Valkyrie (2008), starring Tom Cruise as von Stauffenberg, dramatizes the events leading up to the assassination attempt.
For a fast-paced, thriller-style account of the plot, Nigel Jones' Countdown to Valkyrie is an excellent choice. Just over 300 pages, it moves briskly from von Stauffenberg's early support of Hitler to his transformation into the 'Head, Heart and Hand of the Conspiracy.' The final chapter, detailing Hitler's brutal reprisals, is intense and emotional.
For a more restrained, firsthand perspective, there is Valkyrie: The Story of the Plot to Kill Hitler by Philip Freiherr von Boeselager. Also published under the title Valkyrie: The Plot to Kill Hitler, it offers a unique insider's view, though the tone is factual rather than dramatic.
Boeselager focuses mostly on his and his brother's role in the plot and their miraculous escape. He also notes von Stauffenberg's doubts about whether killing Hitler was still necessary, given the regime's impending collapse. At about 200 pages, the book is short but compelling for its authenticity.
Assassination attempts on Hitler were not rare, and Killing Hitler: The Plots, the Assassins and the Dictator Who Cheated Death by Roger Moorhouse tells the full story. The book opens with Maurice Bavaud, a university student who tried three times to kill Hitler before being executed. It then recounts Georg Elser's 1939 bombing in a Munich beer hall that nearly succeeded.
Elser's plot killed three and injured many, but Hitler had left the venue early. He blamed British intelligence, although Elser acted alone. The near-miss only reinforced Hitler's belief in his own invincibility and divine protection.
The July Plot features in just one of eight chapters, but Moorhouse's account is deeply impactful. It illustrates how even Hitler's own followers, alarmed by military defeats and the advance of Soviet forces, eventually turned against him.
Moorhouse's book ends with perhaps the most ironic assassination attempt of all: one allegedly planned by Albert Speer, Hitler's close associate and later author of Inside the Third Reich. Speer, disillusioned by the Führer, later wrote: 'I, who had once wanted nothing more than to be Hitler's master builder… was thinking how to obtain poison gas to destroy the man.'
While Speer's plan never materialised, Killing Hitler remains one of the most comprehensive studies of Hitler's would-be assassins—and the myth of his survival.
For readers who prefer something shorter, Richard Dargie's The Plots to Kill Hitler: The Men and Women Who Tried to Change History is a neatly packaged, 200-page summary of over two dozen attempts on Hitler's life, including the July Plot.
For a more dramatic and selective take, Herbert Molloy Mason's To Kill Hitler: Plots on the Führer's Life delivers a gripping narrative. Though it lacks the depth of Moorhouse's work, Mason's book builds up to the July Plot with graphic, intense detail. At 270 pages, it's a fast and riveting read, but not for the faint of heart, especially when describing Hitler's savage retribution.
Just like after Elser's failed attempt in 1939, Hitler saw his survival of the July Plot as confirmation of his destiny. 'It is a sign of Providence that I must, and therefore shall, continue my work,' he declared.
Little did he know, he had less than a year to live. But even in the final months, Hitler clung to the illusion of control. Ultimately, he would die by his own hand, according to most historical accounts.
Hitler had a way of escaping death. But history might have taken a dramatically different path had a briefcase been left just a little closer to him on July 20, 1944.