Valkyrie Rides

The Rastenburg Bomb
July 20, 1944, 12:40 PM, Rastenburg, East Prussia, Germany: A massive explosion rips through a fairly nondescript hut owned by the German Minister of Armaments, Albert Speer. Inside the hut was a meeting of high-ranking German military officials, including the Fuhrer, Adolf Hitler, himself. The explosion demolishes the hut and kills most of those at the meeting. Hitler himself is killed, along with Field Marshall Keitel and a number of other generals. A few officials survive, one of which is Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg, who happened to be outside at the time. It was not generally known at the time, and only became known after the Second World War, that Stauffenberg had been behind the bombing.

Operation Valkyrie
The bombing was followed almost immediately by an armed uprising of the German resistance to the Nazi regime. With Hitler's status unclear, chaos began to reign in Berlin as both Himmler, head of the SS and Goring, head of the Luftwaffe, and Hitler's nominal successor, struggled for control. Technically, Goring was in charge, but as nobody knew where Hitler was, Himmler saw it as an opportunity to both increase his own power and to weed out anti-Nazi forces in the German capital. Unfortunately, neither man refused to make way for the other, and violence erupted in the German capital. Meantime, anti-Nazi forces, German resistance and ordinary troops loyal to Stauffenberg and the other participants, surrounded and/or occupied key buildings, including the Chancellery and the Ministry of Propaganda, inside of which Hitler's right-hand man, Joseph Goebbels, was imprisoned. In Vienna, Paris, Prague and other places, high-ranking Nazi officials were detained. The plot to assassinate Hitler and overthrow the Nazis was codenamed as Operation Valkyrie, and was masterminded by Stauffenberg, Olbricht, Beck, Witzleben and a number of other high-ranked military commanders. The motive for the coup is hotly debated among historians today. Many believe the coup was in response to the "final solution" and the mass murder of Jews. Others argue the coup was motivated by a desire to avert the inevitable Soviet and American counter-attack on Germany itself. Still others, such as Wolfgang Mommsen, have suggested it was simply a grab for power on behalf of the Valkyrie conspirators.

Der Führer ist tot
Whatever the motivation behind it, there can be no doubt that the Valkyrie coup that overthrew the Third Reich was as important to history as the means by which the Reich had come to power more than a decade earlier. It singlehandedly changed the course of history in Europe and around the world. With the Nazi regime in chaos, the Valkyrie leaders were quick to establish control. They were able to do this through Olbricht, the German general who controlled central communications from Berlin. On the morning of July 21, after a terrifying period of uncertainty, violence and fear in the capital, German radio broadcast the following message: The Reichsfuhrer'', Adolf Hitler, is dead. A bomb has exploded at a military council meeting in Rastenburg. Herr Hitler and many of the general staff were killed. There is no cause for panic. Please remain in your homes. Germany is now under the control of General Beck and forces opposed to the Nazi regime. Please remain in your homes and listen for further updates. We repeat: The Fuhrer, Adolf Hitler, is dead. Please remain in your homes and listen for further updates.'' Fighting continued through most of the 21st and 22nd.

The Allies Hear the News
Meanwhile, in London, the Foreign Office recieved the news almost immediately after the broadcast. Confusion had reigned the night before, and most of Whitehall had been up all night. Finally, on the morning of the 21st, the Foreign Secretary, Anthony Eden, took the news directly to Churchill. In Washington, Roosevelt was briefed by senior military and State Department officials including Secretary of State Cordell Hull. Both Churchill and Roosevelt were skeptical, demanding evidence. Neither man was willing to accept the broadcast at face value. The final proof came in the evening of the 22nd. After two days of fighting, General Ludwig Beck spoke on German radio, declaring the downfall of the Nazi regime. Hitler was dead. Himmler, Ribbentrop and Eichmann, among others, were nowhere to be found and had apparently fled (in fact, only Eichmann had fled - Himmler and Ribbentrop would eventually be found by Valkyrie forces. Himmler had been literally hiding under the bed at a cheap hotel in Munich) and Goring, Goebbels and others had been arrested. Beck announced a provisional government, with himself as President and with the former Mayor of Leipzig, Carl Freidrich Goerdeler, as the new Chancellor. Once Beck's broadcast had gone out, the Allies came to the conclusion that Hitler must indeed be dead, for Beck would never have been allowed to make such a broadcast had the regime been intact. For Churchill, this changed little. He told the Cabinet on June 23 that the new government in Berlin would be treated the same as the Nazis unless they immediately surrendered to the Allies. Roosevelt was a little more cautious. He discretely asked Hull and the State Department to "test the water" in Berlin as a prelude to a possible cessation of hostilities. Stalin, for his part, echoed Churchill's view that to avoid Russian reprisals for the massacres at Stalingrad and Leningrad, which the Red Army was preparing even as the coup took place, the Beck-Goerdeler government would have to unconditionally surrender to the allies. This was never seriously considered in Berlin. Beck, Goerdeler and the others were open to a negotiated peace, but refused to surrender. Beck did, however, make an important gesture, by ordering German military forces back to Germany. Thus, the Germans retreated across Europe, releasing captured territory in France, Scandinavia and Russia. De Gaulle returned to Paris on the 28th to take over as head of a provisional French government. Russian forces immediately re-occupied the Eastern Front and laid seige to Germany's eastern border.