Chapter 125 Chapter 21 Victory on the Western Front (3)

As soon as word got out that Hitler had decided to attack the West, resistance factions within Germany hatched plans to attempt a coup and murder.Some advocated the Führer's execution, others his kidnapping and the establishment of a military junta or a democratic government.They made a list of ministers, and extended tentacles to the United States and other neutral countries. The most serious of the conspirators happened to be those in the Supreme Command, led by a brash cavalry officer Hans Os. colonel special.He was the chief intelligence aide in Admiral Canaris' Intelligence Bureau, and he was hot-tempered and often careless.His strategic position couldn't be better.Also, he had connections with various factions in the Army, with Shahit and others, with the Foreign Ministry, and even with the SS.

Oster found a very valuable candidate in Munich.He was a lawyer named Joseph Müller, and he hated Hitler for years.Instigated by Auster, Müller (a devout Catholic) made a secret visit to Rome in early October to test whether the British were willing to make peace with an anti-Nazi regime.He met Pope Pius XII and found him willing to act as mediator.The Pope's secretary heard from the British minister that Great Britain was not opposed to a "soft peace" with an anti-Hitler Germany. Müller, who had only the right to convey this information to Germany orally, begged for something in writing to prove to the intelligence service and the military that the Pope himself had approved the peace proposal.Astonishingly, the pope agreed to the request and had his private secretary draw up a letter that outlined the main grounds for peace talks with Britain.

The Austerians were greatly encouraged.Of all the attempts to get in touch with the West, this one was the most promising.The Pope's involvement may have induced Brauchitsch to take an active part in the plot.However, the army commander-in-chief was unimpressed.He was convinced that the German people "supported Hitler wholeheartedly." General Halder was equally timid but, under pressure from Oster and others, eventually agreed to help stage the uprising.For a moment, it seemed that all senior officers were willing to take action.The conspirators were even assured that Brauchitsch himself was ready to take part if Hitler did not call off the invasion.

The showdown between the Army chief and the Fuehrer was scheduled for Sunday—November 5, the day the Army planned to launch its assault on positions on the Western Front.Brauchitsch arrived at the Chancellery on time.After delivering a memo, he elaborated on his main arguments against the invasion.He said it would be impossible to launch such a huge offensive during the autumn or spring rains. "It rains on the enemy's head too," Hitler replied succinctly.Brauchitsch argued in disappointment that the Polish campaign showed that the fighting spirit of the German infantry was much lower than during the Great War, and there were even phenomena of disobedience similar to what happened in 1918.

Hitler listened politely and calmly.The statement set him on fire. "In which unit has there been indiscipline?" he asked. "What happened? Where is it?" Brauchitsch had intended to exaggerate his words in an attempt to "stop Hitler", but seeing that the Führer was so angry, he had no choice but to back down. "What action did the commander of the army take?" asked the Führer. "How many people were sentenced to death?" He directed his vitriolic rhetoric at the Army.The Army had never been loyal to him, had no faith in his genius, and sabotaged arming programs by delaying them.In fact, the Army is afraid to fight!Hitler turned around abruptly and strode out the door.Brauchitsch, still in a state of shock after returning to Zosen's headquarters 18 miles away, stammered out what had just happened.Almost at the same time, the Prime Minister's Office called and reiterated November 12 as the date of the invasion.The specific time has also been set: 7:15 in the morning.General Halder asked for written instructions.Soon, the correspondent delivered the instructions to him.

At this point, the Army's conspirators were ready to overthrow Hitler with only one written order.However, the above neither called for an uprising nor ordered an assassination.Instead, they secretly burned incriminating documents.The only one who didn't panic was Colonel Oster.Via Count Elbrecht von Bernsdorf—whose father was ambassador to Washington during the war—Colonel Oster sent a warning to the Belgian and Dutch Concessions, and the attack began early on the morning of November 12. Sunday's storm at the Prime Minister's Office was met with yet another discouraging event.The Air Force needs 5 consecutive days of good weather to wipe out the French Air Force, and the weather forecast for Tuesday (November 7) was not good.Hitler had no choice but to postpone the date of the attack.

Although Hitler knew nothing about the military's conspiracy, Göring warned him to pay attention to Brauchitsch and Halder: "My Fuhrer, get rid of these losers!" Swiss astrologer Karl Even more straightforward was the advice of Ernst Kraft (Kraft was an astrological consultant hired by Himmler's secret service).Not long ago, he had submitted a document stating that Hitler was in danger of being assassinated between November 7 and 10.But the document was hastily filed because astrology for the Führer is forbidden. On the morning of November 8, when Hitler attended the annual reunion meeting of "Old Soldiers" in Munich, the architect Mrs. Troust also issued a warning.Why, she asked him, was he so sloppy about security, bringing only one or two guards with him to her studio?He replied that one should have faith in God.After speaking, he patted his trouser pocket. "Here, I carry a pistol with me, but even this thing is useless. If my end is decided, only this can save me." He put his hands on his heart. "People should listen to their inner voice and believe in their own destiny. I firmly believe that fate chose me to serve the Germanic nation. As long as the people still need me, as long as I am still responsible for the life of the empire, I will live." He said Describe yourself as Jesus Second. "When the people don't need me, I will be transferred out of this world after I complete my mission."

