Operation Valkyrie was a German World War II emergency continuity of government operations
plan issued to the Territorial Reserve Army of Germany to execute and implement in case
of a general breakdown in civil order of the nation. Failure of the government to maintain
control of civil affairs might have been caused by the Allied bombing of German cities, or
uprising of the millions of foreign forced laborers working in German factories.
German Army officers General Friedrich Olbricht, Major General Henning von Tresckow, and Colonel
Claus von Stauffenberg modified the plan with the intention of using it to take control
of German cities, disarm the SS, and arrest the Nazi leadership once Hitler had been assassinated
in the July 20 Plot. Hitler's death was required to free German soldiers from their oath of
loyalty to him. After lengthy preparation, the plot was activated in 1944, but failed.
Planning The original plan, designed to deal with internal
disturbances in emergency situations, was designed by General Friedrich Olbricht's staff
in his capacity as head of General Army Office and was approved by Hitler. The idea of using
the Reserve Army in the German homeland for a coup existed before, but the refusal of
Colonel-General Friedrich Fromm, Chief of the Reserve Army and the only person who could
initiate Operation Valkyrie besides Hitler, to cooperate, was a serious obstacle to the
conspirators. Nevertheless, after the lessons of a failed assassination attempt on March
13, 1943, Olbricht felt that the original coup plan was inadequate and that the Reserve
Army should be used in the coup even without Fromm's cooperation.
The original Valkyrie order only dealt with strategy to ensure combat readiness of units
among scattered elements of the Reserve Army. Olbricht added a second part, 'Valkyrie II'
which provided for the swift mustering of units into battle groups ready for action.
In August and September 1943, General Henning von Tresckow found Olbricht's revision inadequate,
thus greatly expanded the Valkyrie plan and drafted new supplementary orders. A secret
declaration began with the words: "The Führer Adolf Hitler is dead! A treacherous group
of party leaders has attempted to exploit the situation by attacking our embattled soldiers
from the rear to seize power for themselves." Detailed instructions were written for occupation
of government ministries in Berlin, Himmler's headquarters in East Prussia, radio stations,
telephone exchanges, other Nazi infrastructure through military districts, and concentration
camps. All documents were handled by Tresckow's wife, Erika, and by Margarete von Oven, his
secretary. Both women wore gloves to leave no fingerprints.
In essence, the plan was to trick the Reserve Army into the seizure and removal of the civilian
government of wartime Germany under the false pretense that the SS had attempted a coup
d'État and assassinated Hitler. The key requirement was that the rank-and-file soldiers and junior
officers who were supposed to execute this plan would be motivated to do so based upon
their false belief that it was the Nazi civilian leadership who had behaved with disloyalty
and treason against the state, and were therefore required to be removed. The conspirators counted
on the soldiers to obey their orders as long as they came from the legitimate channel — namely,
the Reserve Army High Command in the emergency situation following Hitler's death. Apart
from Hitler, only General Friedrich Fromm, commander of the Reserve Army, could activate
Operation Valkyrie. Therefore, Fromm had to either be won over to the conspiracy, or in
some way neutralized for the plan to succeed. Fromm, like many senior officers, largely
knew about the military conspiracies against Hitler, but neither supported them nor reported
them to the Gestapo. Implementation
The key role in its actual implementation was played by Colonel Claus Schenk Graf von
Stauffenberg, after his assassination attempt on Hitler on July 20, 1944. Stauffenberg also
further improved the Valkyrie plan and made changes to address changing situations. Stauffenberg's
position as Chief of Staff of the Reserve Army gave him access to Hitler for reports
and at the same time required his presence at headquarters for implementation of Valkyrie.
At first, Tresckow and Stauffenberg sought out other officers with access to Hitler who
could carry out the assassination. General Helmuth Stieff, Chief of Organization in Army
High Command, volunteered to be the assassin but later backed down. Tresckow attempted
several times to be assigned to Hitler's headquarters without success. Finally, Stauffenberg decided
to carry out both the assassination attempt and the Valkyrie operation, which greatly
reduced the chance of success. After two abortive attempts, Stauffenberg placed the bomb on
July 20 and hurried back to Berlin to assume his pivotal role.
Discovering that the bomb had not killed Hitler, Fromm ordered the executions of General Friedrich
Olbricht, his chief of staff Colonel Albrecht Mertz von Quirnheim, Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg,
and his adjutant Lieutenant Werner von Haeften. Shortly after midnight, the condemned men
were led to a mound of earth back-lit by idling vehicles where each was executed by firing
squad in the courtyard of Bendlerstrasse headquarters. Initial order to the Wehrkreise
I. The Führer Adolf Hitler is dead! An unscrupulous clique of party leaders alien
to the front has attempted, under the exploitation of this situation, to betray the hard-struggling
front and to seize power for their own selfish purposes.
II. In this hour of greatest danger, the government of the Reich has declared a state of military
emergency for the maintenance of law and order and at the same time has transferred the executive
power, with the supreme command of the Wehrmacht, to me.
