Disclaimer: This five-part series details events from World War II, written as diary entries in the voice of Adolf Hitler.
In 1941 I called for the construction of a high-security top secret headquarters to conduct military operations on the eastern front.
This headquarters was called Wolf Lair, strategically located in the eastern portion of Prussia in the Masurian Woodland region.
I thought this location was good for my security because of its Woodland area with high trees that can serve as camouflage, and this location is difficult for Allied forces to attempt an invasion using paratroopers. On the day of July 20, 1944, treasonous plans from the reserve army were made to assassinate me. This was done to serve the purpose of relinquishing the German army officers of their oath of loyalty to me, and to and the war entirely. These cowards also had plans of dissolving the power of the Gestapo, SS, and SD by implementing Operation Valkyrie, which happen to be one of my very own creations. Operation Valkyrie was to be deployed in an event of civil unrest and chaos.
This assassination attempt was carried out to by Col. Claus von Stauffenberg, chief of the Army reserve during a meeting we were supposed to have about military plans. Stauffenberg used a bomb concealed in a briefcase that exploded killing four men.
Luckily, I survived the blast, but I sustained injuries to my arm. Stauffenberg fled to Berlin soon after the assassination attempt to complete Operation Valkyrie with his co-conspirators, General Olbricht, Col. Mertz and Lieut. Werner von Haeften.
By 7 PM that evening I made a radio address to the nation declaring an attempt to remove me from office was unsuccessful. I also stated in my radio address that the will and resolve of Germany will not be shaken by these treasonous acts. The reserve army was under the command of Gen. Fromm who happened also be a part of this plan of treason.
Stauffenberg, General Olbricht, Colonel Mertz and Lieutenant Werner von Haeften were court-martialed and executed by firing squad for their active roles in my assassination attempt. Was I truly learn the depths of the treasonous plan orchestrated against me, I called for the purge of any enemies and traders who I suspected that remained in the Reich. This led to the arrest of 7000 so-called Germans, and at least 5000 of them were murdered for being suspected enemies of the state.
Source: Kershaw, Ian. Hitler: 1889-1936 Hubris. WW Norton & Company, 2000.
Check out part 1: @elumni/the-hitler-diary-entry-series-pt-1-november-10th-1923-the-beer-hall-putsch
Part 2: @elumni/the-hitler-diary-entry-series-pt-2-jan-30th-1933-hitler-s-emergence-to-chancellor
Part 3: @elumni/the-hitler-diary-entry-series-pt-3-june-30th-1934-night-of-long-knives
Part 4: @elumni/the-hitler-diary-entry-series-pt-4-september-1-1939-german-forces-invade-poland
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