Even after the conversation turned to architecture, Mrs. Troost found Hitler still uneasy. "I have to change today's schedule," he said abruptly.Then, he talked to himself again, saying that he wanted to check a pair of watches with Xia Bo.However, due to being busy with other affairs.He did nothing.He saw Unity Mitterfort — who shot herself in the temple and was actually recuperating in a Munich sanatorium (* "If there is a war," she said to her sister Diana during the Bryant Festival, "I will Suicide." She said she would not want to live if two countries she loved went to war and killed each other. After news of Britain's declaration of war came on the radio, she walked to English Gardens and killed herself with a small pistol She was taken to a hospital in Nussbaumstrasse. On Hitler's orders, she was treated by the famous surgeon Magnus. Dr. Magnus considered it too dangerous to remove the bullet from the temple. About her suicide information was withheld, which was carefully forwarded to Unity's parents by the German Minister in Berne).At this point, she had regained consciousness and asked to go home.Hitler promised to drive her back to Switzerland as soon as she was fit to travel.

That afternoon he suddenly decided to give a speech at the Bergbräu Tavern that evening.So, he spends most of his time on preparations.This speech is mainly addressed to the Germans, so it will attack Britain again.In the main hall of the Berg Brough, bunting was hoisted; before dusk the microphones were installed and tuned.At dusk, a short, pale man with a high forehead and bright eyes came in carrying a box.He was a skilled craftsman named Georg Elser, who had been imprisoned in Dachau concentration camp as a Communist sympathizer.At this time, he had just been released, and the purpose of the trip was to kill Hitler to make peace.Inside the box was a timing device, connected to explosives.While the waiters and party officials were making the final preparations for the speech, Else, unawares, went up to the attic and hid behind the pillar that rose from behind the dais (decorated with flowers).A few days before he had cut the plank of the post with a special saw—he was a master carpenter and a mechanic—and fitted a couple of loose leaves to convert the plank into a small door.

The lights in the hall were extinguished, and the doors were shut.Elsey waited another half an hour, placed the bomb in the pillar, and set the detonation time at around 11:20 p.m., the head of state will speak at 10 p.m., and the bomb exploded in the middle of the speech (B had previously There were quite a few attempts to murder Hitler. One attempt was completely unknown to him by a disenchanted SS member. It happened in 1929. Before Hitler was about to give a speech in the stadium, he placed In the middle of a speech, he had a sudden urge to defuse. Someone accidentally locked him in the men’s room—he failed to detonate the bomb. “It’s the biggest joke of the century,” says the would-be killer "If he hadn't been going to the bathroom, the history of the world might have been changed," recalls a friend.)

