Chapter 100
Chapter 100
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Translator: crow
Chapter Title: Operation Valkyrie (1)
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Germany prepared for its fateful 1943 summer offensive, staking everything on the line.
This assault mobilized a massive number of the new mainstay Panther tanks.
Even so, the numerical backbone remained the Panzer IIIs and IVs.
The German army resolved to rely on the firepower of the quantitatively scarce Tigers and Panthers to punch through the Soviet defenses.
“The month right before Rasputitsa. We stake everything on that one month.”
On August 25, 1943, the Germans played their final card.
It was the Citadel Operation, launched over a month later than originally planned.
Of course, the number of Panthers and Tigers committed had increased accordingly.
But the Soviets were waiting with far superior forces.
Hitler’s intentions had been read like an open book by the Allies from the start.
“Come on in, come on in.”
A six-layered grand defensive line, endless minefields.
Massive counterattack units on standby at the army group level.
And,
“Germans. The skies are ours now.”
The Red Air Force threatening air superiority.
The German offensive was smothered under overwhelming Soviet artillery fire from the very start.
“We can’t break through, it’s impossible.”
“What are you talking about? We led with the heavy tanks.”
The Germans pushed forward with their heaviest tanks, aiming to crush the Soviet lines with slow but sure shock power, but it didn’t go as planned.
Anti-tank guns scattered everywhere, vast anti-tank ditches impossible to bypass, endless minefields—the tanks kept halting one after another.
The German breakthrough speed was comparable to an ant crawling.
Hitler grew impatient with the situation.
“This won’t do. I need to head to the front myself.”
“We’ll make preparations.”
To assess the battlefield, Hitler flew straight to Smolensk, under Army Group Center’s jurisdiction.
This was the moment the conspirators had been waiting for.
Communications Chief Fellgiebel sent an encrypted message to his accomplices on the Eastern Front.
“The Eagle has left the nest.”
This was their chance.
In the capital Berlin, there were hardly any reliable military forces the plotters could count on.
But Army Group Center was different.
Here, the Junkers could move the troops at will.
The Junkers entrusted the critical task of eliminating Hitler to Major General Henning von Tresckow, chief of staff of Army Group Center’s Second Army.
Tresckow, having rehearsed meticulously several times beforehand, was confident in this uprising.
“Gentlemen, the time has come to stake our lives for Greater Germany. You’re all prepared for Operation Flash, the Hitler assassination plan, correct?”
“Of course, General.”
“We’re ready to lay down our lives for the fatherland.”
The conspirators raised oak leaves to express their resolute will.
“Communications Chief, it’s Tresckow. Is everything ready on your end?”
“No worries. The Field Marshal is prepared as well.”
Tresckow hung up and turned to the officers.
The die had been cast.
All that remained was to eliminate Hitler.
Each officer took on their assigned roles.
Major Georg von Wesselager commanded a cavalry guard unit made up of anti-Nazi officers, tasked with ambushing and assassinating Hitler between the airfield and headquarters.
Captain Eberhard von Breitenbuch would accompany Field Marshal Kluge and neutralize him immediately if he reacted negatively to the coup.
Captain Axel von dem Bussche was assigned to snipe Hitler at the Führer headquarters entrance if Wesselager’s assassination failed due to crossed paths.
Colonel Rudolf-Christoph von Gersdorff waited at the Führer headquarters entrance, wearing an explosive vest.
If no other opportunities arose, he planned to embrace Hitler and detonate.
Many other officers had laid their nooses to remove Hitler.
Anywhere else might be different, but they couldn’t let him slip away in the Junker-dominated Army Group Center.
On September 1, 1943, the plane carrying Hitler arrived in Smolensk.
High-ranking Army Group Center generals, led by Field Marshal Kluge, turned out to greet the Führer.
“It’s chilly.”
Hitler’s adjutant, Colonel Heinz Brandt, hurriedly draped a field coat over him.
The senior officers rose in unison as the Führer descended.
The moment the dictator arrived, everything fell silent, as if time itself had frozen.
After shaking hands with the generals, the Führer boarded his car immediately.
An SS company was mobilized to escort Hitler’s car to the Führer headquarters in Smolensk.
Tresckow’s expression darkened at the unexpectedly heavy guard.
“General, what should we do?”
Startled by the larger-than-expected escort but undeterred, Tresckow didn’t hesitate.
“Proceed.”
At Tresckow’s order, the guard cavalry company waiting in the woods sprang into action.
As the generals’ cars moved to follow Hitler’s, Tresckow deliberately caused an accident.
“Hey, clear that wrecked car first.”
While the generals floundered, Hitler’s entourage vanished into the woods.
“We have to finish everything within 30 minutes.”
Tresckow trusted his men’s capabilities, but nothing in the world was certain.
3 p.m.
Rat-a-tat-tat! Bang bang!
Gunfire like popping corn erupted from the woods, panicking the generals waiting for the road to clear.
“Isn’t that gunfire? Partisans?”