III. With this, I order: 1. I transfer the executive power – with
the right of delegation, to the territorial commanders – on the home front, to the commander
of the army reserves under the simultaneous appointment to the supreme commander in the
homeland war – in the occupied western area, to the supreme commander west – in Italy,
to the supreme commander southwest – in the occupied eastern area, to the supreme
commander of the army groups and the commander of the Wehrmacht eastern land for their respective
area of command – in Denmark and Norway, to the Wehrmacht commander.
2. The holders of executive power have control over:
a) all sections and units of the Wehrmacht, including the Waffen-SS, RAD and the OT, within
their area of command; b) all public authorities, especially the
entire law enforcement police, security police and administrative police;
c) all office bearers and subdivisions of the NSDAP and those of its affiliated associations;
d) the transportation services and public utilities
3. The entire Waffen-SS is integrated into the army with immediate effect.
4. The holders of executive power are responsible for the maintenance of public order and security.
They especially have to ensure: a) the protection of communications
b) the elimination of the SD.
Any opposition to the military power of enforcement is to be ruthlessly crushed.
In this hour of highest danger for the Fatherland, unity of the Wehrmacht and the maintenance
of full discipline are the uppermost requirements. That is why I make it the duty of all commanders
of the army, the navy, and the air force to support the holders of executive power in
carrying out their difficult task with all means at their disposal and to guarantee the
compliance of their directives by the subordinate sections. The German soldier stands before
a historical task. It will depend on his energy and attitude whether Germany will be saved.
Popular culture The failed plot has been represented in historical
dramatic films. Georg Wilhelm Pabst's Jackboot Mutiny, Anatole Litvak's The Night of the
Generals, Lawrence Schiller's The Plot to Kill Hitler, the German television production
Stauffenberg and Bryan Singer's full length movie Valkyrie have addressed the plot. In
the Soviet Union, it was depicted in the third part of the film series Liberation. It was
also depicted in an episode of Highlander: The Series, titled "The Valkyrie".
A spoof on Operation Valkyrie under optimum conditions is depicted in the Jerry Lewis
war comedy Which Way to the Front?. Operation Valkyrie is mentioned in the video
game Medal of Honor: Frontline and in the comicbook I Am Legion and manga Petshop of
Horrors. Operation Valkyrie is the name of a Mythbusters
episode that examined the effect of an explosive in enclosed and open-space rooms in an attempt
to determine if the last-minute change of meeting venue permitted Hitler to survive.
In all circumstances there was a chance of survival.
The event is referenced in the UK television sitcom Red Dwarf. The character Lister inadvertently
foils the plot by stealing von Stauffenberg's briefcase in the episode "Timeslides".
See also Assassination attempts on Adolf Hitler
July 20 plot List of members of the 20 July plot
Stauffenberg Valkyrie
Fighter Pilots Conspiracy References
Bibliography English
Philipp von Boeselager, "Valkyrie: The Plot to Kill Hitler, trans. Steven Rendall, Phoenix,2009
Joachim Fest, Plotting Hitler's Death: The German Resistance to Hitler, 1933–1945,
1996 Hans Bernd Gisevius, Valkyrie: An Insider's
Account of the Plot to Kill Hitler, 2009 reprint of one volume abridgement of two volume text,
To the Bitter End, 1947. Foreword by Allen Welsh Dulles, introduction by Peter Hoffmann.
Translated by Richard and Clara Winston; Da Capo Press, Cambridge, MA ISBN 978-0-306-81771-7\
Nigel Jones, Countdown to Valkyrie: The July Plot to Assassinate Hitler. Frontline, 2009
German Helena Page, General Friedrich Olbricht: Ein
Mann des 20. Julis, 1993, Bouvier Verlag, Bonn ISBN 3-416-02514-8
Dr. phil. Gerd R. Ueberschär: Auf dem Weg zum 20. Juli 1944, Motive und Entwicklung
der Militäropposition gegen Hitler.,[1] Bernd Rüthers: Spiegelbild einer Verschwörung
– Zwei Abschiedsbriefe zum 20. Juli 1944. Juristenzeitung 14/2005, pp. 689–698
Hans-Adolf Jacobsen: Spiegelbild einer Verschwörung. Die Opposition gegen Hitler und der Staatsstreich
vom 20. Juli 1944 in der SD-Berichterstattung. Geheime Dokumente aus dem ehemaligen Reichssicherheitshauptamt.
2 Vol., Stuttgart 1984 Peter Hoffmann: Widerstand, Staatsstreich,
Attentat. Der Kampf der Opposition gegen Hitler. Munich 1985 Montserrat
Notes
This article incorporates information from this version of the equivalent article on
the German Wikipedia. External links
German Resistance to Hitler – Valkyrie Conspiracy – German Conspiracy against the German government
culminating in the Coup Attempt of 20 July 1944
The Conference Room at the "Wolf's Lair" after the Assassination Attempt from German History
in Documents and Images a project of the German Historical Institute
Telex Message by the Conspiratorial Stauffenberg Group to the holders of executive Power from
German History in Documents and Images a project of the German Historical Institute
The assassination attempt from July 20, 1944, and the operation "Valkyrie"
Consequences