Hitler summoned his young military engineer, Max Wienscher, to his apartment in Prinsregenthamplatz.Would it be possible to leave Munich earlier than planned, he asked?Wienscher assured him there was nothing wrong with that.For the sake of safety, there are always two trains at the disposal of the Führer.The young military engineer immediately arranged for the head of state to leave Munich by morning train. At the Bergbräu the Führer received a grand welcome (there was a lot of cheering) and he did not speak until 10:10.He cursed Britain.The audience was very happy to hear it.In fact, the audience applauds without saying anything.As the Führer's speech was repeatedly interrupted, Wienscher, sitting in the front row, feared that the Führer would miss the earlier bus. At 11:07, the Führer unexpectedly and hurriedly ended his speech.A few yards away, in the pillar, Else's bomb was already ticking away.In 13 minutes, the bomb will go off.Usually, Hitler would spend a lot of time shaking hands and chatting with his old comrades during the uprising after his speech; tonight, he hurried out of the building accompanied by Hess and several aides without shaking hands with anyone. Get into the car waiting outside the door.Kempka drove directly to the train station.Before they had arrived—exactly eight minutes after Hitler had left the building—Winscher heard an explosion in the distance.He did not understand why.Had Hitler heard this, he would have thought it trivial. Amid the cacophony that followed the explosions—police cars, ambulance sirens—rumours arose that the war was over.Had Hitler been on the podium, the war might have ended—he would have been blown up for sure.The bomb killed 7 people and injured 63 people, including Eva Braun's father (although he himself is a party member, party card number 5021670. admission).When the Führer's train was about to leave, Eva arrived at the station accompanied by her close friend Herda Schneider.After getting on the bus, they saw everyone happy and carefree.No one knew about the explosion; almost everyone was drinking.Hitler, who didn't drink, was lively; it was Goebbels, with his ironic genius, who animated the conversation. When the car arrived in Nuremberg, Propaganda Minister Goebbels got out of the car to send a few telegrams and collect the latest news.After returning to the carriage, his voice trembled, and he told everyone about the bomb. Hitler thought Goebbels was joking until he saw his pale face.His own face became a gloomy mask.At last he exclaimed in an impulsive, hoarse voice: "Now I am content! I left the Bergbrough earlier than usual, and that is God's will. God intended to help me achieve my goal." He first inquired about the condition of the wounded, and then asked Xia Bo to do his best to serve them.At the end of the order, he began to guess who the conspirators were.He concluded that the bomb must have been planted by two British agents.Captain S. Paine Best and Major Stevens were secretly negotiating with one of Heydrich's operatives, who in the anti-Nazi conspiracy group pretended to be a captain of the High Command .According to Hitler's guess, Himmler immediately got off the train and ordered by telephone to kidnap the two British nationals in the Netherlands. In the afternoon of the next day, Stevens and Best were arrested in Wenluo and taken to Germany for interrogation.A few hours later, the real bomber was arrested at the Swiss border and brought back to Munich.In an interrogation room at Gestapo headquarters, under intense arc lights, Else admitted that he had planted the bomb and had no accomplices.He did it to end the war.He described in detail how he first sawed the planks and then timed the bombs. After Hitler read the Gestapo report, he angrily criticized in the report: "Which idiot interrogated?" He thought it was absurd to say that Erser was a tramp.Involved in this grand conspiracy were his worst enemies: the English, the Jews, the Freemasons, and Otto Strassel.Isn't this obvious? Himmler did it himself, trying every means to get the real situation from the prisoner's mouth.According to an eyewitness, he kicked the handcuffed prisoner violently with his boots while swearing.Despite the punches, kicks and whips "with a whip or similar implement," the little joiner stuck to his earlier testimony.Even after being hypnotized, his confession remained unchanged.Thus Heydrich was convinced that Else had no accomplices.But the Führer severely reprimanded Himmler for not finding the real criminal (B Maybe this was the reason why Himmler did not try and execute Elser in public. He was locked up in a concentration camp and became a privileged prisoner; only Alser Erce was able to confirm that the SS security service had caught the only criminal. Later, the Erceto smuggled a letter to another prisoner, Captain Best. In the letter, he swore that in October 1939, Dachau's The commander had summoned him to his office, where two men - presumably Heydrich's agents - persuaded him to plant a bomb in the Bergbräu tavern. Exploded to kill a group of traitors plotting against the Führer. Erser agreed and was released from the concentration camp to plant the bomb. At the Gestapo headquarters in Berlin, the two agents asked him to appear in court for the interrogation of two British agents. As a witness for the prosecution. He must prove that Otto Strassel introduced him to Best and Stevens, who paid him to plant the bomb. But Best and Stevens never tried, spent 5 years in a concentration camp, survived). The official version of the conspiracy is astonishing: Elsey was a Communist "deviator" acting as a British secret service at the behest of the National Socialist "deviator" Otto Strassel of tools.This is the main plot, and the propagandists have added a lot of twigs.A pamphlet claimed that British secret agents had not only planted the bomb in Munich but were responsible for many political murders.The British secret service has also been responsible for the mysterious deaths of prominent figures such as Lord Kitchener, Archduke Franz Ferdinand and King Alexander of Yugoslavia. As well as being used to stoke hatred against Britain, the attempted murder was also used to raise the Führer's profile.Germans of all classes sent congratulatory telegrams to the Führer for his narrow escape.All over Germany, the Catholic press piously declared that it was a miraculous work of God that had blessed the Führer.Bishop Forhaba sent a telegram to instruct that the Munich Cathedral should sing the "Tedim" hymn, "In the name of the Archbishop's jurisdiction, thank God for the power of God for the fortunate escape of the head of state." The Pope was wiped out because of Poland. Those who want to condemn Germany should also send congratulatory telegrams in their own names.But Hitler doubted its sincerity. "He won't until he sees the plot succeed," he told a crowd over dinner.When Frank retorted that Pope Pius XII had always been a friend of Germany, Hitler said: "It is possible, but he is not my friend." He had thanked his own heart, and thanked God, for leaving the beer hall early.He said to Hoffman: "At that time, I had a strange feeling. Until now, I don't know what happened or why-I just felt that I had to leave the pub as soon as possible." Observers say otherwise. "Most of us thought it smacked of arson on Capitol Hill," Shirer wrote in his diary.