If anti-German partisans were nearby, it would be a disgrace.
Allowing an attack on the Führer right in front of them was humiliating enough.
“Hey, rush to the woods!”
At the generals’ urging, the guard unit and military police armed themselves and dashed toward the woods.
“Give me your watch.”
Tresckow anxiously checked the time.
Ten minutes later, several SS soldiers came running toward the airfield, screaming.
Weeping, they delivered shocking news.
“Y-Your Excellency the Führer has been shot and killed by unidentified assailants.”
Tresckow was convinced his men had succeeded.
Confirmation was needed, but time was pressing.
He grabbed the phone first.
“Communications room, it’s me. Begin the operation. The Eagle has fallen.”
After notifying the communications chief of success, Tresckow left the airfield to confirm Hitler’s death.
As soon as Tresckow hung up, Fellgiebel got busy.
“General Olbricht? The Eagle has fallen.”
The conspirators began moving immediately after exchanging calls.
Army Group Center started the uprising, but the coup’s core was the Replacement Army headquarters that controlled the capital.
Replacement Army Chief of Staff Colonel Albrecht Mertz von Quirnheim ordered the mobilization without approval from his superior, Replacement Army Commander General Friedrich Fromm.
“The SS has staged a coup and assassinated the Führer. Operation Valkyrie is activated to maintain order.”
Martial law was declared across Berlin, and armed soldiers mobilized to attack Nazi Party offices and SS headquarters.
“Operation Valkyrie? Without my orders, how dare they!”
Fromm raged, but Olbricht stood firm.
“It’s already underway, sir. Will you cooperate?”
“Nonsense.”
Unable to judge the situation, Fromm refused.
“Escort the general to a suitable room.”
Replacement Army Commander Fromm was placed under house arrest.
With a de facto coup erupting in the heart of the capital, the German High Command, tasked with resolving it, could do nothing.
“All communications are down. What the hell is going on?”
At Fellgiebel’s order, key communications networks, including Army High Command, were severed at once, allowing only the coup forces’ orders to transmit.
4 p.m.
Tresckow called Olbricht.
Unable to reach Fellgiebel despite repeated tries, Tresckow was growing desperate.
“General.”
“General Tresckow, what’s wrong?”
“Hitler is alive. Despite our preparations, we failed to kill him. I apologize for the false information, General.”
Tresckow spoke in a voice heavy with despair.
After multiple checks at the scene, he learned only an SS officer resembling Hitler had died; the Führer himself had escaped unharmed.
Olbricht was stunned by the report.
“We moved based solely on your word. Is there absolutely no way to deal with the Führer at Army Group Center now?”
“We neutralized Field Marshal Kluge and prepared orders, but timing slipped. Before we could mobilize, the Führer boarded a plane and left.”
“This is bad. How do we salvage this?”
Tresckow’s false information was corrected far too late.
In that one hour, the coup forces had acted, and their plot was fully exposed.
Hiding in the shadows was no longer possible.
Olbricht called Beck immediately.
“Field Marshal, Hitler is alive.”
Beck fell silent for a moment, then forced a calm voice.
“Since it’s come to this, let’s rally the comrades. So many have united for this—surely we can take down one Hitler.”
5 p.m.
Coup leader Field Marshal Ludwig Beck appeared at Replacement Army headquarters.
Uncertain of the coup’s success, Replacement Army Commander Friedrich Fromm had refused Beck’s call to join and continued his ‘house arrest’ charade in his office.
In any case, the rebellion proceeded smoothly.
In Paris, France, coup forces moved to arrest SS and Nazi officials.
Oak leaves of the coup spread across Europe.
Frontline German commanders panicked, unsure what to do.
“What’s really happening? There’s a rebellion, but are those guys definitely winning?”
In this chaos, the Germans had no attention to spare for their offensive.
“We don’t know how the domestic situation will unfold, so halt the attack for now.”
Army Group Center’s Colonel General Walter Model and Army Group South’s Field Marshal Erich von Manstein, leading the assault, agreed to suspend the advance.
As frontline generals adopted a wait-and-see stance, the coup forces steadily expanded their influence unhindered.
Even if Hitler returned, suppressing the rebellion wouldn’t be easy.
Beck believed riding this momentum to gain maximum supporters was the path to victory.
Oster and Olbricht agreed.
“We must secure Anglo-American recognition of the new regime before it’s too late.”
Carl Friedrich Goerdeler, the civilian mayor participating in the coup, saw regime recognition as paramount.
With good negotiations with the Anglo-Americans, they could suppress the Nazis using Allied power.
“Director Canaris?”
“Yes, Field Marshal.”
“Handle negotiations with the Anglo-Americans.”
The coup forces moved with every passing second counting.
However, unlike Lee Seong-jun, they didn’t hold a decisive card.
Seong-jun started by capturing Park Han-jin; the coup missed Hitler.
The difference was immense.
The long night deciding Germany’s fate had only just begun.