What Went Wrong
Colonel von Stauffenberg arrives at the airfield near Rastenburg on schedule and is driven to the Wolf's Lair by his adjutant, Lt von Haeften. He arrives there at 11:40 and is greeted by Hitler's chief of staff, General Wilhelm Keitel, who knows nothing of the plot. Keitel informs him of the Fuhrer's decision to bring the briefing forward by an hour to 12:30 so he could guarantee to be prompt for his meeting with Mussolini, scheduled for that afternoon.
Stauffenberg asks for a room where he can change his |
| Hitler stands halfway along the large map table |
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shirt. Here he plans to trigger the bombs by breaking an acid capsule which slowly dissolves a retaining wire causing them to explode between 10 and 20 minutes later. Stauffenberg is under immense pressure; priming the bombs is a difficult operation, especially for a man with his disabilities and because the meeting has been brought forward he has to act extremely quickly. He is also aware that once primed the bombs cannot be disarmed.
An adjutant interrupts Stauffenberg before he has the chance to arm the second device, urging him to hurry to the briefing. Stauffenberg panics and only puts the primed bomb in his case, leaving the other one behind.
The briefing should have been held in a bunker, but due to repair work it is moved to a hut at the last moment. The energy of the explosion will now be released through the walls of the hut, in the bunker it would have been contained, incinerating all inside.
| At 12:35, Stauffenberg enters the briefing, where Hitler is standing halfway along one side of the large map table surrounded by twenty of his officers. They include Lt. General Adolf Heusinger (Chief of the Operations |
Department), General Gunther Korten (Chief of Air Staff) and Colonel Heinz Brandt. Brandt is sympathetic to the conspirators cause, but is unaware of the assassination plot.
Stauffenberg is positioned near Hitler as he hands his case to Keitel's adjutant, who places it on the floor under the table only a few feet away from the Fuhrer. Stauffenberg is aware the bomb could go off at any moment and he is next in line to brief Hitler. Unless he is called from the room in the next few minutes he will not escape the blast.
At 12:40, Haeften calls Stauffenberg from the room, saying he is needed urgently on the telephone. In the hut, Brandt moves closer to Hitler but finds Stauffenberg's case in his way. He moves it to the other side of the heavy table leg which will protect Hitler from the brunt of the explosion.
Moments before the bomb explodes, Hitler's attention is attracted by something in the centre of the map on the heavy, oak tabletop and leans forward. This will also protect him from the blast. The last words recorded by the stenographer before the explosion at 12:42 come from Heusinger concerning a position on the eastern front. He is recorded as stating 'My Fuhrer, if we don't withdraw our troops now then we will have a catastrophe!'
What did the briefing hut look like before Stauffenberg's bomb exploded? Take a virtual tour now. |
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